Critical Success Factors of Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley - Case Study Example

? “Business Plan for MOBILE TEA SEXY DOLLY TROLLEY” - 0 Introduction The Business Plan proposed for the “Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley” has been conceived through secondary research and the idea itself was reached at through informal discussions and observations of the current cultural, media and corporate trends. The original intention is to take the concept of event or occasion catering and add a new theme to it, with a unique differentiation point that focuses not on the food itself but the service and experience provided by the product. Consequently, the business procedures and functions will be different from traditional caterers, along with the positioning, marketing and the overall risk associated with the plan. However, it is assumed that any extra risk associated will be taken into account beforehand and the market research, legal and civil requirements; financial planning will be adjusted accordingly to accommodate the risk. The catering business is already a popular option for entrepreneurs with owners shifting from standardized fares and themes to more novel ones to gain competitive advantage (Pace, 2011). For Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley the risque image will help them stand apart from other competitors. The business will be established as a partnership with all management activities carried out by the partners, while the staff will be there to provide the actual services. The partners have both have had previous experience in the service and food industry but this will be there first venture as entrepreneurs. 2.0 Business Description The first thing which will catch the consumers and the stake holder’s eye is the name of the business itself; the name Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley has been decided as it immediately informs that the business is in fact a themed catering service with some very unusual components. It is the catering service with will make heads turn and create a stir where ever it visits. As the name suggests the ‘Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley’ catering will be limited exclusively to provision of Tea and tea variants, served from old-style Dolly Trolleys by glamorous and attractive staff. Along with the tea will be suitable snacks such as dainty sandwiches and quaint biscuits- but no other types of food will be included. The focus will be on the experience that customers will get, enjoying the pampering attentions of our staff as the tea and snacks are prepared or set in front of them. The business will be unabashed and direct in declaration of its main attraction: the staff. The business aims to cater to mainly an adult and mature audience who can appreciate the experience and not dismiss it as something improper or a throwaway fad. Premium charges will be taken for the services of our staff and the aesthetic quality they will bring to any event. It will be a novel experience for anyone to watch and enjoy the condiments served by the highly efficient, polite and charming men and women working for us and even though it may not be considered as a regular service to hire, they will want to indulge in the experience a few more times. The core target groups for our services will be adult parties, dinners, corporate team building activities, and office catering. We understand the need of the corporations and businesses nowadays to keep their employees interested and motivated in the workplace. The lunch hour is a necessary right for the worker; it provides the time to relax, take nourishment, socialize or even work to clear that backlog (Tahmincioglu, 2012). For management who want to provide some revitalizing entertainment for their employees along with the extra food choices, Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley can be the business to hire. Our staff will create a buzz in the office, give everyone plenty to talk about in the coming days and provide nourishing and comforting tea right at the desks of the workers. The mobility is one of our biggest strengths, as the products can be carried everywhere easily and prepared without much hassle. For the employees this will amount to convenience of delivered food and the enjoyment of the company of some very good looking people! While a gimmicky solution, hiring Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley can certainly be relatively inexpensive method to motivate a lethargic workforce- even if for a short time. Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley is not a food service and will not be positioned as such. The marketing through print, electronic and BTL activities will all explicitly state the entertainment and experience purpose of the business and attempt to educate the potential customers about the concept of the ‘Dolly Trolley’ catering itself. 2.1 Critical Success Factors For the business the end result is to find the right profit generating model which can be continued for a long term period. We realize that the risque concept of the business might not be very understandable for the customers at first; some might be hesitant to acquire the services, even though they are interested, because of perceived negative reaction from peers. Similarly, problems are expected to be experienced in hiring and retaining long term staff; workers may not be able to fully accept or adjust to the concept initially as well. As such the business will consider the following as measures of success for the first year: Training and retaining of 20 regular Dolly Trolley staff. Received 600 communications from interested parties asking about the service. Could be through personal, telephonic, email or social network correspondence. Organized 100 individual events through the year. Repeat assignments from same party will be considered in the count. Broke even on the initial costs in first six months, with at least a normal Profit achieved in a year. Successful execution of 3 below the line marketing activities, fulfilling the anticipated participation quota. Successfully entered into contracts with providers of tea and other condiments. 3.0 Stake Holders As good as an idea is, it can only be brought into reality through effective collaboration and support of all the stake holders. For the Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley the stake holders will include the suppliers, the staff, our direct and indirect customers and the larger public in general. Attempt will be made to integrate the needs and views of each of these into the business vision as long as it doesn’t hinder the growth of the business or diminish the original positioning. 1. Suppliers: The experience of Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley will not be complete without quality food. We will procure specific brands of tea and biscuits for serving to the customers and suppliers will be tried who can provide these in a timely and accurate manner. Once a suitable supplier is selected, all effort will be made to form open communication lines with them and develop a strong relationship with them. Similarly the staff uniforms will also be bought from one major supplier. 2. Staff: Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley will select confident and extrovert individuals who can carry out the role of the glamorous server with ease and without any feelings of misgivings. Basic training will be provided to them regarding the working (maneuvering) of equipment and making the actual food; as well as helping them to develop a suitable manner of behavior with customers. Compensation package will be competitive to similar services and packages with flexible benefits and working hours will be available. The business will need dedicated staff to work as planned and an adequate reward plan will help to retain them. Given the nature of the business, all the staff will also have to attend mandatory classes on Sexual harassment and their legal rights. These will be organized by the company as both a safeguard from any future law suits and for a necessary precautionary protection for the staff. 