'Business proposal for Papadeaux\r'

'Pudenda is a fortunate up commercialise periodic restaurant impression with a loyal following. But no restaurant is repellent to the richlyly competitive climate of the industry. Recent studies baffle shown the upmarket routine segment losing market circumstances to two immobile and traditional casual restaurants. They too show that consumers find honour in upscale casual dine by weighing the aliment case and the boilers suit dwell a readyst the sex actly exalted price (Techno, Inc. 2013). We analyzed client retrospects to discern what Pederastys guests argon serveing to In considerations of observe. found on this epitome, customers respond everyplacewhelmingly irresponsiblely to fodder quality, and sustenance quality Is the to the broad(prenominal)est degree un well-fixed cipher In their influence calculation. Price Is still an egression, even those delighted by feed quality comment on eminent prices. Customer comments besides suggest that po rtion surface of it of its whitethorn be overly prodigious, and that the investment in large portions is out of step with its importance to the guests.Pudenda may acquire from featuring new menu items with minify portion and price. such(prenominal) offerings at other restaurants confirm led to change magnitude traffic, revenue, and per per give-and-take average (APP) (Jennings 2008). . Industry background effort little dining has grown over the last xxx years along with tremendous growth in Americans restaurant spending. Half of every food dollar sign In this country is spent in restaurants, which Is retell the spending level In the asss (Pocket Fastback, 2013). The recession has constrain a competitive Industry even more than than than competitive.A recent Techno survey on casual dining revealed a three tiered system split up Into fast casual, traditional casual, and upscale casual, with consumers trading up and down betwixt these levels base on their deman d and detections of think of. 5% of those surveyed describe visiting a fast casual restaurant in the past month, 80% had visited a traditional casual restaurant, and 40% cogitationed eating at an upscale casual restaurant. 41% of those surveyed reported finding value in upscale casual when weighing food quality and over some(prenominal) experience against the sex actly higher price (Techno, Inc. 2013). The issue for operators in upscale casual is getting consumers to shargon up, and to trade up more generally. 3. Pudenda Seafood Kitchen Pappas Restaurants began In 1 966, when brothers Chris and Harris Pappas opened Dots Coffee Shop In Houston. at present they operate over eighty restaurants across an range of concepts Including BBC, Tex-Meg, and fine dining. All Pappas restaurants be guided by the Standards of Excellence: Providing superior quality food, providing Kitchen, instituteed in 1986, is an upscale casual dining restaurant featuring gulf shore seafood and Cajun dishes.It has become the comp whatsoevers largest concept, and is set to absorb Pappas Seafood House, the comp alls first upscale casual seafood concept, growing its size in the Houston theater by five stores. 4. Review Analysis 4. 1 . Methodology 1 of the close to influential shipway information is transmitted is word-of-mouth (Manikin & Goods, 2002). Word-of-month has an force-out on not only potential customers, yet in addition the satisfaction level of current guests. One of the closely powerful methods to generate word-of-mouth is online customer review (Dollars, 2003). A total of 441 postings from Yelp. Mom made amongst family line 2012 and September 2013 for all Pudenda posts, were reviewed for this analysis. Chin et al. (2004) anchor that recommendations affirm a controlling relationship with sales, term consumer ratings were shown to be un relate. T here(predicate)fore our analysis managemented on field rather than ratings. Content was divided into intravenous feeding main categories: food, serve, value and environment/atmosphere. Each of these was supercharge divided into subcategories, which were then coded positive or interdict based on comment content. 4. 2. solid food food for thought was the most commented on of the major categories.As displayed in bet 2, the response to food quality was overwhelmingly positive. Comments such as, â€Å"the cocktail wood pewee is well seasoned and super fresh,” â€Å" unsloped about everything on the menu is delicious,” and â€Å"the crayfish fondu is amazing as well as everything on the menu,” demo that the customers are not only convenient hardly likewise highly delighted. There were more positive comments on food than comments in any of the other categories. 4. 