Business Performance of Gabri's Restaurant & Lounge - Essay Example

CASE STUDY REPORT OF A SMALL FINE RESTAURANT IN ENGLAND Table of Contents Introduction 2 Business Performance Analysis 2 Business Aims and Objectives 3 Mission 3 Target Market 4 Products and Services 5 Intended Small Business Strategy 5 Conclusion 7 Reference 8 Bibliography 9 Introduction The project aims to bring forth the present business performance of Gabri's Restaurant & Lounge, which is a famous fine dining restaurant in UK. The restaurant offers fine dining in a very intimate atmosphere. The attractive feature of the restaurant is its friendly and warm atmosphere along with its innovative and attractive food items. Firstly, it makes an analysis of its present business performance, and how it has operated till date. Based on the investigation, it identifies the drawbacks in its management process and proposes changes in order to remove the same. The project also proposes revision of the aims and objectives of the organisation with the aim of improving the company’s business. Lastly, an explanation is provided on how the changes can be implemented. The entire plan for implementing the changes is provided starting from the date of initiation till the end. The mission of the restaurant is not only to serve the best tasting food, but also provide a friendly and efficient service because it considers customer satisfaction o be of paramount importance. It wants to emerge as the first restaurant choice for all single individuals and families, and also all young and old males and females (Capital access project, 2003, p.6). Business Performance Analysis It is a 60 seat fine dining restaurant which has a 20 seat lounge. The menus offered primarily have a touch of Swedish and American styles and also have an Asian influence. The presence of cozy dining place along with a very elegant lounge reflects the ethnicity of the restaurant. In other words, it seeks to provide such services which garner praises from customers and also earn respect from the community (Lee, 2005, p.1). It would also present the comfortable décor and furnishings with warm and soothing shades. The lounges are decorated with antique seats and comfortable couches and a lightly lit bar. The restaurant serves special platters for large groups of customers. With regard to the products offered, it is important that the products befit the prices that are charged for the same. It is also important to ensure that the price charged is fair. The restaurant tries to maintain the competitive price as compared to the other competitor restaurants in the same region. However, the company’s strategy is to give the perception of a higher value than the competitors through its service, food and entertainment (Capital access project, 2003, p.4). Services quality is the most crucial factor especially for the hospitality sector. It is the quality of service which distinguishes one restaurant from the other. Services must provide evidence of quality and commitment. Excellent service comes in the form of good service culture. For example, quick solving of problems by the frontline managers would demonstrate favorable service quality (Black, 2010, p.215). Considering the above requirements, the restaurant provides a very relaxing, friendly and apt atmosphere. This is achieved through the acquisition and recruitment of the best candidates, and encouraging them through training and motivation. Hence, it is also able to effectively retain efficient staff. The management team of the company comprises of highly experienced personnel from the restaurant industry. Business Aims and Objectives Mission The new objective of the restaurant should be maintaining its food cost at a low level, at the same time maintaining the same food and service quality standards. It must aim to produce a diverse menu which would help to attract new customers and expand its present customer base. It must seek to provide cross multi-cultural and innovative cuisines for the same purpose. Also, presenting a specific menu which would be unique for this particular restaurant and would be served nowhere else would be one of the ways for improving the present business. It could improvise on its present mission of attracting males and females of all ages. In other words, the charm of the restaurant should lay its heterogeneous menu meant to serve a heterogeneous customer base (Halper, 1991, p.132). Along with this, it could provide specific menus for specific income groups. It could also provide specific menus to attract the young while another menu for the business class. However, this should not be used for creating barriers among people. Rather it must be intended for expanding the existing customer base and also to increase its accessibility for the masses. Target Market It is not necessary that it can target only a specific group people. It is crucial to make an assessment of the requirement of the target groups and know their preferences (Stutely, 2002, p.11). Instead of targeting specific target groups, it is recommended that the restaurant targets a diverse and heterogeneous population including people from all income groups. This would serve to justify its provision of a diverse and multi-cuisine menu. For example, it could be the businessmen who work the entire day and often need to stay away from their hometown. The restaurant must seek to provide an extremely relaxing atmosphere for them. They are found to spend mostly on food, drinks