The Grill-Café-Club MONO’ene’: Business Strategy Coursework

A new venture must explore the market potential for their business and opportunities in the area, competition, and buying potential. Along with planning, it is the activity most directly concerned with matching corporate resources, present and future, with opportunity. The aim of the business plan is to bring a coordinated effort to the new enterprise, adjusting and balancing its resources, and producing programs of logical action.

Since marketing executives are faced with the necessity of utilizing scarce capabilities and resources in limited periods of time, allocation is a major problem. Effective allocation can only be achieved, however, through planned behavior. By enabling the conservation and allocation of human and physical resources, business planning provides the basic means for designing the marketing mix, implementing marketing programs, and establishing new objectives.

Concept Explanation

Recent years, a national cuisine and cooking becomes very population in America and Europe. Many people are big fans of different national foods visiting a favorite restaurant in their neighborhood. Greek food and drinks are not as popular as Chinese or Japanese food but represent unique opportunities for new businesses to expire this sector. Unique design of furniture, national drinks, and food will attract a lot of visitors to this club. The name of a Grill-Café-club is “MONO’ene” or ‘the only one’.

The concept is a three-floored building: top floor – Grill, main floor – Café, and underground – Club. The design and layout of all three floors will be Greek-oriented and the food served as well as the drinks served would be Greek. Top floor – Grill and main floor – Café will be open during day hours while an underground Club will be open from 7 PM till 4 AM. Thus, the main floor – Café will work from 10 AM till 4 AM. Top floor – Grill will work from 10 AM till 7 PM.

Product Design

The main emphasis will be on historical traditions and national food. Most Greeks are largely vegetarians. Common foods include beans, cabbage, leeks, lentils, onions, turnips, and some fruits. The Greek diet emphasizes porridges or grain pastes (maza), usually made from barley or entils. Historically, the city-state of Sparta was known for its “black broth,” made from pork stock, blood, vinegar, and salt. A special attention will be given to Greek wines. Since, 500 and 100 B.C. Greece is famous in the Mediterranean world for its fine wines, but the Greek cuisine never approaches that of the French. The rich of the Mediterranean countries like imported wines, especially those from two Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, Lesbos, and Chios. Traditional Greek wines are sweet wines (e.g., the Pramnian of Homer, and mead, from honey and herbs).

The Greeks (and Romans) followed the Egyptian custom of diluting wine with water, to dilute the salt used in wine as a preservative at that time. This practice also results in a beverage with sharply reduced alcohol content (Sample Menu).

Sample Menu

Spreads/Dips

1. Dip / Spread Sampler
2. Tzatzikí
3. Hummus
4. Skordaliá
5. Taramosaláta
6. Baba Ghannouj
7. Tirokafterí
8. Meltizanosaláta
9. Feta & Olives (Kalamata)
10. Horta

Mezedes/Appetizers

1. Dolmádes Mezés
2. Spanakópita Mezés
3. Loukánika Mezés
4. Biftékia Mezés
5. Falafel Mezés
6. Gyros Mezés
7. Paidákia per doz.
8. Garídes Skáras per doz.
9. Mezés Krasioù
10. Mezés Athena
11. Mezedes For The Table

Salades/Salads Served with Warm Pita Wedges

1. Chicken breast or gyro
2. Chicken or lamb souvláki
3. Seafood or shrimp souvláki
4. Salmon or swordfish
5. Horiátiki Saláta
6. Greek Saláta
7. Caesar Saláta
8. Garden Saláta

Greek Specialties

1. Mousaká
2. Pastitsio
3. Lamb Chops
4. Brizola Mosharisia
5. Lamb Souvláki Plate
6. Chicken Souvláki Plate
7. *Biftékia
8. *Loukánika
9. Gyro (Yiro) Plate

Greek Style Fries

Signature Sandwiches Served with Fresh Fruit or Greek Fries

• Beverages
  • Greek Coffee
  • Iced Frappe
  • Hot Tea
  • Herbal Tea
• Wine & Beer

Marketing Strategies

Mission is to provide visitors with unique services and products including Greek food and wines, lifestyle, and traditions. It means providing high-quality products and services cleanliness and value for all visitors.