3. Service Restaurants always receive both positive and prejudicial comments and Pudenda is not an exception.A calculation of the pattern of positive and negative comments on service, however, s hows customers are for the most part satisfied by the service. Over 75 pct of comments are positive (see general anatomy 3). Based on the graph and actual comments, we concluded that the gap amid seemation and service delivery is mall in Pudenda case. 4. 4. Environment When commenting on environment and atmosphere, guests tended to be slight specific when they were positive. prejudicious comments focused on incumbrance level, crowding complaints, and wait time.The number of these complaints is relatively high compared with the number of positive comments (see issue 4). This suggests that the atmosphere of Pudenda is more dis subprogram and noisy than guests expect. 4. 5. Value line upd by factors such as price and food quality. As seen in Figure 5, roughly half of all comments in this category stated that Pudenda is expensive. Only 37% recent of comments relate that the price is worth the general experience, however, the percentage of comments stating that the experie nce is â€Å"not worth it” is ofttimes set about.While the last abduceed two categories are mutually exclusive, crucial overlap exists between both and the former category. This suggests that time guests subjective view of value is affected by the service delivery, their objective view of price is go away unaltered. 5. SOOT Analysis 5. 1 . Strengths Pederastys greatest forcefulness is consistently providing high quality food and service. Doing so is a stated goal of the company, and guest reviews assert that Pudenda succeeds in following through on that goal. This transaction has garnered the concept a strong reputation.Many reviewers mentioned beingness adopt customers, or called the experience, â€Å"excellent as always. ” This again speaks for the trunk umpteen strive for in this industry, further some are able to attain. 5. 2. Weaknesses Pederastys main competitive weakness is its comparatively high prices. Providing high quality food requires an i nvestment in quality products and labor. Seafood is often associated with high costs, because freshness is key to its quality. Additionally, he review analysis found complaints about the atmosphere.Its prices are more a handle(p) to start out end fine dining restaurants than its casual dining peers. Pudenda more family friendly atmosphere may be at odds with what some expect from the environment when they look at the menu prices. 5. 3. Opportunities contempt high prices, Pudenda receives higher average ratings than its competitors. Its greatest luck lies in leveraging its high quality against competitors. Strategies that focus on attracting new customers to trade up from trim priced competitors so that they can experience the difference in quality may rove masteryful.Based on the high rating and positive comments from the Albuquerque and Phoenix locations, further magnification in the Southwest may be worth age. 5. 4. Threats Pederastys faces threats from lower priced competit ors. High price is a major grammatical constituent principaling consumers to dine at upscale casual restaurants less(prenominal) frequently. Large competitors in this group, like inflamed Lobster, use nationwide promotions offering greater value to increase traffic at their stores. More alike priced restaurants tend to stool a different market focus, and provide a more elegant and less family oriented atmosphere. Guest Perception of Value Figure 6 curtain raising Analysis A GAP analysis revealed that there was little mismatch between guest expectations and perceptions. The only eye socket for concern was the atmosphere. As stated, complaints in this category were relatively high in proportion to positive comments, suggested the atmosphere is louder and more crowded than many guests expect. Relation to value based comments than any type of complaint about atmosphere. Further, price is authoritative factor driving consumers to trade down in the casual dining spectrum. As recomm endations are related to sales, comments about price would be taken seriously.While reviews indicate that guests are satisfied, these may not be enough. Oh (2000) found that customers perceived value has a greater effect on their intention to return, and, more importantly has a greater effect on their long term patronage. In range to further analyze guests perception of value, we re moody to online customer reviews. This time, we focused our research on the Houston area locations. Houston was selected because it has more locations than any other area, and, as the place of its founding, the area has the greatest familiarity with both Pudenda and the Pappas brand.We analyzed reviews from both Yelp. Com and Trip Advisor from the same time period, September 2012 through September 2013, a total of 490. twain methods were employed. First, the same coding method as in advance was used to compare against the early data in crop to check for differences. Second, quotes relating to value were pulled from the reviews in order to better understand the range of guest attitudes and get word doable trends. The data from the content analysis was homogeneous to what we saw previously. Roughly half of all value related comments referenced high prices.No new issues turned up in any of the other disagrees, so we proceeded to review quotes pulled from the name. 6. 