Marketing Plan for a New Fast Food Restaurant

Marketing is defined as the process of planning various business conceptions such as promotions, pricing, and distribution in such a manner that offers goods and services that satisfy the customers’ needs. Thus, marketing focuses on such crucial parts of a business enterprise as identification of consumer needs and requirements, the analysis of their behavior patterns, and the creation of strategies to improve the competitive position of the business in the market. As a result, it is compelling for all the businesses to have a documented marketing plan that will enable them to offer products and services that are unique and more innovative than the products provided by the competitors. Additionally, a marketing plan includes an extensive analysis of the market trends and consumer preferences that will enable the business to account for future growth and expansion. The following essay will develop a marketing plan for a new fast food restaurant that will be selling exclusively roasted rabbit meat across various places in Las Vegas.

The Business

The unsatisfied Consumer Need

Over the years, meat has been identified as the primary source of food among different individuals in the United States. According to Global Trade Atlas, the United States imported over $2.9 billion worth of beef, $1.3 billion worth of pork, and $201 million worth of chickens and turkeys in 2010. As a result, US meat consumption is a typical diet that comprises 15% of energy intake, 40% of protein intake, and 20% of fat intake. The highest rates of consumption come from Chilled Processed Meats with added ingredients and frozen meats that are sold in supermarkets, butcher shops, and grocery stores. Similarly, burgers, meatballs, cooked meat, minced meat and sausages offered by fast food restaurants have also played a significant role in raising the rate of meat consumption in the U.S.

Nonetheless, the rate of meat consumption has decreased significantly in the recent years due to the Nutrition Label and Education Act that requires nutritional labeling on packaged food products. Actually, the act has raised awareness on a dietary knowledge that has influenced the consumption of beef, pork, chicken and turkey. More precisely, the consumers have changed their preferences concerning meat consumption due to wellness and health concerns. High consumption of beef, pork, chicken and turkey has been correlated with high rates of obesity and cardiovascular diseases due to high levels of saturated fats and dietary cholesterol found in meat. Similarly, excessive meat consumption has also been connected to cancers of the esophagus, lung, pancreases, and endometrium. Hence, excessive meat consumption has raised the concerns of the consumers, who have diverted their attention to living a healthy lifestyle by eating the foods that are rich in protein but low in fats and cholesterol contents. Other health concerns associated with excessive meat consumption include inflammation and oxidation stress due to fat and iron content.

As a result, most individuals have embraced fruits, vegetables, and grains as the alternative source of nutrients due to the fact that they have low rates of cholesterol and dietary fats when compared to the consumption of beef, pork, and chicken. Nevertheless, animals represent the most valuable source of protein and other micronutrients such as B vitamins, iron, and zinc that are essential for body development. Therefore, there is a vast untapped market for meat that is rich in protein but low in cholesterol and lipid contents.

The Goods and Services to satisfy this need

Therefore, I plan to start a fast-food restaurant that will sell rabbit meat and classic, generous salads on the menu in order to capitalize on the massive market of individuals, seek a healthy lifestyle. Actually, the rabbit meat is ideal for meeting the consumers’ needs, as cholesterol, fat, and sodium levels are lower in rabbit meat than in chicken, pork, turkey, and beef. Moreover, rabbit meat has desirable nutritional and dietetic properties, as it contains protein levels of 20-21, and unsaturated fatty acids, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous. The fast food restaurant will represent a 3200 square foot café located in Las Vegas, as over 2 million people reside in the Las Vegas Valley. The cafe will be a family owned business offering both home delivery services and on point sales.
The restaurant will require a startup cost of $250,000, whereby $40,000 will be devoted to build-out and renovation and $100,000 will be directed to purchasing the furniture and restaurant equipment. Actually, the rest of the money will cover staff employment and other essential expenditures of the business. The layout will include a dining room for the individuals, who choose to have their meals inside the restaurant, a kitchen with four cooks, and two serving lines in order to accommodate and efficiently serve the customers during the peak hours. Moreover, the staff distributors will pick up deliveries through a designated window in order to avoid congestion within the restaurant.

