Mr. Chip Fast-Food Company Essay.

Mr. Chip Fast-Food Company Essay.

Instructions:-

Task: This is a written assessment as follows; please choose your preferred title:

You are the Head of a fast-food company called Mr. Chip. You are currently losing customers to a rival company.  Write a feasibility report about a possible business strategy to enhance the company’s profile and attract more customers.

Report Title 1 Write a recommendation report comparing two types of water provision for a semi-arid region of your choosing.

 You may consider arid regions in general, or concentrate on the needs of a specific area.

 You should consider at least two different water provision techniques. You must consider the following requirements:

 Cost

 Output

 Social and Environmental Impact

Report Title 2 Write a recommendation report about the possibility of launching a new work programme to narrow the gender gap in a country of your choice.

You must consider the following aspects in your report:

 Cost

 Public Acceptance

 Ease of implementation SS2 Assessment Outline:

Report 2 Report Title 3 You are the Head of a fast-food company called Mr. Chip. You are currently losing customers to a rival company. Write a feasibility report about a possible business strategy to enhance the company’s profile and attract more customers.

You must consider the following aspects in your report:

 Cost

 Effectiveness

 Ease of implementation

Report Title 4 Write a feasibility report about the possibility of launching a new means of transport which may reduce travelling time. This could refer to transport from continent to continent or city to city or within a city.

You must consider the following aspects in your report:

 Cost

 Safety

 Demand

Solution

Mr. Chip Fast-Food Company Essay.

1. Introduction

The current business environment demandsthat businesses must continually enhance their operations, products and services if they are to remain relevant in the market. If a business finds itself in a situation where it loses customers to its competitors, it must institute the necessary strategies and measures to not only recover lost business but also enhance its performance if it’s to continue in operation for the foreseeable future (Brown, 2003).  A case in point is Mr. Chip, a fast food business that is currently losing customers to a rival company. Mr. Chip, a premier fast food company has been the choice restaurant for most people in the town but the management has recently discovered that customer numbers are reducing significantly and therefore have commissioned this report so that a recommendation on the best strategy that can revive the business can be adopted.

  • Background of the problem

The leadership of Mr. Chip have noted with increasing concern, the consistent loss of business to rivals. The once lively client base is fast diminishing, with most of the clients reportedly eating at a rival company. In the absence of a structured strategy to get back the lost business, there is a resigned opinion on how best to get back to its top position.  The company commissioned an enquiry into the main cause of the problem in order to figure out the best possible strategy to rejuvenate the business and get the customers coming back.  To do this, the management commissioned the administrative staff to go through the customer complaints and comments that had been placed on the complaints/comments box and analyze them into logical and easily understandable problem statements. The results of this analysis are tabled below:

Parameter   Client comments
           
Quality of service   Excellent Good Average Poor
No. of respondents 1000 100 250 450 200
           
Speed of service   Excellent Good Average Slow
No. of respondents 1000 150 200 200 450
           
Quality of food   Excellent Good Average Poor
No. of respondents 1000 55 250 445 250
           
Price of food   Cheap Moderate High Very High
No. of respondents 1000 50 650 275 25
           
Ambience   Excellent Good Average Poor
No. of respondents 1000 350 450 150 50

From the table above, it’s evident that the business’s problems emanate mainly from the quality of food and service. Most of the polled customers rated the quality of food, speed and quality of service as average or poor.Aside from the information recorded in the complaints/comments box, there had been reported cases of customers verbally expressing their displeasure with the quality of food and speed of service, indicating that more needed to be done in these areas in order to increase the customer experience and ultimately attract and retain lost customers. This feasibility report will present the management of the business with an opportunity to turn around the business, by employing the most efficient, and cost effective strategies (Novak, 1996). The recommendations of this feasibility will be useful not only in the intended turn around, but also in developing more concrete strategies that should enable for the development of sustainable marketing programs.

  • Requirements and criteria

The requirements for this strategy are twofold, both internal and external. A strategy that guarantees the business comeback for Mr. Chip must be able to address most, if not all the problems discussed above (Gael, Ellen, Cohn, 2015).  This strategy is basically expected to lead to improved quality of service and general customer experience- which relates to how the customers perceive the quality of the services offered from the time they come in, to the time they walk out of the restaurant. The strategy must also ensure that the quality of food is not in doubt. The recommended strategy must also be able to enhance the speed with which clients are served at the company. On the external, this strategy must be able to inform existing, and potential customers of the new improvements and also persuade them to try the new experience at Mr. Chip. In making the recommendations, the cost and effectiveness of the strategy will be an important consideration.

  • Discussion of options

In light of the above requirements, the management explores the possibility of implementing either of the two options explained below. These options are geared towards improving the internal quality and processes in the company so as to ensure the company offers the best in terms of quality of food, service and customer experience and external appeal, which includes informing and persuading existing and potential customers to try the Mr. Chips.

