What Process Would You Go Through to Determine a New Concept for the Hunt Room - Essay Example

s Section/# Case Response Question and Answers Q1) If you were the general manager, what process would you go through to determine a new concept for the Hunt Room? The first point that none of the shareholders in the discussion discussed was any type of vision or scope for the rate of return that they would expect the new Hunt Room to generate. This is a primary question due to the fact that the slated remodeling is expected to total not less than 500,000 USD. As a means to understand whether such an extravagant expense is warranted, the shareholders should most certainly withhold judgment on what the best approach would be until they have performed a bit of research to determine what level of sales increase such a plan may be capable of generating. Furthermore, there was no discussion of the target audience for which the renovations would take place. As was made obvious in the case study, the club itself is losing out on a powerful and important demographic of membership. As a means of attracting this demographic, the shareholders should be intimately aware of what types of improvements to the Hunt Room, if any, would engage this otherwise disenfranchised group of potential clients. Q2) What information would you seek – where would you find this information? A very important piece of information that should be sought prior to determining whether to remodel, shutter, or leave the Hunt Room as is relates to the feelings of the current clientele. Although the room itself is not necessarily generating a large share of profits for the club, it does fill an important niche and retain a level of happy and satisfied customers; therefore, attempting to poll these individuals as to the level of change they would like to see and incorporating these inputs in with layers of what would attract newer/younger patrons could be an effective win/win situation. Furthermore, performing such a level of market research is both easy to do and costs virtually nothing. Q3) What makes restaurant concepts grow out of favor? How often should a room be reconcepted? With regards to how often a room should be reconcepted, this entirely depends on the clientele that avail themselves of the room, the level of brand image that is associated with the room, and the degree to which customers are not only loyal to the firm/organization/club, the food, or the management, but also the actual immutability of the room itself. For these reasons, providing a hard and fast rule with reference to a definite time period in which a given room should be reconcepted would be foolish to the litany of different business plans that exist which to a varying degree rely on the appeal of the unchanging nature of the setting itself as a prime selling point. Secondly, with regards to what makes restaurant concepts grow out of practice, it is the belief of this author that the style in which the current concept has been conceived has worked well to engage with and retain a certain demographic of loyal patrons. However, the fact of the matter is that tastes and customer groups change over time. In order for an entity/club to continue to retain and gain clients, it must seek to carefully and cautiously engage with new ideas without providing a clear break from the past success. Q4) Should restaurants/clubs compete with other restaurants? With regards to this particular question, the answer is both yes and no. Due to the fact that the club in question has definitely lost a large number of potential clientele as a function of their rather unaltered and stoic representation of the same ideas for many years, it is doubtless that the appeal of such an institution to the younger demographic that they so desperately hope to appeal to has been lost in the more vicious and more competitive inter-restaurant competition that exists within the main market. At the same time, it should not be up to the clubs to compete with the individual restaurant offerings that may draw clientele away due to the fact that the main appeal that the club has is not directly related to the food that it offers; rather the most direct appeal is that of the atmosphere, exclusivity, and recreational activities that membership necessarily entails. Q5) Brainstorm to come up with possible concepts for the Hunt Room. You should include décor and menu items. With regards to the ways in which the décor of the room could be changed, it is the belief of this author that this can be accomplished without racking up a massive amount of money as has been cited within the case in point. Firstly, the room most definitely needs an upfit; however at the same time, the upfit should not impede the customer loyalty that has already been established and continues to allow the room to break even at the very least. With regards to muted updates that will not put into question the sense of culture and history that have thus far been established, it only makes sense that new paneling for the walls and /or new carpets would be one way to provide a fresh spin on an otherwise older concept. Secondly, without spending 500,000 USD, the room can be partitioned in a sense to provide for a more traditional seating area as well as a seating area that espouses some new aesthetics. Such a split function could help to provide for the needs of both the regular patrons as well as those that might prefer a fresher look. Thirdly, the menu can be expanded as well as a means to provide a more nutritionally mindful approach without losing the core components of meat centric fare that have helped the room to develop its loyal customer base. Key inclusions can of course be concentric around more pasta based and/or salad inclusions while at the same time adding to the meat offerings in a way that would provide a new and fresh flare to the rather old concepts that have served the room so solidly in the past years. Read More