Business Plan For the Mobile Vegetarian Restaurant

Executive Summary

The mobile restaurant whose main target is the students of Cape Breton University will provide falafel wrap at a fair price in an entertaining and good environment. The restaurant will provide falafel that will meet the needs of the vegetarians and sell at a price which the customers will see value for the price they will pay. The mobile restaurant will have an edge in the competitive market because the provision of Falafel food is a unique idea in Cape Breton, where there is less competition. The other competitive advantage that the mobile restaurant will have is that the business is not risky to venture in and at the same time it can be done by two employees only thus reducing the cost of operation.

The restaurant will be serving top-quality food to meet the requests of the customers. Since the vegetarian market is not fully tapped, the restaurant will specialize in serving falafel to meet the unsatisfied needs of vegetarians and other customers. With the increasing demand for falafel food, the restaurant will be successful especially in Cape Briton which is the target market.

This mobile restaurant business plan illustrates how the restaurant will operate and provide its services competitively to its target market which is the Cape Briton university Canada and Sydney. It will also show the goals that the restaurant wants to achieve and the strategies to achieve these goals in order to have an edge in this market which has less competition.

Objectives

1. To meet the unfulfilled needs of vegetarians and other customers in Cape Briton.
2. To create an edge in the marketplace by providing high-quality services to the customers at a fair price.
3. To cut down on the operation cost of the mobile restaurant.

Mission

The mobile restaurant aims to be the best provider of falafel wrap in Cape Britton. It will provide the guest high-quality meal at a fair price in a good environment. The mobile restaurant is flexible and will provide its services to where the customers want them. The restaurant aims to provide satisfaction to the customers by being a restaurant of choice for everyone, which is the family members or singles, female or male, old or young. Employees will be treated fairly by considering their welfare to make them feel part of the mobile restaurant’s success. The restaurant will combine friendly staff, good ambiance, and environment to achieve its goal of giving value.

Success factors

1. Provision of high-quality food which is unique in order to have a competitive advantage in the market.
2. Being flexible in order to deliver our services where the customers need them by our restaurant being mobile, unlike other restaurants.
3. Minimizing cost in all operations in order for the restaurant to earn profits.
4. Recruiting the employees, encouraging and motivating them in order to make them friendly to the customers will result in the restaurant’s success.

Sydney Mobile Restaurant Company Summary

Operations and Services

The mobile restaurant will serve quality falafel to meet the needs of vegetarians and other people in Cape Britton. This will be achieved by serving fresh food in different styles to suit all the customers. The restaurant will have different menus for each day of the week to spice up the falafel food day. The mobile restaurant will be opening from 8.00 am to 9.00 pm on weekdays to cater for the university students and all workers and during the weekends, the restaurant will be opening from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm.

The mobile restaurant will offer breakfast daily on weekdays with fruits and juices to the students of cape Britton University. The restaurant will adopt a self-service system to increase the perception of the customers about the services given. The employees will be friendly to the customers and will always welcome them and direct them to where they will get their services. They will also dress officially in a black pair of trousers and a white shirt for the customers to identify them. The manager will stroll around visiting the customers, recording their complaints or compliments. The mobile restaurant will offer food at reduced prices on weekends to attract more customers. Customers and guests will be entertained with cool music in the restaurant to make them feel comfortable as they enjoy the food.

The mobile restaurant will be a partnership of two people who will run it. They will be assisted by ten employees, who would be critically important in the kitchen as well as serving customers. This will help in minimization of cost by having fewer employees. This mobile restaurant is not located at any permanent place but it will be offering falafel wrap in Sydney and Canada, targeting mainly university students in Cape Britton. This flexibility will help the restaurant to serve all its customers satisfactorily since they will be in a position to have the services where they need them. The best form of marketing that the restaurant will be using is the word of mouth. With the provision of high-quality food and efficient staff, the customers will go preaching about the services to their neighbors and friends thus attracting more customers to the restaurant.

Services

The mobile restaurant will provide quality falafel wrap seven days a week. The restaurant will only be closing on the Christmas holidays. All locations will be providing breakfast, lunch, and supper and all the meals will be self-service while the prices will be fixed on weekdays.

