Trendy Pita Restaurant Marketing Plan - Case Study Example

Trendy Pita Restaurant Marketing plan Student: Tutor: Course: Date: Executive Summary Trendy Pita restaurant is a new restaurant that intends to serve its customers with trendy, fresh and healthy pocket sandwiches. The restaurant will be located in Canberra in Australia. It intends to become the preferred lunch destination joint for students and locals in Canberra. The marketing plan is an extension of the business plan aimed at ensuring that the business plan is implemented successfully. The owner of the business is Anthony jobs and the business was registered as a Limited liability Company. Trendy pita restaurant target customers will be students and “towners” of Canberra. It will segment its market into two distinct markers where the first segment will be students and the other segment will be “towners”. The Major competitors of trendy pita restaurant include on campus food service, subway restaurant and hungry restaurant. To beat competition and position its self in the market, Trendy pita restaurant will its competitive edges that will assist it succeed in this industry which include a healthy menu and offering custom food alternatives. The marketing plan has further recommended a preferred marketing mix comprising of product, pricing, place and distribution. The product should be appealing to first time customers and as such a lot of attention should be paid to the packaging, position and delivering of the production. A market penetration pricing strategy should be adopted to gain a wedge in a highly competitive market quickly. Intensive promotional activities should be undertaken considering that it is a new product. Convenient distribution mechanism are also crucial if. Trendy Pita restaurant is to be successful. The marketing plan has also made recommendations on financial projects for the first three year of operations. 1.0 Introduction Trendy Pita is a new restaurant that intends to serve its customers with trendy, fresh and healthy pocket sandwiches. Trendy Pita will be located in Canberra in Australia. Trendy Pita intends to become the preferred lunch destination joint for students and locals in Canberra. The restaurant intends to attract 35% new customers by the end of the first year and achieve profitability by the end of the second year. This report will carry out a market plan to clarify all the marketing elements of the business and put forward the restaurants objectives, activities of the restaurants and those of its employees. The marketing plan will draw on the business plan of the firm which stated in details how business will a business idea and transformed it into a commercially viable product. This marketing plan will focus on objectives, major problems or issues, company analysis, environmental analysis, competitor’s analysis, target market, marketing mix, budget and financial analysis. 1.1 Mission The mission of Trendy Pita Restaurant is to offer trendy, healthy, fine and tasty pocket sandwiches in Canberra Australia while ensuring quality customer services so that no customer will leave the restaurant dissatisfied. 1.2 Keys to Success Some of the factors that we deem necessary to succeed in this industry include: Putting in place stringent financial control measures to keep the overall cost at the minimum Ensure adequate visibility. This is important for every new business to ensure you are well visible to your new clients Offer high quality and affordable sandwiches. This is what will set the restaurant apart from those of the competitors. 1.3 Objectives The objectives of Trendy pita restaurant are: To attract campus students and locals for lunch at an affordable price with a rate of 35 of new customers in the first year and 755 in the second year To become the finest sandwich joint in Canberra To breakeven within the first two years 2.0 Company Analysis Trendy Pita Restaurant is a recently formed business registered by Anthony Jobs. It is owned wholly by Anthony jobs and it is will be based in Canberra, Australia. It intends to serve Pocket Sandwiches for lunch especially to the high population of students in Canberra and the early evening crowd. Trendy Pita Restaurant was registered as a Limited liability company in Australia with this business type preferred to ensure that Anthony jobs who is the owner is protected from personally liability in case of liquidation and also to avoid instances of double taxation. 2.1 services Trendy pita restaurant is a downtown Sandwich joint in Kirinari street Canberra that will serve pocket sandwiches during lunch hour, early evening when students and locals are heading home and during weekends. The Pocket sandwich is chosen as the preferred product because it is versatile, trendy, unique and very healthy in the modern day when doctors are advising their patients to go the healthy way. Each of the clients will choose their own filling for their pocket sandwiches. The fillings will include but not limited to: assorted cheese, assorted vegetables, chicken, turkey, tofu pate, pesto, baba ganouj, ham, falafel, and tabouli. Apart from the pocket sandwiches, trendy pita restaurant will offer to its clients assorted desserts, coffee, cappuccino, espresso, salads both greens and pastas. 