The Top Arabic Restaurant Business Plan - Term Paper Example

 The Top Arabic Restaurant Business Plan Executive Summary Top Arabic restaurant will be located in New York specifically Bloomfield city. This is a strategic location due to the dense population with majority being Arabs. It will greatly focus on provision of Arabic dishes to the surrounding community as well as the visiting tourists . The business will be partnership whereby Kennedy and Ahmed will be the main partners. The restaurant will focus on being the leading Arabic restaurant in United States. In an effort to achieve this, it will focus on providing quality products and services to the clients. It will also establish a warm and friendly environment to ensure that the clients remain at ease in the restaurant. Considering the competition from other restaurants, Top Arabic restaurant will enact effective marketing strategies such as direct mails, media, hotel guidelines and pamphlets. This will place it at a better position than its competitors hence attracting a larger client base. The restaurant will also offer take away and outside-catering services to people’s homes and offices. This strategy will assist in exploiting the niche market in the industry. In addition, it will also assist in creating awareness to the public regarding its existence. The business is expected to utilize $50,000 for its start up expenses. Business Description Top Arabic restaurant; a US based restaurant serving healthy, contemporary Arabic cuisines will be located at Bloomfield city in New York. The business will take a form of partnership whereby two partners will be involved (Ahmed and Kennedy). The restaurant will provide both merchandise and services to the clients. The merchandise will be in form of the main Arabian cuisines, main dishes, beverages and snacks, while the services will be in form of conferences and catering services. The reason for having the business as a partnership is due to the many benefits that come in handy. To start with, the two agreed on partners will play a major role in creation and development of business ideas. They will also be expected to share in the costs incase of a loss in the business. In addition, the partners will share the main duties hence a minimization in the daily’s stresses among the business partners . The restaurant’s vision is to become the leading Arabian restaurant in United States of America. Therefore, one of its main missions will be to offer high quality services and products in order to create a positive and long lasting impact among its clients. We plan to create an environment of pampered luxury for the incoming clients in the restaurants. The idea behind this is to create a home like environment to the visiting clients. In order to achieve the restaurant’s mission; we will greatly focus on the effect of our products and services on the wellbeing and health of our customers as well as the general staff. For the restaurant to succeed, the management will focus on the following goals: maintenance of a sound financial management, building a strong market position through vigorous marketing and recruitment of competent personnel. In addition, the employees will be expected to exhibit a close customer contact and excellent relationships in order to successfully meet the customer’s needs. A suitable site for the restaurant has already been found and the acquisition negotiations of the building are in the final stages. The location will be at Bloomfield, next to Harvard square, near a dense population of the target market. Having completed the process of acquiring the building, necessary measures will be taken in order to set the building as desired. Top Arabic restaurant will then open and the operations will be put in place. Industry Analysis Restaurant industry is a very competitive business; this has been aggravated by the changes in lifestyle brought about by modern living. Consequently, it has continued to fuel a steady growth in the industry. A great number of people are having less time and resources to cook for themselves. The current trends are playing a significant role in the restaurant industry; therefore, top Arabic restaurant will be well positioned for the current interest in lighter, healthier Arabic foods at a much lower price. A study shows that the restaurant industry is drastically growing at an approximate rate of 7%. The food service business is among the top three industries in the country. It accounts for over $240 billion sales in a year. The autonomous restaurant accounts for 15% of that total. Usually an average American spends 15% of his/her income on meals away from home, probably in hotels, cafes or restaurants. The number has gradually been increasing for the last eight years. In the last six years the restaurant industry has out-performed the national Gross National Product by 40%. The main reasons provided by the Faulkner Report (December 1998) are lifestyle changes, economic climate, and an increase in product variety. There are over 700 new restaurants opening every month hence the needs to keep up with the increasing demand. Products and Related Services Top Arabic Restaurant will be offering a menu of Arabic food and beverages with a unique image. It will also offer conference rooms and catering services. There will be three main ways to purchase the products; delivery to home or office, table service at the restaurant and take away from the restaurant. The menu will consist of a moderate sized, and moderate-low priced giving a collection of Arabic items with a universal theme: healthy, familiar and flavorful dishes. Our goal is to create the image of light satisfying and still nutritious Arabic dishes. Food production and assemblage will take place in the restaurant’s kitchen. Arabian spices, flavors, vegetables, animal protein and dairy products will be utilized to make most of the dishes in the restaurant. The chief chef will implement strict standards of sanitation, packaging and quality production in the kitchen and among the service staff. There will be three main ways in which a client may purchase his/her food. They may sit down in the dining room and receive full service from a waitress/waiter. There will be a separate take away counter which will serve those who wish to carry take away food. Most take away food will be prepared in advance from the orders made either by telephone or fax. Delivery of take away foods will be available at specific times and to a specific area. The market for Top Arabic restaurant’s products and services will cover a large area of different and densely populated groups. Although the restaurant will be located in a downtown urban locale, it is a location where people travel to eat out and one that is also frequented by tourists and Arabs. It is also a location known for and caters for the demographic group we are laying our focus on. The Harvard Square location is one of the most attractive retail locations in United States of America. It is rated as the third best retail market by the Chamber of Commerce. The customer base is expected to come from 3 major sectors; the local population, surrounding colleges and universities, local businesses and tourism sector. The Arabic food concept will attract Arabs based in United States of America, the health conscious person, curious, adventurous and open minded individuals ready to experiment with Arabic cuisines (www.al-bab.com/arab/food.html). Tourists have increased at a rate of 24% over the past 4 years and are predicted to keep increasing. Local restaurant businesses are growing at a rate of 18% per year. The idea of health awareness through nutritional consciousness and different dietary change has been gradually building for the past 6 years. The immense government studies and new Food Guide Pyramid have provided everyone with a new definition of a balanced, nutritious diet. Competitive Analysis There are numerous restaurants in the Harvard Square area that sell and distribute food at almost similar prices. Although this acts as an apparent challenge in terms of market share, it also poses the presence of a great, strong potential on the top Arabic restaurant. The most recent competitors have made their booming entry based on an original concept or uniqueness. Top Arabic restaurant will offer an original product and service in a familiar style at a highly, customer friendly, competitive price. Our aggressive plans of take away and home delivery will give us an advantage which will enable us to create a favorable market share. The main competitors for the target market include: commercial food service enterprises, fast food cafes, independent table service restaurants and similar Arabic restaurants. Independent operators include Grenfell’s Den, Bombay Club, Irun, and The Border Cafe. Most of them are ethnic based and usually carry at least two related menu items. Grenfell’s and Irun are ancient businesses while the others are rather new businesses which are doing very well. The main chain restaurants are Chili’s and House of Blues. They are reasonably new but well established and lucrative. They have huge resources of marketing and a specialty product or service. For instance, House of Blues provides a live music band in the restaurant. Other chain restaurants service over 25,000 Harvard students but their products and services are not alluring enough to stop students from eating out 4 to 6 meals in a week. In addition, there are two neighboring catering companies whose main duties include instant delivery of prepared meals on daily terms to the offices and homes. To overcome the competition, Top Arabic restaurant will focus on provision of a variety of healthy, low fat Arabic dishes. This will place it at a better position in comparison to its competitors. Each of the listed competitors provides at least one healthy variety on their menu. For instance, Grenfell’s Den has an entire sector called On the Lighter Side which is considered as an alternative to the main menu being offered. The target market will therefore perceive Top Arabic restaurant as the destination location for healthy, low-fat Arabic cooking. Having tried the restaurant, the client’s experience will be reinforced by welcoming, competent and knowledgeable customer care. Marketing Strategy The entrance into the market will not be a problem. According to a research carried out, the surrounding stores have a high visibility with profound foot traffic all during the day. The local residents usually support upcoming restaurants and the tourists do not have predetermined preferences. In addition, we have set $5,000 for a pre-opening advertisement and public relations promotion. Focusing on the unique aspect of the product and service theme (healthy, tasty Arabic dishes) a mix of marketing strategies will be created to convey our entrance into the market, our unique image, and our general message. In order to create awareness to the public on our existence, we will engage in intensive marketing. Our main focus will be on the 4ps (product, promotion, place and price). We will ensure that we offer high quality, unique and a variety of products and services at a customer friendly price. We shall use print media, direct mail, hotel guides and broadcast media for promotion purposes. The marketing effort will be divided into 3 phases; Opening, ongoing and point of sale whereby well trained staff will enhance the client’s experience. We plan to extend our Catering services to offices (even outside our locale) and homes. This will play a crucial role in creation of a large part of our gross sales. At that particular point a sales agent will be hired to directly market our products for a daily basis delivery or catered events. Operational issue Top Arabic restaurant at Bloomfield will be a 3000 Square foot space. It was initially a Chinese restaurant and will only need some minor structural modifications. The licenses and issues to do with the codes are all in the process of negotiation. New furniture, equipment and restaurant furniture will be purchased and set up by the general contractor. The restaurant will be open as from 6.00 am to 11pm. It will also be opened over holidays such as Christmas, thanksgiving among others. Our employees will extensively be trained on the philosophy and applications of our concept. They will obtain immense information from the main chef and will be kept informed on the latest Arabic cuisines. A big emphasis will be placed on extensive research into the quality and integrity of our products. Food expenses and account control will be handled by specific computer programs and inspected daily by our management. Most food and beverages will be prepared and set on the premises. The main kitchen will be designed for high standards of sanitary efficiency and cleaned on a daily bases. Management & Organization The restaurant will have two main principles; the two partners, who will play the management roles. Ahmed is expected to bring with him a track record of success in the food industry while Kennedy will be expected to bring with him a track record of managerial science. A board of governors will be elected to govern the restaurants operations. The restaurant will provide competitive wages and salaries to all the staff members. The benefit packages will be available to only the main personnel. We will recruit competent and qualified personnel. 1 human resource manager, 1 general manager, 1 marketing manager, 2 sales executives, 10 chefs, 15 waiters/waitresses, 5 cleaners and 5 labor workers. The key employees will be clearly chosen and provided with attractive incentives for excellent performance and growth. Kennedy Austin will be the President and the principal operating officer in the restaurant . The general manager, human resource manager and marketing manager will be expected to report to him. The waiters and chefs will be expected to report to their respective managers, while the rest of the employees will be subordinate to them. Financial projections We have an initial start-up cost of $25,000 of which we plan to start the restaurant. According to the expenses we will incur, the money will not be enough, therefore we plan to engage in short term borrowing in order provide us with an additional $25,000. We purpose to generate a net profit of $80,000 in the first year of our operations. Start up expenses Cost Furniture and restaurant related equipment $8,000 Cutlery $1,000 Building Acquisition $20,000 License and code fee $2,000 Cookers $4,000 Salaries and Wages $10,000 Interior decoration $1,000 Miscellaneous $2,000 Arabic food products $2,000 Total cost $50,000 References Read More