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It was shortly before noon. Jeff Daniels, director of Overnight Delivery Operations at Bubba's Lobster Shack, Inc. (BLS) in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Mass., anxiously watched the Weather Channel on his office television. A fall storm was rapidly moving along the Atlantic coast toward Boston. If the storm front continued to move north at its current speed, the storm would hit Boston at around 5 P.M. However, many such storms change direction and move out to sea before they reach Boston, leaving Boston with only minor precipitation. The weather forecaster predicted a 50% chance that the storm would hit Boston (at around 5 P.M.), and a 50% chance that the storm would move out to sea and miss Boston and the rest of the northern Atlantic states. Jeff Daniels was not the only employee in Kendall Square watching the Weather Channel so attentively. Because there was a chance that Boston's Logan International Airport might have to shut down operations if the storm hit, many business travelers were nervously awaiting further weather information as well. Historically, when storms of this magnitude hit Boston, one in five are accompanied by severely strong winds that force Logan to close down its operations almost immediately.

Bubba's Lobster Shack, Inc.

Bubba's Lobster Shack, Inc. (BLS) was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1962, as a crab and lobster wholesale and delivery company for the Boston area. By 1985, BLS had largely eliminated its crab business and had expanded its operations to include on-demand overnight delivery of lobsters to restaurants, caterers, and consumers in the Northeastern United States, with customers from Washington, D.C. to Presque Isle, Maine. By 1998, BLS's annual sales had reached $22 million. BLS attributed its success to great customer service, focused direct-mail marketing and advertising of its product, and the enormous popularity of lobster as a menu item for special occasions. BLS knew that customer service was critical for the success of any business in the food service sector of the economy, and maintaining an excellent reputation for customer service has always been a very high priority. Jeff Daniels had worked for BLS part-time while a student at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and had joined BLS's staff full-time after graduation. He rose quickly through the organization to his current position as director of Overnight Delivery Operations,