2.2 Management Summary Anthony Jobs is the cornerstone of trendy pita restaurant. Anthony has lived in Australia all his life and he recently completed his Bachelor of Arts from University of Canberra. Anthony was introduced to the restaurant business at the age of 10 when he worked in the family’s fast food restaurant in Melbourne. While pursuing his degree in University of Canberra, Anthony was a part time waiter in a nearby restaurant where he got more insight into the restaurant business. Also, in his years as a student, he realized that there was a gap in the fast food business. Students want something that that they can quickly bite on their way to their afternoon classes. Moreover, students want to hang out in inexpensive but trendy joints over lunch time and in the early evening as opposed to taking lunch in the student’s café. While here, Anthony enrolled in a University Entrepreneurship Program that allowed students to combine their course work with entrepreneurship. For the lucky few like him, a low interest loan was extended to them which did not obligate the borrower to repay if their business failed. This program encouraged students to be job creators instead of being job seekers and start small businesses in the areas they were interested in. Anthony Jobs realized he was more effective working in the restaurant industry which he had vast experience in. it is on the basis of this that Anthony Jobs who was in his last semester applied for a low interest loan through the University Entrepreneurship program which was successful. Anthony was required to write a business plan for his new business as a requirement for the loan application. This marketing plan is part of that business plan and the business will be starting in a month’s time. 2.3 Personnel Plan Anthony Jobs is the main employee of Trendy pita restaurant and during the first two months of operation, he will be the only employee to ensure operational costs are in check. During this time, Anthony will supervise the final touches on the retail space, put together the recipes and develop sound supplier relationship. In the third month, the restaurant will make its first month sales and at this point Anthony Jobs will hire two more employees who will be present in the working hours from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Of the two employees, one employee who will be working two hours before opening to help him with food preparation and another one will be working one hour after closing to help with the clean up. As the business grows, Anthony will hire more employees who will be in charge of food preparation, kitchen activities including cleaning the dishes and service area and more sales persons. 3.0 Industry Analysis & Industry Trends The restaurant industry in Australia has significantly recovered and this has been influenced by the changing social trends. The industry has posted an average growth of 3.6% over the past five years which shows it is bouncing back from a low point during the global financial downturn. The restaurant industry is expected to grow further by 2.0% this year. This growth has been attributed to the changing social trends, increasing squeeze on leisure time, longer hours at work and school and busier lifestyle has increasingly led to customers to turn to restaurants as a solution (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). In view of this growth and increased importance of eating health, Trendy pita restaurant has identified an opportunity to offer a healthy pocket sandwich to students and locals of Canberra. Canberra is the capital city of Australia and Australia’s largest inland city with a population of 418,000 people. The average weekly income of Canberra residents is $917 which is higher than the average weekly wage for an Australian which is $577. Moreover, Canberra residents are much educated as compared to the average Australian with 4.5% of people living in Canberra have a postgraduate education compare with an average of 1.8% in the whole country. Moreover, the city is an easy place to live as well as study there it has attracted a fair share of local and international students. Canberra hosts various universities and colleges such as Australian National University with a student’s population of 19,508 and University of Canberra with a student population of 15,462 (University Reviews). 4.0 Market Analysis Trendy Pita restaurant will be serving students and locals in Canberra during lunch time and early evening. We will target two distinct market segments: Students from universities in Canberra such as Canberra University and “towners”. Students will be attracted to our restaurant as a better alternative to their on campus meal plan while for the “towners” they will appreciate the change and selection from the more traditional offerings currently available in the streets of Canberra. 4.1 Target Market Segmentation Trendy Pita restaurant will segment the market into two segments; Segment 1: Students This group is from Universities and College located in Canberra. These students will be looking for restaurants for two main reasons, the first is to have an alternative to the on-campus food service, and the second reason is the desire to get off campus. The following outlines behavioral traits and demographic data for students in Canberra; Ages 17-22 57% of the students have part time jobs 75% of the students are on school food program 89% of the students eat out at least twice per week 47% of the students have a part time job Segment 2: Locals These are the people that live and work in Canberra, particularly in the downtown area Ages 24-55 78% of the group go out for lunch at least twice a week The average individual income is AUS $35,000 44% of the people work within a seven minute walk from the downtown area 55% of the people have at least some undergraduate schooling Chart: Market Analysis (Pie) 5.0 Competition Analysis The restaurant industry in Australia is highly competitive with so many player offering different products and services. Trendy pita restaurant competitors include On-campus food service Students accounts for the highest number of Trendy pita restaurant target customer and for students, this is as alternative in term of food offering. However, because of need for variety and poor food, students are looking alternative food offering regardless of the fact that food offered in campus is cheap. Trendy believe that it can be the best alternative by offering health pocket sandwich at a friendly price. 