This Product Requirement Document (PRD) is the high-level technical blueprint you would present to a CTO or Lead Engineer. It moves beyond “reporting an issue” and establishes you as a Software Limitation Setter who understands how to bridge the gap between physical kitchen capacity and digital order intake.
Product Requirement Document: Dynamic Kitchen Capacity Throttle (DKCT)
Project Lead: Jacob Zwack, Data Strategy Consultant
Target Platform: Inspire Brands Enterprise POS / KDS Integration
Status: Proposal / Specification Phase
1. Problem Statement
The current digital ordering ecosystem at Buffalo Wild Wings (and wider Inspire Brands) operates on an Infinite Capacity Assumption. The software accepts web and third-party delivery orders (DoorDash, UberEats, etc.) based solely on store hours, rather than real-time operational reality.
The result is the “Snowball Effect”: * Kitchen saturation leads to ticket times exceeding 80+ minutes.
- Physical counter space becomes a bottleneck, causing safety and quality issues.
- Massive financial “bleed” occurs through manual manager comps/refunds to appease guests and delivery drivers.
2. Goals & Objectives
- Primary Goal: Implement a software-side “throttle” that automatically manages order flow based on Kitchen Display System (KDS) data.
- Objective A: Reduce manual refunds/comps by 40% during peak “Takeout Overload” windows.
- Objective B: Improve data integrity by eliminating “ghost” transactions and manual overrides.
- Objective C: Protect frontline staff from the psychological and operational pressure of unmanageable order volume.
3. Functional Requirements
3.1 Real-Time Saturation Monitoring
The system must continuously poll the KDS for two specific metrics:
- Active Ticket Count (ATC): The number of orders currently in the “In-Progress” state.
- Weighted Prep Time (WPT): The sum of estimated prep times for all active items vs. available station capacity (e.g., Fryer vs. Grill).
3.2 Automated Backpressure (The Throttle)
When the ATC or WPT exceeds a pre-defined “Red Zone” threshold (calibrated per store based on physical square footage, as seen in the Champlin video):
- Threshold 1 (Warning): Extend customer-facing ETA by 15-minute increments.
- Threshold 2 (Saturation): Automatically toggle “Busy” status on third-party aggregators (API handshake).
- Threshold 3 (Full Stop): Temporarily disable Web/App ordering for that specific location until the “ATC” drops below the recovery set-point.
3.3 Anti-Fraud Reconciliation Logic (AFRL)
To address the Loyalty Fraud identified in earlier reports:
- The system shall disable the “Add Rewards” function for any transaction that has reached the “Finalized/Paid” state.
- Any reward redemption exceeding a $50 value must trigger a “Manager Pin” requirement that is cross-referenced against the staff’s own loyalty account data to flag internal siphoning.
4. User Experience & Interface (Mobile Optimized)
For a mobile-focused company like Inspire Brands, the manager dashboard must provide a simple “Traffic Light” interface:
- Green: System open.
- Yellow: Auto-throttle active (ETA extended).
- Red: Third-party paused; system clearing backlog.