Category: Restaurant

The Promotional Portfolio: Developing New Efficient Tools

When it comes to establishing a new business, running a restaurant presupposes quite the same complexities and opportunities as any other kind of entrepreneurship (Garvey, Dismore & Dismore, 2011). In the case study in question, the restaurant entitled William Blue Dining is being depicted and the various ways of improving its state of affairs are being considered. With the help of a range of adequate ideas, the company can actually become a great success.

Promotional offer: choosing the right words

To start with, the promotional offer has to be introduced. According to Smith & Schulz, promotional offer is a range of services and/or goods that are going to be introduced into the target market and promoted to the public (Smith & Schulz, 2004). Hence, in the context of the restaurant services, the specific cuisine has to be promoted efficiently.

According to the report in question, the major asset of the William Blue Dining is the fact that every single bit of food there is “live”, i.e., is cooked immediately after the client orders a dish. Hence, the promotion must be focused on offering “live” cuisine. As a matter of fact, the phrase “live cuisine from all over the world” can actually serve as a motto for the restaurant.

Advertisement: let the world know about the restaurant

As for the press release, it will be aimed at making the restaurant known even better by the people from all the continents where the William Blue Dining affiliates are located. With the help of an elaborate advertisement strategy, one can possibly attract even more clients to the restaurant. Hence, the objective of the advertising campaign is to make the world talk about William Blue Dining.

As for the advertising strategy, it will be quite suitable to create a memorable TV and online commercial that will not be annoying, but make people pay attention to what William Blue Dining has to offer.

Press release: concerning the technical issues

The suppose press release will be aimed at making the restaurant popularity even bigger. In addition, with the help of a press release, William Blue Dining will cement its position not only among the general public, but also among people of greater influence and among press.

Since the percentage of the North Sydney business public among the visitors of the restaurant makes around 25%, it can be considered that businessmen of higher rank can visit the restaurant and, thus, raise the restaurant revenues. With the help of the interviews of the latter, success is guaranteed.

A Twelve-Month Promotion Plan: A Careful Strategy to Follow

However, every single business venture needs a plan. Without an outline the steps that need to be taken to promote the given enterprise among the rest of the people and make them spread the word about the delicious dishes served in the restaurant, William Blue Dining might be not quite successful as expected.

According to Luther (2011), a good promotion plan is supposed to incorporate the information about the possible losses and the expected profit, providing the conclusion about the reasonability of the promotion actions. With the help of such a plan, one can decide how to make William Blue Dining a well-known restaurant.

The forms of promotion: identifying the methods

It is necessary to mention that William Blue Dining is going to use online and TV promotion, as well as advertisements in newspapers to make more people learn about the suggested services. However, apart from the traditional means of advertisements, personal selling will also be used.

The above-mentioned presupposes that William Blue Dining will employ the people who are going to offer passers-by coupons or leaflets about the restaurant, the dishes, the cuisine, the specifics, etc. Since personal promotion will help demonstrate certain details concerning the services (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel, 2011, p. 552), people will be able to learn even more about the restaurant’s special offers.

Indicating the budget: a good use of money

Since most of the restaurants offer dishes for $8 average, it can be suggested that the advertisement campaign should not cost more than the restaurants gross annually. Of course, on the one hand, a good advertising campaign can save the day and be repaid in several months or even weeks; on the other hand, though, the risks are quite high, and, since the entire chain of restaurants is at stake, it is necessary to use the resources wisely. Therefore, 20% of the annual revenues can be spent on the campaign.

The rationale for time, data and medium

Since most of the visitors are businessmen, students and elderly people, it can be suggested that the time for advertisements should be early in the morning, when elderly people are already awake, businessmen to work and students go to their colleges, universities or institutes; in the evening, when the elderly people, students and businessmen are at home; and (for the public promotion) around 1 – 2 p.m., when students and businessmen have some time to spare.

As for the data when the promotion starts, it can be suggested that in some three weeks everything is going to be ready for the start. Finally, speaking of the medium, TV, Internet and public advertisement will be most suitable.

The marketing promotion strategy: summary

The promotion strategy is aimed at capturing the target customers and impressing them.

Customer Feedback Analysis: Learning to Listen Carefully

It is important to keep in mind that the restaurant services will also have to take the clients’ ideas concerning improvements into account.

Concerning the objective: the required information

The clients’ opinion about the service and its possible improvement will be demanded.

An applicable format: questionnaires and surveys

For the feedback collection, surveys and questionnaires, as well as multiple-choice questions (e.g., “How do you rank the services? – a) excellent; b) O.K.; c) could have been better; d) awful”) and feedback cards (Restaurateur, 2010, p. 287) are going to be used.

Feedback forms and their use: comfortable and efficient

The feedback forms are going to be printed in A6 size, written in 14pt. or larger font and written on blank white paper.

Information processing: what customers need

Once the necessary information is gathered, it is going to be distributed into several groups, namely, the complaints concerning the service quality, the recommendations about the probable improvements and the positive feedback. Thereafter, the positive aspects of the restaurant’s work are going to be perfected, while the negative elements are going to be either improved or eliminated. With the help of the given approach, William Blue Dining is going to become a huge success.

Reference List

Garvey, M, Dismore, H, & Dismore, A D, 2011, Running a restaurant for dummies, John Wiey & Sons, New York, NY.

Lamb, C W, Hair, J F Jr., McDaniel, C D, 2011, Essentials of marketing, Cengage Learning, Stamford, CN.

Luther, W M, The marketing plan: how to prepare and implement it, AMACOM, New York, NY.

Restaurateur, D R, 2010, Everything guide to starting and running a restaurant: secrets to a successful business!, Adams Media, Avon, MA.

Smith, S & Schulz, D E, 2004, How to sell more stuff: promotional marketing that really works, Kaplan Publishing Company, Chicago, IL.

Strategy Paper 1: Proposal

The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of family owned small business through analysis conducted to assess their contribution and impact to the society. The research is aimed at assessing the problems faced by small family owned businesses. First, the study will examine specific case of family owned small business, Mama Mancini’s, a mid size restaurant in Chicago area, in order to examine how closely it fits the general principles of family owned small business.

The success of this small business is owed to good planning, quality of their product and identification of the niche market. Bruno Mancini’s vision and planning contributed greatly to the success of the business. The paper focuses on dynamics of owner-owned enterprises and Mama Mancini’s business was chosen for this case because of the successful, family owned small businesses which are typical example of increasing numbers all family owned businesses all over the world.

Mama Mancini is a small family business started in 1913 by Arturo Mancini, an Italian Chef specialising in serving genuine home made sources. The restaurant has gained popularity over the years due to its unique delicacies of Italian recipes and dining experience combined with good cultural atmosphere.This small family owned business was running at a loss five years ago, the break even point was achieved during the third year. The figures below present the company’s financial statements.

INCOME STATEMENT FORM MAMA MANCINI’S FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS

(Amounts are in $’000)

Mama Mancini is classified as a small business because the enterprise is owned and operated by family members. Family owned business is defined as a general agreement among family members that requires ownership and management of the business. Small business enterprises contribute greatly to the American economy and studies have showed that 75% of all businesses in the United States are family owned.

Studies have also shown that small businesses contribute to 50% of the GDP and 78% of jobs generated within the United States This research demonstrates that family owned businesses across the United States are the major backbone of the domestic economy (Philips & Raspery 1).

Strategy paper 2: Target Marketing and Positioning

Mama Mancini restaurant is situated at a secluded environment, in the suburbs of Chicago area characterised with great atmosphere and serves a traditional cuisine of authentic Italian food to its customers. The sound system of the music is neither loud nor too slow and offers comfortable seats cushioned with avante-gard-styled booths.

The water foundation and aluminium ceiling funs provides a cool atmosphere in hot summer days adding more serenity to the environment. Jack Mancini, the restaurant chef accredits the food in his restaurant as sensational, tasty and satisfying and the harmonise music the restaurant provides helps create the perfect ambiance that attracts more customers to the place.

Just to add to the ambience of the place, the restaurant plays a wide array of Italian music that adds more dining experience to the cultural atmosphere. Marketing mix comprises of product, price, place and promotion, and as mentioned earlier, Mama Mancini has incorporated all this strategies in its product (Dissanayake 9).

Segments that make up the target markets in Mama Mancini restaurant revolve around how the business targets its market in terms of distribution of products, its promotion and pricing. Mama Mancini restaurant offers as the best example by charging relatively low prices on their menus and offering buffers to returned customers. This strategy has established the firm long term relationship with its clients.

The firm has also streamlined its products to specifically meet customer’s needs by offering a variety of sauces to choose from. Mama Mancini friendly environment located in a convenient location in the heart of Chicago and its culinary precision places it at a better advantage over its competitors. Third, partnership with customers helps develop the level of trust which makes the customer commit to staying in purchasing the products even if they don’t need it (Philips & Raspery 2).

The company’s competitive advantage is derived its exceptional culinary precision in serving Italian foods of genuine home made sources offers it a better competitive advantage over other businesses.

The firm configures its resources (employees, customers and suppliers) within a challenging environment to meet its demands and has also been able to offer its customers incentives that include buffers to gain competitive advantage over its competitor and as a strategy to retain and attract more customers. In addition, a strategic perspective would also require a company employing resources such as skills, assets, finance, relationships, facilities and technical competence.

On social and economical perspective, Mama Mancini development strategy involved passing off management leadership from one generation to the other, a strategy that pulls in new skills and products to the stale markets. Different ideas brought in by new members positively impacts on the productivity and profitability of a business and may have positive influence on the communities (Philips & Raspery 2).

The product position in marketing describes how a business creates its image or identity of their target markets. Mama Mancini for this instance has been able to maintain its Italian family for generations and its exceptional culinary precision in serving Italian foods of genuine home made sources offers it a better competitive advantage over other businesses.

The is has helped the company to be identified as an Italian Cuisine in all its branches opened all over Chicago and within the United States making their sales doubling over a period of five years. Even though the business was running at a loss for a period of five years, its strategy in serving exceptional meals at affordable prices made it achieve break even point on its third year in business (Philips & Raspery 3).

Strategy Paper 3: Product and Channels

The restaurant’s strategy to branch out into sauces enables it to gain niche markets that existed for the sauces of Mama Mancini. As demand the restaurants products increased, Mama Mancini started extending its services outside Chicago borders to more international borders such as Japan.

Mama Mancini product offering that include a variety of sauces to choose from has given the company a differential advantage over other competitors. The total numbers of branches opened by Mama Mancini over the past decades has had great impacts on the US GDP.