The company is exploring the following options:

  • Retraining of existing staff on customer service toimprove the internal services such as quality of food, speed and quality service and use of promotions, social media and referrals to get clients coming back.
  • Replacing the non-performing employees to improve on product quality, speed and quality of service and using print and broadcast media to market the business to potential clients.  In this section, we discuss these two options based on our identified requirements which are to improve the quality of food, service and general customer experience and to inform existing, and potential customers of the new improvements and also persuade them to try the new experience at Mr. Chip. The proposed options will also be evaluated on the basis of their cost, effectiveness and ease of implementation.
    • Cost

Option 1: Retraining of existing staff on customer service to improve the internal services such as quality of food, speed and quality service and use of promotions, social media and referrals to get clients coming back: The company expects that this option would be executed by bringing in training experts in the hospitality industry to train the staff so as to improve their skills. The training program, which is estimated to take approximately two weeks, is to be designed in such a way that the experts train each department separately on their core tasksi.e.waiting staff, security, chefs, Cashiers, delivery persons etc. and then train everyone as a team on soft skills such as customer service. The training program also includes an evaluation system that establishes how well the newly trained workforce would respond to client’sneeds. Sincethe training program is to be implemented in-house, it’s expected to cost the company approximately $30,000.The promotion program to be unveiled will include free giveaways, buy-2-get-1 arrangements, loyalty programs etc. This is expected to run for a period of one month, at an estimated cost of $15,000. Social media marketing, which is a key component of this option, is expected to cost the company approximately $12,000. The total cost of implementation for this option is therefore expected to be approximately $57,000.

Option 2: Replacing the non-performing employees to improve on product quality, speed and quality of service and using print and broadcast media to market the business to potential clients: The cost of replacing employees is difficult to quantify. This is because besides the cost of hiring a recruitment agency to handle the recruitment function, there is the cost of training and induction plus the cost of down-time before the new employees are able to understand the organizational processes. It’s estimated that the cost of hiring and training the new employees may be as high as $ 40,000.  A one month print and radio and live broadcast media campaign, according to available statistics would be in the region of $150,000.

  • Effectiveness

Option 1:It’s expected that the existing staff are already knowledgeable in their areas of work, and just need a refresher on the emerging customer needs.Training these staff is therefore expected to be effective in that you are training employees on how to improve a process that they are conversant with, which increases the effectiveness of the training program (Katsigris, 2006). The group training on soft skills will enable all employees to excel in customer service, which enhances customer experience. The use of social media-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc, promotions- buy-2-get-1-free, hosting events etc and referrals is an effective method of informing and persuading existing and potential clients.

Option 2: The effectiveness of hiring a whole new team or at least replacing majority of the staff depends on the quality and commitment of the new employees.A new team would lead to a change of culture in the organization, the result of which depends on whether it’s a positiveor negative culture change. On the marketing strategies, the use of print, radio and print broadcast while comparatively costly, is very effective in drawing in customers by the masses.

  • Ease of implementation

Option 1: There are many companies that offer training services in the hospitality industry. The two weeks training period, coupled by the fact that the training is done on a rotational basis allows for business continuity during the period. The use of social media marketing, promotions and referral programs are is sustainable and easy to implement as it is less costly.

Option 2: Replacing most of the current employees means that the business will experience a prolonged downtime which is not good for business especially given the low volumes. The very high costs associated with recruitment, training and orientation of employees coupled with the high costs of print and broadcast media marketing and promotion efforts means that the company will have to dig deeper into the already depleted coffers.

5. Conclusion

According to the above cost comparison, option 1: Retraining of existing staff on customer service to improve the internal services such as quality of food, speed and quality service and use of promotions, social media and referrals to get clients coming back, would be more cost effective. It’s not easy to make a decision on which option is more effective. While the training existing employees is expected to yield positive results, the success rate of hiring and training a new team depends on the quality and commitment of the new employees. Promotional strategies through social media and referrals are deemed effective, but not as would be radio, print and broadcast media. It’s evident that Option one is easier to implement compared to option two, going by the need for business continuity and cost of implementation.

  • Recommendation

From the evaluation of the options above, option 1 is recommended as it is more cost effective, and easier to implement while option two has an upper hand in effectiveness with regard to the very important aspect of informing and persuading existing and potential customers due to its wider reach. In deciding on the best option between the two, we have analyzed their potential to improve the business internal operations and its ability to persuade existing and potential customers to bring back the lost business.

Based on the foregoing discussion and evaluation of the available options, this feasibility report recommends that the company adopts option I, Retraining of existing staff on customer service to improve the internal services such as quality of food, speed and quality service and use of promotions, social media and referrals to get clients coming back.

References

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