Anitas Kitchen Restaurant - Improving Business - Research Proposal Example

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant is one of the many ethnic restaurants in the UK seeking to improve their business. As a result a survey was conducted in order to research how this can be done. A descriptive cross sectional study design was used to investigate these questions. A survey was administered and 427 questionnaires completed by the restaurant’s customers randomly chosen for convenience over a 14 day period. The data was analyzed via SPSS and the results represented and discussed here. Following the discussion of findings, limitations of the study were analyzed and recommendations made on future research. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study Anita’s Kitchen is a restaurant that traces its history in the UK to Birmingham in 2005. The restaurant specializes in ethnic food, namely Chinese, Indian, Italian and Thai. Some of the factors that cause Anita’s Kitchen to stand out include: the design of the restaurant—the kitchen is open, allowing customers to see and smell their food as it gets prepared for them; customers are allowed to eat as much as they are able to for a fixed price; the restaurant’s interior also allows a larger emphasis to be placed on the restaurant’s menu—showing maps, pictures and ingredients as well of the country’s origin in the setting all around. As an exotic restaurant, Anita’s Kitchen aims to offer a wide array of exotic foods targeting a range of professionals including young professionals, university students as well as families looking to spice up the way they eat at an affordable rate. In spite of Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant’s flare, there have been a couple of other eateries come up and give her a run for her money. This has led to Anita increasing her efforts in increasing her traffic in a bid to increase her profits from her business. As evidenced by NPD Group Inc (2013) Anita’s and other ethnic restaurant owners in the UK s’ concerns are not unfounded. The organization reported that ethnic restaurants and takeaways attracted 123 million less visits between 2009 and 2012. During this time period, supermarkets enjoyed a gradually growing number of visits to their food delis. Supermarkets are increasing the quality of the food they serve. BigHospitality, a major ethnic food restaurant in the UK, has also stated that the report has not taken them by surprise and that ethnic restaurants need to pull up their socks if their businesses are to thrive as they once did before (Ruddick 2013). NPD Group Inc (2013) said that this decline has mostly resulted from fewer evening dining visits to sit-down restaurants. The study also found that fewer than 17million people reported that they would return to the ethnic restaurant. These among other evidences should serve as a wakeup call for ethnic restaurants to increase their offering including layout, décor, menu, cleanliness, atmosphere, and services promotions as well. With this study, Anita hopes to fulfill this need and to make decisions based on evidence (Ruddick 2013). 1.2 Research Questions Central research question: what qualities of Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant attract customers and how can this be improved? The following are the specific research questions to be investigated: I. Are customers satisfied or not, and if not why not? II. Are there problems with the food, the atmosphere, or some other aspect of restaurant offering (e.g. employees or service?). III. What are the common characteristics of satisfied customers? IV. Is the target market correctly defined or does it need to focus on a different niche? V. Are there sub-groups of customers that are more committed (loyal) to Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant?, and if so who are they? 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Design The descriptive cross sectional design study will endeavor to generate data on the performance of Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant and answer the research questions the study poses. This study designs collects information from study population at a given point in time in order to answer certain questions using the information generated. Study population was a convenience sample chosen randomly from the restaurant’s diners (who dine out at least weekly and live in Birmingham). A self-administered questionnaire was the research instrument of choice; 427 questionnaires we completed over a period of 14 days. A single questionnaire was completed by one person in every group of diners interviewed. The collected data was analyzed via SPSS. 3. FINDINGS The total number of participants in the study was 427. Table 1 below reflects the socio-demographic characteristics (classification questions) of the respondents including age, gender, income, number of children per household, distance traveled to Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant, and advertizing recall. Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents Frequency Percentage (%) Gender Male 252 59 Female 175 41 Total 427 100 Age 18-25 42 9.8 26-34 39 9.1 35-49 219 51.3 50- 59 109 25.5 60 and over 18 4.2 Number of children at home No children at home 207 48.5 1-2 children 88 20.6 More than 2 children 129 30.2 Total 424 99.3 Missing system 3 0.7 Income €10,000 -- €20,000 93 21.8 €20,001 -- €30,000 113 26.5 €30,001 -- €40,000 52 12.2 €40,001 -- €50,000 91 21.3 €50,001 or more 78 18.3 Distance travelled Less than 1 mile 198 46.4 1 -- 3 miles 106 24.8 More than 3 miles 119 27.9 Total 423 99.1 Missing system 4 0.9 Advertizing recall Do Not Recall advertisements 281 65.8 Recall Advertisements 141 33 Total 422 98.8 Missing system 5 1.2 The table above shows that of the 427 respondents 252 (59%) were male while the rest were female. The age range recorded was between 18 to over 60 years of age; respondents aged 35-49 were the most frequently occurring at 51.3% (n=219) followed by those aged between 50-59 at 25.5% (109), while those aged 60years and above were the least frequent at 4.1% (n=18). On the item concerning number of children at home, majority (48.5%) of the respondents reported as having no children (n=207); of the respondents who had children, those who had more than 2 children were the larger group at 30.2% (129). On income, the majority fell within the €20,001 -- €30,000 group at 26.5% (n=113), although all income groups were quite evenly represented. 