Capital expansion of the business is generated from firm’s reinvest into the business to support and perpetuate wealth for future generations. Also, its ability to make long term investments in opening up branches in different locations would subsequently help its future generations as opposed to the large corporation motives of short term returns (Philips & Raspery 4).

Small family owned businesses often face cash flow crunch problems and Mama Mancini is no exception. Its Income statement displays a negative cash flow in the first years of business. These small businesses were in the habit of short term planning, with simple budgets that projected only into the immediate future.

This could not enable them develop new markets and extend credit facilities to their clients due to the cash flow crunches they faced as result of overtrading as the case of Mama Mancini. Mama Mancini experienced overtrading within its first two years of trading since it had incurred large capital expenditure in purchasing production facility that made it difficult to meet orders it had already taken due to lack of funds.

Also, the business was not in a position to extend credit facilities to the customers and did not have enough buffers in case of such emergencies. However, Mama Mancini’s credit crunch improved over the years as the Company was able to build up on its profit base as owed to effective management of production and selling cycles (Philips & Raspery 4).

Family owned businesses often encounter the problem of retirement as opposed to large corporations. Most cases the founders of these enterprises pass on the management to younger family members that often welcome tensions and problems.

Research reveals that family businesses are concentrated upon the issue of effective succession of male family. Over the years families have tended to move away from transferring possession to their direct heirs to a shared leadership since the chosen successors may be incapable of handling the business and this makes more economic sense.

Multiple successors may offer advantage to the company because of the new ideas they bring into the business that may stimulate growth and performance of the enterprise. In the case of Mama Mancini, the founder of the business Arturo gracefully stepped aside to allow Bruno to capitalise on bringing new ideas and products into the business (Philips & Raspery 4).

Mama Mancini fulfils customer needs and provides benefits by developing its strategies on risk taking, innovation, productivity and independency thereby increasing firm’s productivity and personal responsibility to the economy.

This strategy enhances the firm’s strength and success and disables the burden during leadership transition. Since the firm has heavily invested in customer service, respect tradition and take good care of their employees contrary to large corporations, they are more likely to gain long term trust with its employees and to the clients as a whole.

And also, since Mama Mancini operates on attributes such as management status, family union and ownership, and share simultaneous roles, history, identity and language and their emotional involvement and acknowledgement of privacy gives them a caring heart about treating their employees fairly, luring family members into the business and providing jobs for the public (Philips & Raspery 4).

Brand name of a business may include family names, individual names or combination brand names. Mama Mancini for this case uses the Italian name Mancini to identify with classic Italian recipes and culture. Since the firm is involves majority members of its Italian family, direct family involvement and transition is passed on to multiple generations, which results into more businesses and larger economic contributions.

The excellent dishes provided by the restaurant and friendly working environment leads to satisfied employees and retention, productivity ultimately leading to good services thereafter, customer satisfaction and loyalty, key determinants to financial success (Taguiru and Davis 1).

Product life cycles are strategies a firm encounters when introducing a product to the markets. The stages include market introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and saturation and decline stage.

In market introduction stage, a firm always experiences low sales, no competition, create demand, incur high costs in product orientation and there are either makes little or no money. When sauces were first introduced Mama Mancini, family members were directly involved in the day-to-day running of the business with no compensation. Customers were charged relatively low prices and buffers were offered to returned customers.

In the growth stage, the restraint financed its activities through personal funds and resources to cover up the initial set up costs. The business was started with limited personal resources and continued to grow gradually through personal recommendations among the Italian community in Chicago, later extending to other networks across the United States.In maturity stage, the company starts to realize increased competition, sales volume increases and industrial profits go now.

For the restaurants case, the wide array of Italian music that is neither loud nor too slow adds more dining experience to the cultural atmosphere. In addition, the comfortable seats cushioned with avante-gard-styled booths helped the firm realize increased sales.

The water foundation and aluminium ceiling funs provides a cool atmosphere in hot summer days adding more serenity to the environment and the sensational, tasty and satisfying and the harmonise music the restaurant provides helps create the perfect ambiance that attracts more customers to the place. In my opinion, I would like to recommend the restaurant to build close relationships with its employees as a strategy to build customers loyalty and establishes viable business (Philips & Raspery 4).

Vertical marketing system is where members of a channel of distribution that comprises of producer, wholesaler and retailer work together to achieve business goal. Mama Mancini uses vertical marketing system since it configures its resources (employees, customers and suppliers) within a challenging environment to meet its demands.

The firm does not use any intermediaries since all restaurant activities are run by family members. Members of the channel that perform the regrouping activities are Mancini family members since they head most of the restraint branches all over United States. Vertical integration does not make sense in this case since all family members are involved in running of the business and there is no significant authority figure (Philips & Raspery 4).

Strategy Paper 4: Promotion and Pricing

Personal networking and interpersonal relationship in Mama Mancini Restaurant had greatly contributed to product promotion and pricing. Since small businesses may not have the advantages of huge advertisement budgets large corporate have, they are expected to go an extra mile to create their own brand recognition for their products through personal level of service they provide.

Numerous studies have concluded that success of small enterprises is owed to the heavy investment of the owners to the businesses and the hard work they put into the business to make their investment successful. These businesses never fall short on manpower as they tend to pull in their family members in case of emergencies unlike large corporate businesses.

Studies reveal that customers tend to favour family owned business due to the personalised services provided that ensures more satisfied customers, a key to success of any business (Ashley-Cotleur at al 10). Satisfied customers tend to spread the word faster than any other form of advertisement which favours small family owned businesses better.

A typical example is that of Mama Mancini’s. Clients who visit the restaurant frequently due to the remarkable high quality home made sauce and personalised services recommend the place to other people which validate the principle Philips & Rasbery states to be “the best form of advertising there is.” (3).

Mama Mancini’s another subsequent branches opened all over Chicago have thrived because it invested heavily from its family resources and the exception services it provides to its clients.

The goals of the business

According to a study conducted by (Taguiru and Davis 1), Mancini’s business were discovered to be functioning within six goals; developing new products, financial security and benefits for the family, created a home based work environment and concentrated on personal growth and autonomy.

Mancini’s business goals were of a family oriented that provided more personal nature to the business and opposed to a sheer monetary motivation as evident in most non-family businesses worldwide. A more distinguishing feature about family business is that they offer interactive working environment and tight relationships very different from the impersonal, corporate culture relationships seen in most large businesses.

This makes them very responsible for the success of the business and economic productivity since employees work in a happy atmosphere which enhances good services and attracts more customers. Prices of Mama Mancini foods are consistence in its entire stores all over United Stated and products of the company are not priced according to competitors from other companies. Low priced dishes in Mama Mancini have been able to attract more customers into buying the company’s products.

Conclusion

The study question at the beginning of this research was to examine the factors that contributed to economic success of family owned small business and it has become clear that personal networking and interpersonal relationship contributed greatly to the success of the business. Small business back in the day faced finance problems and credit crunch, but since loans are available today, adequate planning and creativity can enable long term planning.

In my opinion, Mama Mancini’s has showed a perfect example on how small businesses are backbone of the economy. The government should step in and offer attractive loan facilities that attract low interest rates to these enterprises to stimulate their growth. It took Mama Mancini five years to penetrate other markets, if affordable loans were in place, that wouldn’t have been the case and more jobs would have been generated sooner.

Works Cited

Ashley-Cotleur, Catherine., & Sandra,West. “Family Business and Relationship

Marketing: The Impacts of Relationship Marketing On Second Generation Family Business”. Frostburg State University, vol .35 (2000) pp. 1-14.

Dissanayale, Kumudinei. “The construction of Organizational Structure;

Connection with Autopoietic System Thoery” Contemporary Management Research, vol.2, issue 2 (2006) pp.1-12.

Philips, Mancini & Raspery, Stephen. “Welcome to Mancini’s Not just a place to eat great food, but a restaurant to have the perfect meal” Good life, October Issue, (2002). pp.1-4.

Tagiuri, Davis, J & Swarts, Stephen. “The challenges of multi-displinary consulting to family owned businesses”. Family Business Review, 2(1989.):pp.1

Background

Hot Oven Restaurant has experienced a reduction in sales because of different reasons which have affected its operations negatively. The firm is looking for a way to improve its performance in the market to increase its revenues. Hot Oven restaurant is a fast food chain located in Manhattan, and serves mainly blue collar workers who work nearby.

Hot Oven Restaurant has been in business for the last two years and in this period, it has never registered positive results in its operations. It has been making losses which have had a negative effect on its growth prospects. Hot Oven’s menu is basic and only caters for blue collar workers who consume their meals quickly before going back to work. Hot Oven Restaurant has eight employees who perform different functions such as waiting tables, cleaning dishes and cooking restaurant meals.

Many clients have complained about different issues regarding the quality of services offered by the restaurant which has affected its reputation in the market. Customers have complained that the firm’s menu is very basic and needs to be expanded to cater for a wide variety of consumer preferences. They have also complained that the firm’s employees are not polite and this discourages them from making return visits to the restaurant.

They have asked the management on several occasions to make quality improvements to satisfy their expectations, but their requests have not been addressed. The restaurant recently registered a loss in its end of year results which is not encouraging for its long term prospects. Its owner has realized that the time has come to initiate a shift in business strategy to enable the restaurant grow its revenues in the market. This research project seeks to identify ways through which the firm can carry out internal improvements in its operations.

Situation Analysis

Hot Oven Restaurant has been in operation for the last two years. The restaurant mainly serves Blue Collar workers who work in Manhattan. The firm has not made any profits in the last two financial years and this has impacted negatively on its operations. The restaurant offers fast food meals to its clients who do not have the luxury of eating in a relaxed environment.

The restaurant faces serious challenges as it seeks to restructure its operations to help it improve its performance in the market. Hot Oven’s market strategy is not effective and this has slowed down its growth. The restaurant needs to introduce new services which add value to its status in the market to help it grow its revenues.

Core Problem/ Opportunity

The firm operates in open environment where the market is not highly differentiated. Its competitors are small eateries which target a similar customer base. This provides the firm with a good opportunity to add value to services it offers in the restaurant to improve their levels of satisfaction. Hot Oven needs to carry out a market study to determine needs and expectations of its clients.

The firm needs to gather more information from its clients to understand their perceptions and opinions regarding its services in the market. This approach will help the firm to improve its performance because it will understand which key areas of its operations need to be improved. This will help the restaurant to increase the amount of sales revenues it receives. Hot Oven needs to improve the quality of all its operations to become more competitive in the market.

This will have a positive impact on its reputation in the market because it will help the firm establish strong relationships with its clients. Hot Oven should assess opportunities and challenges it is likely to experience in the market it operates in. This will help the firm’s management to understand if these new strategies are viable for its long term operations or not.

