Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths for opening a new restaurant in the Wollongong area in Sydney. Therefore, this feasibility study indicates the proposed opening of a restaurant in Wollongong and what the restaurant management should do to flourish in business. Rumsey Jordan is experiencing a shutdown of his business due to a rise in demand for residential houses. Jordan has decided to move to Wollongong to start a new restaurant. However, part of his personnel is unwilling to move with him. The feasibility study looks into the current problems that he is experiencing. By use of SWOT- analysis, a study into the area has been made and appropriate remedies have been prescribed to help in relocation and curbing the available problem. Though, the study does not cover the building specifications for relocation and recommended prices.
SWOT-Analysis
According to Zahorsky, SWOT-Analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is used to formulate a market strategy for a business. Moreover, strengths and weaknesses focus on internal aspects of a business while threats and opportunities concentrate on external features of a business (2009 Para 1-2).
Wollongong as a region has its advantages which can be translated into strengths by Rumsey Jordan. First of all, it has many pedestrians around the square. Moreover, this area is the core of churches and schools and has multiple entries, so customer turnout is likely to be high. Furthermore, it is the center of business with easy accessibility to banks, chambers of commerce, and grocery stores. Besides, it is centrally located with a high presence of security, friendly people, and has a hygienic environment. The potency Jordan has as the owner of the business is the experience in the industry; he has been operating for over 20 years in the same retail. In addition, he has two waitresses who are skilled in the business and have acquired awards for better performance. This will enable him to gain a competitive advantage over other industries. Nonetheless, the front-of-house manager will be relocating to Wollongong with him. Therefore, this will be his benefit, since in Wollongong the chances of finding a skilled worker are very minimal. Details of strengths can be viewed from appendix E SWOT-Analysis.
Investing in Wollongong as a region has its weaknesses. It has difficulty in access from the west and east wings as well as lack of transportation due to traffic jams. In addition, opening restaurants at night is a major predicament due to the lack of nightlife in the area. Mondays and weekends have slow turnover, thus retail activities tend to be minimal. Furthermore, Jordan’s personnel are undersized because some of his employees chose not to move with him.
Jordan can utilize the opportunities in the Wollongong region to gain access to the existing market. Thus, this region would be perfect timing for a business for Jordan to open one or two evening restaurants. Moreover, people go as far as traveling to Fayetteville to go and eat. By opening a restaurant at Wollongong Rumsey Jordan will have acquired many customers. Nonetheless, there are opportunities for residential areas because of ongoing construction, so getting accommodation will be easy.
Threats to Jordan could arise from the surrounding environment. There is the availability of residential redevelopment, which could squeeze out the existing housing. Moreover, parking continues to be an issue in this area due to limited space. In addition, a survey was conducted for 362 employers by the Development of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). The results confirmed that 62% of the employers had recruited or attempted to recruit employees in the last 12 months. Nonetheless, 5% of the vacancies were not filled. Additionally, 55% of the employers reported difficulty filling vacancies. Besides, there were problems in hiring higher occupational skilled workers like chefs. Furthermore, the medium and lower-skilled occupations like receptionists, waiters, bar attendants were hard to recruit. To be specific, most employed applicants were unsuitable or had no technical skills to fill the positions offered. Still, 19% of employers reported that applicants had limited interest in their jobs. What’s more 10% of employers reported poor personal presentation. Lastly, 9% of employers reported poorly written or presentation of applications by candidates (2008 p 19). Therefore, recruitment of personnel from this region has proofed to be difficult.
Conclusion
Wollongong lacks restaurants mostly at night. Therefore, this place is a viable place to open a restaurant due to its huge population and customer accessibility. Furthermore, there are several businesses from which raw materials like groceries could be obtained. By conducting a SWOT-Analysis of this region Jordan can acquire the necessary marketing strategies to relocate and invest in his business.
Recommendations
Rumsey Jordan should consider relocating a restaurant in this place since there are very few restaurants in this area. Moreover, he should consider opening a restaurant at night because many restaurants are not opened at that time. The feasibility study has shown that getting employees from this area will be difficult, so importing some from the current place of business will be a good idea. However, if he opts to employ members from Wollongong, then he should treat them well as the majority tend to leave work if not properly treated. Furthermore, he should adopt a controlling model that is centralized and formal. Therefore, he should hire a team of expert consultants that can formulate strategic planning for his Chinese restaurant. Nonetheless, he should be able to learn the norms and values of the folks in Wollongong. Besides, the new staff should be offered adequate training that would enable them to acquire the necessary skills for the business. Additionally, the prices of goods offered should be in comparison with competing for similar businesses or set slightly lower. He can also offer after-sale services to attract more customers (for example home delivery services). On the other hand, he should avoid the west and east wings due to delayed accessibility as a result of traffic. Conversely, he should watch for the competition from equivalent businesses. This could be done by formulating marketing strategies like advertisements, offering quality services, and conducting a thorough SWOT-Analysis of the area. All these tactics if combined and formulated will help Rumsey Jordan to enter into the market and relocate effectively. Consequently, the environment will be termed as known and certain. According to Geoff, Gillan, and Mark, a business ought to adopt a website as a marketing strategy especially if it is small (2008 p 351). Therefore, Jordan needs to agree to the formation of a website.
Reference
Appendix E SWOT Analysis 2009. Combined from Six Committees. Wollongong. Web.
Australia Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Analysis. Network-Environmental Scan 2008. Australia Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Analysis. Australia. Web.
Geoff, S. Gillian A. A, Mark G. D. 2008.” A Conceptualization of the determinants of a small business website adoption”. International Small Business Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp 351-389. Web.
Zahorsky, D 2009. A business owner secret weapon: SWOT Analysis for small business. Web.