The Luxury Food Service Industry - Essay Example

The Luxury Food Service Industry Datamonitor projects that by the global food service industry may be worth $992 billion which accounts for more than 586 billion transactions by volume (Great and Gavin 2). This accounts for more than 18 percent growth. It reports that restaurants and cafes have emerged as the leading market segment which accounts for more than 50 percent of the value of the industry. For instance, the survey found out that Asia-Pacific hold the bulk of world food service industry which accounts for more than 43 percent. The high growth in luxury the foodservice industry in the world is mainly attributed to the increasing food demand occasioned by increase in world population. The world is also experiencing increasing urbanization as several people shift from rural places to urban centers. As people move from rural areas to urban centers, they tend to change their lifestyle trend especially their eating habits (Pride and Ferrell 26). As the number of people working in office increases, people tend to get less time to prepare foods at their homes. Such consumers under constraint of time usually opt to each outside in restaurants and cafes’. Other factors seen to have led to the high growth in food service industry include tourism. Some investors opt to put up luxurious food service industry for purposes of hosting tourists that visit the country (Great and Gavin 6). Britain is one such country that has witnessed an increase in growth of food service industry over the last decades. The high growth rate has mainly been seen in London the capital city. Among the restaurants based in London include Hakasan, Nobu and Zuma. His are food joints that have been able to build luxury element within the service industry. The question that may be asked is, ‘How have these restaurants been able to build such luxury, and what tools have the restaurants used to build the luxury element? The purpose of this paper is to examine the marketing tools that have been used by Hakasan, Nobu and Zuma to build the luxury element within the foodservice industry. This will also involve analysis of the 7Ps employed by the three restaurants. The paper will conclude by the most important elements derived from the study of luxury service industry in general particularly the food service industry. Finally, the paper will provide a recommendation regarding what has been learnt from the study. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (2) defines marketing as the management process which entails identification, anticipation and satisfaction of the requirements of the customer profitably. It ensures that the customer is at heart of marketing and any business cannot afford to ignore it. It notes that marketing functions refers to the study of forces and factors within the market and the dev elopement of position of a company to maximize the benefits accruing from them (Chartered Institute of Marketing 2). It entails offering the right goods or services to the customer at the right time, place, and price (Chartered Institute of marketing 2). History has it that without proper marketing, companies and businesses cannot get close to customers and satisfy their needs. Furthermore if they don’t, then the competitor will take the advantage. Marketing is also seen as a valuable management tool that enables producer of goods and services to understand consumer needs, wants and desires and match them in delivery to them (Jorgensen 68). The Chartered Institute of Marketing (2) notes that every product bought, every choice made, every media message received, and every store visited by consumers is shaped by marketing forces. However, it success depends on a number of key issues. The issue is what is termed as the 7 p’s. The product produced by the company; price to be charged; place; promotion; people; process and physical evidence. Analysis of Hakkasan Restaurant’s Marketing Strategy Hakkasan is a luxurious Chinese restaurant based it London. Humphreys and Bamber (446) note that the restaurant is situated at 8 Hanway Place, W1; Tottenharm Court road. They note that the food at this restaurant is impressively designed, fresh, well presented, delicious and expensive. Its dinning area is positioned on an elegant and ornate carved wooden cage. It also has a double-smart cocktail bar which is framed in a fashionable manner. The restaurant is believed to be one of the best in terms of luxury it provided to its customers. This is attributed to the marketing strategies employed by the management. From the marketing strategies used, it is evident that the company uses the 7Ps as a tool to gain competitive advantage over others. This begins with the food and other products and services offered by the restaurant to its guests. A look at the menu tells it all that the restaurant offers what consumers wants (Pride and Ferrell 26). Its menu is composed of phenomenal dishes ranging from glorious crispy lamb salad served with melon slivers to steamed king-crab legs served with spicy yellow bean sauce. Other dishes that leaves customers mouth-watering from the restaurant are braised pork belly mixed in a plum sauce kumquatly infused. A part from the meals served, the bar section also provide a variety of wines. This is usually split into peculiar sections such as blend (varietal blends) also known as the winemaker’s art, and purity (unoaked wines). The company offered a variety of food in order to cater for the needs of different customers (Shy 239). Its diversification to operate a