Restaurant Industry Analysis

Executive Summary This report go forth shew that this perseverance set up greatly get ahead from the helpers our company offers. It provide highlight many aspects of the eatery industry and the changes that the industry is accreditedly veneering. With the put up of the saving and the pressure on eating houses to offer reasoned options to consumers, there demand been many changes recently. This report bequeath address those changes and the reasoning behind them. It will besides address the immensity of the eatery industry to the economy as strong as the history of the eatery industry and ethical unfreezes adjoin the dividing seam.This report will begin with a discussion of the massivest industry flock association for the eating house industry which is the NRA. It will then discuss the current focus in the restaurant industry on healthy canvas and humbled calorie menu options. Socially, it is extremely classic for the restaurants to offer these low cal orie menu options to please customers who be watching their weight, or operative to carry a healthy lifestyle. This is also a focus in the legal and ethics categories of this paper, and keep cleans to be one of the main focuses of the industry currently.The arouse of the economy will be an diverse main discussion in this report. This is a problem that is chance uponing everyone, and every industry. It has caused restaurants to start relying on coupons and discounts to develop in consumers. Without these coupons and discounts, customers do non feel they can justify tone ending to restaurants. The industry is expected to financially turn around within the undermentioned few course of instructions and recover from the great losses it, and many other industries break suffered.It is very app arent that the restaurant industry is extremely warlike a consumer is offered many different choices in severally category of cuisine, which discovers it dumbfound down much eve ntful for restaurants to offer what the customer wants, as comfortably as to run specials and promotions to draw the customer in. Overall, the restaurant industry is currently existenceness affected by all of the social and economic factors that are occurrent in the world around us, precisely if by staying on communicate of the competition, religious religious offering coupons, deals, and options for every type of consumer, the industry should take place to grow and continue to be successful.Purpose The purpose of this report is to learn the team that this industry could benefit from the dish outs that are offered at the agency and to ensure that each ingredient has a full understanding of the restaurant industry and the patterns that it follows. It is extremely in-chief(postnominal) that when working to acquire radical business, each member of the team has a full understanding of the industry, from its history, to its legal troubles. The purpose of this report is a lso to describe the company that there will be gains for both parties involved if the business is gained.Due to the downturn in the economy, it may be assumed that now would not be a wakeless clock to invest in a new industry however this report will show that the restaurant industry has a way of maintaining itself, and there are always new opportunities to be considered. This report will use an environmental scan to show the importance of understanding the industry, and understanding the how apparent motions in our society today affect the industry. Trade Association An industry trade association that is affiliated with the restaurant industry is the home(a) Restaurant Association (NRA).The NRA is located at 1200 seventeenth St.NW Washington DC 20036 (National Restaurant, 2011). The phone number is (202)331-5900 (National Restaurant, 2011). The NRA can also be found at www. restaurant. org. The NRA represents 380,000 of the 960,000 restaurant, restaurant supply, and not-for-pr ofit locations in the country (National Restaurant, 2011). They work to provide these locations with the resources necessary to be successful in an extremely fast paced industry. The NRA hosts multiple events each workweek in efforts to keep the restaurant community together. Environmental Scan This theatrical role of the report will discuss the forces and trends that are currently affecting the industry.This training will dish out with marketing strategies and presentations. Social One of the largest factors currently facing todays restaurants is the focus on healthy eating and offering low calorie menu options. Fast food restaurants have begun hard advertising their salads, as strong as their other low calorie or natural options. With the current number of obese Americans on the rise, restaurants have certainly felt the pressure from their customers as well as from the government to ensure that their menus include healthy options that are windlessness appetizing and that wi ll sell well.One of the strategies that has been put in place by many restaurants is adding calorie counts to their menus. This strategy has been approved by many fleshiness experts, and has been shown to improve %15 of patrons meal choices (Jessen, 2011). Another social factor that is currently affecting the industry is the need for restaurants to stay open new-fashioned or twenty four hours to better serve the communities. Dennys and Ihop have been familiar 24 hour restaurants for some time now, but back in 2000, Wendys began offering late night hours to their consumers.They realized that they were missing a great part of the market, and by extending their hours, intended to soak up it up. Currently, 80% of fast food drive thrus offer late night hours, at least until midnight (Robinson, 2005). This market is growing stronger and stronger due to the consumers need for a late night snack combined with the acedia of not wanting to hit their own refrigerators. Economic Over the other(prenominal) few years, all Americans have become painfully aware of the distress that our economy is facing, and the restaurant industry was certainly not excluded in this awareness.The industry has been forced to take matters into their own hands and has begun offering more promotions, deals, and coupons to draw consumers into their businesses. According to USA Today, this is not supposed to be the time of year for coupons, as the holiday season approaches, restaurants are typically getting busier and busier, and the need to offer freebies decreases greatly (Horovitz, 2007). This year, that will not be the case. Consumers are feeling the pressure to save money wherever they can, and passage out to eat is one of the first cuts that is going to be made.Coupons will dictate the dining decisions of many people as long as the economy continues its downward spiral. more restaurants are offering deals that do not even need a coupon, these deals include promotions like 2 for 20 or $6. 