Vision
We will build Britain’s leading full service hotel brand, operating profitably under a widely recognised and trusted brand.
Values
- We will always be thoughtful about the needs of our internal and external customers and be thorough in satisfying them
- We will consistently look for ways to improve our offering
- We will create an able, open and transparent culture
- We will be friendly, positive and energetic employees
2 SWOT Analysis
In order to understand the critical issues that can be used to push the marketing plan forward, a SWOT analysis was conducted. This is the most common mechanism for structuring information to provide a critical analysis.
2.1 Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths and weaknesses tend to focus on the present and past and on internally controlled factors.
Strengths
- Gengis has a major advantage in that it is located in a four-star hotel. They can use this to portray an image of quality to non-residents who would not necessarily be aware of the hotels facilities.
- The hotel itself is in a prime location to attract customers from nearby businesses. This is perhaps another market that could be exploited by attracting passing lunchtime trade.
- The restaurant has a good staff base that have all be trained in hospitality and so have excellent customer relations.
- The Thistle company has a website showing all of their hotels around the country and the link to Middlesbrough’s hotel makes a statement, if short, on the quality of the restaurant.
Weaknesses
- The restaurant is situated inside the hotel on the first floor with no indication of its existence outside the hotel. This means that passers-by would not be aware that restaurant facilities were available at the hotel unless they went inside and asked.
- There is no current marketing strategy in place for the restaurant. They are simply relying on word of mouth, which is not enough to attract non-resident customers.
- The focus of any marketing that does exist is the hotel as a whole with no specifics.
- Meal prices are quite high, with one course being £12.95, two courses £14.95 and dessert £3.50 on a lunchtime and in an evening, one course being £16.50, two courses £19.50 and three courses £22.75. This may put off potential customers who do not want to pay so much.
- The meals offered are quite heavy, including at lunchtime, which may put off customers who just want a light snack.
2.2 Opportunities and Threats
Opportunities ad threats tend to focus more on the present and the future. They give a more outward looking, strategic view of likely developments and options the company faces.
Opportunities
- The restaurant has a good opportunity to take advantage of the business market. Particularly from the surrounding businesses as no other restaurant appears to do this.
- They could overcome some of their competition by putting out advertisements and promotions. This will help increase the non-resident markets knowledge of Gengis’s existence.
- The management of the restaurant has the opportunity to take examples from their competitions marketing strategy and use them to their own advantage. Obviously using only the strategies that work.
- They need to take advantage of their four-star reputation more effectively.
Threats
- Competition is the biggest threat to Gengis as there are many different restaurants in and around Middlesbrough.
- All of the other restaurants in Middlesbrough have regular advertising strategies and promotions available. This is a threat as Gengis has no form of advertising at this point.
- As prices are high in Gengis, the competition may have a price advantage. However customers in this market appear to more concerned the quality they are receiving than the price, as demonstrated later in the results from the market research conducted.
- Due to the demographics of the Middlesbrough area, it suggests that the population do not have a large amount of disposable income and so will not eat out very often. This however is a factor beyond the hotels control.
- It is just after Christmas so in general, people will begin saving again unless they are given a good incentive to spend. This is why Gengis urgently needs to establish awareness and offer promotions.
3 Competition
6 different restaurants have been chosen in order to assess the marketing strategies used by the Thistles competition in and around the Middlesbrough area. These are:
Central Park
- The Purple Onion
- Joe Rigatoni’s
- Fellinis
- The Stainton
- Isaac Wilson
Each restaurant has been looked at to see what marketing strategy if any is being used, to judge how strong competition in the restaurant area of Middlesbrough could be and to possibly use competitors marketing strategies in a plan to market the thistles own restaurant facilities. The following is a look at these restaurants and the different offers etc that they offer.
3.1 Central Park
Opening times 12noon-11.30pm
There are no special offers at all from Central Park. Some set menus and meal deals are available. It was enquired as to whether this was just because of the Christmas season and we were informed that this was the case and they do have strategies in place to offer certain deals throughout the rest of the year, such as two for one deals etc. There are no discounts for group bookings.
3.2 Purple Onion
Opening times 11am-10pm
There are no special offers on food and only a few drinks promotions. Set menus were Christmas orientated. No promotional offers available at present, but they do occasionally have meal deal offers. There are no discounts for group bookings. The purple onion uses flyers and advertisements around Middlesbrough for promotion. They also have live band night and so are able to mix the bar and restaurant atmosphere well. This was one of two restaurants with its own website.
3.3 Joe Rigatonis
Opening times vary, usually open to around 11.
Up until the 11th of December, Joe Rigatonis has a happy hour, with cheaper food and drink prices. It is ceasing this on the 11th for Christmas but is likely to be back again after New Year. Promotion involves everything from flyers to radio advertising. There are no group discounts but there are regularly offers on the meals, particularly for students who receive money off vouchers at the beginning of the new university year.
3.4 Fellinis
Opening times 11am-11pm (closed 2-5 in the afternoon)
On weeknights Fellinis has a happy hour from 4-6 with cheaper meals on offer. They also offer a group discount if booked on a Thursday. They occasionally use radio advertised when offering specific deals.
3.5 The Isaac Wilson (a JD Wetherspoons pub)
Serves meals up until around 10 according to demand.
This is the pub/restaurant with the most meal and drink deals that change fairly regularly. Curry clubs, free drinks with certain meals and three meals for the price of two. There are also posters all around the pub advertising JD Wetherspoons and new offers that are soon to start. They accept group bookings but give no discounts.
