But because the Franco Manca’s oven is so low, it is very humid, which means the pizza cooks without burning. The pizza only stays for exactly 40 seconds to get the right combination of crispness and chewiness.
INGREDIENTS. All Franco Manca’s ingredients are organic and sourced from the UK and some of them exported, mainly from Italy. The ham is from Gloucester Old Spot pig (an English breed of pig), and the cured ham, salami and sausages are from Brindisa (spanish food shop). All the cheeses (buffalo mozzarella, ricotta, pecorino, goat) are from Italy from buffalo and cow herds. The tomatoes are from a group of producers in Salerno who only picked them during July and August. The olive oil comes from a particular producer in Spain, and the olives directly from Puglia, Italy.
BRANCHES. The first Franco Manca restaurant opened in Brixton Market in 2008. In 2009 a second branch was opened in Chiswick. At the end of 2011 the third one was open in Stratford, in the food court of Westfield shopping center. The last one was recently opened during the last October 2012 in Battersea.
FINANCIAL SITUATION. Franco Manca is a private limited with share capital company, incorporated in England and Wales on 15th October 2009 and located only in London with a business activity as Licenced Restaurants. The company has a team of 3 directors, and 1 shareholder own the total shares within the company and it is a part of a group. At this time Franco Manca has not reported any financial, as it is either too young or exempt for filling accounts. The latest Annual Accounts for the year 31/10/2010 reported cash at bank of £30,737, liabilities worth £637,746, net worth of £-187,551 and assets worth £53,626.
SWOT ANALYSIS - Description
The SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is a tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organizations.
According with Malcolm McDonald (2008, pp.42-43) “a SWOT analysis is a summary listing of internal differential strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis competitors and key external opportunities and threats”.
The objective of performing a SWOT analysis is to detect the internal and external key factors to achieve any objective in the company. The internal factors are the strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization, for example factors relating to the 7P’s, costs, quality, people, skills, adaptability, brands, services, reputation, infrastructure, etc; the external factors are the opportunities and threats presented to the company by its external environment, for example factors related to market, sectors, audience, fashion, trends, competition, economics, politics, technological, environmental, law, etc.
“Strenghts and weaknesses represent where the organization is now, and opportunities represent where it whishes to be at a given time in the future” (Luck, 2010).
A marketing opportunity is an area where a buyer has needs or interests and the company is capable of satisfying them. An environmental threat is a challenge caused by a trend or a new development, which may cause a loss profit or sales, if no action is taken with a good marketing.
Some of the questions that can help through a SWOT analysis are the following:
Strenghts
- What advantages does your company have?
- What do you do better than anyone?
- What do competitors see in you as strengths?
- What is your Unique Selling Point?
Weaknesses
- What should the company avoid?
- What can the company improve?
- What are the competitors likely to see as weaknesses?
- What factors lose your sales?
Opportunities
- What good opportunities can you spot?
- What interest trends are you aware of?
Threats
- What threats do you face?
- What are your competitors doing?
- Is the technology threatening your company?
- Could any of your weaknesses really threat your company?
A SWOT should be short, precise and interesting in no more than two pages and should be not based only in one-person opinion.
Once the company has been developed a SWOT analysis can proceed to determine and specify the goals to achieve for a specific period of time (Kotler, 2009).
FRANCO MANCA - SWOT Analysis
CONCLUSIONS
Franco Manca restaurant has a lot of strenghts compared with its competitors, because is one of the only restaurants in London that offers pizzas made with sourdough, and organic ingredients; those are its Unique Selling Point. Besides, the wood-fired oven gives a particular treatment to the pizza, never making it burn and making a special flavour that it cannot be get from a conventional oven. It is really important for the customers as well that they do not have to wait long time to get their food, because it is a quickly process. The pizzas are really cheaper compared the quality is really above competitors as Pizza Hut, and the price is almost half of it. And a thing that customers love is to have the option of “specials for the day” or extra toppings changed in a daily manner, because they can customize the pizzas as they want. For all these reasons customers really love the restaurant. But some of the concerness are that the restaurant does not have option for delivery, just take away, but sometimes the customers do not feel really good about having to go to the restaurant to pick up the food. Otherwise there is not a lot of variety on the other food (besides pizzas) because the restaurant only offers salads and bites, but just a few of them. Most of the customers always request a “coke” or “diet coke” to drink with the pizza, but as it is an organic restaurant no sodas are sell, but that can be a weakness for some people.
As a threats there are the normal external things that can affect the restaurant, as food inflation, threat from the competitors, need to rise the price, but Franco Manca will be able to deal with it in case they occur, simply changing for a local supplier, which will be cheaper.
As opportunities most of the customers ask for a “kid’s size” so it will be very helpful for the restaurant have an option for kid’s menú, because the pizzas are really big to be finished by a child. And the restaurant can improve, as well, the variety of wines, because some people does not like the option of “organic wine” because the flavor is really different, so they need to have at least any other 2 options in case the customer does not like the organic wine; and maybe they can introduce an organic beer, since the theme of the restaurant is “organic food”, they can complement it with organic beer as well.
REFERENCES
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Luck, D., 2010. Assessing the Marketing Environment. [e-book] Taylor & Francis LTD.
Available at: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College Your Electronic Library on the Web
http://students.wlc.ac.uk/lc/dawsonera.asp?book=S9780080966236
[Accesed 7 January 2013]
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McDonald, M., 2008. Malcolm McDonald on marketing planning: understanding marketing plans and strategy [e-book] Kogan Page Ltd.
Available at: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College Your Electronic Library on the Web
http://students.wlc.ac.uk/lc/dawsonera.asp?book=S9780749452841
[Accesed 7 January 2013]
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Kotler, P. , et al, 2009. Marketing Management: First European Edition. [e-book] Pearson Education.
Available at: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College Your Electronic Library on the Web
http://students.wlc.ac.uk/lc/dawsonera.asp?book=S9780273718819
[Accesed 8 January 2013]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Blythe, J., 2010. Marketing Essentials. [e-book] Taylor & Francis LTD.
Available at: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College Your Electronic Library on the Web
http://students.wlc.ac.uk/lc/dawsonera.asp?book=S9780080966250
[Accesed 8 January 2013]
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Jobber, D.Fahy J., 2006. Foundations of Marketing. 2nd Edition. Berkshire: McGraw Hill.
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McCabe, S., 2008. Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality: concepts, strategies and cases. [e-book] Taylor & Francis LTD.
Available at: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College Your Electronic Library on the Web
http://students.wlc.ac.uk/lc/dawsonera.asp?book=S9780080941813
[Accesed 8 January 2013]