New Services Plan
The new service is that of the sports cafe. The cafe is specifically for the sports of football and will telecast the football matches on a big screen. It is not just the telecast that makes it a football cafe, rather the whole theme of the restaurant will be in accordance with the sport football. Whether it is the uniform of the waiters/attendants/staff, or the name of the items on the menu, it will all be done to suit the theme. The company under which this restaurant is opening is Cupola Company. The competitive environment for the cafe in its very own industry is very few.
The cafe that is being opened can be said to targeting a very niche consumer market. Therefore, competitors who have opened similar sports cafe for telecasting football matches only will be almost zilch. Nevertheless, there are other sources from where the football lovers can watch football matches. The first is the stadium itself, which gives the audience the whole match live and in person. Others are the televisions present in every home and the regular cafes which just play the sports channel whenever any important football match is being played. (Pinson, 1993) The intended target market is the football lovers.
These people are in huge numbers and are especially prominent when the football season is going on. Huge numbers of people go crazy when football world cup starts, choosing teams to hoot for and players to die for. The target market’s value proposition for the football sports cafe is the environment and the aura that it will provide to them while they watch their favorite football matches there. Moreover, it will also bring together an audience which is equally crazy about football and there will be nobody to hamper the enjoyment and wildness that takes over the football fans when they are watching the match.
As far as linking it to the attributes of the new service is concerned, the new service is providing an amazing aura, topped with football-geared attendants and names of food themed according to football. The cafe will be a perfect place to enjoy football. The Services Marketing System for the new service is that of High Contact Service. In this, the service providers have a very high contact with the end consumers. Whether it is the interior & exterior, the facilities, the decor of the cafe, the service people, the sales calls and emails that will be made – the sports cafe is engaging in high contact service with the customers.
(Lovelock, 1996) The basic customer contact points are the following: a. Person-in-person: When they would be ordering their food in the restaurant. The contact would take place between the attendant and the customer. b. Telephone: A customer may also wish to book the venue for certain events or parties, or they may want to request the telecasting of some major match that has already taken place. The final service encounter that is experienced by the customer is managed by the front stage, whereas, the information or materials needed by the front stage to make this service possible is processed by the backstage.
Therefore, both are equally important to provide service quality to the customer. (Abrams, 2003) The contact personnel are very important in delivering the service because they would be giving out all the information, with or without being requested, to the consumers. And the accuracy and timeliness of information that they provide is very important. (Hiebing, 2003) PROJECT GUIDE 3 PRICE The price is one of the most important factors in the marketing mix. The pricing decision affects so many other factors like profit, volume, revenue etc. Price is the only marketing mix that generates income; otherwise all the other components generate costs.
So it is one of the most vital decisions to set the right price. When a company “adds value” to its other three components of the marketing mix, this is reflected in the price of the product/service. In the case of the sports cafe, if the product is unique and well designed, has been marketed well and has a strategic location, it can be fairly priced high. (Pinson, 2001) The pricing objectives of the sports cafe are income-related, as opposed to other objectives that are possible like volume-related, competition-based or societal objectives.
The cafe can move up-market, that is, there will be few customers but still high income because the customers who are visiting are ready to pay the high price. Focusing on income-related objectives for establishing price is also important for the cafe since it has invested highly in setting up the theme of the football in almost every aspect of the cafe. The company needs to recover this investment. (McGukin, 2005) The entry to the cafe will be $5 fixed which will entitle the customer to a free drink and watching the game. A main course has to be ordered by the customer after he is in.
the main courses will range from $7 and onwards. This price can be fairly called a high price and is justified because of the strategic location of the cafe, the uniquely designed product and the high marketing that has been done to promote the cafe. COMMUNICATION The communication objectives for the sports cafe are that of awareness of the cafe and once the cafe gets started, positive word of mouth by those who come to the cafe. Among the two factors, the first two will be dealt with through marketing strategies, whether it is above-the-line or below-the-line marketing activities.
