Introduction
There are many types of restaurants-fine dining, café or bistro, restaurant buffet, food truck- I am going to pick on the family style restaurant concept which I would like to put up in my local area. I opted to put up this restaurant because, it offers affordable priced menus. Locals from my area are not all that well off so I preferred a deal that would be suitable to them and much more pocket friendly. Its comfort, also contributed to my preference – with the non-disposable dishes and service offered by the table side. Moreover, the locals in my area are ‘family people’; the audience that I target as an entrepreneur. Therefore with reference to what my restaurant preference is, a business concept about the restaurant will be discussed below.
My family style dinners will be the best in my area since it aims at large platters of food, conversation and sharing good company. With Sunday roasts, excessive spreads, Italian-norm courses or side dishes to be shared give reason to be at table and concentrate on collective appreciation. The attitude of’ help yourself’ will promote second helpings that will make it informal and special. The congenial practice of reservation will be encouraged on Sundays for feasts purposes.
My menu will be reflecting my restaurant’s character and making my restaurant’s theme inherent in its design elements. With a pink color that reflects my restaurant and my food passion, I will design a less complicated clean layout that will ease browsing of the menu. It will be subdivided into breakfast, lunch and dinner. Where western omlettes, poachers, breakfast burritos, cream cheese French toast and hot breakfast sandwiches will be in the breakfast section (first page). The likes of wraps and ‘from grill’ will be in lunch and dinner respectively.
Restaurants business, like other business is super competitive. My main competitor is the fast food because am in a town where people are always on toes. So they go for fast cars, fast money and probably fast-food. Locals want to eat fast during their work breaks to save time. This affects my business big time, since my restaurant layout is meant for comfort and food is prepared and served by order.
Customer service has been my main tool to achieving sustainable advantage in the restaurant business (Porter, 2004). The essence of customer service varies by company, service and customer. My employees are trained to adjust to the personality of the customers and make the operation very smooth. Rewarding customer loyalties; giving the customers offers and discounts ones a week. Delivery of food that has built trust and good relationship between my restaurant and the customers. Outdoor catering in events such as weddings has also played a major role to promote my customer service and my restaurant’s brand. To conclude customer service can change the view a customer has for an organization.
When other restaurants concentrate on foods that are full cholesterols, such as fries, burgers and fried chicken, my restaurant cooks healthy. This has made it different from what the locals are used to and has promoted my brand. Some people even sacrifice their time (work time) when their breaks have elapsed, but to have a bite of what is healthy. The foods are not only healthy but also mouth watering. With the investment that I did on chefs whom have come up with unbelievable recipes that has boosted sales. In short, selling quality food is a plus.
I have invested in monthly newsletters on dieting that will enable my clients to learn on how to come up with good diet. This will further lead to healthier living among clients and promote good eating habits among them. I care about my clients and want the best for them. I saw this as a good idea to put them in the know on what to eat, how and when. This has enabled me sell different variety of foods that the locals are not used to in the name of better nutrition and healthy eating.
I have developed new recipes that will ensure the clients get unique and more delicious dishes prepared in my restaurant. This will keep the customers coming and are likely to share their experience with their family and friends thereby resulting in an increase in the number of clients. Moreover, the new recipe will give me an upper hand since I will be able to make more money once I patent the concept and sell it to other upcoming restaurants in other regions. I will seek to get a percentage of sales made from my concept. I see this as a good idea since it will keep me closer to my clients and enable me make more profits.
I have also invested in farming. I have plantations of potatoes and animals as well. This will give me an upper hand since I will spend less in getting the raw materials that are ready available. For instant, I will get potatoes from my farm to make fries. I will be able to get meat from my animal farm to make various meats.
The restaurant buffet is prone to fail in my local area. My local area being a small town where people feed from hand to mouth and it would be a bad idea to put this one into practice. For one, managing buffet arrangement is cumbersome to both the organizer and the caterer. More space is required to put this restaurant and even worse it is labor intensive. At times, one might be embarrassed on the account of queuing with plates in their hands just to be served either by the waiters or themselves. Sometimes, it might be hard for the older customers with plates in their hands to stretch. Even though, it is the most preferred means of catering, in my town we do use them during events such as weddings parties, sports and auctions which are countable in my local area.
Fast foods can do pretty well in my local area. The demographics have it that most people are employed and have a pretty tight schedule. The fact that it saves time gives it an upper hand. With the world coming more time conscience there is nothing greater than a ready meal. The tough economy has made people to work their back out, for very long hours just to make end meet (Weil & Fox, 2012). One gets back home exhausted and hungry, a burger or a pizza would easily do as opposed to making a meal that is labor intensive and time consuming. Fast food also helps in cutting on cost. When one is staying all by himself it is cheaper to buy food than cook. This makes fast food advantageous over my family dining style.
Major restaurant chains implement strategies that local restaurants cannot. They have vital attributes that local restaurant do not. This gives major restaurant chains competitive advantages over my local restaurant in the market. The major restaurant can serve many customers at a time because it has a large sitting capacity and a relative high number of employees who can cook and serve clients. They are more likely to attract clients who presume that the small local restaurants are always full.
The managers in the major restaurants are able to buy food and drinks in bulk and get discounts in the same. This enables them to offer foods and drinks at lower prices compared my local restaurant which buys goods in small quantities and therefore does not call for any discount from their suppliers thus, their prices tend to be high (Byrd, & Megginson, 2013).. This in the long run attracts more clients to the major restaurants because of the pocket friendly prices that the major restaurant put on the table.
The major restaurants can also offer a variety of atmospheres at a go. One can have his or her party in a different dining room while customers are being attended to in a different section. This cannot happen in local restaurant which are relatively smaller. For better pay, most chefs tend to run to the major restaurant and snub the local restaurants. The same applies to waiter staffs that are going to be subjected to better tips. Moreover, the waiter staff, have the privilege of not cleaning the tables since there are cleaning staff to take care of that as opposed to the my local restaurant where the waiters multi task.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my restaurant’s business concept if managed as explained will yield good results. The reason for this is that the concept covers an extensive area with much detail on what should be considered in the different sections regarding restaurants. It has reflected on the dietary preferences of the locals in my area. In particular things like what most eat and do not eat their flexibility when it comes to eating, and customer care. The restaurant concept also identifies the major competitors in the restaurant business and the edge that they may have over my proposed business idea. This business concept furthermore prepares one on entering a market and provides guidelines on how to overcome certain hurdles and insists on specific managerial practices that will smoothen the operation of the restaurant.
References
Byrd, M. J., & Megginson, L. C. (2013). Small business management: an entrepreneur's guidebook (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Porter, M. E. (2004). Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. New York [etc.: Free Press.
Weil, A., & Fox, S. (2012). True food seasonal, sustainable, simple, pure. New York: Little, Brown & Co.
