Fast Food Restaurant - Case Study Example

Fast Food Restaurant Introduction Fast food restaurant, which is sometimes referred to as QSR or quick service restaurant is a unique type of restaurant that is characterized by both its minimal table service and fast food cookery. All foods offered in fast food restaurants are always served from a narrow menu and satisfy for “meat-sweet diets”. The food sold in fast food restaurants is prepared in advance in bulk and kept hot ready for sale. They provide food is prepared and packed ready for orders. Fast food restaurants usually offer take away services, although seating is sometimes provided. They are also part of a restaurant chain since they provide standardized ingredients or partially cooked foods, which they supply to other restaurants under a controlled supply channel. This paper is written in reference to the world’s famous fast food restaurant, KFC. KFC was founded in the year 1952 under the management of Colonel Harland Sanders. The restaurant is also called Kentucky Fried Chicken. The main foods sold by this restaurant are salad, chicken pieces, wraps, and sandwich, although its main food is fried chicken. KFC operates in more than hundred countries in the world and has more than 15000 units and 5200 restaurants around the globe. KFC serves approximately 13million customers on a daily basis around the world. This fast food restaurant is also a shareholder of the Yum Brands, Inc., which is one the largest restaurant in the world when it comes to restaurant systems with approximately 40,000 outlets internationally. KFC 4P’s Product A product is anything that a business organization offers to the market to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers (Sahud, et. al, 2006). The specialty of KFC restaurant is fried chicken, which is served in different forms. The primary product of KFC restaurant is pressure-fried chicken pieces, which is prepared with the original recipe. The other offering on top of the chicken is crispy, which is prepared using garlic marinade. The chicken is then double dipped in flour before it is deep fried. Price Price is referred to the amount money used by customers in exchange of a product or service. In a broad sense, price can be defined as the sum of values used by consumers in exchange of products or services. KFC restaurant enters the global markets using a pricing strategy of market skimming. They sell their products at a high price targeting middle and upper class customers (Ryu & Han, 2010). They gradually tackle down their prices to focus the lower and middle class people in order to dominate all sides of the market. Place The target areas of KFC are free home delivery, accessibility, economy, and hectic lifestyle. They offer free deliveries to homes and offices. The restaurant ensures that they have several outlets in order to cater for customer needs around the cities. Because of a hectic lifestyle, KFC helps individuals at offices to save time since they provide already prepared foods. Promotion Promotion is a marketing strategy used by companies to educate people about the company’s products and services. The major forms of promotion include advertising, public relations, experiences and events, sales promotion, discounts, coupons and bundled packages. Promotion enables a company to find its survival in a competitive market. At the KFC fast food restaurant, promotion is used to attract the attention of chicken lovers. Positive aspects of the products and services The reason why KFC has a large population of customers is that their services and products have aspects that have a positive influence. The services and products offered portray that the management understands the need of quality customer experience since this is the key to customer retention. One aspect that influenced positively is their quality services and products. Obviously, the quality of services and products plays a vital role towards customer experience. The restaurant offers food items that fit the needs of customers (Sahud, Binns, Meadow & Tanz, 2006). Customers look for products and services that fit their demands and this is the reason why the restaurant has a large population of customers. Their food items are easy to use since they are ready to eat. Another aspect that influenced me positively is their great customer service. The restaurants have enough waiters who have good customer contact. This enables the restaurants to overcome the issue of long queues of customers since there are plenty of employees to serve them. There are also enough employees to supply foods to offer free deliveries to homes and offices. Lastly, KFC ensures that they offer customer incentives, for instance, once a year. Customers are sometimes given promotional offers and this enables the organization to stay ahead of its competitors. Businesses that offer customer incentives improve the experience of customers. KFC’s customers appreciate these rewards and this influences them to feel inclined to keep buying fast foods from this restaurant. In addition, KFC sets its prices slightly lower than those of their competitors, thus attracting and maintain many customers. Negative aspects of the products and services Fast foods are always believed to cause many