Introduction
With the recent economic crisis across many countries in the world, one can easily give up an idea of starting a new business. Starting a business like a fast food restaurant can especially seem less appealing due to the high level of competition that already exists in this particular food restaurant market.
However, as it has been proven again by the new and expanding Vapiano food restaurant, innovation is the most critical aspect that is required to grow and expand a business. The designers of the Vapiano restaurant concept have targeted and appealed to a particular segment of customers who have in turn continued to flood her steps in increasing numbers (Lam et al. 2011). Here, we will look at the range of unique services and technology that have been employed by Vapiano restaurant to attract customers.
History and Concept
Vapiano restaurant was established in 2002 in Hamburg (Germany) by a man named Mark Korzilius (Kilian 2011). Mark wanted to introduce a concept whereby customers could order and enjoy fast foods with an Italian taste within an atmosphere that they could be part of (Kilian 2011).
Here, the main menu that would be availed to customers includes pizzas, salads, and pastas. Apart from unique menus, Vapiano intended to provide unique services that would attract customers to visit her restaurants. Usually, meals are prepared in an open environment where customers can see. Besides, the design of the restaurants has been done with a focus on creating a modern atmosphere (Bowen 1986).
Thus, the entire Vapiano package is intended to lure customers with her new, affordable, and casual eating experience within a modern environment (Lam et al. 2011). About two thirds of the customers that have been visiting Vapiano restaurants are women (Fama 2005). Vapiano has mostly targeted affluent individuals with high incomes; the majority of these customers are aged between twenty five to forty five years.
Most of Vapiano customers live in highly populated urban centres across Europe and the United States. Importantly, Vapiano has introduced an attractive technology experience through its payment method (Fama 2005). Here, customers use a chip card to charge and pay for services. With the mentioned unique services, Vapiano has been able to offer high value services to her customers (Head 2008).
Having initially started in Germany, Vapiano restaurant has expanded to Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. With the help of other investors, Mark Korzilius designed the Vapiano business model for the purpose of continually expanding and refining the Vapiano business (Fama 2005).
Following the opening of the initial Düsseldorf franchise in 2004, more restaurants were opened afterwards. As the Vapiano model has continually appealed to customers, it has also continuously expanded across Germany and the rest of the world. Currently, Vapiano has been targeting market segments across the world with the demography concept in mind (Head 2008). However, as it expands further, the company could need to design business concepts that would appeal to unique cultures across the world (Lam et al. 2011).
Like most of the other markets where Vapiano has ventured, the German market is highly competitive with a range of restaurants that employ diverse approaches to attract customers. Some of these restaurants are run by international companies like the McDonald (Fama 2005). Here, many people are adopting changing lifestyles such as outdoor eating habits. Such a direction has thus expanded the market of fast food restaurants like Vapiano (Lehn 2008).
One important approach that has been employed by Vapiano to target the expanding market of restaurant eaters has been to offer a package of affordable and quality restaurant services to her customers. Therefore, although the products and services of Vapiano restaurants are relatively affordable when compared to her rivals, customers here can still enjoy high quality services that match the restaurant concept (Kilian 2011).
Services and Technology
Vapiano restaurant provides customers with fast food Italian dishes within a modern environment. Although the design of Vapiano buildings may vary in style, all of them have a modern European architecture with at least one tree planted within the buildings as a symbol of freshness (Lam et al. 2011). Having started in Germany, Vapiano has expanded to over seventy locations across Europe and the rest of the world.
Currently, the Vapiano Company is intending to add about one hundred more locations in the United States to its expanding franchise (Lehn 2008). Usually, Vapiano restaurants are in highly populated locations in urban centres. These urban centres must have a large number of high income earners aged between twenty five to forty years. Besides, Vapiano restaurants are usually located nearby a place of attraction such as a theatre where they can tap into the high number of customer inflow.
So as to improve efficiency and serve her customers better, Vapiano restaurants have a layout that is specifically designed to increase efficiency (Lehn 2008). The layout of Vapiano restaurants is usually divided into two sections: the food section and the bar section. The food section is further divided into three counters that serve different types of dishes.
The three dishes that are mainly served at the three different counters are pizzas, salads and pasta (Lam et al. 2011). Here, depending on the meal that they would like to be served, customers can move to appropriate counters for the services that they need. Usually, meals at the three counters are made on orders.
Upon entry into a Vapiano restaurant, a customer will first report at a registry. Here, customers are given RFID chip cards for the processing of their meal payment (Lehn 2008).