1 . General Perceptions Guests tended to have a favorable mould of value while also acknowledging the high price, for example, â€Å"Pudenda is a little pricey but very good,” â€Å"The price is not low but it is worth the price for good food and service,” and â€Å"The prices are high but the food is excellent. ” These responses are in line with the results from the Techno survey (2013) discussed earlier.It is important to note that over 70% of these quotes specifically mentioned food quality and coupled it with a positive impression of value. 6. 2. Price and Negative Behavioral Intention Guests with a negative impression of value tended to present their view in legal injury of price. Quotes such as, â€Å"Overpriced but okay I guess… â€Å", â€Å"… Over priced mediocre food”, and â€Å"… A little overprice for what you get,” were typical of this group. In addition, negative comments about price were frequently linked with a negative behavioral intention to return. near interesting was a subgroup of almost 30%, who specifically expressed that while satisfied, they would return less frequently due to price. regular quotes in this range included, â€Å"Ill be back but Rajah Cajun is definitely more affordable and so will be a more frequent stop for me! ” and â€Å"The prices have increased steadily and I dont go as often… â€Å". These quotes are vox of consumers who find value in the quality of the experience, and do trade up to upscale casual, but do so less frequently based only if on price. . 3. Food Quality as the Most Critical Factor Whether guests express a positive or negative perception of value they most frequently link value with their perception of food quality. 70% of positive value impression quotes mentioned food quality, as did 44% of the negative value temporalty (â€Å"WITH happened to good quality food… â€Å") to those underwhelming with the quality based on price (â€Å"Decent seafood but overpriced”, â€Å"Food was fine, but the prices are nuts”), the latter being the most common.Guest comments also suggest that food quality may trump other aspects of the experience in terms of value: â€Å"Great service! Food was okay… Wasnt worth the $30”, and â€Å"The waiter was nice though… But that still doesnt make up for the lack in quality. ” Combined with the results from the content analysis, it appears that food quality is the most critical factor for these viewers, and by extension Pederastys guests. 6. 4. Identifying an Aspe ct for Improvement As mentioned previously, recommendations matter more than ratings, and recommendations are based on perceptions of value.Positive recommendations tend to be based on positive perception of food quality, however, these recommendations also tend to mention high prices. High prices are why many consumers report visiting upscale casual restaurants less frequently (Techno, Inc. , 2013), and our observations from online reviews confirm price can blow guests stated behavioral intention. Based on this, it seems apt to assume that forbidding prices while maintaining food quality, should lead to improved behavioral intentions and more positive recommendations.But onward we explore the validity of that idea, we need to determine if there is any factor that can be changed to renounce such a strategy to be entertained. at one time again, we turned to the customer reviews, this time examining portion size. 6. 5. specify Size Pappas Restaurants are known for large portion s. desire food quality, it is factor into which money is invested in order to â€Å"wow” the guest. As we saw in the customer views, being â€Å"wowed” is often the line between finding value in the experience and contact that it is overpriced.Portion size logically contributes to price; therefore we pulled quotes and analyzed them as we did with value-based quotes above. We aimed to determine if the investment in portion size was having the desired effect on guests. Not surprisingly, the reviewers found the portion size to be large: â€Å"the portions were noble… â€Å", â€Å"Huge portions”, and â€Å"… The baked potato is HUGE… â€Å". 30% of the quotes expressed delight. These referred to portions as â€Å"ample” and â€Å"filling”, or mentioned aging a to-go box home (â€Å"l was very happy to have leftovers from this meal! ). 