health problems and this is one of the aspects that made me to have a negative influence towards the KFC’s food items. Their food items have high fat or sugar and artificial and such ingredients are not recommended to eat on a daily basis. Consuming these foods with these ingredients on a daily basis can cause a variety of health issues, which include diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Another aspect that inclined me to grow negative influence towards the services and products of KFC restaurant is the negative impact on environment. On top of the health issues caused by fast foods, the process of production and selling used in the outlets has several negative impacts on the environment. The amount of chicken resources used to raise enough meat to prepare the fried chicken cause resource shortage around the world. The chickens that are used to raise the required amount of meet are fed using antibiotics, which can be passed to customers when they consumer the fried chickens thus causing severe health effects. Some customers, who consumer these food items on daily basis complain of damaged immune systems or growth of extra breast tissues. Aspects of the physical evidence Have you ever found yourself in a big store and you are unable to find the way out. You are not really directionally challenged. Most marketing professionals take into account physical factors like product and store design and appearance. Presumably, the more a customer wanders around a store, the more the customer spends (Fowler & Bridges, 2012). Just like grocery stores always place a packet of milk and bread at one corner of the counter, in KFC outlets you will find fried chicken and other food item placed in displays for customer attraction. To buy the food item you want, you will have to around the display, whereby you come into contact with other foods, which might influence you to purchase. Outlets location of KFC is also another physical aspect that attracts a large population of buyers. KFC has done a really excellent job when it comes to the location of its outlets. It has a good process of locating the restaurants. You can not drive a few meters without seeing a KFC outlet. You can however buy fried chicken from KFC restaurant at, for example, airports. Crowding is another physical factor that attracts new customers towards KFC’s fast food services. Have you one day left a store without purchasing whatever you wanted to buy just because it was overcrowded. Some researches show that many customers are always happy for retailers who employ means of reducing overcrowding (Lin & Liang, 2011). However, other researchers argue that overcrowding might have a positive influence on the customer’s buying experience. This phenomenon is called “herd behavior”. If customers are crowded to buy fast food items at KFC restaurants, other people want to know what they are buying and why. You might even find yourself getting in the line to purchase what they are buying even if you had no plan of doing so. Although herd behaviors are sometimes dangerous, especially when there are holiday bargains, they have helped KFC restaurant to attract many new customers. Recommendations The situation and physical factors are both temporary conditions affecting the behaviors of buyers. These influences include outlet locations, music, layout, smell, and even lighting. KFC restaurant should make both situational and physical factors as favorable and attracting as possible in order to attract and maintain customers. If this is impossible due to unavoidable circumstances, then the management should utilize other methods such as discounts (Richards & Padilla, 2009). This is because customers’ time and social situations, moods, and the reason why they are purchasing affect behavior of purchasing. Conclusion By putting into consideration these recommendations, this fast food restaurant will always stay ahead of its competitors and continue growing both locally and globally. The management should also put into consideration the above discussed marketing aspects in order to attract and maintain a large population of customers. This is because a fast food restaurant, which is sometimes referred to as QSR or quick service restaurant is a unique type of restaurant that is characterized by both its minimal table service and fast food cookery. References Fowler, K., & Bridges, E. (2012). Service environment, provider mood, and provider-customer interaction. Managing Service Quality, 22(2), 165-183. Lin, J. S. C., & Liang, H. Y. (2011). The influence of service environments on customer emotion and service outcomes. Managing Service Quality, 21(4), 350-372. Richards, T. J., & Padilla, L. (2009). Promotion and fast food demand. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 91(1), 168-183. Ryu, K., & Han, H. (2010). Influence of the quality of food, service, and physical environment on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention in quick-casual restaurants: Moderating role of perceived price. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 34(3), 310-329. Sahud, H. B., Binns, H. J., Meadow, W. L., & Tanz, R. R. (2006). Marketing fast food: impact of fast food restaurants in children’s hospitals. Pediatrics, 118(6), 2290-2297. Read More