From the registry, customers move into the bar area. Here, customers are greeted and availed the option of taking drinks at this particular section. However, customers can decide to skip taking drinks and move directly to the food area. As I had mentioned, the food section is divided into three sections that serve different kinds of meals (mainly pasta, salads and pizza) (Frances 2006).
Thus, customers can select specific counters where they can order their meals. Once customers report at specific counters, they are offered seats from where they can watch the preparation of their meals by cooks.
Usually, customers will have a chance of interacting with cooks as they wait for their meals to be ready. As it is often the case, there is very limited number of waiters (whose work is primarily to clear the tables). Such an arrangement of cooking meals close to customers helps to reduce the number of waiters, and thus help in reducing labour costs for the restaurant (Lehn 2008). Moreover, cooks are thus given another role of controlling customer flow at their restaurants.
Once they finish their meals, customers make payments at their respective counters. Here, customers have an option of moving back to the bar section to enjoy more drinks as they relax (Frances 2006). Usually, the number of available chip cards is equal to the number of seats that are available to customers for a particular restaurant.
Since customers can sit anywhere they wish, it is common to see different customers share tables. I would like to mention that some Vapiano restaurants have a different layout from the on that I have mentioned above. For example, instead of having the bar section before the food section, the Boston restaurant has a bar section on the side of the food section instead.
Here, I would like to describe range of unique services that are offered at Vapiano restaurant. As I had mentioned earlier, Vapiano restaurants have been designed to present customers with an atmosphere that is stylish and modern. As such, all of the Vapiano restaurants have been built with an attractive European architecture. I had also mentioned about the presence of a tree in the restaurants as a sign of freshness.
Usually, the theme of the restaurants is a fast and modern theme. Apart from fast Italian dishes, which are usually ready in just a few minutes after an order, the music that is played at the restaurants is usually fast music designed to resonate with the fast and modern theme at the restaurants.
With their luxurious architecture and style, Vapiano restaurants attract high class customers to their stores. Despite serving traditional Italian dishes, the environment at the Vapiano restaurants deviates from the traditional Italian environment to a modern environment. Thus, young people with high incomes will especially find the package at the restaurants appealing (Lam et al. 2011).
Moreover, the quality of food that is served at Vapiano restaurant differentiates it from other restaurants. As I had mentioned, most of the food that is served at the restaurant consists of traditional Italian dishes like salads and pasta. One particular aspect however that differentiates Vapiano from other Italian restaurants is the quality of Italian dishes that are served at Vapiano (Lam et al. 2011).
When compared to the meals that are served at the more traditional Italian restaurants, the meals that are served at Vapiano restaurants are of poorer quality.
Usually, cooks at Vapiano restaurants are not as highly skilled in preparing dishes as their counterparts at the traditional Italian restaurants (Frances 2006). Actually, meals at the Vapiano restaurants are designed for quick preparation instead of quality. Thus, meals that are served at Vapiano restaurants are usually pre made and frozen; hence, they can be prepared fast by the cooks.
As we had briefly seen, another aspect that is unique to Vapiano restaurant is the low number of workers at the restaurant. Apart from preparing fast meals, cooks are also responsible for handling traffic flow, interacting with customers, serving customers, and in handling communication flow at the restaurants where they work (Lam et al. 2011). On the other hand, with the duty of just clearing tables, the number of waiters at Vapiano restaurants is usually low (Charles 1998).
The result of such an arrangement results in customers moving a lot. Customers are required to move to counters and make orders. Besides, they are also required to find an appropriate place where they can sit (Fazzari 2006). Once they have finished their meals, customers are also required to move to the register and make payments. Again, such a concept is appropriate for an energetic and modern youth (Bowen 1986).
The unique environment at Vapiano restaurant results in relatively low prices for customers. First, since customers do a lot of the movement, waiters at Vapiano restaurant are few; thus helping the restaurants to cut on labour costs (Fazzari 2006). The cut in labour costs can then be passed to customers through low prices. Besides, since the atmosphere at Vapiano restaurant is fast paced, customers are served their meals fast after which they move out for more customers to be served.
Such an arrangement helps to increase the efficiency of Vapiano restaurants; hence, creating a big volume of customer inflows (Cuthbertson 2008). With a high capacity for customers, Vapiano restaurants are thus able to reduce their operating costs; hence, helping to pass the benefits to customers by charging low process for their services.
Moreover, since there is a low emphasis on very high quality of meals and a high emphasis on speed, Vapiano restaurants are able to reduce the time and energy that is required to prepare meals; thus, helping to cut their overall costs of service.