Goal

The restaurant wants to become one of the best in Manhattan by offering personalized and high quality services to its clients. It intends to improve its reputation in the market by offering an expanded menu and additional services to help it grow its revenues.

Objectives

To increase the number of items on the menu to enable the firm cater to a wide variety of clients.

To increase the firm’s sales and revenues in the next three to six months.

To introduce additional services to help increase the firm’s sources of revenue.

To open up new branches in other sections of Manhattan in the next two years to increase Hot Oven’s market share in the area.

To establish long term relationships with its clients through constant communication between employees and clients.

The restaurant intends to review its long term strategies to make them more responsive to customer needs and expectations.

To introduce delivery services to customers at an additional fee to enable them access meals and drinks while at home, work or school.

The firm seeks to improve and expand internal sitting arrangements to make customers more comfortable while dining in the restaurant.

Hot Oven intends to improve its supply chain functions to enable it source fresh produce in time without any delays.

Hot Oven seeks to improve its payment systems to enable customers pay for their services through credit and debit cards.

Hypothesis

Hot Oven needs to increase the number of services it offers its clients to help it grow its revenues in the market.

Expansion of Hot Oven’s Target Market

Hot Oven’s target market consists of blue collar workers who work in various sections of Manhattan. The restaurant sells fast foods because its clients prefer packed meals and beverages which they can consume quickly before they go back to work. The restaurant’s internal atmosphere and sitting arrangement does not favor a relaxed dining experience and this discourages some potential clients who do not want to eat their meals in a rush.

The firm’s strategy of selling to lower segments of the market does not serve it well and it needs to change this strategy to improve its long term growth prospects. The firm needs to target other clients to increase its sales in the market. This approach will help the firm to become more competitive in the market (Nargundkar 76).

Hot Oven needs to target clients who like hosting large parties to establish long term relationships with them. It needs to introduce outside catering services to these clients to help it grow its sales revenues and earnings. Hot Oven Restaurant needs to create synergies with event planning firms to enable it provide meals and catering services in different events such as: weddings, graduation parties, birthday celebrations, company launches and reunion parties.

Outside catering services will help the firm to improve its profile in the market which will help it grow the size of its operations in the long term. This approach will help Hot Oven Restaurant to increase its revenue sources which will make the firm more competitive in the market (Nargundkar 87).

Hot Oven needs to begin serving alcoholic drinks and other cocktails in the evenings to enable it attract new clients. The restaurant needs to divide and improve its internal sitting arrangements to attract new clients who seek a relaxing experience. It is necessary for Hot Oven to engage young segments of the market consisting of young men and women who prefer to hang out with their friends and school mates in relaxing environments. The firm needs to target college students and young working class clients aged 21 to 35.

This segment consists of people who are more outgoing and engage in different types of entertainment activities. Hot Oven needs introduce cocktails and other drinks on its menu which can be served to these clients in the evening. The firm needs to encourage young people to try out its cocktails to help it grow its revenues. The restaurant needs to change its décor to have a more relaxed atmosphere in its premises to make clients who visit enjoy spending their time there (Bradley 56).

The firm should consider hiring out its premises to other parties to conduct functions and ceremonies there. The restaurant is located in an open area and has adequate parking space which gives it an advantage.

Hot Oven Restaurant can market itself as an ideal venue for parties, meetings and other ceremonies which clients may be interested in. However, for this to be successful, the restaurant needs to redesign its décor and sitting arrangements. It should also install public address systems and security cameras to boost the confidence of its clients (Bradley 62).

Business Strategies

Strategy 1

The firm needs to source funds for its expansion by obtaining loans from financial firms. Hot Oven’s management need to restructure the firm’s business plan to show the changes they intend to make in its operations. Hot Oven needs to have a more solid capital base to enable it effect crucial improvements in its internal operations and processes .

The firm’s management needs to develop a strong financial strategy which will guide the manner in which new sources of capital obtained by the firm will be used. The firm’s management will also have to look at priority areas in the firm and the amount of money to be used to improve these areas.

Strategy 2

The firm needs to improve the quality of its services to make its clients more satisfied. Hot Oven employees need to be trained on effective customer care skills, which will help them serve clients better. The firm needs to introduce internal quality systems to ensure all products and services which are sold to customers have complied with high quality standards.

The management also needs to introduce routine inspections to ensure all internal processes comply with all health standards. It is important for managers to encourage customers to give their feedback regarding services offered to assess the quality of their operations.

Strategy 3

Hot Oven needs to market its improved service portfolio to help it gain positive publicity which will enable it attract new clients. The firm should conduct various promotional campaigns to prepare the market for the shift in market strategy it intends to implement. This will attract more attention to the firm’s services thereby strengthening its position in the market.

Hot Oven needs to design brochures and other fliers which outline changes in its menu and how this benefits customers. The restaurant should use other platforms such as radio, print media and social networking websites to advertise its services so as to attract more clients.

Strategy 4

The firm needs to conduct a market survey to understand perceptions and opinions of customers regarding new changes proposed. This market survey will help the firm to determine which areas of its operations need to be improved to enable it stay competitive in the market. The feedback obtained from clients can be used to make effective changes in internal policies of the firm. Hot Oven Restaurant needs to establish strong relationships with its clients to improve its reputation in the market. A market survey will help the firm understand the behavior of its clients and how it can satisfy their needs better.

Strategy 5

The restaurant needs to improve its internal policies to increase efficiency and productivity. It needs to comply with all licensing, health and environmental regulations to ensure that its services conform to established legal expectations. Financial processes in the organization need to be streamlined to strengthen accountability and integrity.

The firm needs to move away from cash transactions and payments to strengthen internal payment procedures. Hot Oven Restaurant needs to strengthen its human resource policies to ensure the welfare of its workers is catered for properly. The restaurant’s employees need to be taken through more training to improve their skills at work. This will make them more suitable to perform different functions in the firm.

Evaluation Criteria and Tools

The firm need to implement several evaluation techniques to assess the quality of its operations. The firm can use the SWOT analysis tool to evaluate the effectiveness of its business strategies. The SWOT analysis will help the firm’s management to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Hot Oven Restaurant is likely to face in its market environment.

This tool will help the firm’s management to formulate long term strategies which will guide how its internal and external operations will be conducted. This analysis will help the firm’s management to determine the viability of different ideas generated and how they affect its operations in the market. The management will be in a position to set priorities and come up with effective measures to achieve them (Kolb 69).

Results from consumer surveys will be crucial in helping the firm to evaluate if it meets and satisfies the needs of its customers. These surveys will be used to evaluate customer care issues in the firm and how they can be improved to make customers more loyal. These surveys will guide the firm’s marketing teams to develop new products and services.

The marketing team will be in a position to determine the viability of different ideas from consumers before they are developed further. Consumer surveys will make it possible for the firm to evaluate its performance in the market (Kolb 71).

The firm’s management needs to monitor media content highlighting the firm and its services to analyse perceptions that exist in the market regarding its services (Kolb 76). The firm needs to evaluate content on radio stations, blogs, social networking sites and magazines to understand customers’ opinions regarding the quality of its services. The media has a lot of influence on consumer behavior and this requires the firm to assess the publicity it gets in the media to implement proper practices in its operations.

The firm needs to do inspections four times in a year to determine if its operations conform to proper health, safety and environmental standards. Employees need to be assessed to determine their suitability to discharge various functions assigned to them. It is necessary for the firm to conduct audits twice every year to establish if its finances are being handled properly.

Financial audits will help the firm to determine if it is making profits or losses. Inspections and audits will help to strengthen the firm’s internal operations. The firm will be in a position to review all its operations to find out if they are competitive or not (Kolb 79).

Works Cited

Bradley, Nigel. Marketing Research: Tools and Techniques. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Kolb, Bonita. Marketing Research: A Practical Approach. London: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.

Nargundkar, Rajendra. Marketing Research: Text and Cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.

Executive Summary

The purpose of the report is to provide the results of developing and evaluating the improvement strategy for Tim Hortons Inc., basing on the credible simulation model. Tim Hortons Inc. is a fast food chain which specialises in serving breakfasts with branded coffee and donuts and lunches with a great selection of soups and sandwiches. Lunches are discussed as the peak hours in the restaurants.

The peak hours during the lunch time at the definite Tim Hortons restaurant are the focus of this study. The proposed and evaluated scenarios can be considered as not optimal or appropriate for checking during the other hours or at the other Tim Hortons restaurants which differ in their arrival patterns.

To develop the credible model and evaluate several alternative scenarios to choose the most effective strategy for implementing in this Tim Hortons restaurant, the simulation program Simul8 was used. Referring to the simulation study results, it is possible to check the work of improvements and to choose the most appropriate variant for the Tim Hortons restaurant.

Current Situation

Tim Hortons is a fast food chain which provides the complex breakfasts and lunches for customers. The brand’s well-known coffee and donuts are served during breakfasts (Cormack 2008). Soups, sandwiches, and cakes are usually served during lunches. The lunchtime (11:00AM – 1:00PM) can be discussed as the peak hours because of the significant amount of customers coming to the restaurant.

To design the simulation model, it is necessary to use the factual data related to the situation at Tim Hortons restaurants (Fullerton 2005). Regularly, five employees work with customers, serving the lunch. One or two of the servers are responsible to perform as cashiers. These servers have the duty to take small orders, spending few minutes to work with them. The other servers are responsible for preparing dishes to complete the orders (soups, salads, sandwiches).

Customers who wait for small orders (‘type 1’ customers) can join the queue at the cash register. The cashier is responsible for taking and filling the customers’ orders.

Ordering soups, salads, or sandwiches, customers pay for the products at the cash register. The next step is to join the other queue to wait for completing and providing the order.

Objectives

The spending less time per customer which leads to providing the service for more customers per hour is the main objective to develop the credible model. The expected outcomes of the strategy are the increase of the overall profit till 90% in 6 months because of working with more customers.

It is necessary to concentrate on the average wait time for a customer which is no more than 1 minute before being served.

The adequate workload of the employees should be taken into consideration.

Assumptions

To model the system and a credible variant to implement in the restaurant, influential assumptions have been discussed.

1. It is assumed that cashiers can perform the same tasks at the same rate.

2. Moreover, the servers of all types perform the same tasks at the same rate in spite of their primary duties and the number of customers observed.

3. Two days at the end of the working week are chosen to create the model and make conclusions about the customer arrivals. The lunchtime (11:00AM – 1:00PM) is under discussion.

4. The focus of this study is on peak hours. The definite Tim Hortons restaurant is chosen. The developed scenarios can be considered as not appropriate for checking the situation during the other hours or at the other Tim Hortons restaurants. The problem in the fact the restaurants differ in their arrival patterns.

