Executive Summary
Vision
The vision of the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck business is to be the leading venture in the mobile food service sector within Dubai and beyond.
Mission
The current mobile food service sector is underdeveloped meaning that the proposed Tamwal Mobile Food Truck business will be interested in growing the mobile food service through a fleet of three trucks at the beginning of the business and expanding to as many trucks as possible by the end of the third year.
Objectives/Goals
Business objectives and goals are the determinants of the expectation of the output of the marketing activities carried out by a business. The idea of mobile food trucks is formulated with a core objective of gaining 15% market share in the coming 3 years. The Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will be focusing on achieving the loyalty of customers by providing them with an exciting experience of mobile food services to clients as a new type of business. The business aims at gaining a good share of the market after the first launch of the service, to the remotely located customers in Dubai and beyond.
Scope
The scope of the business is to deliver food services through trucks to individual and corporate customers within the city of Dubai and beyond.
Motivation for Entrepreneurship
There are very minimal businesses that offer mobile food services despite the high number of residents of Dubai who work in the field. The proposed Tamwal Mobile Food Truck business will benefit from this opportunity by specializing in the delivery of mobile food services to this market segment.
Product and Services
The Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will offer food services such as break first, main meals, and dinners for clients who do not have time to visit eateries within the city of Dubai.
Environmental Analysis
Social
Heritage and culture are valued by the targeted market in the city of Dubai. The United Arab Emirates is a diverse, multi-ethnic, and multicultural society, which makes it a perfect market for mobile food service kiosks. High rates of obesity and diabetes in the UAE mean that demand for healthy fast food is on the rise. Besides, Urdu, Arabic, English, and Hindi languages are spoken in the UAE (Blythe, 2006). This makes it easier to tailor a marketing language to fit this market. Considering that Islam is the main religion in the city of Dubai, the proposed mobile food kiosk business will have to be tailored to serve the interest of this market.
Cultural
The cultural set up and the population are a major key to the social concerns. The Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will be set against a social background with a population of dynamic social and cultural orientation. The Dubai market consists of highly stratified culture that the business must satisfy in its lines of mobile food services. Against this background, the business has to ensure that its products are not highly priced while still maintaining quality productions (Cone, 2011).
For instance, despite the high quality food products, the prices for the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck should be flexible to the high-end, middle-end, and low-end customers. In achieving this goal, the mobile food products will be customized to be culturally sensitive for ease of acceptance within the society that is dominated by the Islamic religion.
Economic
The UAE is amongst the leading oil producers in the world. The recent fall in oil price has increased government spending. By combining the increase in government expenditure with a vibrant tourism, transport, and trade, the outcome is a favorable environment to conduct the mobile food kiosk business (Cheverton, 2004). An increase in government expenditure implies that there is more money in circulation and people can afford to enjoy the food services that the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will offer.
Technological
Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are currently the most utilized platforms and can be exploited positively to reach more customers in the city of Dubai and beyond. This will not only control losses, but also give an accurate record of sales and projections. The advent of computer scanners at retail checkout counters means that the supply of the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck products should be accompanied with the proper technology. This will ensure strategic product positioning in the dynamic Dubai market (Cone, 2011).
Legal
As a legal requirement, companies in Dubai are expected by the regulatory authorities to be tax compliant. The taxes are remitted directly to the government. In the UAE laws of commerce, certificate of compliance for taxes is issued to businesses that remit their returns accurately form which taxes are deducted. The Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will comply with the above laws. This will create an easy environment for its introduction and sustainability within the city of Dubai and beyond (Cheverton, 2004).
Ethical
The business environment in the city of Dubai is expected to follow the Sharia laws that stress on the need for businesses to be modelled towards ethical standards. Since the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will be operating in this environment, plans are already underway to ensure that the entire business platform is modelled on the sharia laws to appeal to the targeted clients (Farris, Bendle, Pfeifer, & Rebstein, 2010).
Industry Analysis
SWOT Analysis and SWOT Strategy Matrix
Strengths
- Launch of an innovative concept, that is, fusion of exciting food services and mobile food kiosk concept.
- Easy accessibility of business’ products at any time with a specific number of customers at a pre-specified venue.
- A one-stop solution for all the mobile food service need for customers.
- Excellent marketing, advertisement and promotional strategies to win the confidence and loyalty of the customers.
- Good scope for scalability of the operations of the business, which would enhance the brand image and hold higher market share.
Weaknesses
- A brand new idea may not be convincing for the senior segment of society as they tend to be reluctant to change.
- Narrow product line with limited distribution channels at the beginning will restrict the customers from using this service.
Opportunities
- The business has the opportunity of incorporation of new features to the existing service charter such as online ordering of food services to cater for the changing demands and needs of the targeted customers.
- Alliances with restaurant chains and kiosks, as well as with event organizers and corporate offices to capture market share.
- Adaptation of new technology to be in synchronization with latest visibility parameters, air-conditioning devices, and flexible chairs for targeted clients.
Threats
- Entry of competitors providing similar or nearly similar service at low cost and inclusive of refreshments.
- Inability of changing the service features according to changing external environments and the needs of the customers might negatively affect the business.
SWOT Strategy matrix
The business will increase its competitive advantage through expansion of product line and offering affordable prices to ensure that the current SWOT factors are positively skewed towards sustainability of the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck venture as the SWOT strategic matrix.
Michael Porter’s Five Force Analysis
Major Competitors
The major competitors of the Tamwal Mobile Food Truck are small and medium mobile food kiosks that are spread across the city of Dubai. The other competitors are restaurants and food kiosks that offer outside catering services upon request.
Core Competencies
Attribute
The unique attribute of our mobile kiosk food service, that is, the ease of delivery food services anywhere at any time.
Benefit
The advantage of this innovative service is the easy availability of the food services at locations where access to other sources ready food is rare and not developed. Moreover, the business is also used as a cost-effective solution to the clients with low budget but want mobile food catering services.
Occasion
Positioning our service in the minds of the customers such that they will want to use the mobile food service during different outdoor occasions and functions across the city of Dubai and beyond.
Price and Quality
Our food service aims at providing a better quality eatery experience which includes super relaxed seating, availability of refreshments, and controlled ambience at a reasonable price.
Market
The Tamwal Mobile Food Truck will be launched in Down Town of the city of Dubai and will be rolled out to serve clients who work or study in regions around the city with limited affordable restaurant services. The choice of the Down Town region was influenced by the affordability of rental space and ease of accessing other parts of the Dubai City (Jin, Suh, & Donavan, 2008).
Approximate Investment
The startup cost of the business is estimated at 500,000 AED which will take care of purchasing three second hand trucks and other expenses.
Appropriate Return
The expected return will be 50,000 AED in the first year and subsequent increment of 20% annually from the beginning of the second year of operation.
References
Blythe, J. (2006). Essentials of marketing communications. New York, NY: FT/Prentice Hall.
Cheverton, P. (2004). Key marketing skills: strategies, tools, and techniques for marketing success, Sterling. London, UK: Kogan Page.
Cone, S. (2011). Steal these ideas: Marketing secrets that will make you a star. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Farris, P., Bendle, N., Pfeifer, P., & Rebstein, D. (2010). Marketing metrics: The definitive guide to measuring marketing performance. Alabama, AL: FT Press.
Jin, H., Suh, J., & Donavan, T. (2008). Salient Effects of Publicity in Advertised Brand Recall and Recognition: The List-Strength Paradigm. Journal of Advertising, 37(1): 45-57.