The Chicken Coop Case Analysis
Problem Statement
Daryl Buckmeister, CEO of The Chicken Coop, must decide whether to invest in market research, how much money to spend, and which programs to fund. His two vice presidents (of quality and marketing) have presented very different proposals.
Decline in sales
For the first time ever, the "Coop" is experiencing a decline in sales by 6% in 20 of 76 "Coop" restaurants even though the overall growth rate was steady for the chain. These same stores were carrying about 32% of the company's retail sales.
Weak to no Market Research
The CEO of the company has maintained a steady visit to some of his stores but this was not really any type of market research. These visits were more of an internal quality assurance program. He did speak with customers and received valuable feedback during his visits which certainly can be market research.
Deviating from Mission
Trevor Wallace has led the company away from the "We are chicken" campaign into other areas that may not reflect the image of what Buckmeister intended. Even though the "chick-pizza" is successful, this could also be the reason why sales are declining in many of the outlets. They could be diluting the brand image
Lackluster Performance of 4 P's
The Coop has no major market research to go off of in order to effectively position them in a changing market. R&D doesn't seem to be supported by good research in the market segments.
No Competitor insights
The Coop is depending on a marketing VP with experience in the hotel industry and not any real experience in fast food. They have no current research so they have no way of knowing the effects that their competitors are having on the retail sales.
Poor Sales Strategy...
... middle of paper ...
...enses could be very high
Pro's & Con's Alternative 3
Pro's Con's
1 Minimal cost going into it. Only costs are associated with printing the cards 1 Not much detail marketing will still need to do competitor research so it doesn't help much in that area
2 Customer convenience - easy for the customer to simply circle a few things and drop in a box or hand to an employee 2 Managers can skew the data by not handing cards in just as employees may not hand over to management if it is a bad reflection on the service.
3 Time conscious/quick turnaround on info results can be picked up daily, weekly, monthly 3 Employees can skew data by filling cards out themselves
4 Recurring/continuous stream of data always able to respond quickly to customer complaints 4 Would only target customers of the COOP and not potential customers therefore no competitor information
Chick-fil-A recognizes that their brand promise starts the minute the customer enters the premises. When a store opens for the first time, the franchised operator doesn’t just see an opportunity to sell his food product, but rather a “chance to interact, build community, and engage with customers and the community at large. We do this in a variety of ways. First and foremost, we strive to provide 2nd Mile Service to each customer. As we work to continuously improve, we want customers to experience something unique. We want to build community and create relationships between our customers and our food, people and restaurants” [3].
The fast food restaurant industry, which includes quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, is highly segmented with the top 50 companies accounting for only 25% of the industry’s sales. The $120 billion industry includes over 200,000 restaurants with 50% of those specializing in hamburger entrees. (hoovers.com 2008) The major competitors in the industry include McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, and KFC – Chick-fil-A’s major competitor in chicken sales. Chick-fil-A’s unique position in the market, specializing in chicken-based entrées, has lead to a competitive advantage which the company has been able to capitalize on. Recently, many competitors have added chicken entrees in order to compete in the market segment. Through marketing strategies and company initiatives, Chick-fil-A has tried to stay distant from competitors, offering a fresh alternative to the ordinary fast food restaurant.
TCBY has been a frozen treats product innovator from the day its first shop opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1981. The great-tasting, low-fat frozen yogurt concept received an enthusiastic response from an increasingly health-conscious public. Its trendy new product propelled the company to the forefront of franchising, and was the ‘first in a long line of ground-breaking menu items that anticipated consumer preferences and continually refreshed the TCBY concept’ (Conlin 2001, p. 133). But TCBY products are just one of the reasons that thousands of operators have concluded that a TCBY franchise is the preferred opportunity in branded frozen treats, and a dynamic partner in any co-branded concept. However, TCBY is facing a lot of problems, both internal and external, during the difficult period from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, especially the problem with its franchising system. The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive situation analysis of TCBY, with special reference to its franchising system, and identify several concerned issues of TCBY and its franchisees, and how these issues have negatively affected the relationship between them. Furthermore, this report also provides three recommendations in the attempt to diminish these concerned issues and better maintain the relationship between TCBY and its franchisees, and most importantly, help TCBY to increase the company’s performance and achieve their strategic goals in the next few years.
