An Overview of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry - Research Paper Example

? An Overview of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry Introduction Hospitality and tourism forms an integral part of business world today and represents some of the most prestigious brand names leading the markets of United States. One of the most profitable branches of hospitality in the U.S. is the field of restaurant management. Large number of international chains of restaurants is originally based in the U.S. and offer high standards of service and cuisines across the globes (Litvin et al., 2008). However, these entities have to overcome various obstacles in due course of managing the restaurant business, including regulatory constraints, competitive pressures and fluctuations in customer demand and tastes. In this paper, we critically evaluate the challenges faced by hospitality industry in the territory of Chicago, conduct an analysis of dynamics between different components and critically discuss the essential role played by technology in ensuring survival of the fittest. Managing restaurant in Chicago Chicago is one of the most populated American states and a substantial proportion is represented by younger people and teenagers belonging to millennial generations. They have a certain taste developed for fast food cuisine as they have limited funds for meal allowance and cannot afford the luxury of having lavish dine-outs frequently. Furthermore, the everyday life in Chicago is very fast and competitive and people barely find time to spare for unconstructive activities such as enjoying an exclusive feast. College students and working class always prefer grabbing a quick snack between breaks and only wish to give minimal lead time between ordering food and being served. This attitude has been best catered through fast food chains that offer a blend of snacks such as burgers, sandwiches, mini steaks and breakfast deals alongwith a small bar that offers liquors and soft beverages. However, it is pivotal that the restaurant is placed in a strategic location which covers a large radius of schools, colleges and workplaces (Austin et al., 2005). Since Chicago represents one of the busiest commercial and capital hubs of America, there are high stakes involved and thus various strict regulatory bodies exist that closely monitor all food and hospitality businesses. Not only the mandatory standards are complied with, but restaurants also attempt to meet requirements of voluntary codes pertaining to quality, health, hygiene and safety. This social business is for the public at large and hence to gain their support and create goodwill amongst diversified population of Chicago, it is crucial to fulfill needs of the desired market niche. Demographics of targeted market segment must be carefully studied and preferences be analyzed before establishing the offered menu and the overall aura of restaurant. In order to outperform hundreds of brands already prevailing in the market, some uniqueness and exclusivity needs to be developed that attracts customers who can find those factors nowhere else. This may be the special food, innovative methodology or unrivaled services. Innovation through technology Technology has swayed the hospitality industry of Chicago in recent decades. New innovations are highly valued by the Chicago people and thus all famous brands continue to develop and introduce newer methods of cooking and serving through usage of technology. Moreover, few inventions such as the social media, has helped businesses in collecting vast amount of demographic information of customers and in conducting mass marketing campaigns. Often, new restaurants market their business on social media portals and operate online only for collecting orders and making deliveries, with no physical dine-out outlet and hence save substantial costs. Furthermore, various brands have introduced self-service stalls in different busy locations of Chicago; these booths have automated equipment with no human intervention. A customer can conveniently place an order with push of few buttons and the intelligent machine terminal accepts payments and executes programmed set of instructions to arrange food and deliver to customer within seconds. Various other modes of technology have facilitated the business processes of restaurants, including order-taking, bookkeeping, cashiering and staff management. Automated terminals are commonly used at fast food cafes, which are used by customers to place orders while sitting at their dining tables. This eliminates the need for waiters and reduces the time taken for delivering the order and hence increases turnover of each table. Alternatively, customers are given silent pagers which are beeped by kitchen staff as soon as their meals are ready. This enhances the peaceful atmosphere of restaurant as compared to former methods where the announcements from kitchen were heard on loudspeaker by the entire crowd. Point-of-sale systems are also another popular technology used commonly to save time and effort required for gathering information, taking orders, collecting payments, keeping track of receipts and safekeeping of cash. Various other robots and machines are used for helping in cooking, mixing, cleaning and other ancillary tasks (Alonzo, 2007). An added feature available at almost all restaurants today in Chicago is free internet connectivity through wireless Wi-Fi networks. This facilitates the busy people of Chicago in checking important emails, staying connected to work and social networking. Critical discussion Following the quality of offered food, customer service in restaurants plays the most important role for ensuring long-term profitability of a business. Moreover, services are also closely linked to other facilities such as accommodation and meeting arrangements. Thus restaurants must improve food services as evident from example of the famous fast food chain, Hardees, which focuses on pampering its customers with exceptional services. It has prepared a menu that gives a rich and prestigious feel to customers, alongwith value for money. It precisely mentions preparation methods in names of menu items, highlighting specifically where the ingredients come from as they all hold different values to different customers (Panitz, 2000). On the other hand, restaurants must keep in view the neighboring hotel premises to facilitate their residents. Likewise, there are various restaurants located adjacent to the famous resort, Holiday Inn. People from all over the world stay in the hotel and hence these restaurants have multiple cuisines merged in one place to cater diversified blend of customers. Additionally, it also attracts corporate customers which belong to various countries and ethnicities and have distinct preferences for food. These customers conduct their official meetings at such restaurants since they can easily all be accommodated in a single sitting with varying cuisines. These factors attract customers into the restaurant, thereby creating a cohesive bond among food services, lodging and meeting arrangements. Another factor comes into play when restaurants wish to enhance their sales and clientele. Chicago has witnessed obsessive trends of parallel gaming facilities at restaurants. These enable masses to be indulged in interactive activities with friends and families while enjoying tasty meals. Gaming has a vast definition, including play-place for kids, arcade and networking games for teenagers and casino gambling entertainment for adults. Thus management must decide which games to install in place, depending on target audience of restaurant. Their presence boosts up its overall revenue generated from extra sale of meals as well as additional income earned on games. Games enable people to spend more time within the premises and eventually result in receipt of more orders from hungry customers after being exhausted from their activities. Thus, restaurants’ primary business also has a powerful direct connection with gaming services and therefore this practice must be promoted in Chicago in order to create an overall positive economic impact. Conclusion In order to survive the cutthroat competition of Chicago markets, restaurants must strive hard towards maintaining their unique and inimitable core competences and evolving continuously through usage of technology and creativity. In order to attract new customers, it is necessary that restaurants use various marketing tactics such as offering discounts and promotional deals while existing customers can be retained through introduction of loyalty cards and outstanding services. Surveys must be conducted regularly to collect comments and complaints of customers and improving accordingly. The management must aim at knowing their customers very well since that shall become the focal point when deciding on menus, designing physical premises and establishing prices (Litvin et al., 2008). Lastly, the management must develop a light-hearted atmosphere in restaurants while the staff must exhibit positive attitudes, considering the immense level of work pressures, study-related stress and financial constraints faced by Chicago population and thus the restaurant must act as a safe haven for their serenity and an escape from their regular challenges. References Alonzo, R. (2007). The upstart guide to owning and managing a restaurant. Kaplan Publishing. Austin, S. B., Melly, S. J., Sanchez, B. N., Patel, A., Buka, S., & Gortmaker, S. L. (2005). Clustering of fast-food restaurants around schools: a novel application of spatial statistics to the study of food environments. Journal Information, 95(9). Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E., & Pan, B. (2008). Electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management. Tourism management, 29(3), 458-468. Panitz, B. (2000). Does your menu attract or repel diners. Reading between the lines: The psychology of menu design. Restaurants USA, 8, 81-87. Read More