Marketing of Vegan Restaurant in New York City - Research Paper Example

0 Executive Summary This marketing plan is focused on Vegan restaurant in New York which will be inaugurated soon. Vegan restaurant market has gained a lot of popularity and acceptance since few years because of rising awareness of meat meals’ adverse health effects, appreciating new entrants and providing opportunity to existing food restaurants to grow in the area of vegetarian food while promoting health and environmental stability. In past few years, competition in catering industry has become intense and large international food enterprises have captured a prominent share in the market that would impact our Vegan restaurant. Successful implementation of internal management system has become integral part in the success of any restaurant. Whereas the restaurant is highly sensitive to market trends and can face many issues due to the change in market. The strengths of the restaurant are Strong market research, internal management system, Focused team, affordable prices, Location, Restaurant ambiance, Quick service, and Quality of food. Whereas the weaknesses are new in the market, time\cost, lack of experience, Lack of strong backward integration and not so highly educated customer services staff. The opportunities available for the restaurant are growing vegetarian food industry, growing modern life style, rising awareness of meat related diseases, rising awareness of global warming through the production processes of meat products, political influence on healthy environment and speedy growth in tourism at New York City. As the restaurant going to be located in New York City, the direct competitors are restaurant and cafes which are offering variety of veggie food, whereas the indirect competitors are ready to eat and tin pack veggie foods which are much cheaper. Our Vegan restaurant is intended to provide wide variety of customized veggie food at one roof, so people from different cultures can come and enjoy the food according to their tastes and preferences. The target market consists of local inhabitants, immigrants in New York and tourist. Last year witnessed 50.6 million domestic and international tourists, whereas immigrants to NYC make up 40% of population in the city whereas remaining 60% are locals (NYC statistics, 2010).). Customization is basic strategy to meet the expectations of target market and social networks, magazines, newspapers, coupons, billboards and brochures contributes to healthy media mix for this restaurant to flourish. The restaurant is positioned to be known for its healthy delicious customized veggie-food, delightful ambiance and quick delivery service all over the city and to sustain the image this restaurant will conduct informal research and surveys. Final step of marketing plan is to check return on investment of each media channel and re-allocate the budget if needed. Also revise the budget allocated for human resource in terms of their productivity. In the last check controls on performance and market trends, than implement the plan successfully. 2.0 Situation Analysis Macro environmental risk analysis In recent years, competition in catering industry has become intense and large international food enterprises have captured a prominent share in the market. In vegan food chain, presences of Chinese and big popular vegetarian restaurants seize the market share in US food market. Our vegan restaurant would be largely impacted by these macro economic factors. Management risk analysis The restaurant industry needs an internal management system to manage all its operations as the quality of employers is not that high in comparison to other industries because of the educational factor therefore to cope up with low performance risk, presence of internal management system is very important. Market risk analysis Market trends changes with time, competition and consumer preferences which may impact the product life cycle of companies (Lehmann, 1985). Therefore the market risk of the restaurant would be: In the start up phase, presence of homogenous restaurants would impact the performance of our vegan restaurant and can create a difficulty to create point of difference among others. After the inauguration if the restaurant finds no business than it would be unable to pay off its debts and to cover up its cost. Once the restaurant get through from startup and launch phase, intense competition from other restaurants may create major risk to meet target sales for our restaurant. Analysis of restaurant’s capabilities Strong marketing research about the current scenario and target market will provide our vegan restaurant a competitive edge over others, internal management system would manage the overall operations, and the company has enough capital to incorporate all possible mechanisms to make the business successful. 2.1 Market Summary: Growing awareness of health diseases resulting from usage of meat has changed the market trend; today consumers prefer vegetarian food over meat meals. Current world health survey shows that biggest threats to human health could be cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and malignant tumor, survey also shows that usage of meat increases the risk of these diseases due to the high fat and cholesterol element. Diseases such as bird flu and aphthous fever have also influenced the consumption of vegetables; even the process of production of such products cause global warming, today many people have realized that presence of meat on the dining table may increase the risk of environmental damage. Therefore vegan restaurant market has gained a lot of popularity and acceptance since few years, appreciating new entrants and providing opportunity to existing food restaurants to grow in the area of vegetarian food while promoting health and environmental stability. 