5.1 Subway Restaurant Subway is an American fast food franchise that primarily offers salads and submarine sandwiches (subway, 2014). Subway operates a franchise in Canberra and will be major competitor of Trendy pita restaurant as viewed as a healthier alternative 5.2 Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd This is a franchise of the international Burger King Corporation and has operated in Australian since 1971. Today, Hungry operate 340 fast food restaurant in Australia where severally are located in Canberra (hungry, 2014). The franchise has become an iconic brand in Australia and thus it will be a major competitor of Trendy pita restaurant. To counter this competition, Trendy pita restaurant will emphasize on healthy, custom food alternatives 6.0 Competitive Edge For Trendy pita restaurant to identify their competitive edge which will help it position its self in the market, they will have to undertake a SWOT analysis which will to identify is strengths so that it can use them overcome the threats in the external environment and identify its weaknesses so that it can overcome them with the opportunities that are offered by the external environment. Strengths Healthy menu Custom food alternatives Cheaper that competitors Niche target market Weaknesses No reputation High operation cost Opportunities Opening many restaurant various cities in Australia To enter the foreign market Threats High competition from major competitors such as Hungry Rising operating costs Price war From the above SWOT analysis, Trendy pita restaurant has two competitive edges that will assist it succeed in this industry. The first edge is its healthy menu where Trendy pita will take pride in the fact that the only fried food in its menus is falafel while everything else is oil free other than olive oil. Moreover, in the absence of oil, much of its offered ingredients are vegetables ensuring a healthy meal The other competitive advantage that Trendy pita restaurant will have is customization where customers will be offered a laundry list of ingredients that they get to choose from. They will strive to serve their customers in whatever capacity is needed. For instance, they will build pocket sandwich any way that they want 7.0 Environmental Factors This model is used to analyze external environmental factors that affect the business, these factors include; political, economical, social-culture, technology, legal and environment. PESTEL analysis will help Trendy Pita restaurant identify the key changes in the macro environment in a well structured manner and how they will affect its operations. These factors are discussed below; 7.1 Political This refers to political factors that affect operations of a business. The political environment in Australia is currently stable if not excellent. Moreover, the Australia government has come up with a favourable regulatory framework which together with political stability provides investors with confidence and security (CIA, 2014). Therefore, this political stability and favourable regulatory framework will enable Antony Jobs run his restaurant without any interruptions 7.2 Economic This Refers to economic factors that affect operations of an organization. Australia’s economy has been experiencing consistent growth, stable financial system, contained inflation and low rates of unemployment. Over the past twenty years, the country has been experiencing continuous growth with the growth rate averaging at 3.5% per annum(CIA, 2014). Moreover, Australia was not adversely affected by the global crisis. With such an economy, the purchasing power of target market of Trendy Pita is high resulting to increased levels of revenues. Social 7.3 Social Australia has a diverse culture with people coming from extremely diverse backgrounds. Although it is very hard to determine that there is a specific cuisine, there are dishes which are considered as typical Australia food. To start with, people in Australia eat a lot of red meat, especially beef and this explains why beef in Australia is among the best in the world. Moreover fish and chicken are also important in Australian diet where vegetables and pulses are eaten as side dishes (CIA, 2014). Trendy Pita restaurant pocket sandwiches fillings will included the some of this components named above and this will make the sandwich to be embraced in the Australia’s culture. On the other hand, lunch in Australia depends on where one is. If you are at work or school it will most likely be sandwiches and therefore a lot of people nip over food court during lunch hour o grab something to eat. Therefore, Trendy Pita restaurant will have customers to buy their pocket sandwich. 