Competitive Advantage

The mobile restaurant will earn customers’ loyalty due to its specialization area of falafel which is a popular food worldwide for vegetarians. The restaurant has a competitive advantage in Cape Breton because the food is unique and also the idea of a mobile restaurant is unique. Low prices for a complete meal will be a competitive edge to the company because customers will prefer this restaurant with high-quality food at a cheap price. Since the system of serving is self-service, there will be no tipping and this will reduce the customer’s cost of dining expenses. In the mobile restaurant, speed will be guaranteed salad, beverage, and dessert will always be ready and customers will not have to wait. Food will also be cooked instantly as requested by the customer. This will help the restaurant to have a competitive edge since customers prefer instant services.

The restaurant will serve the right portions which will meet the needs of the customer rather than serving a predetermined quantity meant for an average person. The vegetarian customers will have a variety of combinations to choose from. There will be every choice for families, singles, young and old each day of the week which are not provided by the competitors. The company will offer short menus for the combination of food they offer quoting the exact price to prevent customer confusion. This is advantageous because some restaurants have very long menus which confuse the customers. The flexibility of the restaurant gives it an edge n the competitive market because it is possible to reach and serve customs all over Cape Breton.

In order for the mobile restaurant to create awareness and attract more customers, it will have to use table toppers to explain the falafel food they offer giving the difference between breakfast, lunch, and supper. Handouts or brochures will be used to show the food offered when they open the restaurant and also their contacts. Direct mail pieces will be used by the restaurant to show pictures of the mobile restaurant and the vegetarian food they offer. The direct mail piece will also show the prices of the food offered.

The company will also invest in technology in order to be competitive. A high-speed computer will be used to facilitate a quick and good connection to the internet. The company will also open a web page where information concerning it will be posted. Advertisement can also be done through the internet to attract more customers like the university students in Cape Breton who are conversant with technology. The restaurant will invest in many mobile restaurants to properly cover the market in Sydney. This will increase the market share of the mobile restaurant and thus give it a competitive edge in the market.

Market Analysis

The mobile restaurant has a good opportunity in the market since it has come up with a unique idea of providing falafel in Cape Breton and for being flexible. The competition is also less which allows it to succeed. The popularity of falafel wrap all over the world will give the restaurant a good opportunity for success since there is already a ready vegetarian market in Sydney which is not tapped. The popularity of falafel, quality food, and fair prices will earn the restaurant success.

The mobile restaurant target market is the university students of Cape Breton and the whole of Sydney. The restaurant will segment the market into:

Age segmentation-The restaurant will provide falafel wrap which suits all age groups like the seniors, juniors, all workers of all ages, and couples with children. Family segmentation- The restaurant will provide falafel wrap which will satisfy mature families with children and also young families with newborns or without.

Gender segmentation-The restaurant will target both females and males with a slight skew to females because they are the most vegetarians.

Income segmentation- the restaurant will appeal to all income earners because the prices will be fair even for a low-income earner to afford the meal.

Occupation segmentation-The mobile restaurant will appeal to students, graduates, young or old professionals with or without families, and all workers whether white or blue-collar workers.

Target market segment

The mobile restaurant’s main target is the university students of Cape Breton, Sydney, Canada. Since there is less competition in Cape Breton the company should try and be a market leader. It should achieve this by providing fresh and high-quality food to the customers to win their loyalty. The services should also be very instant since the main target market is the students and workers who have to observe their time. The restaurant will also offer its services at fair prices compared to other restaurants and this will help in attracting more customers. Prices will also be reduced during the weekends in order also to attract more customers because most students and workers will not be going to the restaurant on weekends.

Besides offering the main meal falafel wrap, the restaurant will also offer salad, desserts, and juices at no cost in order to attract customers and have an edge in the market. The self-service method will be used to help the customers feel comfortable and also have a good perception of the restaurant. In order to entertain the customers, cool music will be played in the restaurant. Happy workers make the customers happy and so the restaurant will motivate the employees to make them friendly to the customers and this will help in attracting and maintaining the customers.