Market Situation

Analysis of the Target Market

The target market for the restaurant will be segmented across various age groups, where the primary focus will be placed on the teens and adults in the age between 14 and 30 years. The restaurant will also target the elderly above the age of 50 years, who will primarily order the dishes through the option of home deliveries. The teens will perceive the restaurant as a meeting place, where they can easily find their peers and interact during dinner or lunchtime. From this perspective, they will view the restaurant as a place, where they can hang out after school extra-curricular activities. Besides, the teens will also be attracted to the place because of the food taste, as rabbit meat tastes better than other types of meat. As a result, the restaurant will be in a better position to establish and maintain consumer loyalty by increasing and improving the restaurant sales. Moreover, the adults between the age of 20 and 30 years will find the place suitable, nice and comfortable. In fact, this characteristic is attributed to the fact that most of them view cooking to be a tiresome task and roasted rabbit meat will represent an easier and more comfortable option for them. The adults in this age group also tend to be cautious about nutrition; hence, they will be attracted to the restaurant based on the fact that rabbit meat is rich in proteins and low in fats and cholesterol contents that qualifies it as a healthy fast food option. In addition, other age groups will be attracted to the restaurant because they have limited time to get back to work. Lastly, the elderly will be fascinated by the option to order food directly from the restaurant, as the food will represent a healthy meal for the household to enjoy.

The Size and Growth of the Market

In fact, the fast food industry has developed significantly over the years due to the changing consumer preferences and tastes. In particular, over 50 million US citizens enjoy their meals on a daily basis in over 200,000 fast food restaurants. In 2015, the United States generated revenue of $200 billion from the fast food restaurants. Nevertheless, the fast food industry has been facing various challenges, as most consumers are gradually moving away from unhealthy eating to home-cooked meals. As a result, the price of food in fast food restaurants has been kept as low as $6 a pack in order to attract more consumers. However, the fast food restaurants have experienced an annual growth of 2.7% compared to other hospitality sectors. Moreover, the industry has faced stiff competition from other segments in the food service that has decreased the overall market share of the fast food restaurant. The saturation of the fast food industry is expected to deteriorate with time due to the emergence of small, fast food restaurants with a wide diversity of food and the consumer shift away from fast foods thanks to nutrition and dietary concerns.

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Environmental forces that may be pertinent to the performance of the business, both currently and in the future.

Social Factors

In fact, various social factors could influence the fast food restaurant, for example, the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. Such a fact could positively influence the business, as rabbit meat is a healthy meal compared to other types of meat, since it is not only rich in nutrients but also low in cholesterol and fat contents. Similarly, a flaring wealth gap in the society presents the restaurant with the opportunity to expand its segment market, as most target consumers of the restaurant represent middle and low-income individuals with a salary below $50,000 p.a.. Additionally, various breeds of rabbit meat will allow the restaurant to differentiate their products in order to meet the diverse consumer taste.

Economic Factors

Additionally, the Economic trends that may be pertinent to the performance of the fast food restaurant represent such factors as changes in income, when American consumers carry a burden of financial debts due to increasing housing expenses, tuition fees and retirement plans. As a result, the number of fast food restaurant consumers will diminish, as people will try to cut the costs. Moreover, the consumers will tend to be price-driven rather than quality-driven, while considering the product to buy. Similarly, the global currency conversion rate will also influence the restaurant’s performance, as the tourists, who primarily consume fast food, tend to divert to other countries rather than the United States, when the dollar conversion rate is high.

Technological Factors

Such latest technological developments as the internet could affect the performance of the fast food restaurant in a variety ways. For instance, the consumers can get information about all the services and charges offered by the restaurant without visiting it. As a result, technology tends to improve the performance of the restaurant. Besides, the consumers can also place their orders via tablets, smartphones, and Personal Computers from the Interactive Customer Experience, where they identify the location of the delivery; hence, such a technological advancement increases overall sales. Moreover, technology can assist the business with R&D by allowing the conduct of the research on the competitors and the general market in order to implement an efficient marketing plan that would benefit the fast food restaurant.

Competitive Trends

The current competitive market trend may influence the performance of the rabbit meat fast food restaurant. The reason for such a situation is the fact that such enterprises as the Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Hardee’s have existed on the market for a long time, have gained huge consumer loyalty and more than 50% of the overall market share. Additionally, the advertisements from the established fast food restaurants will limit the company’s performance, as the startup does not have huge funds to conduct extensive media that is available to famous companies.

Regulatory Factors

Consequently, some regulatory factors may affect the performance of the restaurant, for example, the restaurants have become the primary sources of revenue for the government due to the regular tax fees. As a result, the restaurant is forced to reform its practices and strategies in order to cope with the unfriendly taxes in a lawful manner. Similarly, employment and employee practices fall under the government regulation of minimum wage requirements that forces the restaurant to pay its employees the minimum wage set by the government despite the profitability of the restaurant. Nonetheless, some regulations are beneficial to the fast food restaurant; the Federal Trade Commission tends to protect the enterprise from its competitors due to unfair practices of the famous fast food restaurant owners.

A SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The main power of the restaurant represents its strategic location of Las Vegas, which is a convenient place to start a fast food restaurant, as it covers a market area of more than 51 million people. Actually, the demographics favors the business, as Las Vegas is near other potential markets such as Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Besides, McCarran International Airport, which is one of the busiest international airports in North America, is also advantageous because of attraction of tourists and potential consumers. Healthy tasty food provided to the consumers will also represent a major strength of the fast food restaurant, as rabbit meat is very delicious and nutritious. Thus, the consumers would choose rabbit meat over other types of meat offered in other restaurants. In addition, the pricing structure will represent a strength as the product will be packed in different sizes in order to accommodate the segmented target market: small pack will sell at $4, the medium – at $8, large – at $14.

Weaknesses

The main weakness of the restaurant will be connected to recruiting and training high-quality employees. In fact, most employees prefer working in the famous fast food restaurants and disregard start-up business based on the lack of stability of business operations. Moreover, the lack of product awareness is an potential weakness, as the consumers are only accustomed to the typical products with meat such as burgers and pizzas. Likewise, finding loyal suppliers of rabbits is also a major weakness of the restaurant.

Opportunities

The major opportunity for the restaurant will represent the individuals, who suffer from chronic diseases and diabetes, as the doctors recommend rabbit meat as it is low in cholesterol and fats but rich in vitamins in comparison to other types of meat. The restaurant can capitalize on this fact in order to increase its product sales. The offer of additional delivery services is also a major opportunity to rich consumers, who cannot visit the fast food restaurant. As a result, the restaurant will increase its market share.

Threats

The major threat to the fast food restaurant will be the ever-increasing operational costs due to the changes in the economy. In fact, an increase in the operational costs results in a decrease in profits that limits the expansion of the business. The consumer’s belief and assumption that all the meals provided by the fast food restaurant are unhealthy is also a significant threat for the business. In addition, such government mandates as taxes, worker protection, and restaurant operations represent potential risks for the enterprise, as they can deteriorate the performance of the restaurant. Moreover, stiff competition from other fast food restaurants is an expected threat.

The marketing mix

Product

The primary need discovered from the famous fast food restaurants is the need for healthy food that does not foster such chronic diseases as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Thus, variety of rabbit meat would represent the core product in order for the restaurant to capitalize on the market and satisfy the consumers’ need. In fact, the rabbit meat has much lower cholesterol, sodium, and fat levels than beef, pork, chicken and turkey have. Additionally, the meat has a high percentage of easily digestible protein, calcium and phosphorous. As a result, eating rabbit meat is not only delicious but also heart friendly due to low cholesterol and fat content. Besides, the ratio of meat to the bone is high; hence, rabbit has more edible meat than a chicken. The supporting products for the rabbit meat will represent milk and salad in order to add value and attract the consumers. In addition, the restaurant will offer the delivery services to a variety of destinations in order to differentiate itself from the competitors.

Price

The rabbit meat will be priced from a competitive perspective and the price of rabbit meat will be slightly higher than the price of competitors’ meat. The slightly higher price will generate the perception of higher quality, as the rabbit meat has a greater quality than other types of meat. Consequently, the product will be sold in three different sizes in order to meet different types of target market: small pack will be sold at $4, the medium size will be sold at $8, and the largest pack will be sold at $14. The smallest package will mainly target teenagers, as it is hard for high school students to spend more than $4 for a lunch. The $8 package will target the adults, who lack time but earn enough money to buy a decent meal. The $14 package will be targeting the elderly with families, who offer from home. Actually, it is cheaper to purchase a large package relative to the average package in order to encourage consumers to prefer large packages.

Promotion

The promotional strategy of the fast food restaurant would be exercised vie the internet, via direct mailing and via face-to-face communication, where the consumers will get information about the products of the restaurant. In fact, the information displayed on the internet will include the facts that differentiate the products of the startup from other products by influencing the consumer’s decision-making process. Additionally, the restaurant will issue the business cards to the customers at the point of sale in order to raise the awareness that the enterprise is a new entrant in the market, which offers exceptional services. Likewise, a marketing program would allow the loyal consumers to get special meal diets and offers on various meals.

Place

The restaurant will be located in Las Vegas. The city represents an ideal place for the fast food restaurant, as Las Vegas is a family entertainment place that families and tourists visit during a luxury vacations. As a result, the restaurant is strategically located at a place, where it can attract large number of consumers. In fact, the restaurant will offer its products and services to the customers via direct sales at the main restaurant. The direct sates would be quite important, as this factor would make it easier for the restaurant to detect market changes and fluctuations in order to adapt to the stiff competition from other fast food restaurants. Moreover, the restaurant will offer intensive distribution of the orders placed via the phone and via the internet to their destined destination in order to differentiate itself from other emerging and famous fast food restaurants.