5. The time series of seconds throughput (units per seconds) to show the warm up time.

Verification and Validation

Verification and validation are important to state about the credibility and appropriateness of the model used (Speziale 2010; Zeigler 2000). To find and fix errors in the conceptual model, the verification procedure was performed basing on static and dynamic checks (Turban et al. 2000).

Such aspects as downtime, distributions, output routing, specifications, and underlying assumptions were taken into consideration to provide static checks. To ensure that the model was implemented correctly dynamic checks with references to the output and speed results in relation to 20 independent runs were presented.

Performance measures should be checked simultaneously with visual checks (Abdel 2008). Thus, to confirm the model’s correctness, the visual logic code was used along with inspecting the animation of the model during 4 full system runs.

Validation is the checking procedure which states the correlation of the model’s work with the real world situation (Pace 2004). Referring to the specifics of the study and model used, it is necessary to pay attention to the white box validation because of impossibility to refer to the real world validation (Zahir et al. 2000). The accents were made on proving the relevance of the model with references to the sample of 70 runs. The expected results are confirmed, and the fact allows speaking about the general validity of the model proposed.

References

Abdel, A 2008, Simulation and modeling: current technologies and applications, IGI Pub., USA.

Cormack, P 2008, “‘True Stories’ of Canada: Tim Hortons and the branding of national identity”, Cultural Sociology, vol. 2 no. 3, pp. 369-384.

Fullerton, G 2005, “The impact of brand commitment on loyalty to retail service brands”, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, vol. 22 no. 2, pp. 97–110.

Speziale, R 2010, Lessons from the successful investor, Robin Speziale, USA.

Pace, D 2004, “Modeling and simulation verification and validation challenges”, Johns Hopkins Technical Digest, vol. 25, no. 2, 163-172.

Turban, E, Lee, J, King, D, & Chung, H 2000, Electronic commerce: a managerial perspective, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Zahir, I, Hlupic, V, Baldwin, L, & Love, P 2000, “Re-engineering manufacturing processes through simulation modelling”, Logistics Information Management, vol. 13 no. 1, 7-13.

Zeigler, B 2000, Theory of modelling and simulation, Academic Press, USA.

Introduction

The study focuses on incorporating service marketing in the restaurant industry. There are over 8 million restaurants in the world today and over 300,000 restaurant companies. These restaurants are either full service restaurant or a fast food chain. However, the growth rate of the fast food chain in the world has superseded the full service restaurants (Parsa and Kwansa, 2002).

This gives rise to the numerous business opportunities in the development of fast food restaurants all over the world. It was such an opportunity that was seized by Old Chang Kee which has developed into being a major fast food chain in Singapore.

Background information of Old Chang Kee

Old Chang Kee is a fast food restaurant in Singapore. This food chain restaurant has a very humble beginning. It started as a very small coffee shop outside Rex Cinema along Mackenzie road. It specialized in serving people with curried diets that were loved by many residents.

Among its major pastries are curried potatoes, chicken, slices of chicken fried with herbs and spices. The customer service ensured that deliveries were tailored for each customer. As a result, torrents of Singaporeans wanted to visit the Old Chang Kee outlet. The hotel’s management under the pioneer leadership of Mr. Han’s management since 1886 has ensured that the business has grown and traversed into a major brand in the Singaporean fast food industry.

The first objective of Mr. Han when he took over the management was to re-engineer the company so that it would modernize its business operations to meet the demands of its customers. He proposed a new system that would guarantee absolute improvement in the quality of services that were being offered at that time.

This re-strategizing of the restaurants’ ways of operating resulted to the initiation of more aggressive competitive programs and this led to the growth of the restaurant whereby it has more than fifty outlets in Singapore, more than three in China, two in Malaysia and more than four in Indonesia. Another strategy that won the market share for the restaurant was the introduction of more diets in its menu such as the Sardine “O” and the Pepper ”O” that won the hearts of many Singaporeans.

This has ensured that the company has been able to keep up with the trend in the customer satisfaction that has been diversifying due to the entry of more international fast food restaurant like the MacDonald Singapore franchise. Due to its growth and ability to evolve along with the customer’s requirements, Old Chang Kee restaurant has won a number of prestigious awards among them being the Singapore SPBA distinct brand awards of 2005 (Parsa and Kwansa, 2002).

Service Marketing

Service refers to the value co-creation that is achieved when there is interaction in the service systems that are involved in the creation, proposing of the absolute realization of the propositioned values that are expected to be realized. These propositions in the service system include goods and services that are delivered to clients. These propositions involve customers-provider interactions in which the provider create the service and the customer seeks to purchase (Patokallio, 2008).

The definition of the term service will help the reader understand actually what Old Chang Kee restaurants Singapore entails and in the completion of critically evaluating the service marketing of this restaurant in Singapore.

Service marketing is defined as the study of the creation of value adding interactions between the customer and the provider of the service that can be derived from the economic service, be it a service provider or an activity that entails the provision of services to customers (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2005). Service marketing transcends all forms of marketing tools and marketing methods as it puts more emphasis on the delivery of quality services that are oriented on customer satisfaction.

The delivery of the services depends on demand forecasting by the organization management, carrying out of accurate market segmentation and proper pricing of the services that are to be delivered, creation of customer loyalty and development of services that will sustain (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2005).

Old Chang Kee Service Main Product

Old Chang Kee main products will be serving of customers with curried foods alongside the local snacks. Each of the meals falls under either “O” food and snack products, the “Onstik” or the “feel’n” categories.

Old Chang Kee Service Blue Print

The line of the provider of the services, in this case Old Chang Kee represents that very instance the customer walk into the restaurant and gets the chance to interact with the management of the restaurant and in most this is by word of mouth. The interaction is usually between the customer and the waiter who welcomes them and asks them to make the order. The line that involves the customer versus customer interaction represents the actions that happen outside the restaurant and they involve the customers only.

For instance, the interaction between A and B may involve A telling B of the services that are being provided at the restaurant. This line in the service blueprint uses the word of mouth as the means to relaying the information over board. The line that involves the interaction of the service provider and the customer who visits the restaurant entails the one-on-one interaction between the customer and the service provider. It excludes all the other interactions that have taken place in advance.

The line of visibility section in the service blueprint of Old Chang Kee restaurant entails what a customer is able to see as the service delivery is taking place. This involves the physical structures that are in the restaurant, the mode of service delivery that is displayed by the waiters of Old Chang Kee restaurant. For instance, conversation may seek to inquire on the professionalism of the waiters and the quality of the food served at the restaurant.

The line that incorporates internal interaction in the restaurant brings out all the distinctions in the types of services that are being provided. That is, it separates services that bring value addition to the restaurant services which are the core reasons for its existence from the other services that are meant to support the service delivery processes in the restaurant.

The line of customer influence differentiates in the blueprint marks the differences that are exhibited by the services that are preplanned by the restaurant’s management in the service delivery protocols from the services that are induced by the customer during the service delivery process. This customer induced services provide a business opportunity for the restaurant to expand or the possibility of a new service that may attract more customers to the Old Chang Kee restaurants (Parsa and Kwansa, 2002).

Failures That Can Be Experienced in the Service Marketing

The possibility of service failures in the delivery of Old Chang Kee restaurant services may be encountered. They may happen in the following ways. First, if a customer’s interaction with Old Chang Kee restaurant employees’ ends up in customer dissatisfaction. This may make the unsatisfied customer feel negative about the restaurant. This is most likely to start if a customer demands for a service, but the employee responding to him is not in a position to give satisfying answers.

For instance, the customer may be complaining of wrong billing which has high possibility of happening if the management is not vigilant enough. This may invoke exchange of words between the customer and the waiter who was serving him or her. Another instance that may arise in customer dissatisfaction is the delay in the delivery of an order. The waiting may leave the customer dissatisfied (Parsa and Kwansa, 2002; Gummesson, 2007).

The service marketing strategies that are applied by Old Chang Kee restaurant and the service delivery that is represented in the restaurant’s blueprint is prone to biased interpretation from the customers. The customer interpretation is then spread around by word of mouth. This happens where a given customer explains certain aspects of the service delivery of Old Chang Kee to another customer is per their individual interpretation of the politeness and responsiveness of the waiters in the restaurants.

This interpretation is prone to negativity which can be propagated by others and this could have a disastrous outcome to Old Chang Kee. This is because its service marketing objectives may be derailed by people in their own interpretation and consequently, leading to loss in market share (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2005).

The quality of life is improving in the globe with changing variances in the demand indexes that are being expressed by consumers in all dimensions of consumption. The consumers are demanding more quality products as they continuously acquire knowledge on the quality of service delivered. This has caused the consumer expectations to rise and the trend is escalating continuously over the years. This has made the delivery of services to improve tremendously along with better quality products by the providers.

The restaurant has been experiencing an increase in the number of people who are demanding food that is customized to fit their dietary recommendations by their nutritionists. For instance, the amount of calories in the food being served in the restaurant has to be within a customer’s tailored recommendations.

This customization is based either on health consciousness of the customers, cultural background, religious orientation, past consumer experiences in the type of food that had been served has posed a major challenge in the service marketing of Old Chang Kee restaurant to cope with and maintain customer satisfaction at optimum and at the same time retain customer loyalty (Hoffman2 and Bateson2, 2001).

Another failure that is exhibited in service marketing is the inability of the customers to identify all the services that are offered by Old Chang Kee restaurant. These customers are only likely to identify the services that they are used to. This problem is fatal and this is because in case a new product that is developed by the restaurant may take time to attract a commendable market share because of the customers’ inability to identify all the services that are available in these restaurants (Hoffman¹ and Bateson¹, 2010).

Recommendation to Overcome the Failures that Could Experienced in the Old Chang Kee Service Marketing

It should be noted that customer reaction to failures in the business is usually very critical. Therefore, Old Chang management should be equally strong and effective in coming up with processes and procedures that will eliminate the shortcomings that will come with the negative impressions that are created in case of a failure in its service delivery program. It should be cautious because negativity is easily spread in the grapevine communication.

The problem in keeping up with the changes in customer tastes, preferences and request for better services from Old Chang Kee restaurant can only be overcome if the management comes up with good systems that will capture all the customer enquiries, analyze them and after identifying fundamental queries, it should initiate the way to go around them to ensure customer satisfaction is being met.

It should be able to keep up with the socio-cultural evolution of the society. This will enable the fast chain outlet to come up with changes and be able to serve them optimally.

The problem of organization objectives or service delivery practices misinterpretation can be reversed if the management keenly takes the necessary steps such as making its objectives known to all customers. This will be achieved through rigorous advertising of the services that the restaurant offers to its customers.