Market Needs

The target market of the mobile restaurant has various needs which need to be fulfilled for their expectations to be met. They expect to get value for the money they pay and thus the restaurant should work towards ensuring value delivery to the customers by providing high-quality falafel. The target market also wants different flavors and thus the restaurant should ensure a different combination of falafel in order to meet the customers’ needs Customers also want the speed of the service offered and thus the restaurant should ensure instant service of the food requested by the customers. It should also ensure it has enough employees to serve the high influx of customers instantly. Customers want a good environment and thus the restaurant should offer cool music and a good ambiance to make them feel comfortable, create their loyalty and make them preach the good gospel about the restaurant. Customers also want an attractive, friendly, and clean environment and so the mobile restaurant should provide such an environment.

More people are changing their lifestyle and want to become vegetarians and that’s why the falafel wrap has gained popularity in the whole world. This gives the mobile restaurant an edge because in Cape Briton not many restaurants are meeting the vegetarian’s needs. The vegetarian market is virgin and thus the restaurant can successfully cover the market satisfactorily by providing high-quality falafel at a fair price and this will earn the restaurant a competitive edge in the market. The customers enjoy services that are taken to their doorstep and thus by the company is mobile, it will satisfactorily respond to the needs of the customers. Since competition in this market is low, the mobile restaurant has an opportunity of attracting many customers and being a market leader since it aims at providing the best quality falafel wrap at the customers’ reach. Its target market being the Cape Breton University students gives it a chance to succeed and have a competitive edge because the university has a high population of people and through the word of mouth marketing, more customers will be attracted to enjoy the mobile restaurant services.

Analysis of Competitive Environment Using Porter’s Theory

Threat of New Entrants

In Sydney and Canada, the restaurant business is competitive. At present, the industry is dominated by restaurants that are located in specific regions, mainly within the City center. For example, the two most prominent restaurants, Tetsuya’s and Quay have excelled in the business and have even been named as the top restaurants in the world. These retailers control approximately 80% of the market share. The rest is controlled by small restaurants, with a 20% market share. However, many of these restaurants have focused their business to cater to the high-end market, with most of their services offered at specific locations or enterprises. The driving force for sales in the last two decades has been based on increased customer demand (Ritz, p. 22). Most of the restaurants have excelled due to their efficiency in operations, high-end market segment by the use of market mix strategy. The restaurants’ ability to effectively manage their high-end market segment through a strategic approach has made it difficult for some small-scale operators trying to venture into the same market segment. These small operators have not been able to gain any competitive advantage (Thompson & Strickland, p. 53). This has subsequently not made it easy for new companies with similar interests and similar business strategies for the restaurant category.

It is evidently difficult for the new entrants to penetrate this market since major operators are able to raise a huge capital base through large fixed costs and strong networks of suppliers supported by excellent logistics (Ritz, p.24). This is seen in the way big operator Quay has adopted highly advanced technology to help them check and control operations, thus being able to monitor both the present and new entrants. Moreover, Tetsuya has excelled in the management of their large economy of scale and ability to differentiate their food products. They have done this through aggressive tactics in operations, product development, promotions, and superb customer care. This makes their consumers have a perception that they are providing food and beverages of higher value than any other potential new entrant would manage. But these restaurants may use their strong brand names to add mobile restaurants to increase their diversification process.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Suppliers have stronger bargaining power if the buyers’ purchasing power is smaller or lower. Conversely, the supplier would have lower bargaining power if the buyer is a bulk purchaser and hence has the ability to control the price. If the supplier has lower bargaining power, the buyer would find it easy to control many factors, hence the supplier may fear losing big business contracts if they fail to comply with the buyers’ demands. Sydney Mobile Restaurant, with its market force, will be able to negotiate better promotional prices from suppliers of materials for their designs hence having a stronger bargaining power over many suppliers. The company will strive to make international connections to develop opportunities to access cheaper but high-quality materials from their overseas supplier, hence giving the local suppliers a run for their money.

The entry of Sydney Mobile Restaurant into Sydney and Canada business territory is seen as one which will give suppliers more power. Suppliers would have options for the customers they serve. According to Porter (p. 14), the relationship between the retailers and the sellers may have a similar impact by constraining its freedom to maneuver strategies as well as affecting the margins of operations for both suppliers and retailers.

