Abstract
Lean thinking and practices entail the reduction of waste, time, effort and cost while perfecting
the quality of products and services towards improved customer satisfaction. Lean practices are
regarded as global business best practice; especially in light of the recent global recession,
greening of the planet initiatives and the millennial need for streamlined systems and processes.
The purpose of this article is to propose a set of lean tools by exploring the advantages and
difficulties of lean implementation in the South African hospitality sector. The motivation for this
paper is that there is a gap in the literature with limited conceptual and empirical knowledge on
lean practices in South African organisations, especially in the hospitality sector. This conceptual
paper presents the intensive literature study undertaken to explore the advantages and
challenges of lean thinking, implementation and practice. The implications of this paper are that
the hospitality sector in South Africa and Africa may benefit by adopting the lean advantages and
eliminating the lean challenges highlighted by this theoretical paper. Furthermore, leaders and
managers can practically engage with the identified lean benefits and challenges and adapt it as
required by the process and systems in their organisation. This paper adds theoretically and
practically. Theoretically, it increases the body of knowledge on lean thinking, lean practices,
advantages and challenges as applied in the South African context. The practical contribution is
that it creates awareness on lean thinking and practices as hospitality operational managers may
immediately be able to reduce waste, increase profit and improve product, performance and
people in their line function.