Word of mouth will be positive and will spread itself once the customer goes through a successful “service encounter” brought about by the cohesion of the backstage and the front stage. The contact personnel at the cafe will be calling the customers and random people in general to inform them about the cafe and the date and time for the telecast of a specific match. The contact information of the customers will be asked from them once they come to the cafe and will be stored in a customer database. (Birn, 2002) PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Physical evidence is one of the extended components of the marketing mix. It is a very important aspect in positioning the service and communicating service quality. When a customer will approach the entrance of the cafe, from that moment till he leaves the cafe, physical evidence of the cafe is extremely important so as to determine the kind of the image the customer takes back with himself. For instance, the welcome that is given to him by the waiters when he enters will be remembered in good terms if it is courteous and will be negatively reminiscence if it is hostile or inappropriate.
The aura and atmosphere created in the cafe will be part of physical evidence. The gear of the waiters will be part of physical service. (Hague, 2002) PROJECT GUIDE 4 REVENUE The approximate revenue for the first year of operations of the sports cafe is $50,000. This revenue has been generated by rightly calculating that per person entry for the sports cafe will generate a fixed revenue of at least $5 (fixed entry costs) and $7 (the minimum cost for any main course) + $3 (for any other thing that the customer orders) will be equal to $15.
It is then assumed that at least 10 football lovers will walk in the sports cafe in any given day. Therefore, $15 multiplied by 10 will give $150. $150 multiplied by 360 will give $54000, which has been rounded down to give a figure in tens of thousands that is $50000. The figure that has been estimated in that of the least amount of revenue that can be generated. If the cafe does well and positive word of mouth spreads, then there is no limit as to the amount of revenue that can be generated. The seating capacity of the sports cafe is that of 70 people at one time, therefore, the upper limit can be quite high.
But since the first year of operations will not be generating much of consumers coming, the estimates have been kept quite low. COSTS There needs to be 20 attendants in the cafe, all dressed in football gear or wearing the shirts of famous football players. The major costs of the cafe will be the design and making of this gear as well as the periodic maintenance of this gear so that it looks new and fresh whenever a customer visits the cafe. The setting up of the theme of the cafe within its premises as well as the design and printing of the menu books are one time investments and will be called fixed costs.
As far as variable costs are considered, they will be the amount that will be used in the making of the food that will be ordered, the amount that will be spent in getting the copyrights of the matches that will be telecasted and the costs of the electricity that will be spent in playing the projector and the multimedia to telecast the matches. Other costs would be the costs spent on marketing the product, making the telephone calls, sending the mails etc. (Gilligan, 2005) SERVICE DELIVERY The limitations to growth may be implied by many structural elements of the service.
For instance, competitors can rise in this very niche that the sports cafe has found for itself. Other sports cafe can be opened to cater to the same target market, thus limiting the growth that is possible for this sports cafe. Other limitations to growth can be the seasonal fluctuations that can take place in terms of when the football season is on and when it is not. In vacations like Christmas, Thanksgiving, the people are busy in meeting up with their family and friends and therefore the business of the cafe would suffer since no one would have time to watch telecast of football matches.
Technology has been the basic component in facilitating this service delivery. This can be said because a projector and a multimedia – both of them fall under technology – have been used to make this service possible in the first place. The basic service is that of telecasting the football match and this can be only done through this technology. The cafe is promising the feel of a stadium and technology makes this happen. (Friedman, 1994) NEW PLAN COMPONENTS Executive Summary The new service plan is that of the sports cafe where football matches will be telecasted.
The premises of the cafe, the uniform of the attendants and the menu will speak out the theme clearly and loudly. The target marketing has revealed a niche audience with love for football. The company introducing the service is Cupola – entertainment unlimited. The environment, even though it is going through recession, is favoring the opening of a sports cafe. The SWOT analysis has highlighted that the cafe has the opportunity of playing many other sports when it reaches the maturity stage and thus extending its maturity.
The marketing objectives are that of awareness and creating and keeping profitable customers for the life of the cafe. The marketing strategies will involve above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities. Company/Product Background The company which will introduce the sports cafe is called Cupola. The tagline of the company is entertainment unlimited. Other products/services that the company owns is that of Cupola DVD Manufacturing Inc. , Cupola Theatres, Cupola Cinema. All the above products and services show that the company aims to invest and start businesses which promote entertainment.
Therefore, the sports cafe is one of the endeavors of the Cupola Company to provide entertainment to the customers along with great food service and a themed aura. The service that can be introduced can provide of a restaurant in the form of a sports cafe where only football would be broadcasted. This would be a specialized restaurant which would provide the feel of a stadium to the customers who wish to enjoy great food in an environment of a stadium, cheering for their own team.