Similarly, Sydney Mobile Restaurant customers would want to see the unique foodstuffs served by the company. This complicates the situation for new and small suppliers who are unable to compete with major suppliers. Hence, the bargaining power of these suppliers is based on the ability of Sydney Mobile Restaurant to purchase their products in large quantities.

Bargaining Power of Customers

Porter (p. 19) observes that the more a firm differentiates or standardizes its products, the more it becomes easier to switch from one product to another due to the reduced cost of the switching process. This consequently gives the buyers more power. Business analysts believe that brand differentiation is still the most successful strategy that can be used by a hospitality company to retain its customers. The company’s profitability has been linked to its ability to remain exclusive, irrespective of the economic situation such as an economic downturn that may force many high-end market specialists to change their strategies and move to low-end markets (Skillsmart, p. 20). This means that these high-end market restaurants may aspire to be popular with wider market segments; hence their exclusive customers will lose the taste of the brand exclusiveness. Other important services that are believed to help exclusive customer retention are service customization, differentiated products and services, a variety of good product choices, and regular and reliable flow of products (in this case foodstuff) and promotions.

Threat of Substitute Products

These are products and services which can serve a similar purpose. If there is a substitute for a particular product, its demand is likely to be reduced as there is a possibility that some consumers will switch from one product to another that poses a good substitution. The question that is normally asked is: if one decides to buy from the industry, what alternatives are available? In this aspect, the price-performance ratio becomes significant. Henry (p. 112) says, “The more attractive is the price-performance ratio of substitute products, the greater is the restraint on industry profits”. Therefore the price-performance ratio of Sydney Mobile Restaurant’s falafel wrap against the substitute products will define the firm’s profitability and further the profitability within the entire industry.

In the catering business, this phenomenon is represented by “the product-for product or the substitute of need”, whose weakness is further exposed by the emergence of new and popular traditional food (Henry 114). This trend could be how small restaurants that have more categories of traditional food and reach a more integrated low-end market.

Bargaining Power of Competitors

The hospitality business environment has grown significantly in the past decade. The growth has seen the changes or increase in size as well as the growing number of dominant restaurants in terms of variety of services offered, brand superiority, a wide range of food products offered (Fill, p. 13). It, therefore, follows that the growth in the industry is quite difficult, particularly where there is a lack of diversification. Consumers’ demands also increase and large restaurants involve consumer research activities to help them get how and when to change their products and services to fit the demand.

Trend Analysis: PEST Framework

Several factors are known to affect the business environment and subsequently influence the decision processes in an organization. These factors are taxes, laws and legislation, trade barriers, change of demography, government policy and many more. To help understand the industry trend, we would apply the PEST framework to identify these changes and factors that characterizes the trends.

Business and market drivers

The hospitality industry in Sydney, NS, Canada is flourishing with the market environment promising a good future investment. Sydney Mobile Restaurant will diversify its products to ensure a competitive advantage. What factors do propel this industry?

According to Kotler & Lee (p. 139), online retail is one area that has revolutionized the retail industry since its inception. The Internet has proved to be a critical mode of selling retail products, with the customer having the opportunity to sample available products, make orders without physical visits to the stores. It is predicted that the internet will remain an integral part of the retail business as many consumers are resorting to it as an easy and convenient way of buying whatever they need. The increasing buyer power of the retailers will continue being the major industry driver, as more and more suppliers get several options for their products from their favorite buyers (Kotler & Lee, , p.140).

Identification and evaluation of trend indicators affecting the target market

Political Factors

As stated earlier, Sydney Mobile Restaurant will operate in Sydney, NS, Canada, targeting Cape Breton. The restaurant’s performance may face various political challenges. Canada’s system of government is similar to that of the British government. Under the country’s constitution, the federal and provincial governments have separated roles and powers that influence the business environment (Legge & Hindle, p. 21). The federal government is in charge of national and international issues as far as governance is concerned. The provincial governments on the other hand are in charge of local issues that are relevant to their respective province.

It is acknowledged that statute law has a significant role in regulating businesses in Canada. However, the English common law is the basis on which legal systems of the country are run, determining the business environment in all provinces in Canada, except the Province of Quebec.