Objectives include:

• To create a strong position on the market.
• To increase sales in 20 % in a year
• To open two new grill bars in two years.
• To be viewed as a premium brand in its market
• To expand target audience involving low-income segment.

Marketing Strategies will involve product differentiation and challenger strategy. What customization there is in it represents careful differentiation by major market segments. Differentiation entails creating real and perceived differences from other available offerings: Chinese and Italian, Japanese and Russian restaurants.

There are three dominant activities in the creation of value: Conceptualize it, Construct it, Communicate it. Marketing and planning will be based on these activities: the first stage of value creation comprises the generation of ideas leading to value enhancement. Modifications to an existing product or process are a part of value conceptualization (Crawford and Benedetto 23).

Regardless of all external factors, unique cultural factors may be the principal determinant of entry strategy. In one firm, only projects that promise major returns fast ever have a chance of support. This has led to exaggerated projections and aggressive entry for all projects, regardless of the market, and large losses for most. Firms that are highly innovative and successful tend to start small and to increase aggressiveness with increased knowledge of the market. The ideal culture for new ventures is one in which venturing is considered a necessity for achieving the goals of the firm and is understood to be fundamentally experimental in nature, with a great deal of unknowns, and with a high percentage of failures. The aim of the plan is to create a value-maximizing organization particularly instrumental in executing the strategy.

This is possible not only in the sense of providing a distinctive competence for the firm in the value dimensions in which it excels, but also in terms of creating an employee base that is more receptive to new ideas, to value shifts matching customer preference changes, and to value sharing between divisions of the same firm. strategies of value can originate from totally involved employees in a bottom-up reversal of the typical strategy process. However, to make the enhancement of value an intimate mingling of voluntary, internal efforts and external needs, a culture of value has to arise. We turn our attention next to the nature and building of such a culture (Crawford and Benedetto 28).

Customer Target

Potential buyers are diverse in character. These customers expect to find unique services, regardless of what the price and proposition. This target group for Greek food can be characterized as the skeptical consumers who are health-conscious and value unique lifestyles and luxuries. Most of them belong to middle class: upper and low middle class. Age segmentation will involve young people between the ages of 18 – 28, 28-45, 45 and older. These people by virtue of their shared interest in lifestyle, exhibit consumption behavior that is remarkably consistent across borders. Young consumers may not yet have conformed to cultural norms.

Gender segmentation has not a great influence on marketing. Psychographic segmentation helps to group people in terms of their attitudes, values, and lifestyles. The majority of the target audience is health-conscious people who admire good food and drinks and entertainments (Harris 92). The idea of “MONO’ene’ is to create a friendly atmosphere tailored according to needs and wants of potential clients. These values extend to social, religious, family life, entertainment, and other facets of life. For both of these age groups, the main trend in consumers’ behavior is the sense of satisfaction which is derived from the elements of the good life: happiness, security, enjoyment, and accomplishment. Many of these behavior elements tend to be subjective and therefore consumers may establish unrealistic standards (Crawford and Benedetto 51).

Today’s customers are smarter, better informed, and more intolerant of being “sold” than ever before. They expect doing business with you to be as hassle-free and gratifying for them as possible. When they experience good service elsewhere, they bring an if-they-can-do-it-why-can’t-you? attitude to their next transaction with the company. Research shows that responsiveness is closely tied to a customer’s perception of good service.

The advent of the Internet has changed the customer’s perception of responsiveness. More and more, customers are coming to expect round-the-clock customer service. Additionally, customers now arrive at a Website time-starved and eager to locate answers. Technology tools such as customer self-service, e-mail management, and live chat, and Web callback are proving increasingly critical in addressing the demanding customer’s responsiveness needs (Crawford and Benedetto 58).

Layout of the Plans

The following steps will be followed:

• Finding appropriate location and opening a club;
• Staff selection (30 persons);
• Opening a Web page
• Advertising and promotion campaigns (creating a unique message);
• Controls and Checking

Time Line

MONO’ene’ should follow strategic plan, because organizations without effective planning systems cannot achieve overall objectives and goals.