The restaurant would be specializing in serving food according to the requirements of the theme and special attention would be given to food related to the game such as hot dogs, fries etc. Also, the dishes that would be served would be inspired by the teams and the players to add that little touch to the theme. The restaurant would also be hosting a request based system, that is, on days when no football match would be being played, the restaurant would put up recordings of historic epic sporting events that the customers would want to see again and again.
Also, the restaurant could be booked for theme based parties etc, hence making it a perfect choice for football lovers. Environmental Review The marketing environment consists of those factors which are not in the control of the firm but they still influence the operations of the firm as well as the kind of relationship it has with its customers. As far as socio-cultural factors are concerned, the pattern of behavior among the population where the cafe is opening shows great love for the football sport. Technological factors have introduced sufficient technology for the broadcasting of such matches which will make it feel like a stadium.
Technology like 3-D will enhance the experience of the customers. Economic factors at the point indicate that there has been a recession and that taxes need to be paid timely and accurately. This factor is hampering the opening of a sports cafe which will be priced highly, but nevertheless, since the cafe is going to concentrate on a niche market, it is assuming the recession won’t affect it much. Politico-legal factors will want the cafe to comply to the copyright issues concerned with the match. Thus, the cafe is taking care of that before any matches are telecasted. (Rust, 1996)
S W O T The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is important before starting any service or launching a product. In the case of the sports cafe, the strength will be the application of the theme football in the premises, marketing and uniform of the attendants, which will create that unique aura not available anywhere else. The weakness will be the many factors that will be involved when it comes to maintenance, control and bound to be properly done if success is needed. The opportunity will be the many other sports that can be telecasted by the sports cafe.
For instance, the craze for cricket exists since time immemorial. Moreover, the elder generation would even enjoy a quite game of golf being telecasted. Therefore, all these sports present great opportunities for the sports cafe. As far as threats are concerned, there are competitions like the stadium itself where the match is being played and the millions of television screens that almost reside in every home in the city, where these matches can be seen as an alternative. (Clarke, 2000) Marketing Objectives
The marketing objectives for the sports cafe are that of awareness of the cafe and the special characteristics that it possesses. Whether it is above-the-line or below-the-line marketing activities, both will be used to ensure that awareness is spread and excitement is generated within people to at least come and try out the cafe once. Therefore, marketing strategies have to be formed in ways which will fulfill the marketing objectives, given the budget that has been decided. The marketing strategies will encompass creating customers, keeping customers and ensuring that customers are profitable.
(George, 1981) Marketing Strategies The major marketing strategy that will be used will be that of direct marketing. Direct marketing is one of the accountable ways of promoting a service. This form of promotion and marketing adds value to the service since it forms and makes a special/direct link with the customer. It is not just thrown at a mass, and assumed that the target audience has picked it. Rather it is marketed directly at those whom we know will respond and need to know about the service. (Lovelock, 1996) Direct marketing can be done in many ways:
Direct marketing will be done by personnel who will call up customers to inform them of a date and time for the telecasting of a special match. Once customers start coming in, they will be asked to fill information forms, which will include their telephone number and postal address. The flyers of the cafe showing football matches will also be sent to these postal addresses as well as randomly distributed on traffic signals and shopping malls. These flyers will be shaped in the form of football, thus showing the special characteristics that the premise of the cafe possesses – that is the theme of a football match.
(Wright, 2002) Even a customer care telephone number will be set up which will take the telephone calls of the customers who want to find out about the date and time of a particular match or want to book the venue for theme based parties. Such ordering and booking as well as queries will be answered through this customer care number. Even emails can be sent to the customers so that they can get to know about the service and the specifics for the match telecast comfortably on their desktop screens only. Secondly, the marketing strategy of advertising can also be used.
Though it is an expensive means of promoting the service, it is worth it since it appeals to the mass audience and even covers those who have been missed out while doing direct marketing. (Berry, 2004) This advertisement need not be too frequent, rather it can be only done in sports magazines and done when a special match is being telecasted, for instance a football world cup final. Action Plans The situational analysis encompasses the analysis of 5 C’s that is the company, collaborators, customers, competitors and climate. (Bruhn, 2006) The company is Cupola – entertainment unlimited.