Canada is a bilingual country, with two prominent languages of English and French. The Official Language Act (OLA) allows for English and French as the official languages (Mohan, p. 149). The fact that OLA does not make it a must that everyone is bilingual is a challenge to businesses as they need to label their products in the two different languages of English and French. The need to use English and French to indicate the products’ generic names, the address of the producer, and the contents and safety or health details of the products makes the process cumbersome for businesses.

Economic Factors

These factors entail tax, interest rates, the economic performance of the country and region or globe, inflation, exchange rates of the local currency vs. other currencies, etc. it is noted that economic factors have become a serious concern to the hospitality industry in Canada, as they affect the demand of the products, cost-related issues, price of the available goods, as well as the price.

Canada, just like the US is an affluent society, where products and services are given to consumers in a market-oriented fashion. They have a highly skilled labor force, adequate resources, and exclusively high standards of living.

Foreign investment is based on a regulated review process under the Investment Canada Act, which controls all foreign investment initiatives. The main goal of this regulatory system is to develop significant investments by foreigners that will benefit Canadians in a significant way (Nash, p. 12). The requirement is that every investor with foreign links must be ready to file a notification with Industry Canada.

In fact, one major economic factor that affects the hospitality industry is a low rate of employment or unemployment (Rainey, p. 36). This is because it reduces the citizen’s consumption demand, subsequently reducing the demand for food products. Sydney Mobile Restaurant is aware that the restaurant business has a significant effect on job-related issues. This is because designing and developing business enterprises are considered to drive away job opportunities in the industry since traditional small restaurants cannot keep up with the pressure of competition from the few and technology-savvy big restaurants.

Social Factors

Studies have shown that social changes in Canada’s major cities and the global environment as a whole have made people from around the world, especially from Sydney, prefer quick services in terms of fast food products. Mobile restaurants have offered these people an opportunity to develop a strong preference for mobile restaurants products (Schmetterer, p. 6). It will therefore require Sydney Mobile Restaurant to increase its diversification of the food products; by venturing more into various high-end foods, in addition to their main menu.

The changes in the demographic composition of the population, with an increasing number of an aging population, rising number of students in Cape Breton University coupled with a reduced amount of time to move from one restaurant to another to sample preferred foodstuffs will provide a better opportunity for our restaurant to fill the gap. This also means that we will be willing and able to change our strategies regularly by adopting value addition to our products and services. For example, we will make our design change to include unique packaging that appeals more to our customers. The restaurant will also focus on the improvement of its own-label, supply chain management so as to reduce operational costs and increase profit margins.

Social conditioning, cultural beliefs, and attitudes of the society define what type or category of food products and services will be in high demand. At present, traditional foodstuffs are becoming popular in Canada are changing regularly and people want something to identify with as quality brands that define their lifestyle- something that can improve their health.

Technological Factors

New Technologies are known to affect the development of new products as well as the process of production. Computerized gadgets such as iPods, MP3 players, HD TVs, and computers themselves have created a new dimension of business in the modern economy. Sydney Mobile Restaurant will use technology to advance its many business initiatives and develop sales ideas. In fact, it is observed that the industry’s mercurial growth is due to the quick way in which many restaurants and hotels have adopted varied types of technologies in the production and distribution of their products and services. Customers are able to access the available products quickly, readily, and as personalized services, thus creating the desired convenience.

Sydney Mobile Restaurant is expected to benefit from this initiative since it is able to increase sales and get customer feedback with ease. We will launch the Efficient Consumer Response initiative that will help us shift from one food product design packaging to another in order to satisfy the growing consumer demand and needs. It’s through a desire to expand our technological activities that we will adopt “the wireless devices, intelligent scale, electronic shelf labeling, self-check-out machine, Radion Frequency Identification” (Travis, p. 27). We are planning to introduce a customer feedback mechanism where the “Electronic Point of Sale, Electronic Fund Transfer System, and Electronic Scanner will change the efficiency of the distribution and stocking activities to the positive” (Skillsmart, p. 9).

Trend Indicators Affecting the Target Market

There are some specific trends and forces that affect our target markets. Some of the main factors are: change in the demographic composition of fashion lovers, technology, and globalization.