46.4% (n=198) had travelled less than one mile to get to the restaurant, 24.8% travelled 1-3 miles, and 27.9% travelled more than 3 miles. 65.8% (n=281) did not recall seeing any advertisements on the restaurant. Below is table 2 representing information concerning perception measures of the respondents concerning Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant. Table 2: Perception measures Frequency Percent (%) Has friendly employees 2 7 1.6 3 113 26.5 4 67 15.7 5 240 56.2 Is a fun place to eat 2 13 3 3 104 24.4 4 225 52.7 5 57 13.3 6 25 5.9 Total 424 99.3 Missing system 3 0.7 Generally provides large size portions off its menu 2 37 8.7 3 70 16.4 4 99 23.2 5 83 19.4 6 137 32.1 Total 426 99.8 Missing system 1 0.2 Offers fresh food 4 90 21.1 5 100 23.4 6 63 14.8 7 171 40 Total 424 99.3 Missing system 3 0.7 Charges reasonable prices 2 37 8.7 3 70 16.4 4 131 30.7 5 92 21.5 6 47 22.7 Has an attractive interior décor 2 26 6.1 3 98 23.0 4 159 37.2 5 116 27.2 6 25 5.9 Total 424 99.3 Missing system 3 0.7 Offers food of excellent taste 3 13 3 4 95 22.2 5 143 33.5 6 104 24.4 7 72 16.9 Has knowledgeable employees 3 52 12.2 4 92 21.5 5 206 48.2 6 59 13.8 7 13 3 Total 422 98.8 Missing system 5 1.2 Serves food at the proper temperature 2 13 3 3 64 15 4 117 27.4 5 148 34.7 6 69 16.2 7 12 2.8 Total 423 99.1 Missing system 4 0.9 Provides quick service 4 90 21.1 5 102 23.9 6 232 54.3 Total 424 99.3 Missing system 3 0.7 The table above contains information collected from the respondents on how they perceive the restaurant on ten aspects rated on a 7-pont Likert scale with 1 for strongly disagree to 7 for strongly disagree. The following are the results form that analysis: I. Has friendly employees: Participants generally agreed that the restaurant has friendly employees. 56.2% (n=240) agreed on this and 26.5% (n=113) disagreed while 1.6% (n=7) strongly disagreed. II. Is a fun place to eat: majority (52.7%, n=225) neither agreed nor disagreed (rated 4) III. Generally provides large size portions off its menu: majority, that is 32.1% (n=137) strongly agreed. Very few (8.7%, n=37) strongly disagreed. IV. Offers fresh food: a large proportion largely agreed- 40% (n=171). The larger proportion of respondents rated this item as 5 and above, and only 21.1% (n=90) rated it 4. V. Charges reasonable prices: a majority agreed, though the larger proportion (30.7%) rated this item at 4. VI. Has an attractive interior décor: a majority agreed, though the larger proportion (37.2%, n=159) rated this item as 4. VII. Offers food of excellent taste: the majority agreed—this item was rated by 33.5% (n=143) at 5 and 24.4% rated it 6. VIII. Has knowledgeable employees: the majority agreed—this item was rated by 48.2% (n=206) at 5 and 13.8% rated it 6. IX. Serves food at the proper temperature: the majority agreed—this item was rated by 34.7% (n=148) at 5 and 16.2% rated it 6. X. Provides quick service: the majority agreed—this item was rated by 54.3% (n=232) at 6 and 23.9% rated it 5. Going by the results, the customers are generally satisfied since the restaurant was rated well on 8 out of 10 of the items measuring their perception of the restaurant. Reasons why customers may not be satisfied are to do with how friendly the employees are and how fun the restaurant is perceived to be. The customers are generally happy with the food quality and quantity, and the atmosphere in the restaurant. Customers are satisfied not only by prompt service and good quality food, but also the friendliness of the employees as well as the experience offered by the restaurant. Satisfied customers are not only willing to provide feedback, but they also provide positive feedback to their service providers (Estep 2010). Anita’s target market is however incorrectly defined in as far as age group is concerned; the age that most frequented the restaurant is 35-49 and second most by people aged 50-59, which is not very much in keeping with Anita’s target of mainly young professionals and university students. Perhaps the restaurant should adjust more to capture the target market it originally aimed to capture while still taking advantage of the new niche already at its disposal as revealed by the survey results. 4. CONCLUSION Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant is making the correct steps towards improving the services it offers to its customers in a bid to gain the competitive advantage over its competitors. The survey done reveals that Anita is on the right path in certain aspects of her restaurants, while some others need tweaking of she is to achieve the results she seeks. 5. LIMITATIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Though the survey was generally well received, there are certain aspects which showed that it could have done better including: there were some missing responses. Even though very few responses were missing, slight caution should therefore be exercised in interpreting the findings since they are incomplete. On the sampling method employed, this study recommends that perhaps a descriptive qualitative study be done in order to get more personalized feedback from respondents. Another alternative would be to conduct a case control study comparing a restaurant whose customers are satisfied with Anita’s customers to see where the gap that needs to be bridged is. References De Vaus, D. (2002). Surveys in social research. London: Routledge. Estep, M. (2010). Ten Characteristics of Happy Customers. [online] Unitiv.com. Available at: http://www.unitiv.com/intelligent-help-desk-blog/bid/34342/Ten-Characteristics-of-Happy-Customers [Accessed 23 Dec. 2015]. NPD Group Inc, (2013). UK’s ethnic restaurants lose 123 million visits between 2009 & 2012. [online] New RK: NPD Group Inc. Available at: https://www.npdgroup.co.uk/wps/portal/npd/uk/news/press-releases/uks-ethnic-restaurants-lose-123-million-visits-between-2009-and-2012/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2015]. Ruddick, P. (2013). Under fire: UK ethnic restaurants are 'losing diners' to supermarkets. [online] BigHospitality.co.uk. Available at: http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Trends-Reports/Under-fire-UK-ethnic-restaurants-are-losing-diners-to-supermarkets [Accessed 23 Dec. 2015]. Yin, R. (2003). Case study research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Read More