HI6007: Business Research Report Proposal - Business Development Assessment Answers

Introduction

The restaurant business has been one of the toughest industries to deal with. The main reason for this paper is to examine restaurant business providing a research with some findings on what I have experienced in the restaurant industry. The main aim is to come up with new ways to show upcoming entrepreneurs on how to go about their new businesses (Cavusgil et al., 2014). It also outlines the major problems they are bound to face. Nevertheless, there is hope that this paper will play a vital role in helping those who want to start and manage a restaurant by evading critical failures. The main problem for many restaurant associated industries is the lack of modern technologies, poor social networks, and lack of new marketing strategies which includes no special tags. Furthermore, this does not help to draw near potential visitors. The survey aims at showing what is recommended and should be done in order to help the business by the use of new technologies (Terziovski, Samson & Dow, 2015). My great hope is that this research will engage all those entrepreneurs willing to start up a business to come up with new ideas; these technological ideas should therefore be used in the current restaurant industries to boost the business. The following are the research questions to be tackled in order to be able to fulfill the intended reason for the research paper.

1. How successful so far will the implementation of new technology ideas help to improve the restaurant industry?
2. What are the key factors that have contributed to the need to embrace these new social networks?
3. What are the new marketing strategies that are needed in order to ensure the restaurant industry thrive?
4. What is the procedure for evaluation these new ideas to see whether they are impacting positively on the restaurant?

Methodology

Regarding the research methodology, the observation was a major way to gather information. It was done in two ways; the use of A/B testing (Morck, Shleifer & Vishny, 2015). The A/B applied when something is to be looked at in two ways that is before and after situation. It is important to note that this was done during the development of new purchase process. The A/B testing involved the comparison of how many customers come to the restaurant without the presence of a door man. Additionally, how many the same restaurant can receive with the presence of the door man, and this was done using the approximation. The method for A/B testing proved to be a brilliant method especially when one is in need to know which approach will give out the best (Erez & Earley, 2016).

According to Ewing et al. (2014), the other way used for data collection was through handing out of menus. Some menus had pictures while others lacked pictures. For those people who had menus with food pictures, and had comprehensive information on the food ordered more food compared to those people who had no menus with pictures as they waited for the waiters to clarify.

Interviewing was also employed whereby there was direct communication with customers. The outcome of the interviews gave out a unique feedback on what people liked and disliked about the restaurants. Thus, so many people had different views concerning the restaurant industry to include new marketing strategies, and new technological ideas in order to be able to enhance its growth.

Several surveys were conducted and different opinions offered. The use of questionnaires also played a major role in trying to find out the number of customers expected to be incorporated in the restaurant industry for it to thrive. The responses offered back indicated that in order to achieve customer satisfaction, new ideas of technology had to be used. Thus, a lot of potential customers will be attracted if new marketing strategies were to be employed. The survey aimed at recommending what should be changed and what importance will new ideas and technologies cause and help in the restaurant business (Head & Alford, 2015).

The Research Process

The research was carried out in several Australian restaurants. This was done during some long-term internship where there was the ability to go through all the restaurant process. There were several findings, for instance, the marketplace was thriving, and if anyone had to make success, he/she needs to have clear information. Chances were created to be involved in the processes of buying, developing of the menu, the current trends taking place in the restaurants, and the issues associated with waiters job, and the food process present in hotels.

During the first two weeks, it involved learning to integrate with quest serving and how to pass information to those who go to the restaurant. Unfortunately, most of them don’t have people to welcome customers at the entrance, and therefore I decided to look at the impact of that. In turn, two hours were spent outside the restaurants with an intention of building up a conversion. Surprisingly, many customers were interested in viewing restaurants billboards, menu or any advertisement that were displayed. As a result, this raised the number of people visiting the restaurant by twenty; this is in comparison with those restaurants not welcoming the clients (Anderson, 2011).

In the fourth and third week, it was about coordinating and helping. There was involvement in the purchasing process. Thus, this was one of the most important practices for any restaurant. There was monitoring of food organisation and proposals to make changes to it a bit. Additionally, the up to date bar code scanner system was introduced in order to help in the purchasing activity which proved to have an added advantage in helping the suppliers have knowledge on the number of items left and what needed topping up. Therefore, it helped to control foods quality, and also it saved time.

There was also an opportunity to explore the position of a manager as a supervisor on duty. Many believe that the manager’s role is to manage workers; however, this is not the case since he/she has to work on a schedule between employees and situation if things deviate. The truth found out was that sales go in line with marketing. Therefore, proper marketing strategies should be put in a position in order to ensure restaurants thrive, and also that attracts more customers (Peng, 2015).

Data Collection and Analysis Methods

Both the quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods were used to gather the information. Some of the methods used included: first, the use of experiments whereby the bar code scanner system was put into practice. Additionally, the use menu with pictures and those without was also a form of an experiment carried out. We also had the cases of doormen in different restaurants and those that had no doormen. Secondly, there was observing and recording for the case whereby many customers came in when a good advertisement was made or when they saw the billboard for the restaurant. The same was also recorded during when the number of customers increased by 20 percent (Peirson et al., 2014).

Thirdly, there was a process of obtaining the information from the systems on the trends. This is in regard to the number of sales made in the past in comparison to the present. Furthermore, information was gathered on cases where new technology strategies were applied on the sales and those without the sales.

Fourthly, there was the use of surveys in order to be able to collect the needed data. Here, they involved face to face discussion with the customers on what is supposed to be done in order to improve customer satisfaction. Differing opinions were offered by the visitors were considered, with the most important ones being noted down.

The data was analysed using both the calculation of the mean and the variance. The proportion was then calculated. There was also the calculation of the interquartile range and proportions on the responses offered. There was also a look at the standard deviation on how the new technology attracted people. The above mentioned methods of analysis applied to numerical data gathered while for the categorical data there were grouping according to the sex and age. It was done to show if the numbers of visitors was good, average and or bad.

Findings

Some facts need to be considered according to the practical experience witnessed. It was found out that many people who visited the restaurant were not well conversant with the foods offered. A lot of people even despite the presence of colourful menus could not know which food was it till they asked for the explanation. For those upcoming entrepreneurs that want to venture into the restaurant industry, they should ensure that the food concept is very clear. Therefore, the menu should not only be clear but also it should be easy to understand, and all waiters need to have the know-how in order to explain to the customers if called for particularly on issues to do with the ingredients.

Another finding was that people pay close attention to the level of education of a chef. This was discovered when some food stuff could be indicated on the menu that are prepared by the qualified chef, then when the rate of consumption was high and the stock run out, it could not be prepared fast enough to match the demand. Therefore, it is important to pay on the type of chef they have and schools in which they trained from.

The purchasing process also was not perfect in the restaurant business, and it looked a tall order. Since a lot of customers feedback relied on the quality of the food offered and a number of quick orders made. The monitoring of the time taken by employees to seek and get the order was done by observing, and it was clear that there were challenges in managing the buying process. This is why there is a recommendation to try and use the most recent technologies, for example, the bar code scanner that is friendly and faster to ease the buying process.

Recommendations

As found out in the research it is recommended for the restaurant industry to adopt new technology, come up with good marketing strategies, and use the new ideas in their purchase process. As a result, this will play a great deal in making the business grow and stand out. Therefore, these factors will come in handy for a prospective or existing entrepreneurs venturing into the restaurant business.

Conclusion

In order to start a successful restaurant business, the following factors need to be given a lot of consideration. They include the new marketing strategies, the new technology, and new ideas for business. Thus, this will help the business to thrive and also build a reputation of its own.