7.4 Technological Some of the technological trends affecting the restaurant industry include ordering online, online reservations, restaurant review sites, restaurant websites and online marketing and promotion. Technology is affecting where customers choose to dine out. To succeed in this industry, restaurants must incorporate modern technology in order to keep pace in the 21st century. To strat with, for restaurant owns to win the restaurant marketing battle, to must come up with a well designed website. It is most likely that before a customer go to the restaurant itself they will probably visit its website. The target market of Trendy pita who are students and working class in Canberra have access to reliable internet and hence adopting this modern technology will greatly benefit the company. Therefore, Trendy Pita restaurant should come up with a well designed website that will provide their customers with information about the restaurant. The company can use the website to post its menu as well as offer promotion. Moreover Trendy pita restaurant should establish online reservation and ordering online. This will significantly increase trendy pita sales as their target market have access to reliable internet and have embraced the culture of online shopping. Lastly, Trendy pita can use social media where most of its target market has joined to advertise their pocket sandwich. This will reduce the marketing cost and increase marketing coverage. 7.5 Environmental Key environmental issues affecting companies include water and air emission, industrial waste, and sustainable development of raw materials. These issues affect businesses since laws require businesses to change procedures and equipments to meet imposed standards. In Australia, the department of environment and conservation has the mandate to protect and manage the environment especially in areas where human activities have potential to pollute. Restaurant in Australia must, within 10 working days apply and receive a permit from the department of environment and conservation or pay the $624 environmental charge. Therefore, Trendy pita restaurant should comply with all the environmental laws in Australia and implement them after which they should apply for a permit from DEC 7.6 Legal Australia has been ranked 3rd on the indext of economic freedom for the past six year. Moreover, the country is ranked 11th for ease of doing business, this means that the regulatory framework in Australia is strongly anchored on supporting growth and development of businesses (World Bank, 2014). Moreover, the country has favourable employement and labour laws which can affect the operation of a company effectly. Trendy pita restaurant has already complying with the legal requirments by registering its business and it should ensure that it complies will all other laws such as employment and labour laws so as to ensure their business run smoothly. 8.0 Recommendations 8.1 Marketing Mix Marketing mix is as a framework that a manager uses in decision making to make their products suit the consumer needs. It is defined as a set of factors, actions and tactics that are used by a company to promote the brand and the products of the company. The traditional marketing mix is comprised of a set of controllable elements referred to as the 4P’s they include the product, the price, the promotion and the place. The mix however nowadays includes factors such as packaging and positioning (Moller 2006). The 4P’s are combined to form a situation that meets the needs of the customers. The marketing mix is important because if successfully applied it is a source of great success to the company in terms of returns. The purpose of this marketing plan, a marketing mix will be recommended for Trendy Pita Restaurant. 8.1.1 Product Product can be defined as that physical product or service which is eventually offered to the client. For products, this includes the services or the conveniences that are part of the product offered. Some of the important product aspects include: appearance, warranty, and positioning, branding, service, packaging and product life cycle (Palmer 2004). Pocket Sandwiches is the product that Trendy Pita is Restaurant is offering and consumers are going to be concerned with every aspect of this product. From the appearance packaging, convenience and services offered while delivering the product. The sandwiches will take the shape of a pocket to indicate convenience in carrying the sandwiches as a “take –away” without spilling over as well as convenience for the consumers who want to grab it from our joint. Below is an image of our pocket sandwich The pocket sandwiches will offer different fillings at the convenience of the customers. For the vegetarians, they can opt to take the pocket sandwiches which have vegetable fillings while those who are adventurous especially the students can try out any of our appetizing fillings alongside our desserts. As part of the product, the sales persons attending to the clients should be neat, clean and very professional when dealing with the clients. This is because clients will perceive the value of the product not only based on the product itself but also based on services they receive from the people serving. The serving area should remain exceptionally clean with fresh fragrance to assure the customers that the food Trendy Pita Restaurant is serving is clean. Originally packaging was aimed towards protect the product against the risk of damage but over the years marketers have realized the importance of packaging to marketing. Packages