2.2 SWOT Analysis: Strengths Strong market research Internal management system Focused team affordable prices Location Restaurant ambiance Quick service Quality of food Customized veggie food Online order placement facility Home delivery Weaknesses New in the market Time and cost Lack of experience Not so highly educated customer services staff Lack of strong backward integration Opportunities Growing vegetarian food industry Growing modern life style rising awareness of meat related diseases Rising awareness of global warming through the production processes of meat products. Political influence on healthy environment Speedy growth in tourism Threats Intense competition Tin-food and ready to eat meals Low barrier to entry can allow a new entrant to come up with homogenous strategy and products Timely supplier’s delivery of raw food Lack of previous structure 2.3 Competition: Competition can hurt the firm’s profitability and therefore it is important to identify the competitors (Parolini, 1999). As the restaurant going to be located in New York City, the direct competitors in this sector are pure Vegan restaurants, vegetarian cafes and restaurants who are not purely Vegan but offering vegetarian food as part of their menu and all together they have captured large market share. Top direct large competitors going are Angelica Kitchen which is a pure vegan food provider, Bliss Cafe which is a lively vegetarian cafe, Blossom which offers tasty gourmet vegan cuisine, candle cafe which offers terrifically trendy environment with delicious veggie food, Candle 79 which offers vegetarian food and fine dining merge on the upper east side, Caravan of Dreams which is a hip retro restaurant caters to veggie lovers, Dirt Candy which is a pure vegetarian restaurant which appeals to less-than-virtuous tastes, Gobo which is an Asian veggie restaurant which offers health Asian veggie food, HanGawi which offers Korean vegetarian food with delightful ambience, and Tsampa which is Tibetan restaurant offering affordable Tibetan veggie food. Indirect customers are ready to eat veggie meals and tin pack veggie foods which are capturing attention of veggie-lovers as they are more affordable, easily accessible and can be stored in bulk for long. 2.4 Product Offering: Our Vegan restaurant is planned to offer wide variety of customized veggie food at one roof, so people belonging to different culture can come and enjoy the meal according to their tastes and preferences. Quality service is highly important for restaurants (Lovelock, and Wirtz, 2011). This project will be an attraction for all locals and foreigners because of the variety, quality, quick customer service and relaxing ambiance. 2.5 Keys to Success: Keys to success to this project are training of staff, incorporation of internal management system, the quality and affordable food, smooth delivery process and promotional activities (Kotler, and Keller, 2009) and all these success factors will be considered by the restaurant. 2.6 Critical Issues: One of the critical issues that the company would face is the intense level of competition. With higher number of competitors in the market, it would be difficult for the company to achieve a higher market share. The expertise and experience of management would also play an important role and as the management does not have too much experience therefore it can also be one of the critical issues or factors that could hurt the success of the firm. 3.0 Marketing Strategy As far as scope is concerned this restaurant would adopt multi market scope strategy with product customization strategy as it target people belonging to different cultures by providing the similar veggie taste at their homeland; whereas for its promotion it will use social networks, magazines, newspapers, coupons, billboards and brochures. For restaurant industry advertisements on television and other electronic media are not effective therefore the management will use above discussed channels to create the awareness (Kotler Armstrong, Wong, and Saunders, 2008). 3.1 Mission: “Our mission is to serve delicious customized veggie-food in an affordable price with decent ambiance for veggie-lovers belonging to different nations and cultures” 3.2 Marketing Objectives: To achieve break even after 1 year of operation To acquire 15% market share in the New York city after 3 years of operation To stand among leading veggie restaurants after 5 years of operation To promote social and environmental well being in all stages of product life cycle 3.3 Financial Objectives: Besides the marketing objectives, the company would also have its financial objectives as the financial objectives would be one of the most important motivations for the investors (Kotler, and Armstrong, 2010). The financial objectives of the company are: To achieve break even in the second year of operations To achieve a net profit of $50,000 by the end of third year. To achieve a net profit margin of 25% by the end of fourth year. 3.4 Target Market: The target market consists of local residents, foreigners who are living in New York and tourist. Last year witnessed 50.6 million domestic and international tourists, whereas immigrants to NYC make up 40% of population in the city whereas remaining 60% are locals (Mazelis, 2000). 3.5 Positioning: The restaurant is positioned to be known for its healthy delicious customized veggie-food, delightful ambiance and quick delivery service all over the city. 3.6 Strategies: Use of social networks, magazines, newspapers, billboards and brochures will help companies to build and sustain its image by delivering the right message to target market (Zenker, & Martin, 2011). Use of appropriate media channels will give a boost to sales (Kotler, 2009) and will help the restaurant to achieve break even in a short time period, whereas for the long-run media mix will foster growth and promote expansions. These channels will promote the Unique selling proposition of customization and will help to achieve competitive advantage as people intentionally or unintentionally get influenced by promotional activities. 