This will also be achieved by having a good public relations forum with its customers. It is here that it will be able to address the issues of misinterpretation among other rumors that are meant to tarnish the credibility of the restaurant to deliver quality food and snacks to its customers.

The possibly of dissatisfaction by customers in Old Chang Kee restaurant is at minimal levels due to the professionalism exhibited by the management and its employees in the delivery of the services. In case dissatisfaction is experienced, the management should handle it whole heartedly to ensure that the issues arising are eliminated.

This can be achieved if the real cause of the dissatisfaction is identified and the management comes up with appropriate guidelines that will alleviate the problem. For instance, if it arose due to an incorrect billing, the management can ensure that this problem is not repeated by having a professional accountant to do the billing.

This problem of customer’s inability to identify all the services that are offered by the restaurants can be alleviated if the management carries out vigorous advertisement programs that aim at popularizing all the products.

The advertisements can involve the issuance of free samples for the relatively popular meals and snacks. It can also employ the use of buy one get one free marketing strategy. This is because it will act as an incentive to stimulate the customers to buy the product from Old Chang Kee. This will win some of the customers who try its products and thus gaining a market share for each of the new products.

Conclusion

The study has defined the term service marketing and related it to the restaurant industry. It has come up with general insights that are vital to the reader that will enable any interested reader to identify market servicing as a very important sector for the success of any business.

The paper has also come up with a service blueprint of a restaurant. This blueprint has achieved the objective of outlining how the restaurant activities are undertaken to meet its obligation to satisfy the customers at all times. Therefore, it is evident that for effective marketing of a service delivery industry, it should also carry a service marketing analysis before embarking on the actual production process.

Reference List

Gummesson, E. (2007). Exit services marketing – enter service marketing. Customer Behaviour, 6( 2), Pp. 113-141(29)

Hoffman, K. D¹., Bateson, J., E., G¹,2010. Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, & Cases. Upper Saddle River: Cengage Learning.

Hoffman, K. D²., Bateson, J.,E.,G², 2001. Essentials of services marketing: concepts, stragies & cases. Harcourt College Publishers.

Parsa, H., G., Kwansa, F., A, 2002. Quick Service Restaurants, Franchising, and Multi- Unit Chain Management . New York: Routledge.

Patokallio, J., 2008. Wikitravel Singapore: the Free, Complete, Up-to-Date and Reliable Guide to Singapore .Wikitravel Press.

Zeithaml, V., A., Bitner, M., J., Gremler, D., D, 2005. Services marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm.New York: McGraw-Hill.

Food is one of the crucial and basic necessities that must be satisfied on a daily basis for human survival. This creates demand for food which in turn leads to the existent of restaurant and other food offering services. In this paper, we will discuss the factors that determine whether to eat out, choosing where to eat and whether to return to the restaurant in the future.

The reasons why people eat out are social and psychological. Some of the reasons include; to meet a person, enjoy, party, relax and to have something different from home. The main cause for dining out in most occasions is to get fast foods. Financial ability and time availability are also important factors that must be considered when making a decision to dine out. It is cheaper to eat at home than go out.

Restaurant business deal with both tangible and intangible products and these is what determines success in the industry. Food is a tangible product and it has effect on customer satisfaction in the manner it is cooked and served. If the customer finds the food to be delicious, it will be obvious he or she would want to return to the restaurant in the future.

On the other hand if the food is not good according to the customer’s remarks then it is likely that he or she will not return. Customer treatment and a favorable environment to enjoy and have a good time are the intangible factors that affect customer satisfaction and the decision to return.

In conclusion, food quality and services offered in a restaurant are the key factors that determine if the customer will eat out, where to eat and whether to return. Investors in the restaurant industry should therefore, take these factors into consideration to ensure efficiency and success in their operations.

Works Cited

Walker, John Introduction to Hospitality. Upper Saddle River: Publisher Prentice Hall Higher Education, 2008.

Comment:

The decision making issue is well explained as well as the reason to eat out. The intangible definition is not well described as the student states it as the decision making aspect. An intangible is a product that cannot be physically touched it is only felt emotionally, physically or socially. These intangibles include customer treatment and enjoyment felt after consumption. I agree with the point on attractiveness of the environment as this will greatly influence the decision to eat in a restaurant and whether to return in the future. When excellent services are offered financial and distant constraints are always overlooked.

Supply chain management deals with the integration of different business operations across the supply chain. By doing this, it lays more emphasis on employees, management, stakeholders’ and customers (Hines 2004, p. 21). Ms Nok should be engaged in effective supply chain management because of unexpected surge in demand.

This means that she will have to integrate various processes by making good use of supply chain management. She can enhance this by looking at forecasts, demand signals, transportation, inventories and any potential contributions that might come about in the course of doing business.

The restaurant will deal in foodstuffs that have a longer shelf life and those ones that have a short shelf life. This therefore demands an effective approach to inventory management. Supply chain management can be used to address various problems (Hines 2004, p. 27). Since this is a restaurant business, it must come up with a good distribution strategy. This will ensure that all customers are effectively attended to.

Aspects of Supply chain management

Supply chain management can address various trade-offs in logistical activities. This means that all activities should be properly coordinated. In the long run, the restaurant will be in a better position to operate more cost effectively. These trade-offs are very important in the development of an effective approach to supply chain management.

In a broad perspective, supply chain management is supposed to deal with the configuration of the restaurants distribution network. This will look at the network, mission of suppliers and their location. In addition, it can be done after a clear assessment of distributors and their warehouses has been carried out (Lavassani 2008, p. 13).

Proper supply chain execution should revolve around effective coordination and management of information. Successful organizations should focus on flexibility and adherence to core business competencies. Supply chain management can be outsourced to reduce on costs and enhance organizational activities (Hines 2004, p. 32). However, this is not advisable in the hospitality and restaurant business that demands a lot of personal commitment.

Supply chain management has created a lot of interest and focus because of the urge to satisfy diverse consumer interests. This means that it is supposed to improve trust and also on the other hand enhance collaboration (among supply chain partners). In this case, supply chain activities can still be grouped for efficiency.

For the restaurant to compete well and attract a good number of customers, it is supposed to increasingly rely on effective supply chain management. This is should be done in relation to the ever changing competitive business environment and networked economy. The business should therefore embrace a collaborative supply network because of the nature of foodstuffs (Lavassani 2008, p. 16). Good supply chain management will be achieved through effective internal management structures.

This will ensure that customers are attended to without any problem. Because of persistent changes in the business environment, the restaurant should build a good supply chain network. Technology should be used to coordinate its supply chain network because of unexpected number of customers. In addition, supply chain integration is also needed. This means that the restaurants’ management will have to relate well with different suppliers.

It should be understood that suppliers play an important role in value chain addition. This can be explained from the fact that timely supplies will ensure that customers are satisfied. For the business to operate a fully integrated supply chain, it should ensure that information is properly shared (Hines 2004, p. 39).

Recommendations

Ms Nok needs a good and effective supply chain strategy. In this case, she should look at the key supply chain processes. This will include, demand management, customer relationship and service management, order fulfillment, returns management and supplier relationship management (Thareja 2008, p. 11).

Demand management is necessary as it will help the business to know the number of customers to expect at a given time. In this case, they will be able to order enough foodstuffs in time. Foodstuffs that have a longer shelf life can be ordered early based on the number of customers that are expected. On the other hand, foodstuffs that have a short shelf life can be ordered after a clear assessment of demand patterns has been done (Thareja 2008, p. 15).

Customer relationship and service management will enable employees and the management to relate well with customers at a personal level. By doing this, they will be able to know their individual needs. On the other hand, it is a source of information. The business should strive to maintain and establish good customer rapport.

This will enable the business to order for enough stocks. In the long run, the restaurant will be in a good position to enhance customer loyalty. Customer loyalty can be used for sustainability. Supplier relationship management is important for effective supplier chain management.

This is because suppliers determine if the business will be able to meet diverse consumer interests as per their expectations. Ms Nok should specifically focus on foodstuffs that have a short shelf life. These suppliers are supposed to be highly flexible. Flexibility can only be guaranteed if the management will be able to maintain a good relationship with these suppliers. For a good supplier relationship, the management should be credit and trust worthy.

The purchasing department is supposed to place for orders from suppliers after looking at various requirements. This can be understood by looking at demand patterns. Ms Nok can use her database to know the amount of perishables that are consumed in a single day (Malcolm 2000, p. 21). Such perishables can not be ordered in advance as customers need to be served with fresh foodstuffs. This is the only way that the business will be able to build its name and reputation.

In addition, the marketing department is supposed to be more vibrant. This will enable them to respond to various customer needs. The marketing department can be able to project the number of customers that will visit the restaurant and help the management in making enough orders. Increased marketing means that more customers will be reached. For these customers to be satisfied, the restaurant should be able to have enough stocks of perishable foodstuffs and those ones that have a longer shelf life.

Customer forecasting is also needed to prepare the restaurant for any increase in the number of customers. This can be achieved by ensuring that there is a good and efficient customer feedback program (Lavassani 2008, p. 27). Strategic plans should also be drawn up with suppliers to ensure that they are reliable as far as both foodstuffs are concerned. This will create a win-win situation for both the restaurant and suppliers.

Quality management

A successful restaurant needs effective quality management. Quality management should lay more emphasis on the quality of services and products. In addition, it should also look at the means of achieving this. The restaurant will be bale to attract customers by ensuring that it maintains quality. For the restaurant to achieve this, it should use various management principles (Mulcaster 2009, p. 24).

These principles will involve the enhancement of the restaurants activities by laying more emphasis on customers and effective decision making. Leadership should be geared towards value addition. This is because good leadership will ensure that activities are properly coordinated in the restaurant. Employees will produce good results and quality services through good leadership (Malcolm 2000, p. 29).

Ms Nok should ensure that customers are satisfied through quality products and services. This means that foodstuffs should meet expected standards. Quality food and close customer attention will guarantee more customers. This should be done in compliance with hospitality ethics and expectations. Quality management in the restaurant can also be enhanced and improved by involving customers in business activities.

This can be done through feedbacks on areas they want see an improvement. For example, customers can demand a change in the menu. In the long run, they will be part of the restaurant and as a matter of fact they end up more satisfied (Murray & Richardson 2002, p. 9). The restaurant should continually improve its services every now and then. This should be done in relation to the current market trends. As a matter of fact, continual improvement of services is necessary and vital in the hospitality industry.

Quality assessment

Quality assessment will be used to measure quality by setting good standards. It will tell if the restaurant has achieved its expectations as far as quality is concerned. On the other hand, quality assessment can be said to be the measurement of quality. There are various techniques that can be used for quality assessment. Ms Nok can use total quality control, quality control and quality assurance (Lavassani 2008, p. 13).