Although customers are generally encouraged to take their meals and leave the restaurant, they have an option of returning to the bar section of the restaurant where they can enjoy more drinks (Frances 2006). When a customer spends more money in buying drinks at the bar, they contribute to more revenues for the restaurants. Generally, the whole arrangement at Vapiano restaurant is to increase efficiency; hence, helping to cut costs and thus contributing to the relatively low prices at the Vapiano restaurants (Charles 1998).
Despite the low number of waiters and other workers at Vapiano restaurants, customers can still interact with the usually warm and friendly workers at the restaurant. Most pf the workers at Vapiano restaurants are generally friendly, cooperative and warm. The good attitude of workers at Vapiano restaurant has been helpful in promoting a positive experience for customers (Fazzari 2006).
Unlike the traditional Italian restaurants that rely on reserves bookings to make preparation for customers, most of the Vapiano customers do not make bookings before visiting their favourite restaurant.
However, due to the high efficiency system that is employed at the Vapiano restaurants, most customers will find available sits when they visit. Such a direction has been helpful in removing any inconveniences that could otherwise have arisen due to the large number of customers that visit the Vapiano restaurants (Cuthbertson 2008).
The management of Vapiano restaurant has seen it necessary to develop a discount plan for their customers. As we had seen, customers are usually offered chip cards when they enter Vapiano restaurants. These chip cards enable customers to accumulate points that they can use later to obtain discounts (Koller 2005).
The offer of a discount mechanism to her customers is among the important directions that have been designed by Vapiano restaurants to attract and keep a large number of customers (Vapiano 2011). Besides, the discount plan has also been helpful in promoting customer loyalty.
As it had been seen, the use of chip cards has also been fruitful in helping the Vapiano restaurants to monitor the flow of customers. When the chip cards are unavailable, it means that the restaurant has reached its full capacity. In such instances, customers can wait for spaces at the bar as they enjoy drinks. The general approach of increasing efficiency at Vapiano restaurants can also be seen through the use of chip cards.
Since information on the number of customers that have visited the restaurants, collected revenues, and preferred meals is electronically stored to a database by the chip cards, useful information is easily availed to the management of the Vapiano restaurant (Cuthbertson 2008). For example, the management of Vapiano restaurants can use information that has been availed by the chip cards to know about the types of meals that have been consumed most within a specific period; hence helping the management to buy future stocks.
Likewise, the management can easily obtain information on revenues and profits that have been made from a database that has been linked to the chip cards (Koller 2005). Generally, the chip cards are useful in helping the management of Vapiano restaurant to obtain important information for the effective running of their restaurants (Charles 1998).
Currently, the cost of a single chip card is fifty dollars. A challenge that has been presented to the management of Vapiano as a result of using chip cards is the frequent loss of chip cards by customers. Here, an approach that has been employed is to trust customers, and therefore ask them how much they had spent earlier. Currently, plans are underway to introduce chip cards that are more personalised for customers with information such as the names of the customers and the foods that they like most.
The relatively low price of meals at Vapiano restaurants has been helpful in appealing to customers who have been visiting the restaurant. Generally, the prices of pasta and pizza range from $7 to $12 (Vapiano 2011). Compare this relatively low pricing to an average of $ 20 in a traditional Italian restaurant.
As a result many Vapiano restaurants have been seeing an increase in the number of customers that visit their stores with an average of about 500 guests per day in most restaurants (Vapiano 2011). The average turnover per each of the Vapiano restaurants was about two million euros in 2011 (Vapiano 2011).
The average operating costs for each of the Vapiano restaurants was about one million euros. Here, about 30% of the costs were as a result of material costs and the chip technology. A further 30% of the cost resulted from labour expenses. Thus, the Vapiano concept has been useful in expanding and managing Vapiano restaurants (Fazzari 2006).
Conclusion
Through an aggressive campaign that has marketed their unique concept: providing an Italian food experience in a fast food and modern environment, the management of Vapiano restaurants have been able to expand the volume of their customer segment across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. Here, the management of Vapiano Company has especially introduced a package that has appealed to the young, wealthy, and modern populace that mostly resides in western countries (Koller 2005).
Vapiano customers have been able to experience a stylish and modern atmosphere; besides, they have loved the unique services that incorporate technologies; moreover, they have also enjoyed the relatively low prices of meals at Vapiano restaurant (Cuthbertson 2008).
Through carefully designed systems, the total arrangement at Vapiano restaurant has been for a youthful and energetic young person that loves to eat out in a modern restaurant. Such youths have not found it difficult to use the chip technologies, and to move from one place to another within the restaurants as they make their orders and payments.
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