Marketing of Service - Vietnam Restaurant - Case Study Example

Name Class Professor Date Mаrkеting of Sеrviсе-Viеtnаm Rеstаurаnt Executive Summary Gia Hoi Restaurant is a Vietnamese eatery which is situated along George Street of Chinatown in Sydney the restaurant has two other branches in Western Sydney. The restaurant offers Vietnamese soups, foods and beverages. This paper has analysed several roles of service providers such as to provide customer satisfaction and to deliver services to customers. Gia Hoi was found to possess the dimensions of reliability, assurance, empathy and responsive as demonstrated in the service process. The paper explains the extent to which Gia Hoi employees become part of the product and brand. Conflicts at the place of work were found to be caused by differing values, personality conflicts and poor communication. There was evidence of emotional labour in the workplace given the nature of Gia Hoi’s business. Employees are empowered through training in Vietnamese and Australian languages. This makes them suited for the job. The pricing strategy is based on forces of market demand and supply. Current pricing, promotional and evaluation have been analysed as well. Finally, the paper has explained how Gia Hoi should improve the elements of customer quality, satisfaction, perceived value and customer retention and the effectiveness of current measures of quality, satisfaction or perceived value. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Service Provider Analysis: Analyse the role of the front line service providers. Is the service scripted? 3 How are the SERVQUAL dimensions of reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness demonstrated in the service process? 3 To what extent are the front line staff part of the product and brand? 4 Discuss the possible sources of conflict that may affect the service providers’ ability to do their jobs well. 5 Is there evidence of emotional labour in the job? 5 Is empowerment evident and appropriate in this setting? 6 Evaluate Current Promotional Strategies: What media are used? Do these ensure an appropriate coverage? What are the cost/benefit implications of chosen media? 7 Evaluate the Methods by which Supply and Demand is managed: This should include a detailed Service Blueprint which identifies any bottlenecks or problem areas 7 Analysis of Customer Quality, Satisfaction, Perceived Value and Customer Retention Efforts: Discuss and analyse the effectiveness of current measures of quality, satisfaction or perceived value. 8 Discuss and analyse strategies currently used (if there are any) to build customer relationships. 8 Does the company conduct research? How is this organised? How frequently is research conducted? Analyse the effectiveness of the current research strategy 9 Proposal for Product/brand positioning, Product strategies, optimum Pricing strategies, Distribution strategies, People, Process and Physical Evidence strategies 10 Service Provider Analysis: Analyse the role of the front line service providers. Is the service scripted? Gia Hoi Restaurant offers a big volume of services to a wide range of customers. Its location attracts people from different cultures with different eating habits. This means that it needs to have a high level of customer service. Customer satisfaction and in the hotel industry is pegged on frontline service providers. Frontline service providers are employees who get in to first contact with customers. It is therefore their role to maintain loyalty since they risk losing their jobs if this does not happen. The main role of front line service providers is to take and deliver customer orders. They offer service delivery and develop relationships with customers. The performance of service level providers enables customers to form an opinion on the hotel. They also receive and handle customer complaints. Such complaints arise from service failures. Since they get in touch with customer complaints face to face, they are expected to raise customer’s complaints with the management. Therefore, service providers should have skills to move customers from a state of dissatisfaction to a state of satisfaction. The employees also need to be motivated to handle customer complaints (“Gia Hoi Food To Go” par. 1). How are the SERVQUAL dimensions of reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness demonstrated in the service process? Service quality is the general perception of services by customers. It is a measure of how services meet consumer satisfaction. SERQUAL model by Patasuraman represents the difference between customers’ service expectations and their perceptions of the received service. The model is made of dimensions of reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness. Reliability is the ability to offer customers with the promised service in a dependable and accurate manner. At Gia Hoi Restaurant, responsiveness in service delivery is demonstrated by the step to establish a time table. For example, tea and non food orders are offered from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. Responsiveness is readiness to offer customer service in a prompt manner. The restaurant has imprinted their time table to ensure that customers are served in adherence to the indicated timeframes. Assurance is the ability of service providers to inspire trust and confidence among customers. Gia Hoi does not accept cash and separate bills. This has helped to develop trust between the hotel’s management, service providers and customers. Empathy is the care and hospitality that a firm offers to its customers. At Gia Hoi, hospitality is realized by offering classic dishes at affordable prices. For example, a customer can get 2 pieces of Goi Cuon at a cost of $5 (Munhurrun and Bhiwajee 39). To what extent are the front line staff part of the product and brand? Front line staff become part of the product and brand by taking and receiving customer orders. They ensure that as soon as customers arrive and get seated, they offer them menus and take orders from the respective dishes in place. Front line staff can also become part of the product by offering customer