Total quality control will focus on the customer to define quality based on the services that they have been offered at the restaurant. This will be achieved by embracing teamwork in the unification of goals. Products in the hospitality industry are very perishable and the restaurant should frequently involve customers in service delivery. This means that products can not be stock piled but must be produced on demand (Tueth 2010, p. 11).

Because it might not be easy to determine customer requirements, it will be necessary to involve them in coming up with good standards. The restaurant will therefore use feedbacks to measure performance. Quality assurance should also be used to asses’ quality as far as the restaurants operations are concerned. In this case, services should satisfy customer expectations.

Customers can also have their own perceptions on quality. Quality in service delivery will be enhanced by aligning the restaurants operations within the frameworks of the hospitality industry. These frameworks will be used to contrast various customer expectations. The restaurant can come up with good ways of monitoring and setting their own service standards. This will be done by welcoming suggestions on actions that can be adopted to enhance quality (Malcolm 2000, p. 21).

Quality control will be done by reviewing all the factors of production. This will enable the restaurant to achieve high levels of consumer satisfaction. Ms Nok can achieve this by laying more emphasis on competence. Competence will encompass qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge. Other soft elements like motivation, confidence, team spirit and personal integrity can also be used to enhance quality. The restaurant can achieve this by using tastes to uncover defects (Tueth 2010, p. 11).

These defects will then be reported to the management for them to make the right decisions. In the long run, the management will be in a good position to minimize such defects. The restaurant can also employ quality management approaches for sustainability. For instance, Ms Nok can use the quality circle. In this case, workers or employees will be under the leadership of a supervisor. The supervisor will help them to identify and analyze work related problems that will be later presented to the management.

In the long run, the management will come up with better ways of solving problems thereby motivating and enriching the morale of workers to serve customers well (Lavassani 2008, p. 19). In addition, they will have more confident in undertaking their duties. Kaizen is also another approach that can be used to enhance quality management. It will focus on continual improvement of processes to support business activities. These activities will continually add value to all business functions with more emphasis being laid on quality.

In addition, this approach improves standardized activities. The restaurant will therefore be able to operate more effectively and in the long run minimize on costs. Effective operations management will ensure that the restaurant is more profitable. The management should come up with lean services that will satisfy different customers. This can be perfected by predicting and managing waiting lines. Waiting lines should be effectively managed as they play a big role in customer satisfaction (Tueth 2010, p. 17).

Conclusion

A successful restaurant needs effective quality management. Quality management should lay more emphasis on the quality of services and products. In addition, it should also look at the means of achieving this. The restaurant will be able to attract customers by ensuring that it maintains quality. For the restaurant to achieve this, it should focus on a number of management principles.

Ms Nok needs a good and effective supply chain strategy. In this case, she should look at the key supply chain processes. Supply chain management can address various trade-offs in logistical activities. In a broad perspective, supply chain management is supposed to deal with the configuration of the restaurants distribution network. This will look at the network, mission of suppliers and their location. In addition, it can be done after a clear assessment of distributors and their warehouses has been carried out.

Supply chain management has created a lot of interest and focus because of the urge to satisfy different consumer interests. This means that it is supposed to improve trust and also on the other hand enhance collaboration (among supply chain partners). Ms Nok should use supply chain management to improve the on the restaurants activities and operations. In this case, supply chain activities can still be grouped for efficiency. Grouping can be done by looking at various business trends and dynamics.

Reference List

Hines, T., 2004. Supply chain strategies: Customer driven and customer focused. Oxford: Elsevier.

Lavassani, M. K. Movahedi, B. & Kumar, V., 2008. Transition to B2B e-Marketplace enabled Supply Chain: Readiness Assessment and Success Factors, Information Resources Management. Canada: Niagara.

Malcolm, G., 2000. The Tipping Point. New York: Little Brown.

Mulcaster, W.R., 2009. Three Strategic Frameworks. USA: Emerald Group

Murray, E. & Richardson, P., 2002. Fast Forward. Oxford: Oxford Press Inc.

Thareja, P., 2008. Total Quality Organization Thru’ People, Each one is Capable. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Tueth. M., 2010. Fundamentals of Sustainable Business: A Guide to the Next 100 years. Hackensack: World Scientific Publishing Co.

Business idea

This project proposal proposes a business plan, which entails opening a restaurant offering Chinese foods and beverages. The proposed name is for the hotel is Guanxi China Cuisine Restaurant, Guanxi is an important Chinese concept meaning personalized connections or networks. In any business relationship, the Chinese value friendships than any other decree between two parties.

Therefore, the use of this brand name creates the perception that the restaurant is the place where the Chinese would meet other people and establish mutual relationships for future mutual gains. The brand name also presents the restaurant as a place where money paid for foods and beverages offered is reciprocated with value. In the Chinese tradition, Guanxi is all about reciprocation for a good act.

The use of the term Guanxi in the brand name of the restaurant is of principle importance to the success of the restaurant. It reminds the Chinese of their Confucius tradition, which is central to the discourses of Guanxi.

The Confucius culture teaches the Chinese about moral cultivation anchored on paradigms of trust coupled with sincerity. In this sense, the restaurant will offer trustworthy products and services due to sincerity in their production process by paying critical attention to cleanness and hygiene as the restaurant postulates in its advertisements.

Product

The restaurant’s product line borrows from the various Chinese restaurants delicacies specialties within China. The Chuan Cuisine and Xiang constitute two important benchmarks for the restaurant. These two cuisines are famous for various dishes prepared using chili coupled with hot red pepper.

Such dishes include delicacies such as Fuqi Fei Pian, Mapo Tofu, and Sichuan Hotpot. For clients who do not prefer spiced foods, alternative dishes includes rice, noodles, bean curd, dim sum, and Shark’s Fin coupled with Bird’s nest soups.

Dim sum is a uniquely Chinese dish, which is offered in almost every Chinese restaurant. Offering this dish is particularly important since it encompasses not only traditional food for the Chinese, but also it represents an eating culture.

Dim sum constitutes small dishes normally served during snack time usually in small portions. They are usually made in small-biting sizes. Traditional Chinese culture does not permit the incorporation of knives on dining tables. The Confucius culture holds that civilizations advance when instruments, which can be deployed in killing, are not used in dining tables.

Noodles are important to the Chinese and longer ones imply longer life. The restaurant offers noodles in the form of egg noodles (mien) or the rice noodles (bijon). Apart from noodles, rice is an important staple food in China and the rest of Asia.

Rice is a significant food in the Chinese culture as they consider it as fun. The restaurant aims at attracting consumption of its products by offering foods that remind customers of their cultural roots. Hence, rice is an important and inevitable food for incorporation in the restaurant’s menu. The restaurant will serve rice in bowls together with meat and vegetable in the form of toppings.

Marketing

Having established the products offered at the restaurant, the next important aspect of the business proposal entails establishing strategies for marketing the restaurant and its products. Point of sale is a major promotional strategy for the restaurant. This strategy entails painting of the restaurant’s interior with pictorial elements reflecting the Chinese culture.

This aspect ensures that although the restaurant is established in a nation foreign to the Chinese cultural practices, when customers get into the restaurant, the perception of the Chinese culture emerges. Offering foods and beverages reflecting the Chinese cultural heritage also plays an important part in the creation of the Chinese cultural atmosphere while in the restaurant.

In a bid to direct potential customers to the restaurant, a big signboard is erected on the street leading to the restaurant. I also consider printing coupons, which will be distributed in the streets around Oregon to create awareness of the unique Chinese restaurant.

The target is to build a customer base of 3000 customers per day. Building a large customer base requires heavy investment in marketing of a new service or a product (Menon 19). Hence, although expensive, posters are also important mechanisms of marketing the restaurant.

As the restaurant garners more financial resources, marketing will involve the use of magazines and newspapers. A more important mechanism of advertising the restaurant entails the use of social media. Indeed, the Internet can serve the dual purpose of distribution coupled with communication.

Through the deployment of social networks and websites, it is possible to influence a large customer base for foods and beverages offered at the restaurant. This goal is achievable via ardent communication with the potential customers in an effort to persuade them to seek high quality and hygienically prepared Chinese dishes from the restaurant.

The Internet aids in helping an organization to “focus on enabling customers to find information about services” (Fields 14). Brand image of the restaurant cannot be satisfactorily developed if potential clients are not aware of the existence of the company.

Short message service (SMS) can also be useful in building the restaurant’s brand image. SMS has emerged as a powerful tool for sending many short messages to many users within a short time following the development of the telephony technology (Anbu and Mavuso 317).

Organizational structure

The restaurant will be registered under LLC organizational structure. This kind of structure has the advantage of raising funds with ease. It also provides limited individual liability, thus implying that the organization and its owners are two different entities.

The owners of the company are the shareholders. As the founder of company, I will be the chairperson of the board of directors and serve as the risk management director. Other three directors, viz. finance director, human resource, and purchases and chain supplies directors coupled with the CEO of the company will be acquired by means of voting by the Shareholders

All the directors are responsible for leadership in their respective departments, viz. human resource, accounting and finance, corporate management, and risk assessment and control apart from procurement, purchases, and supply chain director who has a number of departments under his/her watch.

These departments are food quality control, marketing, procurement, purchases and supplies, and customer services department. After few months of operation and on recognition of customer responses to the products and services offered at the restaurant, research and design, and IT departments will be introduced.

These departments will be instrumental in enhancing creativity and innovation coupled with services and processes improvement to meet emerging customer needs.

Licensing and regulatory requirements

Several approvals coupled with permits are required while opening a restaurant in Oregon as discussed below.

Business registration license – Acquiring DBA requires filing of the fictional name of the business. This step is followed by the publication of a classified business name via an advertisement in a local daily newspaper. The filing costs are approximately $15 to $95 while the advertisement would cost between $25 and $75.

A business account – For smooth operation of the business in the future, a bank account is required. It enhances the ability of the company to work with convenience in terms of financial management. Although the board of directors would arrive at a decision on the most appropriate bank account, current account is proposed in this case. Merchant’s card machine is also required to enable customers to pay via credit cards directly into the restaurant’s bank account.

Business operation license – For the company to open its doors to clients, a license is required. The application for this license will be made to the City Business in the department of licenses in City Hall. Yearly costs for license renewal are about $70.

Business location approval -The zoning department reserves the mandate of approving the license in terms of suitableness of the location for operation of a restaurant. If the rented building has been housing a restaurant, no extra approval is required.

However, in case the building acquired will open as a restaurant for the first time, zoning department will conduct the necessary reviews coupled with the organization of public hearing in a bid to collect the views of people residing around on the appropriateness of the location for operation of a restaurant.

