Planning Market Research

In this report we are going to choose the appropriate external and internal sources of secondary information would help us to set up the restaurant and what are their advantages and disadvantages. We are also going to describe and explain the reason of the three methods that we chose from primary research that could help us to set up the restaurant, stating their advantages and disadvantages. Lastly, we are going to make and explain our market research planning process.

Task1:  AC1

There are four of us who have been made redundant and we are using our redundancy payments to invest into to our new business venture. Each of us will use our own skills and bring our previous work experience to the business.

Internal Source of Secondary Information:

-Financial Manager: This person worked at Pizza Hut for 5 years and she has the financial experience such as auditing, budgeting and preparing annual financial statement of the company.

-Sales and Marketing Manager: She worked at Subway for 8 years and she has the experience on how to promote the product to public and how to increase the sales profit. She is also in charged in advertising, creating new products and doing the research about what customers want based on their culture, religion, etc.

-Human Resources: She worked at The Cavendish Hotel for 7 years and she got the experience on making plan for trainings (health & safety), hiring/firing staffs and doing an induction for new staff members.

-Head Chef: She worked at T.G.I Fridays for 10 years and she has the experience on making new menus depending in what season we are at the moment such as Christmas, summer, etc.

One of the advantages of internal source information is the fact that the information that we gathered from it is very reliable because it based on our own experience which don’t cost us anything. One of the disadvantages of internal source information is that sometimes our experiences and knowledge are not enough to do own job roles.

There will be no sales record because we are still planning to set up our restaurant.

External Source of Secondary Information:

-Internet: This is very useful and helpful source of information in terms of setting up our restaurant as it allows us to browse different restaurant websites and this help us to gather new ideas and concepts that we can apply to our restaurant. One of the advantages of internet are: we can access quickly (24hours available) such as when we have a new restaurant promotion we can easily update our website and we can save time in terms of paying bills  we can easily transfer funds such as paying utility bills, taxes, etc without leaving the house.  However, there are some disadvantages of using internet because some of the information is not really reliable to use because anyone can copy and edit the information anytime.

-Government: This is very important part of external information since we are going to invest a big amount of money so we make sure that we meet their requirements. The advantages of going to government such they provide vital information about business legislation, they will give us advice and ideas on how to manage our business properly. In terms of laws and regulations of opening a restaurant such as the Equality Act 2010, business license/permits (we should book an appointment to register at least 28 days before we open our restaurant and serve our first meal to public.) The government is very strict when it comes to food safety (hygiene) so, we should go to FSA (Food Standards Agency) office because they are the responsible for all food safety standards and we should make sure that the licence of environmental health service. However, there are also some of the disadvantages such as we need to book an appointment online before we go to their office. Time consuming: They will send you in different department office depending on what you need such as taxes, permits, etc.     

                                                                         

-Books and Magazines: These sources of information allow us to gather different ideas/concept reading their biographies and their experiences. The advantages of reading books/magazine are that they are written by people based on their experiences; the positive effect on how we run our own restaurant and it also helps chefs to create other recipes ideas to make new menus. Catering magazines and catering brochures will help the sales marketing to gain ideas about new way to promote our restaurant. However, the disadvantage of this is that the books/magazines may old and the contents are not up-to-date.

We agreed to use the secondary information for our restaurant. These are the advantages and disadvantages of the source that we selected.

Task 2: AC2

Three methods of Primary Research could help us to set up our new restaurant: SHIA.

-Focus Group: It is a group of people who assembled to participate in a discussion to gather varies information to evaluate a new concept about the product before it launched to public and/or to provide feedback (qualitative research).  

      Advantages:

- Focus groups allow us to study what improvements we need to be made to create new food menu before it hits the market. This can prevent our business from wasting large amounts of money on making different menus/promotions and marketing a food menu that isn't ready for the market or isn't what consumers are looking for.

-We can gain new realistic ideas from other people’s recommendations and can actually be implemented effectively.

      Disadvantages:
- Lack of participation: some of the members could be more focus on testing than compromising with other members, which means a team member with a strong personality or opinions about the product may sway the views of others.

-Street Survey: this is conducted on the streets by stopping people and asking them about their taste and preferences in terms of food. To apply this we should ask people some questions such as; how often do you eat outside or order takeaways a week?, what average would you spend in a restaurant?

      Advantages  

-Customer comments, suggestions and responses about a restaurant menu, business practices and customer service orientation are one of the biggest advantages of customer feedback surveys.

      Disadvantages

-The chances are people will 90% ignore us and just walk away.

-Time consuming: we may waste time chasing people for an interview in the street.

-People may not tell us the truth or not even bother to answer our questions.

-Observation: This source of information will help us to identify who are our competitors and we can use this to observe people’s behaviour and the way they interact with others such as employees/managers between customers. One of the advantages of this is that we can able to distinguish people’s nature attitude/behaviour. One of the disadvantages is that we easily judge a person by the way they act/talk but sometimes what we can see is not the whole picture of the person.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Task 3: AC3

There are 5 marketing research processes to follow. These are:

1.    Identification of the research problem: Defining the problem could be an opportunity or a threat of our restaurant which is the hardest part of research process. It requires a clear thinking about what information is necessary to apply to our restaurant and this could be our advantages. To make it happen we should consider some points to avoid failure. These are:

      We should be determined of what information will be made with the research.

      We should decide what concept will be needed to make it happen.

      Conduct exploratory research to focus research.

This will help our restaurant to clarify the target market. However, if we fail to identify the problem our research will be useless.

2.    Develop research plan: In this process we consider two methods to use. These are: Quantitative search (focus on collecting numerical information) and Qualitative search (focus on collecting information by people’s opinions, suggestions, etc.). To apply this process we should review the types of information needed, identify primary and secondary sources and select sample (random, stratified, etc).

3.    Collect Data: To collect data we should spend quality time, effort and energy to aim our goal. It could be through:

·         Primary Data: This is the information data that collected by itself or by a research hired by our company.

·         Secondary Data: This the information data that we have been already collected; these data could be culled in libraries, databanks, etc

4.    Analyse Data: Once data are collected they are analysed and interpreted to identify trends. In the analysis stage data from one source often take on new meaning when compared with other data sources.

For example: comparing brand sales with another company to see if there is any correlation between changes in prices and changes in brand sales.

This correlational data can indicates possible relationship especially if you compare these results with comments gleaned from customer’s interview.

5.    Present Findings: There are many ways to present the findings. This could be through written or oral reports. The purpose of research is to answer the set of questions indentified during the first step of the market research. The answers will become the foundation of the strategic decision making research that will guide the marketing plan.