The First Month

• Analysis of the resources available
• Analysis of the resources required
• Staff selection and training
• Advertising campaign in local press and radio
• Organizing entity as a for-profit organization

The Second Month

• Buying new Equipment
• Inclusion in business people with strong ethical obligations (recruiting of staff)
• Aggressive PR and advertising campaign in press and TV (press releases, entertainment programs) and than, analysis of the response from campaigns
• Releasing form a distinctive position of vulnerability and dependency

The Third Month

• Preserving the obligation that could be achieved by adherence to high standards of truthfulness and disclosure
• PR and advertising campaign in local TV and press based on previous analysis
• The addition of a new service to an existing service
• Buying additional equipment and starting the use of scarce resources
• Fostering demand

The Forth Month

• Preserving the obligation that could be achieved by adherence to high standards of truthfulness and disclosure
• Adverting and promotion campaign in local press
• Analysis of the previous achievements (service improvement, financial benefits)
• Maximization of shareholders’ interests

Building Layout and Design

Historically, the Greeks had become attached to a life of pleasure, luxury, and sensual gratification. Building Layout will try to reflect traditional Greek architecture and designs. Traditionally, external appearances were at no time of any consideration in the houses of the Greeks, rendered domestic architecture a mere matter of routine.

The first object was to obtain comfort in the interior, and the second a rich decoration of the interior. Design layout will follow the finest of the houses in Pompeii. The houses were mostly of reeds or of stone, with thatched roofs, may have contained much that was beautiful and decorative. Special attributes of the Greek style are vases and columns. The building will be based on Ionic columns and style (Harris 92; Figure 2).

Each of the floors will have its unique design and style. In the top floor, the base is simply painted on a smooth surface; in this first style always of a lighter colour than the slabs immediately above it, from which it is very usually separated by a slight molding. The prevalent color of the base is yellow, with exceptions such as light-variegated marble. In it rectangular blocks with rebated borders rarely occur, and then chiefly where the wall is divided into compartments by actual pilasters or half-columns, as in the Basilica and in the two peristyles.

The upper wall above the cornice is rendered in various ways. Very often, especially in small rooms, the decoration entirely ceases and there follows only a surface covered with coarse white stucco sometimes broken up with windows, round which is a line of finer stucco.

The Club will be designed in another style. The method is to paint the smooth wall with different colors in large masses. The incrustation is continued above the cornice, and it will be possible to find rectangular slabs with rebated borders. These, however, though of different coolers, have a unity of effect through being identical in shape and having in common a border of uniform color, so that even here the wall culminating in the dental cornice has the appearance of a screen; above and beyond it the actual wall of the room is seen, which in some cases has a second cornice. This screen is in a way characterized as the external wall of a building resting on a solid base and crowned by the projecting cornice of an Ionic temple.

Main Floor is divided into large fields having an imposing structure in the center, resembling in form the shrine (sacrarium). On the top of this low wall could be painted masks, vases, and small panel pictures. The frieze of this low wall might be richly decorated with arabesques, interspersed with animals. The ornaments supposed to be executed in wood, metal, glass, gilding, reliefs in stucco, and pictures, were painted to convey the exact nature of the material.

The centre-piece compared to a shrine should contain a picture which reaches nearly to the top, where it leaves a view out into the open air. On the roof of the shrine stand two winged figures with hands raised as if supporting the epistyle which stretches from one corner pillar to the other, though that would be impossible in reality, as they stand considerably further forward than the epistyle may be added to the characteristics of the advanced stage of the second style.

Financial Planning

Understanding the financial dynamics of “MONO’ene’ is critical for achieving self-sustainability. Experience suggests that sponsors often get the numbers wrong, either by being overly optimistic or by making unrealistic assumptions. For example, they often underestimate the length of time and the amount of effort required to grow a new generation of successful companies.

Achieving financial self-sustainability can also be viewed as resolving the cash flow problem. “MONO’ene’ needs to get through the feasibility, start-up/ramp-up stages, when cash flow is typically negative, and achieve break-even.

Table 1: Discounted Cash Flow.

Table 2: Final Year Cash.

Table 3: P&L Account for the 1st Year.

Table 4: Cash Flow Statement.

A good forecast should specify the range of flexibility required to meet likely minima and maxima of customer demand. The business plan that flows from it must be flexible enough to meet the challenges of the entire range of possible outcomes. Capacities of all kinds, including supporting materials, skilled labor or plant and equipment must be effectively managed to permit cost-effective adaptation over the fullest range of possible sales results (Harris 21).

The main part of the budget will be spent on building design and product/service development. Thereby, both worker and equipment capacity are kept near full application merely by keeping the machine loaded to maximum capacity. But if service-supportive equipment must be utilized at significantly lower than normal, full capacity, as suggested above, labor hours are inevitably wasted by a strategy of using minimally skilled workers. It is expected to spend $700,000 on building design and product/service development and equipment. Advertising, promotion, and salaries will need $300, 000.

Sensitivity analysis. The appraisal of almost any investment project in the real world will involve the making of a great number of estimates. For example, the outlay required to undertake the project, its life, the annual cash inflows, and outflows it will generate, the scrap value it will have, and even the correct rate of discount to reduce the cash flows to present values. Estimates will be made for all these factors and the project will then be appraised by calculating an expected net present value.

If this NPV is positive then the appraisal is in favor of acceptance. But, in terms of downside risk, the decision maker is also interested in how sensitive the advice is to changes in the estimates made about the project. In other words, he is likely to be interested in the margin of error that there can be in the estimates made about the individual components of the project (i.e., outlay, life, etc.) before the advice that the appraisal gives (in this case to accept) becomes incorrect.

The advice to management is that the decision given by the NPV calculation s insensitive to changes in most of the estimated variables. However, if the revenues were the fall by 10% of their estimated value the original decision advice would turn out to be incorrect, Hence it may be worthwhile to re-examine the estimates of annual revenues to see if the company’s confidence in their accuracy can be improved.

Pricing

Many entrepreneurs want to base prices on their costs, thinking that costs should somehow determine the price of products, that is, price is a number times cost. Although direct costs determine minimum long-run prices (otherwise the firm is out of business), many other factors determine the actual selling price for a product or service, thus serving to determine value. Certainly, firm economic viability requires that long-run prices create revenues that are ultimately greater than total costs.

But, the only up-side barrier to price is the buyer’s willingness to pay [value]. Therefore, the key in determining price for a product would be the amount the buyer is prepared to pay under the specific conditions of sale. MONOebe will follow skimming pricing strategy in order to enter the market and attract potential buyers. Direct price comparisons cannot be made. Developers of vertical software frequently use this approach.

For certain products, if the bundle is complete, this system of pricing and delivery is referred to as a turn-key operation (Harris 63). When an entrepreneur manufacturing a new consumer good enters the market, the choice of a distribution channel is paramount and likely determines the required markups at the various channel locations. If the manufacturer sells directly to the consumer, although risk of the unknown still exists, a consumer’s normal risk is limited to the amount of the purchase price.

There are exceptions, as in the case of refrigerators, freezers, and some hard goods but for most consumer products, the cost of product failure is limited to the cost of the product. End-user prices are determined by prices of the existing products. Even if new channels and/or different retail outlets are utilized, prices are still tied, of course, to what consumers are willing to paying for the existing products (Harris 66-67).

Expansion/Franchise

A mid-size firm like MONOena will have great opportunities to expand its business in a year. Long-term cooperative contracts where one party is in control tend to exist under specific conditions. MONOena requires high-quality products and to ensure consistency it does not enter into contracts based only on best price for a batch: instead it builds long-term relations with selected suppliers. Franchising will help MONOena expand its activities and improve its brand image. MONOena will be able controls its exclusive sales channels and can sell its products at more competitive prices because there are fewer margins to be extracted.

The franchisees will find stores in appropriate locations, appoint managers, and provide funds, while MONOena provides knowledge of store layout and the branding of the store, recommends merchandising, point-of-sale, and information systems, and provides consulting services. The products of alliances need to be competitive and sought-after if they are to be sold worldwide (Harris 73).

Collaborations and alliances there may well be factors that remain undisclosed. Not all technologies are disclosed to partners and some knowledge will remain confidential. In today’s complex marketplace, a firm is often dependent on many suppliers to help serve its customers. Embracing these supply chain relationships for the greater good of the ultimate customer creates customer value that is hard for competitors to match.