22% were factual statements such as, â€Å"The portion sizes are life-sized like most rest aurants in the states… â€Å", or â€Å"l forgot how big the portions are… â€Å". 48%, while not denotively negative, did express that portion sizes may be overly large. Quotes like, â€Å"… It was Just too big for me to fetch up! ” suggest that portions are too large for guests to finish. One guest felt that they had â€Å"made the mistake of social club a side salad”, because he was too spacious to finish his entree.In addition, guests may be lining like they are wasting food they wished to enjoy, a feeling that may be exacerbated by price (â€Å"l felt bad leaving half my lobster on my plate because I was full and it was a bit pricey). Most of the quotes that fell in this category, and 39% of the overall portion size quotes, dealt with guest behaviors based on large portion have developed parliamentary procedure behaviors to limit portion size, for example, â€Å"The portions are large, so I always split”, â€Å"l usually have to order a lunch size”, and â€Å"My son and I split a salad and catfish/shrimp plate. Perhaps the most important quote in this roof comes from a review posted on Yelp. Com on January fifteenth, 2013. The guest begins the review by bighearted background on their relationship with Pudenda: â€Å"As a Native Historian, Ive enjoyed one of my familys great traditions of dining at Pudenda to celebrate most any occasion †birthdays, graduations, or Just- because-its-the-weekends. Over the years, weve gathered at various locations throughout the greater Houston area, but as of lately, this is my frequent location of this chain. They go on to give a vehement paragraph long endorsement of food quality, which concludes with this quote: FYI Just about every dish here has monstrous portions so you wouldnt be the first to share a plate with someone. ” The person writing this article is a champion for the Pudenda brand. She feels a connection to the concept and actively recommend s visiting the restaurant. This is meaningful, because in online reviews, recommendations relate to sales, and her recommendation is to share.Guests did not link portion size to value as strongly as they did with food quality. Additionally, explicit complaints portion size was rare, including comments about portion size being too small. This suggests guests view portion size as an enhancement rather than a critical factor when calculating value. While it may be possible that large portion size contributes more greatly to guest delight and it is obscured by reviewers prize of language, the fact that almost half of the quotes point to portions being oversized, suggests that they are, in actuality, oversized. . Conclusion 7. 1 . Recommendation Based on our analysis of customer reviews, the investment move into providing large portions exceeds its relative importance to guests. Guests also report that while they have a largely favorable perception of value, they still find prices to b e gig. Food quality was identified by guests as the most critical factor effecting impressions of value. Figure 7 shows their relative positions in terms of investment from the company versus relative importance to guests.By decreasing portion size and lowering prices proportionally, both can be set at new, more appropriate levels without changing food quality. Figure 7 Performance vs.. Importance to Customers Similar strategies have been shown to increase traffic, revenue, and APP. In 2007, they termed â€Å"right portion, right price. ” inside a year, these new items were contributing up to 15% of sales per month. They also saw an increase in APP, as more customers were ordering appetizer and deserts.Their success led to the adoption of similar strategies by others, such as Cheesecake Factory and Minims Cafe© Innings, 2008). Research from impertinent the industry suggests that Pudenda may benefit more greatly than others by the implementation of such a strategy. Studies have shown that it grocery stores, high quality food brands gain the most running a promotion with lower prices (Sparkman, 1997). Pudenda has a reputation for high food quality, and it is possible that consumers would view lower prices as a tenableness to read up, similarly to how they have been shown to behave in grocery stores. . 2. Implementation As large portions are a part of the Pappas brand, and some guests continue to express delight, we suggest maintaining the current menu. New menu items featuring reduced portion and price should be developed and offered apiece as has been done by other companies. Tests should be conducted at select locations, and sales can determine their success. In addition, tickets with the new items should be analyzed to determine if they are contributing to an increase APP. Customer dieback should also be utilized, and can be used to shine the new menu.\r\n'