have been used as an attraction tool to customers. Packages are now designed to be appealing and it is because of this that the marketers are greatly concerned about the perception of the package to the consumer (Wang 2005).The packaging of Pocket pizza will be very appealing to ensure that customers are motivated to try out our sandwiches. Packaging is especially important for the first few months when the product will be introduced to the clients. Positioning is similar to segmentation and its main aim is to target a certain group of customers. Positioning is characterized by the marketers emphasizing certain aspects of the product and ignoring those that are not appealing to its target audience (Palmer, 2004). Trendy pita will position its pocket sandwiches as convenient, healthy and tasty sandwiches based on its shape and different fillings to the preference of the customers. The restaurant will position itself as the preferred joint to grab a quick lunch or enjoy your early evening as you rush home. 8.1.2 Pricing When a company is deciding on a suitable price, it must take into consideration the profit margin and consider how competitors will respond to that price. Price plays a very vital role in a company’s strategy and as such must be in line with the overall business plan. Pricing is especially demanding considering that there is no precedent to base the pricing decision on. Should he price be too high, they risk making very low sales to the extent of failing. Should they price the product at a very low price, they risk not covering the operational costs. Therefore there is need to strike a balance and ensure that the price set is acceptable to the potential customers, will allow the business to gain a market share in a competitive industry and earn a profit margin (Palmer,2004). Trendy pita Restaurant which is launching its pocket sandwiches for the very first time in a rather competitive environment, should consider using penetration pricing. Market penetration is a suitable pricing strategy for companies that are looking to venture in a market that is highly competitive market. Although Trendy Pita Restaurant is offering pocket sandwiches which are unique and trendy, there are other giant players in the market including hungry jacks and subway restaurant who have been in the market longer. Market penetration would therefore be the most suitable way to penetrate the already crowded market. Using this pricing strategy, Trendy restaurant will price its sandwich at a price lower than those of the competitors. This means that the price should be slightly above the overall cost to gain a wedge in the market and gain high volume of sales. The low profits will discourage other new entrants from entering the market and at the same time create a customer base. 8.1.3 Promotion A promotional mix is a collection of factors that managers use to relay the benefits that a product has to its target market. A promotional mix is comprised of advertising, public relations, sales promotions, direct marketing, online advertising and personal selling (Larry 2009). Promotion of a product is very important as it places a company’s brand in front of its potential customers and the general public. Since Trendy Pita restaurant is a new business introducing a new product in the market, I would suggest that they using a variety of the promotional strategies below to ensure that as many customers as possible are reached. 8.1.3.1 Contests Sponsoring contest is a very good strategy to get people to know your product without the company using a lot of effort. People like to win prizes and especially students who form part of our target market (Hose,2014). Trendy Pita restaurant can sponsor several contest in the surrounding colleges and Universities just to get the student aware of their logo, their brand and have a taste of their sandwiches. Although the contestants will not buy the product at the time, you will have created a brand image in their minds and established the product to these potential customers. 8.1.3.2 Social Media With the rapid advancement of technology, social media is increasingly become a promotional tool. Trendy Pita Restaurant should use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram all of which are social sites to promote their products. These sites allow Trendy Pita Restaurant to promote products in a relaxed environment and allow them to connect with a whole world of potential clients who can view their company from a different perspective. With this strategy, consumer will view perceive that the company is trying to get in touch with its potential clients on a personal level rather than trying to push products to them. Another advantage of this method is that is not costly as compared to the other promotional strategies (Hose, 2014). 