Permit for sellers – This permit is obtained from the Equalization State board. Before the issuance of this permit, the restaurant has the obligation to report on its sales tax either seasonally or monthly.

Permit from the health department – A county’s health department permit is important since the restaurant will be dealing in beverages and foods. In a bid to acquire this permit, the health department personnel in the Oregon will inspect the restaurant in terms of general cleanness and hygiene of the various appliances coupled with kitchen equipments and appropriateness of the storage facilities for foods.

The qualification for various personnel handling foods will also be inspected before they are given individual health permits to work in the restaurant. Individual health permits will cost $83 while permit for the restaurant will cost $250.

Sign permit – One of the strategies of marketing the restaurant entails advertising through a signboard located on the street leading to the restaurant coupled with erection of posters. Oregon country has various rules for types, sizes, and poster hanging locations. Therefore, it is important to study these rules and make appropriate filings.

County permit – Where the restaurant is located within an area, which is not within the jurisdiction of a given city, obtaining of permits from the neighboring county is crucial.

License for sale of Liquor, beers, and wines – The restaurant mainly deals with serving Chinese foods and beverages. However, some liquor, wines, and beer in small quantities will be served depending on customers’ preferences. This aspect creates the need for seeking licenses for selling liquor, beers, and wines in accordance to the US policy on the sale of the same.

Permit for wastes disposal – Restaurants must produce wastes in the form of foods leftovers and packaging of the raw materials. Considering that Oregon is committed to enhancing environmental sustainability by becoming green, disposal of wastes should be done in accordance to the state’s established rules and regulations on waste management. Hence, the restaurant cannot run without a waste disposal permit.

Fire management permit – Cooking in the restaurant will involve the use of gas and electricity. This aspect means that fire proofing of the restaurant’s facilities by the Oregon’s fire department is of great importance. Assurance that the restaurant is secure from fires and that mechanism of fighting fire adequately are available is important for the purposes of the safety of the restaurant coupled with employees’ safety from both human error and emergency fires.

Environmental protection permit – A lot of refuse water is emitted. Cooking of foods also involves emissions, which are all wastes or by products of the processes of the restaurants. These wastes should be dealt with in accordance to the environmental protection principles. In this effort, the restaurant should acquire a permit from the Environmental Protection Bureau in Oregon.

Risk management, insurance, employee and other matters

Risk management

It is within the mandate of the risks management director through risks management department to ensure that the restaurant remains resilient to risks.

Types of risks

Risks encompass all situations that may cause a company to experience challenges in its operations. In a restaurant, these risks include labor boycotts, failure of customers to embrace the offered foods, reputation risks, unfavorable economic climate, fraud, and the existence of political climate unfavorable to the operation of the organization among others.

In the short term, major risks anticipated by the restaurant are adverse economic climate, reputation risks, and acceptance of the offered foods by the target market.

• Reputation risks

The restaurant is unique in the region. However, this aspect does not imply that the management should not explore various ways of enhancing the reputation of the brand. Indeed, marketing is one of the ways of not only creating awareness, but also building the reputation of an organization (Rust et al. 112).

While constant and increasing flow of customers may be experienced following the extensive promotion campaign, the risk for damage of the reputation of the organization persists.

Such a risk may emanate from isolated incidences of poor food quality, food safety, mechanisms of handling customer complaints, and effectiveness in delivery of customer service. Competitors may also employ various strategies to ensure that they have captured the market share of the company by presenting the company negatively or even stereotyping it.

• Economic situation

Economic climate affects the buying power of customers. In times of the economic downturn, people consider using their incomes in meeting psychological needs only as they increase their savings in a bid to remain secure in an uncertain future.

Eating out in restaurants is part of entertainment; hence, it does not feature in the list of psychological needs. This aspect affects the restaurant in terms of low sale levels. Inflation may also expose the company to financial risks. High inflation means high costs for noble utilities such as electricity, gas, and water coupled with increased employees complains for the organization to increase their salaries and wages.

• Acceptance of foods and beverages

The products and services offered in the restaurant are developed with particular focus on the Chinese consumer. However, in a bid to increase sales levels and ensure that the restaurant breaks even quickly, it is important to promote the foods and beverages offered at the restaurant to other consumers from both American and other foreign nationals.

The main risks involved here entails whether other consumers would accept foods offered due to differing emphasis on the foods and beverages’ requirements. For instance, while the Chinese emphasize more on food smell, color, and taste, their American counterparts emphasize on nutritional needs, especially in the era of increased concerns over unhealthy eating habits.

Guanxi is important in all Chinese gatherings. While in a restaurant, the Chinese order and eat food from one plate sitting around a table. This behavior may be unacceptable in western cultures where people order food in separate plates. The Chinese foods are also highly flavored. Other people seeing the Chinese dishes served on a different table may opt not to even taste and leave the restaurant never to return.

Dealing with risks

Mitigation of the above-mentioned risks requires the adoption of a number of strategies. The first strategy is adhering to food and service quality. Food service is of particular importance since it affects customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry (Mullins 107). On the other hand, without high quality and delicious dishes, the restaurant cannot grow.

A successful strategy to mitigate this risk encompasses recruitment and selection of highly qualified workers. All the people engaged in food handling should be licensed in their respective areas of specialization.

Experienced stewards are most preferred, although the restaurant is also prepared to offer training and development programs for its workers in the bid to ensure that they offer services in a manner commensurate to the Chinese cultural anticipations.

The second strategy encompasses the collection of customer information in the form of after-service feedbacks. This information helps in the development of mechanisms of improving both foods and services to meet concerns of the customers, especially where customers raise some form of dissatisfaction.

For this purpose, the restaurant will establish social media pages and suggestion boxes for customers to register their feedbacks or give suggestions for improvement. The restaurant also provides customer service desk at the reception bay to address customer queries and collect various suggestions from the clients.

The third strategy entails the accommodation of dining habits for the non-Chinese customers who may also love the Chinese dishes. Instead of only focusing on the cultures for order-and-sit-around the table, a section the restaurant will provide a section where people can sit in an alternative way.

In a bid to accommodate persons opposed to the culture of food sharing by way of eating from the same plate, an alternative strategy is to offer take-away food services.

The fourth strategy involves handing risks associated with economic conditions. One of the aspects that make the Chinese restaurants unique in China is their ability to offer foods at low prices. In Oregon, the restaurant will borrow from this model by providing food discounts when household incomes are constrained by economic hardships.

This move will help in positioning the restaurant as an entity that does not only exist to serve its own interests by increasing returns on investments to its owners (shareholders), but also interested in serving the needs of its customers.

Insurance

Employees’ health insurance and insurance of the entire organization against property damage are important aspects. At start up, the organization will employ about 40 people, which means that SEHI (small employer health insurance) programs will be satisfactory. The program is accessible to an organization employing between 2 and 50 people.

Property insurance ensures an organization’s protection against various types of risks including political risks, floods, earthquakes, and fires amongst others. Among these forms of property insurance, insurance against fire is incredibly important. The organization should be free from risks of employees’ theft or fraud.

This assertion creates the necessity for insurance against employee theft to provide a mechanism of filing claims in the event of theft and other offenses acerbated by employees, which may lead to financial risks to the organization.

Intellectual property protection

The American law recognizes the need for protection of both tangible and intangible organizational assets. Currently, the restaurant does not require innovative ideas, concepts, or even creation of new inventions for its operations. However, there are logos, slogans, and trademarks considered as part of the brand characteristics, which need protection under the US intellectual property law.

Employee laws

In the US, various statutory laws seek to protect the rights of employees and they include minimum wage laws, child labor, over time, social security, medical, and compensation laws. Others include health insurance, employee retirement, and labor law poster laws. Compliance to these laws is mandatory for all organizations operating in Oregon including the proposed restaurant.

Works Cited

Anbu, Johnston, and Makana Mavuso. “Old wine in new wine skin: marketing library services through SMS-based alert services.” Library Hi Tech 30.2 (2012): 310-320. Print.

Fields, Erastus. “A unique twitter use for reference services.” Library Hi Tech News 6.7 (2010):14-15. Print.

Menon, Arthur. “Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making.” Journal of Marketing 63.2 (1999):18-40. Print.

Mullins, Leonard. Hospitality Management: A Human Resources Approach, London: Pitman, 1995. Print.

Rust, Ronald, Valarie Zeithaml, and Katherine Lemon. “Customer centered brand management.” Harvard Business Review 82.4 (2008):110-118. Print.

Introduction

Subway Restaurant has embraced the “green” initiative by tailoring its supply chain. This is to help the restaurant to reduce costs, emissions and remain competitive in service industry. This paper assesses the “greening” efforts that have been undertaken by the restaurant. It also explores the strategies that the business used to effectively embrace “green” supply chain. Lastly, the paper explores how transferability of Subway strategies can help other businesses to get more in their supply chains.

Subway Efforts at “Greening” Supply Chain

Most organizations have strategies that lean towards reducing environmental pollution whereas improving their public image and maximizing on profit. Supply chain and its management practices is a solution which companies have relied on in embracing sustainability, thus reducing uncontrolled wastage( (Frazelle, 2000, p.105).Subway, a green restaurant, is one of the world businesses seeing the usefulness of supply chain hence using it in moving towards “Green” culture (Tina et al, 2009).

Efforts of Subway to clean its systems and reduce wastage, improve energy efficiency, conserve conservation and sustain provision of safer food have been realized as a strategy encouraging “greening”. All these efforts have been attributed to the fact that Subway has recognized the usefulness of green logistics and its continued transportation strategy.

The strategies employed by Subway in realizing “green” supply chain are anchored in its vision which says “Eat Fresh”. Subway has continuously embraced their vision whether if it is procuring a product locally or acquiring it onsite. Besides, corporate responsibility of the company recognizing “Freshness” has also emphasized the company’s initiative in recognizing “green supply chain” (Tina et al, 2009).

Subway believes that, acquiring produce locally enhances product freshness thus saving handling, transport costs and energy. The strategy of the company is that, if it succeeds in establishing a supply chain with broad, localized supplier base, it is quite evident that they will accrue concrete results. Besides, the “localized process will reduce carbon emission this will make Subway realize their critical long-term goal.

Subway Logistics Strategies Focusing on Green Supply Chain

A company moving towards green supply chain has to have precise strategies on how to accomplish their goals (Emmet & Soot, 2010, p.87). Subway for instance had clear and elaborate strategies before they embarked in transforming their supply chain towards “green supply chain”. One of the strategies was scoping the level of “green” strategy. Since initiating the strategy, Subway knew that the strategy should move towards reducing its carbon footprints thus contributing to eco-friendly environment (Tina et al, 2009).