3. Customers: All customers will be dealt with politely, graciously and professionally. Equal services will be offered to all that are ready to pay the set prices but we will not entertain any extra requests or personalization demands. The direct customers will the corporations or event organizers who will avail our services and the secondary customers will be the people our staff will serve. It will be a priority of Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley to provide a pleasing and thoroughly enjoyable experience for all our customers. Superior service will, ideally, result in repeat hiring, recommendations and positive word of mouth for the company creating more opportunities. 4. General Public: While we will be catering to a niche market, general public acceptability will be required for smooth functioning. Our marketing will be unobtrusive and ethical business practices such as fair wages, quality food and an increase in employment opportunities will create value for the community where we will operate. 4.0 Market Research No business plan can be formally structured without a sufficient market research initiative. For Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley the research endeavor took note of both of secondary and primary data, with the cost of primary research included into startup costs. The research objective was to answer the questions: 1) that would customers be interested to pay money to indulge in such a service and what will be there preferred price point? 2) Given the competitive and economic environment will a venture such as Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley be able to survive and earn an economic profit? 4.1 Competition Research on the competition involved the preliminary stage of broadly classifying the competitors as direct or indirect, relating to our business model. These were then further grouped according to their own business model Direct Indirect Themed Caterers Themed cafes (coffee or tea) Office canteens/ lunch bars Traditional Caterers Event Planner firms Data was gathered about the businesses operating in our area, their price points, menu, customer satisfaction levels etc. Where possible the owners or management was reached and asked about their initial startup experience, challenges and financial planning. All the information gathered was then compared our drafted business plan and modifications were made where necessary. 4.2 Consumer Preferences The most crucial element of research for Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley, both qualitative and quantitative methods was used to gather consumer insight and attitudes. A survey for the indirect customers was generated to ask about their lunch preferences, attitude towards new experiences, and acceptability of the concept of a ‘sexy’ server. The survey was filled out by 500 individuals belonging to age 25 and above, belonging to upper, middle-upper and middle class income groups. The research indicated the level of curiosity people would have for a service like ours and will they be inclined to try it out. Based on the survey indications 2 focus groups were held to find out the reasons behind people’s thinking and reasoning. These results would be invaluable for developing the right communication to reach our target audience. A second research step was targeted to direct customers like corporations. Interviews were held with a few individuals from the industries to learn about their acceptance criteria and offers made to give them discount options for availing the services. These discount events served as the test market for the Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley service. An extensive study was undertaken to learn about corporate rules about hosting such services for special events or normal days- this helped to further define the objectives and criteria of the service. 4.3 Economic Trends Various government reports were pursued to get a clear idea of the economic expectations of the coming years. As a semi-luxury service, an increase in the overall economic wealth or at least stability would be a requirement for success of the company. Trends indicate that while the recession has slowed down, the growth is still slow. On the other hand, national food spending is stated to grow (Perlo, 2012). It was the conclusion of researchers that the population would respond positively to an entertainment service, like we are providing, both as a celebratory response to the slowdown of recession and as a measure of coping up with the bleak situations we have just experienced. Given the results of the research undertaken, the final forecasts of the business plan have been made. 5.0 Financial Planning The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when entering a new business is to fail to determine the capital requirements correctly (Brown, 2008.). For Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley, the costs incurred can be divided into three main categories: Fixed costs- one time (equipment, facilities’, licensing and registration fee, uniforms for staff) Variable Cost- ongoing ( food supplies, transport cost, maintenance of uniforms and facility, wages, marketing) Human Resource costs – depends on the long term trend (recruiting, selecting and training staff, attorney consultations ) An initial estimate of $ 100,000 is given for the startup costs and cash flow requirements until the business manages to generate steady revenue. This amount will be collected through external investment. 5.1 External Funding As a partnership business, the preferred source of capital requirement will be through bank loans. The aim will be to get 80% funding from a financial entity, with the other 20% supplied by the partners. The loan will be preferred to be of a 5-year term, high interest rate as the nature of the business is such that steady profits will only be received once the image of the service is established and awareness has been generated and that can take from 2-4 years (Sandilands). 6.0 Risk Even if the financial forecast is done with the lowest margin of error and the accurate research results applied to the business plan the element of risk remains for any business, but more so for the service Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley which is based on an entirely novel and risque idea. The legal dimension would come into play for us as well, and in order to minimize this risk a corporate attorney would be hired on a long term basis to navigate any legislations or regulations which will concern the business. But even if the legal pitfalls are avoided, the biggest risk would always be whether the corporate or social culture will accept the concept or not (Weinberg). Even if individuals are interested, social pressure can often deter them. The attempt of the firm will be to market unobtrusively but aggressively to generate awareness about the unique experience it provides and the ‘fun’ factor that would benefit all who would participate in the tea serving. The staff would be the forefront of all these communications of course. We will be vigilant of the risks present and play up to our strengths to the optimum level. 7.0 Conclusion Mobile Tea Sexy Dolly Trolley is a unique idea, with an appealing unique selling point that the competitors cannot match. The positing is concrete enough to correctly identify our target audience- mature, adventurous and experience seeking. Our staff will be confident and glamorous and provide an enjoyable experience not easily forgettable. The business plan has been decided upon after due diligence and attaining financial aid will not be a challenge. Despite the risks that are associated with this particular business, the returns would be high if it is carried out professionally. Bibliography Marketing Campaigns Use Sex Appeal to Sell Products. Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative University of New Mexico. Available at: [Accessed 25 October 2012].  Bplans, 2012. Financial Plans, Catering Business Plan. Available at: < http://www.bplans.com/catering_business_plan/financial_plan_fc.php> [Accessed 25 October 2012].  Sandilands, T. The earning potential of a barbecue catering business. Small Business, Demand Media. 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