3.7 Marketing Mix: The Vegan restaurant marketing mix firstly focuses on staff and customers as the staff creates value to the customers, whereas customers are the ultimate source of sales. Food quality, food taste, customization, delightful ambiance, affordable price, online and telephone orders, take away option, cultural dimensions, magazine advertisement, brochures, billboards, coupons, easy accessibility and event sponsorship will contribute to a vigorous marketing mix. 3.8 Marketing Research: The restaurant will perform a survey semi-annually to know the market trends and demographics of New York City. The performance of the restaurant and quality of food will be judged by informal research such as employee comments, email and through word of mouth. 4.0 Controls: Monthly employee meeting will serve the purpose of control; this will help the restaurant to identify mistakes and areas for amendment (Lovelock and Gummesson, 2004). Monthly employee meeting will help the implementation of marketing ideas by individuals who believe in it and it will also ensure the participation of each employee in the accomplishment of marketing plan (Haberberg, and Rieple, 2008). 4.1 Implementation: To implement the plan in the right manner, it is important to make all the elements of marketing plan flexible, allocate resources and budget according to the requirement and upcoming trends (Anderson, 1982). Check return on investment of each media channel and re-allocate the budget if needed. Also revise the budget allocated for human resource in terms of their productivity. In the last check controls on performance and market trends, then implement the plan successfully. 4.2 Marketing Organization: Restaurants usually have flat hierarchy to manage entire operations of the restaurant therefore our vegan restaurant has a hierarchy consisting of CEO, catering manager, operations manager, finance manager, human resource manager, marketing manager, and customer service representatives. 4.3 Contingency Planning: The restaurant has planned for several risks and rising issues: Problems Solutions The restaurant faces conflict issues between employees Implement conflict resolution strategies to manage the crises situation The restaurant losses any employee in the accident Purchase a life insurance policy For some reasons quality of food decline Improve quality measurement targets Customers doesn’t feel like coming to restaurant any more Re-position the image Shrinking purchasing power Make the menu flexible and come up with deals Cost exceeds revenue Reallocate budget and make it flexible, examine return on investment on media mix 5.0 Conclusion To conclude, designed marketing plan has provided deep insight over associated risks in the macro environment; internal management and in the market; about changing market trends and growing preference of veggie food; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the new Vegan restaurant; direct and indirect competitors, products offered; keys to success; marketing strategy; mission; marketing objectives; positioning of the restaurant; marketing mix; market research; controls; and organizational structure. It has also provided with contingency planning so the restaurant can cope up with expected and unexpected risks. 6.0 References Mazelis, F. (2000). Immigrants make up 40 percent of New York City's population. World Socialist Website, retrieved May 23, 2012 from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jul2000/nyc-j31.shtml Parolini, C. (1999). The value net: A tool for competitive strategy. New York: Wiley. Zenker, S. & Martin, N. (2011). Measuring success in place marketing and branding. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 7, 32-41. East, R., Vanhuele, M., & Wright, M. (2008). Consumer Behaviour: Application in Marketing. Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Great Britain: The Cromwell Press Ltd. Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing Management. Pearson: Prentice-Hall. Lehmann, R. (1985). Market Research and Analysis, R.D. Irwin, Columbia University. Lovelock, C., and Wirtz, J. (2011). Services Marketing – People, Technology, Strategy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kotler, P., and Keller, K. (2009). A Framework for Marketing Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Lovelock, C., and Gummesson, E. (2004). Whither Services Marketing? In Search of a New Paradigm and Fresh Perspectives. Journal of Service Research, 7 (1), 20 – 41. Haberberg, A., and Rieple, A. (2008). Strategic Management: Theory and application. New York: Oxford University Press. Anderson, P. (1982). Marketing, Strategic Planning and the Theory of the Firm. The Journal of Marketing, 46 (2), 15- 26. Borden, N. (1964). The concept of marketing mix. Journal of Advertising Research, Retrieved November 29, 2011 from http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/managementstudies/Courses/bus2010s/2007/Nicole%20Frey/Assignments/Borden,%201984_The%20concept%20of%20marketing.pdf Kotler P., Armstrong, G.,Wong, V. and Saunders, J. (2008). Principles of Marketing (5th European Ed.) London: FT Prentice Hall Kotler, P, and Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of Marketing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. NYC statistics. (2010). NYC: The Official Guide. Retrieved May 23, 2012 from http://www.nycgo.com/articles/nyc-statistics-page Read More