The company is one of the best companies in the entertainment industry and it is fit to launch this sports cafe. The company is not short of a proper budget to invest in this cafe and thus is not leaving any stone unturned in the launch of the cafe. The collaborators will include the distributors, suppliers and alliances that will be involved with the company. These involve the people who will supply the cafe with the matches, the people who will supply the raw material for the preparation of the food and the various alliances which might be made along the course of the life of the cafe.
The customers are niche market that is those people who love football and who visit the cafe for the prime purpose of watching the match in the cafe. The market size is considerably high and the growth in the market is good as well because many children each year grow big enough to understand the game of football and becoming football crazy, thus enlarging the target market of the cafe. The competitors in actual are not much, but potentially such cafes can open up if the sports cafe is successful. Indirect competitors involve the stadium itself and the television in every house.
The climate involves the macro-environmental factors. (Kurtz, 1998) As far as socio-cultural factors are concerned, the pattern of behavior among the population where the cafe is opening shows great love for the football sport. Technological factors have introduced sufficient technology for the broadcasting of such matches which will make it feel like a stadium. Technology like 3-D will enhance the experience of the customers. Economic factors at the point indicate that there has been a recession and that taxes need to be paid timely and accurately.
This factor is hampering the opening of a sports cafe which will be priced highly, but nevertheless, since the cafe is going to concentrate on a niche market, it is assuming the recession won’t affect it much. Politico-legal factors will want the cafe to comply to the copyright issues concerned with the match. Thus, the cafe is taking care of that before any matches are telecasted. The service that can be introduced can provide of a restaurant in the form of a sports cafe where only football would be broadcasted.
This would be a specialized restaurant which would provide the feel of a stadium to the customers who wish to enjoy great food in an environment of a stadium, cheering for their own team. The restaurant would be specializing in serving food according to the requirements of the theme and special attention would be given to food related to the game such as hot dogs, fries etc. Also, the dishes that would be served would be inspired by the teams and the players to add that little touch to the theme.
The restaurant would also be hosting a request based system, that is, on days when no football match would be being played, the restaurant would put up recordings of historic epic sporting events that the customers would want to see again and again. Also, the restaurant could be booked for theme based parties etc, hence making it a perfect choice for football lovers. The performance standards would have to be maintained because the service that is being provided has to be healthy and free of hazards in order to comply with the standards.
Cleanliness requirements are needed to be met, apart from the copyright laws that are needed to be followed in order to telecast the events in the restaurant. Timely delivery of the food, along with the transmission, would be mandatory and standards would be set accordingly. Improving service quality can only be done through maintenance of service standards. (Christopher, 1996) Special training would be required by the attendants who would require to dress in football gear, and the accessories.
This would include a 5 day workshop. A team would be responsible for handling the copyrights issue for older football matches and the current ones; therefore, the team would require training accordingly before launching. Also, a telephone operator would be required for the telephony services, with appropriate training of handling the customers. (McKeever, 2007) The operational procedures would be that customers would be asked to pay a fixed cost before they enter the cafe ($5) and they will be then seated.
They will be served their free drinks and would be then requested to order a compulsory main course. On the stipulated time and date, the match will be started, irrespective of the amount of audience in the cafe. The time and date will also fluctuate for when the actual live match gets played and started. The market research was made in the shape of distributing questionnaires as well as interviewing random people. This was done after doing random sampling out of the population of the whole city.
(Bangs, 2002) The primary research focused on factors like value propositions, quality perceptions, the price they are willing to pay for such a service, their attitude towards the game as well as the location that they would prefer. This market research helped determine whether a market for such a service existed or not. Moreover, it also helped to clear out the price that should be established as well as the location that should be chosen. All these decisions ultimately made in the launch of the sports cafe were made using the market research that was done for its target market.
Marketing Budget The approximate revenue for the first year of operations of the sports cafe is $50,000. This revenue has been generated by rightly calculating that per person entry for the sports cafe will generate a fixed revenue of at least $5 (fixed entry costs) and $7 (the minimum cost for any main course) + $3 (for any other thing that the customer orders) will be equal to $15. It is then assumed that at least 10 football lovers will walk in the sports cafe in any given day. Therefore, $15 multiplied by 10 will give $150.
