Marketing Plan for One Piece Cafe - Essay Example

?Create a marketing plan Table of Contents Introduction 4 Market Analysis 4 Market Segmentation 5 Targeting 5 Positioning 6 Promotional Strategy 7 Media Vehicles for Advertisements 7 Other Promotional Tools 8 Human Resource Recruitment and Management 8 Human Resource 9 Recruitment and Selection 10 Training and Development 10 Performance Appraisal and Retention Policy 10 Business Assets 11 References 12 Appendices 13 Introduction One Piece Cafe would be setup as a sole proprietorship business by the owner. The aim of the theme cafe would be to provide best services to its customers by serving high quality coffee and food. The cafe would offer a "One Piece" cartoon themed ambience to the customers; it would also include music and comics. The owner wants to offer special services to the customers and wants to have closer contacts with them. This will not only help him to offer the customers better services but also increase the popularity of the cafe through word of mouth. Apart from this the focus would be on providing services according to preferences of the local customers. Another advantage of running a sole proprietorship business would be keeping all the profits and all the business affairs a secret so as to compete successfully with the competitors. The location of the cafe would be 46/48 The Hornet, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19. The size of the property is 2250 sq. ft, which includes the ground floor, first floor and the second floor of the building. The Hornet was selected as it is situated in a very prominent trading spot of the city. The place is crowded with traders and it is a very busy location of the city where the population of coffee drinkers is high. The rent of the property would be ? 27,500. Market Analysis Market analysis involves studying the dynamics and the attractiveness of the market within the industry. It is a part of industrial analysis, which also helps to understand the internal and external environment of the company. It is also referred as an investigation often whole market that is required to take necessary decisions regarding promotional activities, purchases, recruitments, facility expansion and other significant tasks. 1 Market Segmentation Marketers cannot customize their products according to the taste and preference of every individual. So they identify people with similar needs, tastes and preferences and group them together to form market segments. This not only helps the marketers to identify the preference of different groups, but also help them to focus on a few groups and develop their products accordingly. 2 Restaurants and cafes form a part of the hotel and restaurant industry. People from all age groups visit restaurants and cafes. Moreover, cartoon or comic themed cafes would not only be preferred by kids but also youngsters, college goers, married couples and old people. So One Piece cafe should welcome diversity in this case. They should not limit themselves to a specific segment based on the demography or geography or behavioural pattern. The working or business class women should be paid more attention to show that One Piece Cafe values its customers. The cafe is mainly based on the theme of One Piece, which is actually a well-know Japanese animation series. There is a huge fan following for this cartoon series in Japan and in other parts of the world. It is based on a pirate theme. So the interior designs also would be based on the same. This would attract the fans of One Piece round the world to visit One Piece Cafe. Even Tourist visiting the country would like to come to One Piece Cafe to experience the One Piece ambience and enjoy dinner or simply a cup of coffee. Targeting Target market involves a group of customers for whom the company designs, and develops a product or service. The marketing strategy and mix are designs prepared by the marketers to satisfy the target customers. Targeting can be of two types: differentiated and undifferentiated. Differentiated targeting signifies focusing on a particular type of customers and leaving out the rest, but in undifferentiated targeting, the marketer focuses on the mass and hence customized product is not developed in this case. 3 Generally restaurants and cafes follow differentiated targeting technique because one cannot serve according to the taste and preferences of every customer. Similarly One Piece Cafe is a Japanese cartoon theme based cafe. So theme based cafe may not be preferred for professionals for formal meetings or old people, who generally prefer classy ambience rather than funky, cartoon or comic themes. The target customers of One Piece Cafe should be mainly the adults and the young generation. The youth prefer funky interiors, which gives a much causal feeling rather than classy or formal looks. They prefer to buy and read comics and use products with comic themes as they consider it to be cool. Moreover, if we see from the financial perspective, young people spend considerable amount of money in restaurants and cafes. Positioning Positioning signifies capturing a value spot in the minds of the customers. The marketer offers the product or services in such a way to the customer that it creates a positive image in the minds of the target customers.4 One Piece can position itself as a sea-side pirate cafe based on the theme of One Piece. It would give the feel of a pirate ship. This would not only increase the curiosity of the customers to visit the cafe but also excite them to spend time in the place and enjoy the ambience. The cafe can also stock the One Piece comic books for sales as well as for reading there in the cafe. The other accessories such as pirate goodies can be sold from the cafe counter, for the customers to feel the virtual ambience of One Piece as real. Special sound effects of the sea and pirates could be played in background. Positioning the cafe in this why would give it an edge over the strong competitors like Starbucks or Costa. Apart from this the cafe can also have a drive-through, for busy students and professionals who do have much time to sit and enjoy the ambience. They can also buy coffee and food from the drive-through counters and get their deliveries faster. Promotional Strategy It is very important to plan and develop ways of promoting the cafe even before opening it. Aggressive marketing would help the marketer to bring in more customers. There are some really well-decorated coffee shops selling quality and tasty coffee and food, but could not attract many customers even during the peak hours. This is due to the lack of proper promotional strategies. So it is very important for the shop owner to do proper home work on the techniques of implementing the promotional strategies. Just by telling people that the cafe sells quality and tasty food, will not serve the purpose. The owner has to sell something better or different than its competitors. Media Vehicles for Advertisements One Piece Cafe can promote itself through special coupons in the local newspapers and various magazines. Generally we do not see