Change in the demographic composition of fashion consumers

Demographics are an important aspect of the hospitality industry. This is because it is critically important for a hospitality company to know who is purchasing or buying its products. That is, knowing whether the targeted niche market is penetrated with the laid down strategies. For example, in Canada, affluent households who are likely to be our customers are a mere 18% of the total Canadian households. Interestingly, they spend $1 out of every $3 spent by the entire Canadian household (Zook &Graham, p. 8). Again studies show that affluent households are the fastest-growing population in affluent Sydney. That is they increased from 13% to 22.4% in 2005. This is good for the continuous growth of Sydney Mobile Restaurant, as the number of target market widens.

Again, in the past decades, fast foods were considered to be exclusively associated with high-end markets (Thompson & Strickland, p. 97). However, recent years have seen this trend reversed a more and more people of diverse backgrounds find it easy to resort to fast food products due to busy schedules. But one thing that has not changed is the fact that people still want to lead a healthy lifestyle despite their need for a quick and fast food supply.

Technology

It must be acknowledged that the internet is for everyone and hence easy accessibility will be increased once the food products are advertised online. Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan (p. 29) advise that the use of the internet boosts the brand name of exclusivity as long as the company does use the right strategy to reach the exclusive market or target market.

There is an increasing trend in the use of customer loyalty cards among many hospitality companies. Hotels in Canada have successfully applied for the loyalty card, hence increasing the customer frequency at their stores. This has also helped them build strong customer satisfaction as they increased their exclusive customer services with the support of loyalty cards. Sydney Mobile Restaurant will design loyalty cards for the customers to ensure their loyalty is developed and built accordingly.

Globalization

Globalization has had a significant impact on many businesses. Many aspects of globalization are based on the need for the fact that people are able to move from one place to another very easily (Longenecker, Moore & Petty, p. 62). This means that executive and traditional Sydney Mobile Restaurant customers who want to buy their preferred foodstuff from anywhere in the world are not able to get access to these products if they are outside the cities that host the stores. It means that we will design our expansion strategies to ensure future growth.

Marketing implications for the retailer

Sydney Mobile Restaurant is aware that technology will have a great impact on its business operations. Sales will be facilitated by the introduction of technologies to ensure efficient and quick access to information as well as increase sales. This will offer the restaurant a competitive advantage over other restaurants, which have no capacity to adopt some of the technologies too much. Sydney Mobile Restaurant will also develop products and services by changing the approach to the management of product life cycles and increasing efficiency of delivery, thus ensuring a wide range of food products are delivered to customers at the right time and place. The increased need to reach the target market, therefore, demands that a more technological approach be adapted to marketing and advertisement.

Opportunity Identification

Detail of opportunities implied by the current status and trend analysis

Records show that Sydney Mobile Restaurant will need to boost its retail activities and sales through online activities such as establishing a website to increase shopping to their widely distributed market segments. The ability to increase accessibility to the right customers illustrates a restaurant’s power to penetrate the niche market; thus ensuring they maintain a regular and consistent economy of scale as well as acquire a good competitive advantage in the industry.

It is predicted that the initiation of Sydney Mobile Restaurant’s direct online sampling, as well as catalog shopping, will increase the technology usage, allowing the company to venture even more into the variety of products (Kitchen & Schultz, p. 91). This is said to give moderately high margin returns and little attention to the amount sold and margin being compared to the space allocated for the products. Another available marketing opportunity is also available with the introduction of the loyalty card.

Justification for the selection of a specific opportunity

The changing trend in relation to the perception of online goods and services is changing significantly. The fear of brand damage with internet marketing and advertisement is fading and companies are now embracing and adopting e-commerce at an alarming rate. Hotels have thrived in selling a range of products and services. It is noted that over the last decade, “growth in internet searches for products and services has grown significantly” (Burnett & Moriarity, p. 16). For instance, the number of people who searched for hotel accommodation and food products increased by a whopping 1, 296% (Skillsmart, p. 9).