feedback on various services and dishes. For example, at Gia Hoi, the menu for beverages seems to have been changed whereby the price of Victoria Bitter is quoted at $6.00 (“Your Restaurants: Gia Hoi” par. 1). Discuss the possible sources of conflict that may affect the service providers’ ability to do their jobs well. Differing values: employees have different perspective of the world. Such values and beliefs can conflict with coworkers, causing conflict. For example, in the restaurant business, drinks such as ca phe Sua De, Ca phe Den Da and Trai Vai cost $4.00 per glass. However, it seems that the price of Soda sila hot ga was raised to $5.oo per glass. Such an adjustment can cause conflict as employees belief that it can turn away their customers. Personality conflicts: this happens when a certain employee has a reserved personality while another one is outgoing. When such people fail to understand and respect one another, conflict can occur. For example, when the outgoing employee captures majority of the customers at the restaurant because of being more talkative, then the reserved employee may lose their share of opportunity to earn money. Poor communication: this can cause conflict especially if the employees misunderstand one another. For example, if the employee picks an order for 8 pieces of Fried Wontons whose price is $10 but the employee serving delivers 4 pieces, which cost $5, conflict can arise. This is because customers may feel that the employee picking the order is cheating them. Is there evidence of emotional labour in the job? Emotional labour takes place when there is a gap or conflict between the feelings that frontline service providers have in the inside and the emotions that the management expects them to display to customers. For example, at Gia Hoi restaurant, employees are expected to be cheerful, compassionate and humble towards customers. However, at times employees may not have such positive emotions even though they are required to hide their feelings in order to satisfy the customer (Lovelock et al 283). Is empowerment evident and appropriate in this setting? Empowerment and training is evident and appropriate in this line of work in order to control quality. By practicing focused recruitment, training and by giving reasonable compensation, employees become happier with their work and they offer high quality services. High quality service delivery leads to customer loyalty and rise in the restaurant’s sales and profits (“Your Restaurants: Gia Hoi” par. 1). Do staff members appear to be well suited to the job? Reviews from customers who have visited and taken meals at Gua Hoi reveal that the employees are well suited for the job. For example, Tiara, a customer at the restaurant appreciates quick service and well presented food that the hotel offers her. She values the quality in comparison to the neighbouring noodle bars although she notices that the prices have risen (Masoud and Hmeidan 132). Evaluate Current Pricing Strategies: Consider the competitors and the company’s sustainable competitive advantage Gia Hoi’s prices are affordable. The restaurant’s foods are made out of cheap ingredients of Vietnamese origin. The main competitor of Gia Hoi Restaurant is Pho TK. The restaurant has managed to peroform better because its meals have more quality in terms of flavor and taste as compared to Gia Hoi’s meals. However, Gia Hoi has beaten this competition by adding natural flavours of Vietnamese origin to some of their meals (“Your Restaurants: Gia Hoi” par. 1). Evaluate Current Promotional Strategies: What media are used? Do these ensure an appropriate coverage? What are the cost/benefit implications of chosen media? Gia Hoi uses menu boards to market its services. Such have easy-to-read descriptions in order to attract customer’s attention. Also, the restaurant has well designed and coloured printed menus. These have descriptions of the various dishes in place in both Vietnamese language and English and the respective prices. The menus have a subject category of all the foods, beverages, starters or salads on sale. This form of promotion strategy ensures that all meal categories are covered as well as their respective prices. This is as opposed to advertisings done on TV or radio which can only offer a narrow coverage at a given time. Menu boards and printed menus are much cheaper than electronic promotional strategies. This is because they do not require expensive subscriptions. Additionally, they can be changed at the convenience of the restaurant management. The cost of printing the scripts or writing down on the menu boards is insignificant which reduces the cost burden that is extended to customers (Liang et al 68) Evaluate the Methods by which Supply and Demand is managed: This should include a detailed Service Blueprint which identifies any bottlenecks or problem areas Gia Hoi uses local products and ingredients for its foods, salads, desserts and drinks. The restaurant aligns itself with the other businesses to form associations. Suppliers of restaurant supplies are therefore put under pressure to keep up with the demand. One of the set-backs of forming such associations is that suppliers can lack sufficient supply. This would force the restaurants to share the little supplies that are in place. Supply and demand for food, beverages and soft drinks at Gia Hoi is done by ensuring that meals are prepared on time and that there are sufficient front line service providers to take the orders. The restaurant’s food prices are affordable to ensure that demand remains constant. A computerized system is used to monitor demand and supply on a daily basis (“Your Restaurants: Gia Hoi” par. 1). Analysis of Customer Quality, Satisfaction, Perceived Value and Customer Retention Efforts: Discuss and analyse the effectiveness of current measures of quality, satisfaction or perceived value. According to the economic theory, the essence of product and service value increases during recession. At this period, consumers are sensitive to the value for money. Businesses should increase service quality so that product prices are not affected. Theories define perceived value as a trade-off between customer costs and benefits. In order to meet value demands, Gia Hoi offers foods of high quality while their prices remain either the same or they are reviewed slightly upwards. For example, the costs of beverages such as Custard apple shake, Tarco shake, Avocado are hand-written which means that the printed prices were changed. According to conceptual model, there is a direct relationship between quality and satisfaction. At Gia Hoi quality has been maintained by offering foods that meet both Western and Vietnamese tastes. Discuss and analyse strategies currently used (if there are any) to build customer relationships. Currently, the hotel accepts payments in cash only. This reduces issues of fraud through credit facilities such as debit and credit cards. Although it is a traditional mode of payment, cash is the most reliable way of settling bills. As a mode of payment, cash builds customer relationships because bills are settled when they fall due and reduces instances where customers fail to meet credit card payments (Najafizadeh et al 8104-8105). Does the company conduct research? How is this organised? How frequently is research conducted? Analyse the effectiveness of the current research strategy Gia Hoi conducts research via the internet. It has opened a website whereby it receives reviews from consumers on a daily to daily basis. On the website, there is a section call ‘Write a Review’. The feedback is collected and analyzed on a monthly basis. This form of research is objective as customers are allowed to write open ended opinions about the restaurant’s service. Obtained feedback is used to improve meal quality and service levels of front line service providers. Marketing Strategy: Taking into consideration your full analysis, develop a new, realistic marketing strategy which includes the following: Future target market segments Gia Hoi needs to conduct market research and establish some joints near institutions such as colleges that have high populations of Vietnamese students. Given that the restaurant offers foods that blend both Western and Asian tastes, then college students of Vietnamese origin can easily blend in to these tastes. Future target markets Gia Hoi should target more restaurants in Eastern or Coastal regions of Australia. Such a move would increase the restaurant’s customer base. With more restaurants getting situated along Chinatown, it means that market in the city is getting saturated with service providers. Proposal for Product/brand positioning, Product strategies, optimum Pricing strategies, Distribution strategies, People, Process and Physical Evidence strategies Marketing mix is a concept of the 1990s. It is a set of tools used to tap in as many customers as possible in order to acquire maximum profits. Product brand positioning in the consumer mindset is important for Gia Hoi restaurant. Position refers to the present and potential customers’ views regarding a particular brand. Gia Hoi should improve their services by ensuring that as much as they want to blend Vietnamese dishes with Western tastes, that they still retain the Vietnamese ingredients. It is the Vietnamese taste that attracts customers to the restaurant. As a product strategy, Gia Hoi should venture into advertising its services. This, it can do using objective and subjective positioning. Objective positioning would create a mental image about the restaurant’s physical state while subjective positioning would refer to consumer mental and intellectual activities. Factors such as low or affordable food prices, diversified menus and payment options can create an increased customer base. The restaurant’s optimum pricing should be based on thorough what if analysis. This means that tests on the effect of varied food prices should be done. For example, the price of Stir fried Beef Chicken with rice which goes for $12 can be increased to $13. With this slight increase in meal prices, the management can measure the effect on demand and decide the best price to settle at. Gia Hoi does not use distribution strategies apart from when it engages in outside catering. In such a case, it can outsource transport and distribution services in order to reduce costs. The restaurant should train and develop its employees with the appropriate skills in order to ensure that they offer high quality services and exceed the expected customer response time. The processes that take place from buying the ingredients to serving customers and collecting payment are important in the marketing strategy. They ensure that the customer receives quality, timely and affordable services. Physical evidence strategies refer to external features of the business such as size, color or shape. Physical strategy would mean that Gia Hoi Restaurant would move from the current location to a place that is more spacious (People, Process, and Physical Evidence (Packaging) 1). Works Cited Gia Hoi Food To Go 2013.Web. 25 May. 2013. . Liang, Rong-De, Tseng, Haing-Chan, and Lee, Yun-Chen. “Impact of Service Orientation on Frontline Employee Service Performance and Consumer Response.” International Journal of Marketing Studies 2.2 (2010): 67-74. Print. Lovelock, Christopher, Writz, Jochen and Chew, Patricia. “Essentials of Services Marketing.” Managing the Customer Interface 1: 4-408. Print. Masoud, Emad and Hmeidan, Tahreer Abu. “The Effect of Perceived Work Environment on Frontline Employees’ Service Recovery Performance: the Case of Four and Five Star Hotels in Jordan.” European Scientific Journal 9.11 (2013): 1857-7881. Print. Munhurrun, Prabha and Bhiwajee, Soolakshna. “Service Quality In The Public Service.” International Journal of Management and Marketing Research 3.1 (2010): 37-50. Print. Najafizadeh, Naderah Sadat, Elahi, Mohammad, Moemeni, Abdolreza and Lotfi, Zahra. “A model for brand positioning of hygienic products using the most effective factors on competitive position and perceptual map technique.” African Journal of Business Management 6.27 (2012): 8102-8117. Print. People, Process, and Physical Evidence (Packaging) 2011. Web. 25 May. 2013. . Your Restaurants: Gia Hoi 2013.Web. 25 May. 2013. . Read More