advertisements of cafes on television. Since One Piece is an animated series aired on television also, so advertisement on television during the running time of the series is also preferable. It would also be preferred if the owner utilises the print media. Advertisements could be placed in children comics and story books, the One Piece Comic books specially. Even in the magazines related to hotel and restaurants or food and beverages, the advertisement of One Piece Cafe can be placed. It would not only display a new genre in the segment of coffee shops but also give an edge to the cafe and the products sold. 5 Other Promotional Tools The One Piece Cafe is a theme based coffee shop, so coffee mugs with the logo of the One Piece Cafe that is the pirate skull can be sold. Other goodies such as shirts, key chains, note pads and tumblers could be sold containing the pictures of different characters of One Piece or the cafe logo. Things like funky laptop bags, golf shirts or caps printed with the One Piece theme could be sold in the cafe to attract attention of the people. A collection of pirate songs or music could be sold in CDs, the ones which are played in the shops. Apart from this the cafe could establish a massive online presence by setting up a colourful One Piece cafe website. The website would have the colourful pictures of the cafe, daily quizzes, contests, location of the cafe and also a special blog section where people can write about their special moments in the One Piece Cafe. The pictures of the food items and coffee and its variations can also be posted in the website to give it an attractive look. Promotion of the cafe can be also done through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace. 6 Human Resource Recruitment and Management The management of human resource in the product as well as in the service industry includes several related functions such as recruitment, selection, training and development, supervision, compensation and retention. The aim of these processes is to obtain and develop the human resource of the company. Human Resource In the initial stage the owner can appoint few employees and as the business will grow in size, the employee base can also be increased. In the theme based cafe the positions that would require human resource are: Chefs for the Kitchen for food as well as beverages. Counter staffs (Executive and Senior Executive) Waiters/ Waitress to serve. Support staffs such an hr, trainer, accountants, marketing manager and supply chain manager. The chefs should be professional and experienced cooks. They must have expertise in cooking the dishes of the cafe. After all the food and beverage is the core offering of the cafe, so if it tastes bad, the customers’ will spread a negative word of mouth. This could be dangerous for the cafe. Separate chef for food and beverages should be there for high quality food and beverage. The executives can have little or no experience but the senior executive have to have previous work experience in the service industry. They must know how to deal with customers. The waiters or waitress could be recruited on a part time basis. College students and other young people wanting to earn their pocket money or living can be suitable for the job. They can be trained for the job by professional trainer. The support staffs counter staffs and chefs should be appointed on a full time basis. Recruitment and Selection The sources of recruitment could be through walk-in interviews, placement agencies or referrals. The staffs could be hired through external sources by collecting the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of the candidates, then short listings their resumes and calling them for role plays and personal interview round. This would not only show their ability to convince customers but also show their customer handling skill. Training and Development In order to ensure great customer satisfaction, proper performance evaluation is necessary through regular training and development policies of the company. So One Piece Cafe must offer rigorous 1 month or 15 day training module to its staffs. The training module should be customized according to the professional need of different employee. In case of coffee and beverage making staffs, special training on coffee making and brewing would be given to him. So the induction training should be given to every new staff and at a regular interval of time refresher training should be given to enhance their skills. Performance Appraisal and Retention Policy The working hours of full time employees would be 9 hours and 4 to 5 hours for the part time employees. According their salaries and wages would be paid, based on the seniority, skills and qualifications. Performance appraisal would be done through salary hikes, promotion and other incentives. The cafe owner must also make it a point to retain its valuable employees through providing them a healthy and hygienic work atmosphere, proper appraisal and listening to their grievances. The owner should provide equal opportunity to all irrespective of caste or religion. Business Assets The cafe represents a sea-shore cafe for pirates. So it would contain pirate maps and ship wheel, etc. The furniture would be nicely crafted in golden and arc ceilings which would set the ambience for the pirate theme of One Piece. It would also contain aquariums to show a glimpse of the marine life. The staff would wear uniforms that represent the various characters and moods of One Piece. Equipments of the cafe would consist of the coffee making and brewing machines. The other equipments include CCTVs in the cafe, the computers and printers for official purposes and kitchen items. References 1. “Market Analysis.” Marketinganalysis. http://www.marketinganalysis.org/. 2. Croft, Michael. J. Market Segmentation: A Step-By-Step Guide to Profitable New Business. London: Routledge, 1994. 3. Lamb, Charles. W and Others, Marketing. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2007. 4. Hooley, Graham and Others, Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2008. 5. “Promoting Your Cafe.” Conversationcafe. http://www.conversationcafe.org/hostPromotion.htm. 6. “Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion (Methods of External Communications).” Free Management Library. http://managementhelp.org/marketing/advertising/methods.htm. Appendices Appendix 1 One Piece Cafe Tea and Coffee ? Caffe Latte Guava Mango Grape Caffe Mocha Cappuccino Esperanto Blue Curacao Mixed Fruit Tango Lime Ice Americano Guava Crush Espresso Italiano 3.45 3.05 3.15 2.09 3.95 Dessert Coffees Caffe Borgia Latte Bianco Icepresso Strawberry Freeze Mocha Freeze Cold Coffees Iced Caffe Mocha Lemon Peach 4.05 3.96 3.96 3.50 3.50 Add-ons Whipped Cream Chocolate Fudge Espresso Shot Dark Temptation Ice Cream Scoop Walnut Brownie Mocha Excess Chocolate Excess Apple Cake Chocolate Mousse Chocolate Chip Muffin Almond Raisin Muffin 3.75 4.00 3.95 4.50 Tea Cream Tea Black Tea 3.50 3.00 Sandwich and Snacks Club sandwich Sanji special soups Chicken BBQ 5.50 5.00 6.75-7.89 Source: (Author’s Creation). Read More