and tips. It must also target the high-end singles and happy couples. The main attracting feature for this would be through the creation of a romantic and intimate atmosphere. This would enhance couple visits to the place and encourage people to bring their dates. Lastly, it is recommended that it targets the tourists visiting the place. The restaurant should be a favorite destination with its international menu, attractive atmosphere and outdoor patio (Capital access project, 2003, p.11). Products and Services As it is recommended that the restaurant should be multi-cuisine, the menus should be diverse and should be affordable for people of all age and income groups. In this regard, it is important to consider the intense competition existing in the market. Quality of products and service would be the main differentiating factor with regard to this restaurant. Good quality of food at affordable prices suitable for all would be the main factor for retaining competitive edge over its competitors. For providing the best services, it can recruit experienced candidates at a higher competitive cost. It can also train the staff and make them at par with the quality standards. Intended Small Business Strategy The strategy should be kept simple and straight. It is important that before realizing a strategy, the firm must be extremely focused. All activities undertaken must be ensured towards attaining that focus. The strategy would have to be implemented during the working hours of the restaurant. The estimated plan would require two weeks for implementation. Before implementing changes, it would be important to analyze the changing trends and the market requirements (Dunne & Lusch, 2007, p.365). Budget on advertisements should be kept low and the restaurant must rely primarily on word of mouth advertising. One affordable way of attracting the tourists would be leaving brochures in the local restaurants or amusement parks (Jorgensen, 2003, p.96). The company could introduce pull campaigns and develop a promotional message to reach its customers (Miller, 2007, p.139). The first two weeks would be required to test the new menus introduced. This would include analyzing how frequently they are being demanded. It would also help to reveal which focus group or groups were demanding them and how frequently. Also, it could be noted if the prices that were being offered were easily accepted. Moreover, this would also give an idea if price was the factor why customers were not demanding a particular menu. The next two weeks would be allocated for training the recruited staff to attain the required expertise. Based on the acquired expertise, the business performance would be estimated. Performance would be measured with regard to profitability of serving the menus and services at the revised prices. Also, feedback taken from the customers would help to assess the existing loopholes or drawbacks where the company would have to work on. Based on the feedback and revenues generated, the business performance would be monitored and evaluated and consequently a report would be generated. The report would reflect the complaints or issues which requires improvement. Conclusion While doing the project it was found that, as per the company’s mission, the restaurant produced the most comfortable and friendly atmosphere along with the best quality of food and service. The aim was to emerge as the favorite fine dining restaurant for all families, especially the young males and females. The revised mission statement seeks to attract the general population including people from all age and income groups and also foreign tourists. The recommended feature of the restaurant would be an attractive multi-cuisine menu at affordable prices which would be appealing to all. Most importantly, it must be ensured by the management that all activities are aimed towards fulfilling the revised goals of the organisation. During implementation of the plan, it was important to test the revised on the basis of customer feedback and revenue generated. Finally proper monitoring and evaluation would be the basis on which loopholes would be identified. Accordingly, the staffs would be trained to remove the drawbacks in those areas and enhance performance. Reference Black, A. & Black, C. 2010. Good Small Business Guide: How to Start and Grow Your Own Business. A&C Black. Capital access project. March 2003. Gabris Lounge Restaurant Catering. [Pdf]. Available at: http://capitalaccessproject.startsmart.com/f/restaurant_Business_Plan.bpf.pdf. [Accessed on March 22, 2011]. Dunne, P. M. & Lusch, R. F. 2007. Retailing. Cengage Learning. Halper, E. B. 1991. Shopping center and store leases, Volume 2. Law Journal Press. Jorgensen, A. S. 2003. Restaurant marketing and advertising: for just a few dollars a day. Atlantic Publishing Company. Lee, R. 2005. The Everything Guide to Starting and Running a Restaurant: Secrets to a Successful Business!. Everything Books. Miller, F. L. 2007. GIS Tutorial for Marketing. ESRI, Inc. Stutely, R. 2002. The definitive business plan: the fast-track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs. FT Press. Bibliography Burnes, B. 2004. Managing Change a Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics, (4th ed), Pearson Education Ltd. Proctor, R. 2006. Managerial Accounting for Business Decisions, 2nd ed, Financial Times Prentice Hall. Woods, C. 2003. From Acorns…How to build your brilliant business from scratch. Prentice Hall. Read More