Staff Selection and Structure

The Personnel Department will assume responsibility for recruiting, selecting, and employing. It also recommends personnel policies to the board (e.g., compensation, benefits, performance appraisal systems, and conflict-of-interest policies). This department may take the role of advocate, adviser, and supporter of the president and staff, and may conduct performance reviews of the president if the executive committee elects not to do so. In general, MONO’ene’ will employ 30 individuals including management staff, advertising, waiters, and cookers (Holbrook 87; Figure 1). The managers play three very important roles:

1. they provide personal and professional counseling on a short-term and a long-term basis,
2. they connect employees to other experts who provide on-the-spot or long-term counseling and to other resources the companies need but don’t have, and
3. they create an environment conducive to business.

As the practice of business evolves, it is becoming clear that one of the great challenges for managers is to custom-tailor assistance to meet the needs of each client company and determine the time frame within which the assistance will be provided.

Future Plans

Like entrepreneurs trying to grow companies, those responsible for programs must engage in periodic and systematic assessment, i.e., assess the brand’s strengths and weaknesses, how it is changing over time, and to what extent the needs of the client companies are being addressed. At minimum, the management needs to measure progress against plan or toward achievement of specific goals. Ideally, they will measure the achievements against a standard or benchmark. However, regardless of whether internal or external measures and standards are used, a best practices operations, programs, and services will be evaluated at regular intervals (Holbrook 54).

To improve efficiency of MONO’ene’ it will be important to:

1. expand to two locations after first year of operation, and two locations after the third year of operation;
2. to be viewed as a premium brand in the region;

It is expected that in half a year the revenue will increase in 10%, and in a year in 25% ensuring high service quality. This will allow MONO’ene’ to invest in innovative equipment, continuously improve service quality, and increase budget new locations (Silver 87).

Service Quality

Service quality will be a key factor of cusses for MONO’ene’. Best customers are competitor’s best prospects. This means MONO’ene’ must carefully guard customer relationships at all stages, but particularly those that MONO’ene’ is raised to repeat-customer status. The more advanced a customer is, the more profits she typically represents to MONO’ene’. In contrast, a strong preference combined with little perceived differentiation may lead to multi-product loyalty.

This is particularly true in fast-moving consumer food goods. Sometimes a consumer chooses Ragù spaghetti sauce; other times, Prego. Sometimes the choice is Coke; other times, Pepsi. The customer has a set of two or three favorites, and situational factors such as shelf positioning and in-store promotion drive a particular purchase. Customer databases are helping aggressive food companies win the competition (Silver 43).

At the heart of this two-pronged strategy is a CRM system that tracks users both on the Web and in the restaurants. As another means for driving customers to the Web, diners can have a digital picture shot among the posters and guitars and then find the picture online for download. First, customers are completing the online survey via the reference on the receipts.

Having a system to run on is important for building loyalty; procedures, guidelines, tracking systems, and communication materials are important tools that help the employee perform. But that’s just part of the equation. The real success of loyalty system is not just in having the right tools but in having those tools used by employees with a loyalty-driven attitude. A customer becomes loyal to a company and its products and services one step at a time.

By understanding the customer’s current loyalty stage, you can better determine what’s necessary to move that customer to the next level of loyalty. Our Profit Generator loyalty system comprises six stages: suspect, prospect, first-time customer, repeat customer, client, and advocate. If your customer relationship processes and programs are not moving customers forward, rethink them (Harris 65-66).

Legal Issues

At a minimum, MONO’ene’ must fulfill its legal responsibilities with respect to governance in order to maintain its corporate and/or tax status. MONO’ene’ should include at least one director capable of ensuring these responsibilities are met. MONO’ene’may be advised or required to retain outside legal counsel and/or an independent auditor. Similar concerns or responsibilities may be derived from requirements imposed as part of financing. If these responsibilities are handled appropriately, the board may avoid the considerable distractions that can result from non-compliance.

Works Cited

Crawford C., Benedetto, C. A. New Products Management. Irwin-McGraw Hill. 7th edition, 2003

Harris, T. Value-Added Public Relations: The Secret Weapon of Integrated Marketing. McGraw-Hill, 1998.

Holbrook, M. B. Lifestyle Marketing: Reaching the New American Consumer. Routledge, 1999.

Silver, D. Smart Start-Ups: How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Profit by Starting Online Communities. Wiley; 1 edition, 2007.