8.1.3.3 Product Giveaways With this method, consumes are allowed to sample the products by the company before making a purchase (Hose, 2014). This is a very effective promotion strategy for Trendy Pita Restaurant since customers will have more confidence in the product if you allow them to taste it first before making a purchase. Trendy Pita restaurant can decide to give free Pocket sandwiches to students and locals for the first two days just to get customers to have an idea of what their products are like before they can purchase them. First impression to a client is always very important and therefore, Trendy pita Restaurant should ensure that the products giveaways are of high quality as they could mean gaining a new customers who will come back with another one or losing a potential customer who will spread the bad news and as we know, bad news spread faster than a bush fire. 8.1.3.4 Customer Referral Incentive Program This program is aimed at encouraging the new customers to refer others (Hose, 2014). Trendy Pita restaurant which is a new business aiming to gain new customers should consider using this program. It can give discounts to those customers who referred other, give them a free sandwich on referring a new customer or give them a VIP treatment next time they visit your joint. This will encourage other customers to come back with others just to get the reward. This will ultimately increase the customer base and eventually customer loyalty. 8.1.3.5 Causes and Charity Promoting a company’s product while at the same time supporting a worthy cause in the society works well as a promotional strategy. It gives consumers a sense of well being that by using your product, they are being part of a bigger cause in the society which in the long run creates a win-win situation (Hose, 2014). Trend pita Restaurant can commit that for every sandwich a client buys, 5% will go towards tree planting cause all in the effort of reducing impact of climate change in Canberra. This will induce consumers to buy the sandwiches knowing that for every one of them they buy, they will have helped in conservation of the environment. 8.1.3.6 Branded Promotional Gifts Another promotional strategy that will work when introducing a new product is giving branded promotional gift (Hose, 2014). Instead of just having Trendy Pita restaurant brand and the packaging which eventually ends up in the trash, the restaurant can give away branded gifts including ink pens, caps, t-shirts, key holders just to make sure that your customers will also be promoting your product even after they make that purchase. 8.1.3.7 After-Sale Customer Surveys It is important to contact the customers either through phone or through mail after making a sales especially delivery sales. This will create an impression to the customers that the company cares and that their interest is at the heart of the company (Hose, 2014). The after sales calls should be done by skilled sales people to gather information from the customers about their experience with the product. This information is of importance as it could serve as a business idea in the future especially on issues that the client may wish the company to improve in their product. 8.1.4 Place After successful production and pricing of a product the next step is distribution. Distribution is important because it avails the product to the consumers at the right time and place the consumer wants to buy it. There are two components to a distribution strategy they include distribution channels and physical distribution. Distribution channels are defined as the paths that a product passes through from the producer to the consumer (Palmer, 2004). The channels are comprised of persons or smaller firms that function between the consumer and the producer otherwise referred to us market intermediaries. In the first three years, Trendy Pita Restaurant will be operating from one joint located in Kirinari street Canberra with the location strategically chosen to reach the target audience who comprise of students and locals. The restaurant will be selling its pocket sandwiches directly to its customers and hence there will be no need to have intermediaries. In the future, Trendy restaurants will open joints in other parts of Australia with high student population. 8.2 Financial Plan The following sections will detail important financial information of Trendy pita Restaurant in next three years 8.2.1 Break Even analysis 8.2.2 Projected Profit and Loss The following table and charts illustrate the Projected Profit and Loss Chart: Profit monthly Chart: Profit yearly Table: Profit and loss for the next 3 years 8.2.3 Projected Balance Sheet The following table will indicate the Projected Balance Sheet Table: Balance Sheet 8.2.4 Projected Cash Flow The following table and chart will indicate Projected Cash Flow Table: Cash Flow References Moller, K. (2006). The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing by E. Constantinides. Journal of Marketing Management Palmer, A. (2004). Introduction to Marketing - Theory and Practice, UK: Oxford University Press Wang, K. L., Wang, Y. & Yao, J. T. (2005) A Comparative Study on Marketing Mix Models for Digital Products, Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Internet and Network Economics (WINE'05), Hong Kong, China Larry Steven Londre (2009) Marketing, IMC, Advertising, Promotion, Media and More Hose C, Top Ten Promotional Strategies. Retrieved on 9th October 2014 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193.html World Bank., 2014. Doing Business in Australia - World Bank Group. Available at:http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/australia/ [Accessed October 8, 2014] Subway (2014), about subway, Retrieved on 9th October 2014 from http://world.subway.com/Countries/frmMainPage.aspx?CC=AST Hungry jack (2014), About Hungry Jack. Retrieved on 9th October 2014 from http://www.hungryjack.com/ CIA (2014), World fact book, Australia, Retrieved on 9th October 2014 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014) Key Economic Indicators retrieved on 9th Oct 2014 from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/1345.0?opendocument?opendocument#from-banner=LN Read More