The study also shows that the affluent are more likely to buy online than they will do with mail orders. Between 2007 and 2008, 47% of the affluent people who used exclusive products purchased their preferred products through online means (Blythe, p. 27). In contrast, only 16% of average consumers used online means of buying. The most important finding was the perception of high-end-product consumers. 79% of those interviewed said they did not agree internet spoilt the exclusiveness of their brand. We, therefore, believe that Sydney Mobile Restaurant’s products and brand image will remain intact despite the use of online marketing initiatives. It gives the exclusive customers wider and easy options of acquiring their preferred products thus retaining customer loyalty through satisfaction. Ryan & Hiduke (2003) observe that the mistake is joining online marketing with a different strategy that was non-existent in the on-store retail. Such a strategy as the “find a bargain” button is a blunder since that reduces the image of exclusivity.

Another research conducted last year also suggests that 93% of fast-food consumers are health-conscious people who mind more about quality and health than price when going for the purchase of foodstuff (Schroeder, p. 112).

This study also indicated that the majority of these buyers are young affluent individuals. This trend is expected to continue as the number of affluent people increases globally, especially within our major cities. This informs why we have chosen the cape Breton University students as our target market.

Implementation Plan for the Selected Opportunity

Given that online sales and marketing will be the main target to attract more distinct buyers of our food products and services. The products offered must meet the customer’s needs. Sydney Mobile Restaurant will define and brand its online sales as first among equals in order to appeal more to its niche market. The company will embrace the 4 P’s of The Marketing Mix is defined as Product, Price, Place and Promotion (Ryan & Hiduke, p. 23).

According to this framework, the marketing choices are based on the following controllable areas: product, price, place (distribution), and promotion- making up the 4-Ps (NetMBA, p. 2). Neil H. Borden popularized the concept when he used the term marketing mix in his teaching, and later published an article, the Concept of the Marketing Mix in 1964 (NetMBA, p. 2). However, Borden created a very broad category of the marketing mix that comprised of product, planning, pricing, branding, distribution channels, personal selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, and fact-finding, and analysis (NetMBA, p. 2). Borden’s categories were later simplified by McCarthy [Jerome] by grouping them into 4 Ps highlighted above (NetMBA, p. 2).

Specific activities to develop the opportunity

Sydney Mobile Restaurant will gain from the initial online concept so as to develop the ability to objectively design a website package to display online products on sale. The specific marketing activities will involve a strategy to develop adequate information on the food products.

Marketing mix gives promotion a perspective of marketing communication (Kotler & Lee, p. 92). So, the basis here is to communicate the product information to the right target market or market segment in general. The actual goal, in this case, would be to generate a positive response from the consumers of Sydney Mobile Restaurant. The marketing communication approach would therefore entail the following:

• Promotional strategy (push, pull, etc.)
• Advertising
• Personal selling & sales force
• Sales promotions

Resource and pricing implications

The available resources within Sydney Mobile Restaurant’s reach are enough to help the retailer launch thorough online marketing and advertising of its variety of products online. It would portray a direct representation of the sales industry working environment. Therefore, the capital required to obtain strategic sales promotion is divided into working capital, premises equipment of facilities. As concerns, the pricing criteria, the cost of each item would be calculated in relation to the cost of operation and economic situation. This is because the economic situation determines the purchasing power of the people, so if individual income is rising or higher, their ability to purchase increases and vice versa.

Timelines

Promotion is expected to run for a period of 6 months (from June to December 2010). However, other less costly promotional activities like fliers and the display of banners at our existing stores will be given a longer lifeline to ensure consistency.

Risks, limitations and contingency plans

The global market, especially the major economies has undergone an economic crisis. The difficulty emerges from the declining household income which has affected the purchasing power of even the most affluent in the society. This means that many retailers operate in low-margin profits since the buying power of their customers has declined.

To ensure the customer base is retained, we will make sure the loyal clients get the best offers in terms of extra benefits for consistent online purchases of our fashion products. This would be done through the support of developing a loyalty scheme for buyers. At the same time, the number of new purchases will be recorded and a form of the survey will be conducted by our team to ensure the new food products buyers are noted for our evaluation purposes. From this, we expect the number of buyers to increase exponentially. This is because our flyers and other display materials will illustrate all the options available for purchase. So, we will monitor the trend of purchase immediately after the show and note the demographic trend of the purchase.

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