The main challenge is to determine how Panera Bread can continue to achieve high growth rates in the future. Panera Bread is operating in an extremely high competitive restaurant market which forces the company to improve and to grow steadily for staying profitable. The company’s mission statement of putting “a loaf of bread in every arm” is just underlying Panera’s commitment for growing. They are now in a good financial situation and facing growth rates of up to 20% per year in a niche market that has a great growth potential. In the next 7 years the fast-casual market is expected to grow by 500% in sales to a total of $30 billion.
PepsiCo can potentially acquire California Pizza Kitchen and integrate it in the company’s decentralized management approach. Since PepsiCo executives have experience in the quick service food industry, it should not be a reach for the company to successfully run this casual dining restaurant. For this venture to be successful, it is imperative that management cut down the operating costs at California Pizza Kitchen through the PepsiCo Food Systems distribution network and improve on the 3.1% operating margin that California Pizza Kitchen is currently operating at.
More new products need to be introduced and research needs to be done to find out which products will be most popular and profitable.
Thompson, Arthur A. "Panera Bread Company in 2012 Pursuing Growth in a Weak Economy." Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland. Crafting & Executing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2014. C-96-C-113.
Don’t feel like cooking tonight or going for carry out, no problem have a Marie Callender’s Turkey Pop Pie or maybe something exotic like P. F. Chang’s Mongolian Style Chicken. No matter what may satisfy your taste buds if it can be found in your freezer or pantry chances are it’s one of ConAgra’s various brands. ConAgra’s Foods brands can be found in most American’s households. With their commitment to provide products that deliver outstanding taste, nutrition and value ConAgra have created ways to improve sustainable business practices and create innovative programs that deliver on their promise of being a leading corporation. By developing organizational structures ConAgra Foods has influenced employee’s to maximize their full potential, develop group cohesiveness, and embrace the inclusion of diversity in the workplace ConAgra is able to provide
In 2009 Mr. Nigel Travis was appointed Chief Executive Officer and most recently in 2013 the Chairman of the Board. Mr. Travis has held executive positions for several large companies including Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Burger King, President and Chief Operating Officer for Blockbuster. Before make the move to Dunkin Brands Inc. he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Papa Johns (Company Snapshot).
Customers buy when they feel it is necessary giving them the upper hand on the industry. Bargaining power of suppliers: In the quick- service restaurant, the suppliers vary. They really do not rely distributors as large restaurants do. Threat of new substitutes: The restaurant industry is segmented into many parts: full service restaurants ($120 billion); quick- service restaurants ($110 billion); away-from-home managed institutions, examples: food services for schools and hospitals ($21 billion); and other food industries ($106 billion). (Marshall Jones, 1999). Rivalry among competi...
1) As companies trying to sell consumers stuff, they are not competing with them, only other companies,
Burger King’s core competency is fast food restaurant franchises specializing in made to order, flame-broiled hamburger sandwiches, particularly the “Whopper”. Using the strategy of industrial organization to capture market share Burger King offers a similar product (hamburgers) in a different way (flame-broiled). This strategy of product differentiation is part of the firm conduct category that Burger King uses to set itself apart from its competitors. In order to compete with its fast food competitors Burger King accentuates its core competencies in its marketing and product strategies, thereby leveraging market share.
Briefly it is a systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company, allows management to make the changes necessary for better results through adopting a proactive approach. Therefore, if a company wants to know what type of products or services would be profitable it should make a market research. Furthermore, a comprehensive research will enable the company to know about the product imperfections (if there are) and to know if it has been able to satisfy customers’ needs. It attempts to provide accurate information that reflects a true state of affairs. Due to market research the company can formulate a viable marketing plan and estimate the success of its existing plan. There are two main sources of marketing research information:
...cular market. Companies that conduct market research normally save a lot of money by understanding what type of product or service is needed, other than entering the market blindly without knowing what to expect.
The restaurant industry has become quite competitive in recent times. In an effort to cut costs restaurants are taking serious measures to improve their performance in relation to their competitors. Two of the most important steps that restaurants have undertaken in recent years are: