Describe a time when you made a decision or took an action that directly affected a financial or measurable business outcome. It could be from a part-time job, a school project, or even a small business. What did you do and what was the result?

Situation

During my part-time job at a local milk tea shop, I noticed that we consistently threw away unsold cooked tapioca pearls at closing, roughly 2 kilograms per week, because we prepared large batches in advance regardless of demand.

Task

I wanted to reduce this unnecessary waste because I knew it affected the store's food cost and profitability. I decided to propose a more efficient preparation process, even though I was just a crew member.

Action

I analyzed our daily sales patterns by reviewing the POS transaction counts for pearl-based drinks across different hours over two weeks. I then proposed a new schedule: cooking smaller batches every two hours during peak time and halting production an hour before closing. I presented the idea and the data to my store manager, who approved a trial.

Result

Within the first month, pearl waste dropped by 60%, saving the store approximately PHP 1,200 per month in raw material costs. The manager adopted the process as standard, and I was assigned to train new hires on it. This experience showed me that even a small initiative can contribute to store profitability.