The rethinking in aspects of logistics and purchasing played a major role because most of its products for sell are purchased. Further, Subway gave the responsibility of manufacturing footprints to suppliers hence helping in reducing energy and waste that makes larger percentage of its final products.

The second strategy that Subway embraced was computing a standard. Though several companies have a larger bandwidth and capacity to deal with green house gas emissions not attached to energy, in several supply chain, energy use is important (Tina et al, 2009). Subway took several measures in creating a carbon criteria basing on logistics. Some of the measures included defining carbon footprint, formalizing baseline results, focusing on warehousing and calculating energy consumption among other criteria (Frazelle, 2000, p.89).

The third strategy was defining the structure of sustainability supply chain. Having elaborate information on carbon footprint and standards for measuring green house gas, subway redesigned the structure of its sustainable supply chain and this resulted in more efficiency such as saving transports and shipment costs. To realize these benefits, subway considered carbon as a strategic cost, evaluated various options such as risk mitigation and network optimizations.

The fourth strategic option taken by Subway was incorporating carbon modeling into decision making. Subway embraced efforts that were tailored towards reducing emissions and improving asset utilization and optimization of service level. Subway helped to manage its supply chain by collaborating with suppliers.

The green initiative of Subway is entirely reliant on supplier development, whereas it does not embrace quantifiable declines; common working has improved complete supply chain. An important carbon reduction initiative was realized when a realignment of salad packaging was done. The firm salad packaging supplier relocated over 1,000 miles loser to distribution centers, this saved costs and reduced volumes of carbon (Emmett & Soot, 2010, p.47).

Lastly, Subway took advantage of transporting “two shades” of green. Transporting “two shades” means reducing the costs of fuel and emissions. To realize this strategy, Subway considered smart way partnerships and evaluated modal conversions. Modal initiatives employed by Subway such as; air to ground and ground to rail was applied on order to save fuel and reduce emissions Logistics Management, 2002).

Transferability of Subway Strategies

Strategies of enhancing supply chain towards “green” can be multiplied in other businesses that embrace sustainability. Subway strategies can bring along ore benefits such as reduced costs, minimal emissions and encourage sustainability (Frazelle, 2000, p.57).

For instance, retail businesses such as such as; McDonald’s food chain and Wal-Mart can increase its efficiency and reliability of their services at the same time promoting eco-friendly environment. Subway strategies will not only encourage “green” supply chain in most companies, but will create reliability and effective service delivery for businesses (Logistics Management, 2002).

Conclusion

Subway restaurant has effectively utilized the “green “supply chain. Most businesses are embracing this initiative because of several reasons. Some of them include reduction of costs, enhances reliability and promotes eco-friendly environment. However, businesses implementing the strategy need to plan and assess the viability of the project to be assured of tangible results.

Reference List

Emmett, S.,& Sood, V., (2010). Green Supply Chains: An Action Manifesto. New York: John Wiley and Sons

Frazelle, E., (2002). Supply Chain Strategy: The Logistics of Supply Chain Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional

Tina, F. Brown, T.& Stewart, E. (2009).Subway’s Journey to Green, Logistics Management (2002), Highland Ranch, Vol. 48, Iss. 4, pg. 22.

Subway Sandwiches Restaurants

Introduction to subway sandwiches restaurants

Subway Sandwiches restaurant is a type of food industry and it has more branches in different countries selling quick and nutritious meals. It offers Americans franchise with low capital to begin their own restaurants.

Subway Sandwiches restaurant is the type of business proposal selected in the city as the decision to invest in restaurants has no stiff competition in the city as few entrepreneurs, who does not as if investing in it and it requires less capital (Capon, 2009). Subway restaurant produce submarine sandwich products to their customers in many parts of the world.

Business Plan Entrepreneurship

Business plan are important processes in starting a business activities by an entrepreneur that should follow when creating business ideas for starting a business. A business plan is an official declaration of company targets, aims of the planned dealing and the plans intended for accomplishing the previously instituted targets.

The average time of opening a subway store is usually a period of seven months. Subway restaurants will make fast food brands using frozen in order to have a consistency products and low costs of production. Business plan entrepreneurship involves various steps to be followed when starting up any kind of business in the market so that the business can succeed in a competitive environment and to meet customers’ needs and wants (Capon, 2009).

Competition analysis

Competition analysis is the process of evaluating and analyzing the SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats factors that are affecting the internal and external environment of the business to the competitors (Hirsch & Peters, 1998).

Subway Sandwiches restaurants will have to be competitive to remain in the market by providing better and quality services to their customers. Subway restaurants faced a lot of competition from sandwich chain, Quiznos that made subways to also toast submarine sandwiches (Capon, 2009). Subway franchise also introduced fresh toasting to compete with Quiznos in the market share.

The introduction of Sub Club Cards to be given to customers for redeeming their points for free standard sandwiches will attract more and retain more customers in the market than their competitors. The managements of the restaurant should be in a position of doing a thorough research on the needs and wants of their customers to provide them with what they want as per their tastes and preferences.

Market Subway Sandwich Restaurant

The business is named, Subway Sandwiches restaurants will be involved in the food service industry, as it will be selling food sandwiches like submarines sandwiches, salads, and personal pizzas in the market. Subway restaurant is owned and managed by Doctor is Associates, Inc and is in many parts of the world franchises.

Subway restaurants will provide better services to the customers to retain their customers and bring new customers in the restaurants. Customers will be served with hot and fresh sandwiches as per their order and having different quantities and qualities of tastes to attract more customers. Subways restaurant will promote their restaurants through television advertisement as one of the promoting tools of the restaurants and foods that are prepared in the restaurants to attract more customers than their competitors.

Economic, social, and ethical dilemmas in Subway Restaurant

The restaurants business should follow the following conducts and policies for it to operate in the market both as an individual and as a business level. The economy of the country will be a factor to consider when sitting the subway sandwiches restaurants to meet most of their customers’ needs and wants.

The restaurants will be situated in the City, as this is place where more people will demand the sandwiches as in Muslim countries will be provided with halal menu. Subway restaurants should be able to face a stiff competition from pizza franchising and economic problems.

Pricing of the products will be a problem since consumers will be more sensitive with the price. Managers of the restaurants will have problems in dealing with the ethical beliefs and standards with the environmental ethics. Evaluating the multinational with their conflicting norms and expectations of ethical issues and how to tackle them. The social issues in the United States include obesity, which is known to be caused by taking sandwiches foods and snacks.

Market demands and labor activities have drastically changed the social activities in the United States as the government has supported social responsibilities. Healthier products have led to an increase in economy of the state as its sales increased sharply in the demand of healthier and premium products. Due to economic values in the subway business of the restaurants have led to the establishment of implicating the costs of facilities, equipments and inventory of the restaurants.

Economic value of McDonalds changed by negative 0.2 and increase of 0.5 percent in overall. The economy of the United States prospered more due to employment opportunities that the restaurants created and provided to the people. Due to stiff competition from other restaurants have resulted to better sandwiches provided to consumers in the market.

Marketing plan of the business

Marketing plan is a written document that gives the details that are to be used to achieve the goal and marketing objectives of the proposed business to attract and retain more customers than the competitors. Marketing plan of subway restaurants will be having different menus that will be varying by stores, country, and market. Eat fresh everyday will the advertising slogan for subway restaurants as this will help to explains to the customers how they use fresh ingredients in preparing their sandwiches.

Subway will use various methods of promoting the business like using the instant win competition based on the game scrabble to create awareness and attract more customers than their competitors. Subways will also advertise their restaurants in televisions and product placement method that has been their routine in the past years to promote their restaurants.

The use of Sub Club Cards which are small cards to be given to customers and which will be used to reward their customers with free standard sandwiches by redeeming their points stamped in the cards. This will increase and encourage more customers to their restaurants who will be joining for the free standard sandwiches.

Subway’s marketing strategies will be cash on delivery that is a customer pays for his order first before taking his or her food sandwich. This strategy will help in reducing increase in customers’ bills, no long queues, and hassles of in the queue as it is going to be fast (Hill, 2005). They will employ qualified employees who will be able to provide better quality services to their customers, and in this way, they are going to attract more customers than their competitors in the market.

Funding criteria of the business

The funding criteria of the proposed business should be determined and at the same time the cost of operating the business to be evaluated for effective running of the business. Capital of starting the restaurants can be got from the financing programs for franchisee subways.

Opening a subway restaurant needs a total of $ 238,300 as required by the Franchise Mall. The franchising fee and running expenses should be included in the starting capital for the first three months. Planning on how to pay the franchise fees and knowing how much it costs. Packaging costs, lease terms, cost of constructions and equipments needed in the restaurant should be planned and catered for when planning on the capital funds.

Capital Sources

Capital sources are the resources and assets that an entrepreneur needs when he or she is planning to start and operating a business of his or her own, and subway restaurant needs approximately $ 285,000. The cost of starting up the restaurants can be from franchise owners, loans from banks and personal savings. The starting capital ranges depending on the size of the food chain, location of the restaurant, equipments needed in running the business and scale of operating the restaurant also affect the capital needed to operate the business.

Exit strategy of the business

Exit strategy is the last part of any business plan outlines and it helps the owner of the business or the entrepreneur to consider the long-term plans of the business. The exit plans of subway restaurants are changing since franchising is developing and is more complex (Hirsch & Peters, 1998).

Franchisor were the one who introduced the business should and they have now employed new staffs who will be responsible for running the business since they have knowledge and skills in management. Subway restaurants will also be traded publicly and will attract more investors like the equity investors. Subway restaurants will operate nationally as the capital increase with time.

End State Goal

The end state goals of subway restaurant wants to be ranked the first restaurant that have the fastest service in the world, and also having the greatest tastes and freshness of its products to become their trademark in the market (Hill, 2005).

How and why the entrepreneur chose this business idea

The main reason as to why the entrepreneur chose this type of business idea was that the entrepreneur believed in food industry type of business in the market.

The idea of Subway Sandwiches restaurant was a better idea because there were few restaurants in the market and the demand of the population were high, further more the few restaurants that were operating in the city had more customers who made this type of business to do well (Capon, 2009).

The idea of food industry was what the entrepreneur did in college and is one of the experiences the entrepreneur got from past employment jobs the entrepreneur did in the city. The entrepreneur had friends whom they used to school together while in college advised the entrepreneur on starting the sandwiches restaurants as they had skills and knowledge of handling restaurants.

References

Capon, C. (2009). Understanding the business environment. New York, NY: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Hill, L. W. C. (2005). International business competing in the global marketplace. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Hirsch, R. D. & Peters, M. P. (1998).Business plan entrepreneurship. Boston: McGraw-Hill.