Reactive BBQ Case Study¶
The Reactive BBQ restaurant chain has determined that their existing restaurant operations system is not suitably meeting their needs. They have hired a high technology consulting company to provide guidance on how they can improve their customer service, tracking, and reliability.
The Challenge¶
The original system was designed for a single restaurant. As the chain expanded to 500+ locations across 20 countries, they moved to the cloud. However, the monolithic architecture hasn't scaled well:
- Performance degradation during peak hours
- Cascading failures that affect multiple or all locations
- Deployment difficulties requiring system-wide downtime
- Resistance to change - new features require "major refactors"
Personnel Interviews¶
To understand the domain and identify requirements, interviews were conducted with key personnel at Reactive BBQ. Each interview reveals challenges and requirements that inform the RIDDL model.
Executive & Corporate¶
| Role | Key Challenges |
|---|---|
| CEO | System reliability, scaling, feature additions |
| Corporate Head Chef | Menu distribution, supply chain coordination |
Front of House¶
| Role | Key Challenges |
|---|---|
| Host | Slow reservations system, frequent failures |
| Server | Order entry bottlenecks, terminal contention |
| Bartender | Server notification for ready drinks |
Kitchen¶
| Role | Key Challenges |
|---|---|
| Chef | Lost orders when system fails, handwritten fallback |
| Cook | Illegible handwritten tickets, frustrated servers |
Delivery & Online¶
| Role | Key Challenges |
|---|---|
| Delivery Driver | App connectivity, payment collection |
| Online Customer | Website/app unreliability |
Common Themes¶
Across all interviews, several themes emerge:
- Reliability - The system fails too often, forcing manual workarounds
- Responsiveness - Performance degrades under load
- Isolation - Failures cascade across the entire system
- Flexibility - New features are difficult and risky to add
These themes directly inform the reactive architecture principles that RIDDL helps model: resilience, elasticity, message-driven communication, and bounded contexts.
Next Steps¶
After reviewing the interviews, proceed to the domain model:
- Reactive BBQ Domain - The top-level domain structure
- Restaurant Context - Core restaurant operations
- BackOffice Context - Administrative operations
- Corporate Context - Corporate headquarters functions