Create the marketing objectives and budget portion of the Ma

Create the marketing objectives, and budget portion of the Marketing Communications Plan using the business and information presented in the case study.

Meet the following requirements: In 100-150 words list and explain the marketing objectives. In 500-750 words complete a situational analysis. In 150-300 words, explain the budget in terms of percentage allocated to each communication vehicle. This may change in the final plan.

Case Study

One of your neighbors has just inherited a restaurant in a small town about 75 miles away. They’ve never owned or operated a business before, and know very little about marketing or the restaurant business. They now have a Marketing Plan, but need help with the Marketing Communications Plan. General Restaurant Information Provided by Your Neighbors: They want to keep the “family’s” restaurant as a legacy to their family members who left it to them. However, they will need to make money immediately in order to replace the income they lost when they quit their jobs to run the restaurant. The restaurant has been losing sales/profits over the past few years. Family members have had some health issues (and have since passed away) and have not had the time to manage the restaurant effectively. For the past few months, the Chef and some of the servers have been keeping the restaurant open. The restaurant has a good reputation in the small community. The town has a population of 6,000 people. It is in a good location (right off an interstate) and does additional sales catering to local businesses in the area. Over-the-road semi-drivers say it is the best cup of coffee in town and town’s people know that you can always find the local sheriff and highway patrol officers eating there. People are allowed to smoke at their tables and some people have stopped eating there because of the smoke in the dining room. Also, you can see serving staff smoking between orders. The restaurant has a good menu. It has a lunch menu and a dinner menu. They open at 11:00 am and they close at 7:00 pm CST seven days a week except major holidays. They have daily “specials”. For instance, on Monday it is meatloaf, Tuesday; roast beef, Wednesday; turkey breast, Thursday; pot pies, and Friday; fish. The restaurant is famous for its homemade pie menu. The Chef makes 15 varieties of homemade pies daily. Customers can also order pies for holidays. People have asked to order pies online and pick them up at the store…but so far no online sales exist. The restaurant is in the low to mid-price range. But due to changes in the local community demographic may need to update/expand the menu. Baby boomers are leaving the area and are being replaced by Generation X individuals and their young families. When eating there, you will see a wide range of customers from older truck drivers to young families, and even teenagers on a date. The chef has been with the restaurant for over 25 years and has done a good job but is thinking about retiring in the next 3 years. He believes in the local food movement and buys produce from local farmers. The serving staff is composed of women (most in their late 60s) who call each customer by the name “honey” and have been with the restaurant for years. It is a well known secret that their grandchildren come by each day for a soda pop and pie (most times they leave without paying). The restaurant is located next to an interstate exit and is the only “family” style restaurant in a 20 mile radius. However, there are a McDonalds, Subway and Sonic Drive-in restaurants located nearby. McDonalds, Subway, and Sonic offer special deals throughout the week…for instance, McDonalds runs Shamrock Shakes in March, Subway offers $5.00 foot long sandwiches, and Sonic has happy hour soft drinks each day. The family restaurant has relied exclusively on word of mouth advertising, but do support a local little league baseball team each summer which costs them $500. The name of the restaurant is The Family Diner. While they are not open to changing the name, they are willing to review any changes to the brand and logo that might help the business. Right now, the logo is simply the name of the diner underlined in Veranda font using a light blue color. The new owners are younger and while they want to maintain the legacy of the family, they are computer-savvy. There has been talk of starting a web site and using social media, but those steps have not been taken. There are no loyalty programs or special promotions except for the daily specials. Sales (revenue) for last year were $900,000, which is a 15% share of the market. The other eating and drinking establishments in the area spend approximately $500,000 a year (total for all) in advertising.

Solution

Marketing Objectives:

The marketing strategy that is set in order to achieve the overall organizational objectives is called as the marketing objective. The restaurant should have a concrete goal so that they have clear focus on where they stand and what they need to achieve.

Goal should have certain necessary conditions which are as follows:

1. Customer retention

2. Customer satisfaction

3. Employee Loyalty

4. Clean atmosphere

5. Profit Maximization

These necessary conditions will automatically lead the restaurant in the right path and will make them achieve their goal. Their goal can be as follows:

“To run the restaurant with the best of all efforts invested and thereby to pass on the legacy to the next generation”

Situational Analysis:

We observe from the case study that the restaurant currently has no concrete marketing plan. The restaurant has to change certain approaches which they are following right now.

We need to formalize the approach by having a certain questions answered and they are as follows:

What to Change:

1. There should be a separate dining area in the restaurant where in the customers who wish to smoke in between are made to dine.

2. Servers should not be allowed to dine in between taking orders and serving.

3. The relatives of staffs should not be allowed to take any item without paying.

4. There should be a big name board with bright lights arranged over them.

5. There should be a concrete logo for the restaurant.

6. They should start using technology for their operations and have a strong online media presence.

7. They should have a concrete budget for marketing and advertising.

Why to Change:

All these changes should be made in order to:

1. Make the restaurant attract more customers

2. Make the restaurant profitable.

3. Bring in profits

4. Survive the competition

5. Thrive for legacy

How to Change:

1. There should be certain norms for the restaurant which should be framed in by changing the policies and procedures of the restaurant that are currently in practice.

2. More chefs should be hired since the existing chef\'s are about to retire. The new chefs should be trained in the signature dish of the restaurant so that the tastes of the dishes are maintained even after the existing chefs are retired.

3. Online advertising campaign should kick start. This will allow the restaurant to gain more attention among all age groups of people.

Budget:

The restaurant should spend a minimum of 20% of its earnings for marketing. This 20% should be split as follows:

5% for online marketing

10 % for local marketing

5% for giving special offers on special days

Marketing definitely needs extra efforts because word of mouth marketing will not last long. It will happen only when people speak with each other. In this era of technology people neither find time for themselves nor others. So this word of mouth marketing might not work for too long. Hence the restaurant should start focusing on alternative options which might make the restaurant work. It is obvious from the case study that they want to continue with the restaurant. In order to continue their service they should fight the competition and survive amidst all odds.

The restaurant will be successful only if they start with the changes right away.