95 all you can eat soup and salad. Companies have found that these marketing strategies increase their mundane number of patrons a great deal. Technological As the importance of technology in the daily lives of Americans grows, the importance of technology in the restaurant industry grows as well. The current fastest growing technological trend in the industry is the development of the online ordering body.It begun as a system that was put in place by a majority of large pizza delivery companies, but has continued to grow into a service that is now being offered by many chain of mountains restaurants to accompany their curbside carryout service (OLO, 2011) . This is purely a consumer convenience that has worked very well for companies so far. Companies are also utilizing the current social media craze to draw in more customers by offering special coupons and deals on their Facebook pages as well as adding their menus which is also a convenience for the consumer. CompetitiveIt does not take much more than a drive around a well populated city to understand the magnitude of the competition in the restaurant industry. As far as the fast food industry goes, it is subdued to see who the biggest competitors are, as they are the ones that we repeatedly see. The workaday dining restaurant industry is a little bit harder to decipher. The two biggest companies in the passing(a) dining spectrum are Darden (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Capital Grille) and the Outback Corporation (Outback, Carrabbas, Flemings, Roys, and bonefish Grille) (Restaurants & Cafs, n.d).As big as these two companies are, the top fifty companies in the restaurant industry hold just 20% of the market (Restaurants & Cafs, n. d). This figure shows the importance of remaining on top of the competition and of remaining innovative and fresh. With the economy in its current state, restaurants are being forced to come up with crazy promos to draw out the customers . Ruths Steak theater of operations is mailing out $25 gift certificates to members of their rewards program, ColdStone Creamery is partnering with flint Mountain Chocolates to create a shop that offers specialty ice emollient and specialty chocolates.Carrabbas is offering $10 off any feeding bottle of wine on Wednesdays (Restaurants dream, 2008). These are just some examples of the promotions that are being put into place in order to keep restaurants in line with their competition. Legal As previously discussed, obesity is on the rise, which makes the government take more notice of the actions that restaurants are taking to ensure the best options for their patrons.The FDA is sally down on the amount of calories in restaurant menu options. They are expected to introduce new national laws by the end of the year that requires any chain with twenty or more locations to include calories on their menu for all of their items (Bernstein, 2011). It is expected that companies that make changes as quickly as possible will fare the best with the FDA. This is not the first time that the food and drug administration has cracked down on calories. A few years ago, they required a few large chain restaurants to remove menu items that were over 1500 calories.Market Segmentation The restaurant industry can be split into a market segmentation of fast food, buffets, casual dining, and fine dining. It is primal to know this information due to the fact that each segment will need to me marketed differently. Each segment sees a different demographic as far as age, financial status, and even gender. Many restaurants have begun marketing to senior citizens with early bird specials and deals because they realize that the bollix up boom generation is good part of the American stomach (Hayes, 2005).Demographic and economic statistics help to show the gross sales capableness of the industry which is extremely important to marketers. When a new restaurant is looking to open its d oors, there are certain demographic categories that must be looked at. These categories include population, median age, gender, social groups, household income, marital status, households with children, and education. All of these categories must be analyzed in order for a restaurant to ensure success in the orbit in which they are opening.Information on these categories can be found using the most recent census, as well as state information agencies. Industry History Surprisingly, the restaurant is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until the practiced 1800s, people dined at taverns, inns, and cabarets, and the thinker of a restaurant was still an idea of the future (Dorf, 1992). In America, the restaurant became popular in the nineteenth atomic number 6 during the Industrial revolution. These restaurants were originally created to serve the workers during the industrial revolution (Lundberg, 1994).They included blank tablec hatchh service and restaurants that resembled more o f a mess hall to fit as many people as possible. Since then, the idea has very obviously interpreted off, and remains strong even through our rough economic times. monetary Forecast The light at the end of the tunnel has not in so far been spotted as far our economy goes, but it appears that Americans have decided that it is okay to begin venturing out in restaurants again. tote up restaurant sales for 2011 have been up 3. 6% over sales in 2010, and this is expected to continue into 2012 (Weisberg, 2010).This is great news for the industry, however it has been report that despite the rise in sales, 2 out of every pentad adults in America are still not using restaurant services as much as they would like in their daily lives (Weisberg, 2010). With The expected rise in sales, the importance of offering coupons and deals is still a big factor. If the industry would like to keep sales on the rise, it is important to continue advertising and drawing consumers into the restaurants. Et hical Issues Currently, the major ethical issue that the restaurant industry is dealing with is the obesity factor.If the attempts to create a healthy menu and healthier options continue, the industry should stay out of hot water. It is important to realize that the promotion of healthy choices can draw customers as well as keep a specific restaurant in good standing with the American public. Ethically, it should be extremely important for the industry to maintain as healthy a menu as possible. With many Americans try with obesity every day, the healthy menu options could really make a difference in their lives. One of the biggest ethical issues that each and every restaurant in the industry faces each day is the issue of safety.There is a lot of focus on safety not only for the customer, but also for the employees. Food recalls have been a major issue in the past few years, as they have become more and more familiar due to new diseases and viruses that are developing. If food tha t is recalled is not immediately removed, it could be very dangerous to the customer, which could in turn lead to a potential closing of a restaurant. Discussion The restaurant industry is probatory in many ways. It is an industry that will never completely die if they continue to change and offer new and exciting things to their consumers.It is important that trends are followed and the suitable advertising is done to reach specific demographics. The industry is also significant because people pay attention to activity going on in the restaurant industry because a great majority of Americans eat some sort of restaurant food at least once a week. I recommend that our company pursue a potential business opportunity with the restaurant industry because I deliberate that the company could have a great impact on the industry by using prevalent industry information to create a marketing campaign that will boost sales and bring in more lifelong customers.Conclusion In conclusion, I rec ommend that our company make a bid for the business in the restaurant industry because it is an industry that is extremely capable of growth, and I believe that our company could greatly assist in this growth. Together, we could create an excellent advertising campaign that would not only increase sales, but also improve the opinion of the industry in the public eye. I have always said that everyone has to eat, why not make it at a restaurant tonight?