$150 multiplied by 360 will give $54000, which has been rounded down to give a figure in tens of thousands that is $50000. The figure that has been estimated is that of the least amount of revenue that can be generated. If the cafe does well and positive word of mouth spreads, then there is no limit as to the amount of revenue that can be generated. The seating capacity of the sports cafe is that of 70 people at one time, therefore, the upper limit can be quite high. But since the first year of operations will not be generating much of consumers coming, the estimates have been kept quite low.
(Kotler, 1988) There needs to be 20 attendants in the cafe, all dressed in football gear or wearing the shirts of famous football players. The major costs of the cafe will be the design and making of this gear as well as the periodic maintenance of this gear so that it looks new and fresh whenever a customer visits the cafe. The training requirements will be a 5 day workshop in which staff will be trained to serve well while being dressed up in the heavy football gear. Other factors like using football phrases while addressing customers will also be taught.
The staffing costs would be $150/ month pay to each attendant. This will total up to $3000/ month costs for the staff. Pay for the managers have not been included in this estimate which will be around $500. There will be around 5 managers. Implementation, Monitoring & Control The implementation of the whole design of the physical premises of the cafe itself and the marketing strategies needs to be carefully administered by the management of the cafe. The budget that has been allocated to both the activities has to be kept in mind.
The activities that will be done to ensure implementation should not out do the budget; else the cafe will be in a loss from the start. The cafe needs to be well proactive in terms of monitoring and control of the activities that are done. Money is not smuggled out of the budget for personal uses of the marketing department or the interior department needs to be monitored and controlled. Proper receipts and finances should be maintained so that there is accountability. Apart from that, control should also take place once the cafe starts.
The cafe should have admission rights reserved because any consumer which does not seem fit to be part of the sports cafe and who seems as if they will destroy the aura of the cafe, cannot be allowed to enter. (Horowitz, 2000) Conclusion To conclude, the new service that has been discussed in this business plan, is a fresh idea and will receive the acknowledgment and approval of the football lovers if it is well marketed and well served to. In the sports cafe, many components are going to make the mind set and positioning of the cafe for the customers who will be coming.
Therefore, every factor needs to be taken care of and thoughtful planning and consideration needs to be done before it is opened. Whether it is the proper and uninterrupted telecast of the match, or the courteous attitude of the attendants or the timely delivery of the food, the cafe needs to be proficient in all. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abrams, R. (2003) The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies. The Planning Shop. Bangs, D. (2002) The Market Planning Guide. Kaplan Publishing. Berry, L. (2004) Marketing Services: Competing through Quality Birn, R.
(2002) Market Research. Capstone. Bruhn, M. (2006) Services Marketing: Managing the Service Value Chain. Prentice Hall. Clarke, G. (2000) Marketing a Service for Profit. Kogan Page Publishers. Friedman, R. (1994) Front Stage, Backstage: The Dramatic Structure of Labour Negotiations. The MIT Press. George, W. (1981) Marketing of Services. American Marketing Association. Gilligan, C. (2005) Strategic Marketing Management: Planning, Implementation and Control. Butterworth-Heinemann Great Britain Office of Government Commerce (2001) Service Delivery.
TSO Shop. Hague, P. (2002) Market Research: A Guide to Planning, Methodology and Evaluation. Hiebing, R. (2003) The Successful Marketing Plan: A Disciplined and Comprehensive Approach. McGraw-Hill Horowitz, S. (2000) Grassroots Marketing: Getting noticed in a noisy world. Chelsea Green Pub. Johnston, R. (2005) Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery. Prentice Hall. Kotler, P. (1988) Marketing Management: Analysis, Implementation, Planning and Control. Prentice Hall. Kurtz, D. (1998) Services Marketing.
John Wiley & Sons Lovelock, C. (1996) Services Marketing. Prentice Hall. McGukin, F. (2005) Business for Beginners: From Research and Business Plans to Money, Marketing and the Law. Sourcebooks McKeever, M. (2007) How to Write a Business Plans. Nolo. Nunnally, E. (1989) Communication Basics for Human Service Professionals. Sage Pinson, L. (1993) Target Marketing for the Small Business: Researching, Reaching, and Retaining Your Target Market. Upstart Pub Co. Pinson, L. (2001) Anatomy of a Business Plan. Dearborn.
Sample Essay of Custom-Writing