bar and provide wine is also a marketing tool that ensures that customers buy what they want. This is in line with the argument put forward by the Chartered Institute of Marketing which suggests that there is no need of coming up with a product or service that no one wants to buy. This is the reason as to why Hakkasan fast of all found out the needs of its customers before coming up withy the menu it offers. From customer’s words of praise of the delicacy, it is evident that the quality of food served in the restaurant is of high quality. The restaurant management understands that the one of the key to maintaining customers and develop loyalty is provision of quality services and well cooked dishes. Moreover, the restaurant has well trained hospitable staff and waiters who knows how t handles their customers. In this case, the waiters ensure that food is readily available all the time to avoid keeping customers waiting. This has made many customers prefer associating with the restaurant leading to its success (Gervat and Gavin 65). The Chartered Institute of Marketing asserts that a product is only worth what consumers are ready to pay. This implies that the product must be competitive enough but not necessarily cheap. This is an aspect that Hakkasan restaurant has considered in its marketing strategy. For instance, the restaurant offers expensive sumptuous food of high quality that leaves customers coming again. The food seems expensive but is within the limit the range of other competitors in the same industry. These prices are expensive to enable the restaurant meet its costs. On the other hand the wines provided by the restaurants are affordable in terms of price. For instance, best buy white 2008 d’arenberg, South Australia, The hermit Crab, McLaren Vale and Australia cost just €35. Others like best buy red 2006 alpha Domus, New Zealand, and The Navigator and Hawkes cost €40. These prices are cheaper compared to those offered by other rival restaurants. This has made many people prefer Hakkasan to those other restaurants (Gervat and Gavin 65). The Chartered Institute of Marketing notes that for a company to perform well, the place where the consumers get purchase the products and the means used in distributing the product to that place should be appropriate so as not to inconvenience customers (5). It cites that the goods must be availed at the right place, right time and in right quantity while managing inventory, storage and distribution cost at manageable level. With regard to Hakkasan restaurant, the restaurant in itself is situated at a strategic position with Tottenharn Court Road for easy accessibility both vehicles and foot. The restaurant also ensures that food is readily available and served to customers at the right time without too much waiting time. A part from the fact that the company has gained reputation all over Britain an beyond, the restaurant still engage in promotion of the products it offers to it customers. This is a measure taken to ensure that its customers are kept aware of any developments that takes place within the restaurant. According to the chief executive officer of the restaurant, they do carry extensive advertising, sales promotion among others. This has seen many customers preferring the restaurant to other competitors (International Trade Journal for the Restaurant and catering Industry 7). Analysis of Nobu Restaurant’s Marketing Strategy Nobu is the world’s most famous Japanese restaurant based in London. The restaurant is famously known for its innovative style cuisine with high celebrity following. This is mainly attributed to its sexy style. The restaurant’s entrance is situated on the 19 Old Park Lane. The restaurant also has a 150 services among them being sushi bar which is separate from the main building. While in the restaurant, a customer is able to enjoy commanding views of Hyde Park through nice windows designed with simple elegance by expert designers. The interior part of the restaurant is make subtle use of natural stone and light woods to manifest the diverse influence of Nobu’s cuisine using purified and quality material of Japanese design (Pastrepresentfuture). Frommers Shortcut (5) notes that the restaurant still witnesses high celebrity haunt despite the departure of fashion crowd. This is due to the marketing strategies that the restaurant has adopted over the years. Frommer Shortcut argues that the restaurant has had such a reputation following the skillful cooking of chef Mark Edwards. Furthermore, the restaurant provided a variety of delicacies. These includes unusually combination of appetizers such as lobster ceviche, shrimp with caviar; Classical Japanese dishes combined with Peruvian by Nobu Matsuhisa, and new-style sweet shrimp sashimi (Frommers shortcuts 5). Other favorites provided by the restaurant are the black cod with miso whose popularity dates back to 1997 when the restaurant was started by Nobu. It is evident for the restaurant that they depend relies on provision of quality foods to its customers. The food also consists in variety form as a way of enabling customers to choose the food of their choice. In this case, since the restaurant has had a good reputation regarding the Japanese foods, the restaurant management has maintained this tradition to enable customers keep coming (Ellwood 22). The restaurant is also build in a sexy manner using purified and quality materials of Japanese origin. The interior is also beautifully designed with table neatly arranged leaving space in between. This is probably the reason why many celebrities across the globe like the hotel. Furthermore, the hotel is situated at a strategic position for easy accessibility. This has enabled it receive many visitors with ease (Klopper 66). In order to remain competitive in the market, the restaurant also charged reasonable prices for its foods (McKinney 16). The prices are relatively cheap to ensure that its customers are offered food that they can afford to buy. However, the prices charged factors in profit margin that has to be realized by the company for it to be able to meet its expenses. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (6) argues that the process of providing service and behavior of those who does the work is vital to consumer satisfaction. It notes that issues such as information provided to customer, waiting times and customer assistance are all key to keeping the customer happy (6). In this regard Nobu restaurant ensures that customers are served with a lot of curtsey. The management asserts that they have a team of well trained waiters and staff that cares for the customers needs. In this case, they ensure that food is readily available at the right time and meets that quality standard expected. The professional waiters also ensure that customers are served in a timely manner and their queries handle with confidentiality. Analysis of Zuma Restaurant’s Marketing Strategies Gervat and Gavin argue that Zuma is the most fashionable restaurant in London. It is a Japanese venue that provides a variety of delicacies. The restaurant is composed of a dining room with a kitchen left open, semi-primitive table for chefs, a sushi counter with a robata grill, a private dinning room and a sake bar. The interior part of the restaurant is made of natural stones and wood where buzz is held. According to the restaurant’s management, it was not rosy for the restaurant to reach where it is now (Zuma Restaurant). It reports that there has been vigorous marketing activities taking place for it to be able to will customers. The first strategies that have been adopted by the company they ensure that the food served to customers meet the required standard both in terms of quality and quantity (Gupta 27). To achieve this, the company employed professional chefs who are good at cooking Japanese delicacies such as sashimi and sushi. The restaurant also attributes their success to the kind of staff they have who are good at handling customers. In this case, their staff ensures that customers are served in time with quality food (Shock, Bowen and Stefanelli 6). The restaurant has also engaged in thorough promotion of the kind of services that it offers ranging from food joint to bars. Through promotion, the company has been able to reach many people across the nation and beyond the geographic borders. The main purpose of a restaurant engaging in the promotion of its product is to draw attention of many people, appeal and inform the masses the reasons why the restaurant is the one that they should chose (Nargundkar 49). Conclusion Foodservice industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the word. The growth has been witnessed across the globe. London is on city in Britain that has witnessed immense growth in food joint. For this reason, the large number of foodservice industries must be able to strive hard and have competitive advantage over the others for survival. This has seen many of the industries employing a number of promotion tactics to appeal to the masses. A study of the three restaurants in London, Hakkasan, Zuma and Nobu affirm that the success of a company particularly in the food industry highly depends on the 7 p’s. These include the the prices to be charged, type of food to be served, how the food is to be served, and how the restaurant is going to inform its customers about the services it renders. Recommendations It is highly recommended that for a food industry to remain competitive and build the luxury element, the first this it should do it to ensure that the products (food drinks) provide value for the customer. This is because; it is argued that ‘value is the eye of the beholder.’ As a result, the restaurant must be able to give the customer what they need. The price charged should much quality of service rendered and should not be so expensive as this will scare away customers and look for an alternative. The restaurants can also consider doing promotion though televised adverts to inform customers of the company. In addition, the restaurant management should ensure that customers are handled with a lot of courtesy and provided timely services. This can be achieved by hiring high caliber of staff. Work Cited Ellwood, Lain. The essential brand book: over 100 techniques to increase brand value. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. 2002. Print. Frommers ShortCuts. London Restaurants: Frommers ShortCuts. London: John Wiley & Sons. 2011. Print. Great, Claire & Gavin, Francesca. Night +Day London. London: ASDavis Media Group. 2011. Print. Gupta, Dinesh K. Marketing Library and Information Services: International Perspectives. Munchen: Walter de Gruyter. 2006. Print. International Trade Journal for the Restaurant and catering Industry. Food Service Europe & Middle east. (Third edition) 2011. Print. Jorgensen, Amy. Restaurant marketing and advertising: for just a few dollars a day. London: Atlantic publishing company. 2003. Print. Klopper, H.B. Marketing: Fresh Perspective. Johanesberg: Pearson South Africa. 2006. Print. McKinney, Anne. 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