3.6 The Stainton
Food available until 10
A pub outside of Middlesbrough highly rated by locals. They hold culinary theme nights were they serve only one sort of food, such as Italian and Indian nights. House specials are offered at a cheaper price all year round. There is little obvious promotion for the pub other than a blackboard. However they have their own website and also rely on word of mouth.
3.7 Conclusion
Compared to Gengis, all of the above restaurants have an effective advertising strategy. Middlesbrough is perhaps not best known for its culinary delights and so leaves restaurants needing to raise the public awareness of the fact they exist. The most common offer appears to be the deals offering two meals for the price of one and such like. It may be a good idea for Gengis to offer a similar deal in order to compete on the same level, as they cannot rely on their reputation alone.
The most obvious advantage that all these restaurants have over Gengis is that they are known. The Thistle hotel needs to spend time raising awareness of their restaurant in order to utilise this asset more effectively.
4 Market Research
As it became evident from the initial investigations that Gengis had no marketing strategy in place, research was needed to look into just how many people knew that the restaurant existed. Then, in order to formulate ways in which the restaurant could attract more customers, information was gathered on the factors affecting the potential customers choice of restaurant.
Each member of the group took ten questionnaires into Middlesbrough town centre to give us a random sample of fifty people. The results were then collated and are shown as graphs below.
4.1 Results
4.2 Conclusions
When looking at age it was found that most people were between the ages of 18 and 40. These are the results as predicted based on the fact that Middlesbrough is a university town and there are also many office buildings located around the town centre. Due to these findings, it would make sense for Thistle to aim their marketing strategy at this age group. This includes students, businessmen and women and families.
The average number of times people eat out was found to be once or twice a month. The reason this was investigated was to show the hotel how much more custom they should be expecting. They should not expect to be bombarded with new customers because the results show that people of Middlesbrough do not eat in restaurants very often.
The awareness of the restaurant was the main question of this investigation, as we need to know this before we can make suggestions to the Thistle about how they can market themselves to whom they need to pay most attention to. The results have shown that very few people are aware of the restaurant at the hotel-only 5 out of the fifty people questioned. The most well known restaurants are, predictably, the ones that have a well thought and implemented marketing strategy. The management of Gengis should take this as an example and use some of the competitions techniques to help them.
The management of the restaurant also need to be aware of the factors that affect people’s choice of restaurant so they are able to offer appropriate promotions. Twenty of the questionnaires were conducted during lunchtime hours in order to see if there was any difference in the most important factors according to the time of day. The remaining thirty were conducted later in the afternoon.
The results show clear differences. From the questionnaires completed between 12 and 2pm, the most important factor appeared to be location. This can be explained because the people answering the questions at this time would more than likely have been people on their lunch break from work. That means they will want to eat somewhere close to the workplace so they have more time to sit and enjoy their meal.
The questionnaires completed later in the afternoon show that the most important factor is quality, followed by the type of food the restaurant offers. This makes sense as people being questioned at this time will be thinking about their evening meal. As such they would be more concerned with the quality of service they are receiving and their own comfort than how long the meal will take and where they have to go to get it. Type of food is also important as evening meals are more of a luxury so we are therefore allowed to have this option, rather than at lunchtime when it is more likely to be convenience that is the ruling factor.
5 Marketing Theory and how it applies to the Thistle Hotel
Good marketing research shows that the theory of the marketing mix has to be used and applied well, in order to make the product or service successful. In a competitive market specifically, as the Thistle is competing in, the balance of the 7 P’s has to be exact, to draw in customers to their hotel and restaurant, rather than the competitors. The hotel has to offer a service that the other restaurants cannot match, so that customers will not only enjoy their experience, but will also come back again, and even make recommendations on the restaurants behalf.
There are 7 marketing P’s, each will be described, analysed, and applied to the thistle directly, to reach a recommendation as to the most beneficial marketing mix for the thistle hotel.
5.1 Product
This relates to the physical product, or service, on offer. The product is what is hoping to be sold, and as such, it needs to be very competitive, in terms of quality and manufacture. In terms of the Thistle Hotel providing the restaurant facilities, product relates to the physical restaurant, its appearance, its menus, what it offers, food and drink wise, as well as any other benefits at the restaurant, such as bathroom facilities, non-smoking areas, provision of child seats etc. Brand imagery may be important in actually attracting consumers into the restaurant, so the decor and atmosphere of the restaurant would ideally be tailored to inspire comfort, curiosity, and uniqueness. As mentioned before, this is something Gengis prides itself on. These are all aspects of the product, and each needs to be considered carefully, to decide if they are of the highest quality, and provide for all types of customer, for example if there is no no-smoking area, why not, and would this dissuade passing persons from entering the restaurant, thereby forgoing custom, due to a poorly researched and executed product. In reference to the restaurant, it is all a non-smoking area. The hotel has previously researched this area and the results showed that the majority of customers would prefer an entirely non-smoking eating area.
5.2 Price
This refers to the price of the products on offer to customers and would need to be at least slightly competitive in order to continue and build upon current custom. However, the price can mean different things to different groups. In the case of the Thistle Hotel, a 4-star establishment, undercutting the local eateries is not a priority as it is established on the highest of quality. As such, the Thistle does not provide the cheapest meals and drinks in its restaurant, because it has a brand image to retain as specified in the Vision. Therefore if price is the deciding factor for customers, they may be likely to visit elsewhere. For users of the 4-star hotel however, the prices they charge may seem perfectly reasonable, and the setting, quality and service are seen to be far more persuasive than a cheaper price. Though this policy will probably not allow the hotel to sell itself to the most cost aware group of consumers, equally it will appeal and attract those who wish to dine in the class, quality and prestige the restaurant has to offer.
5.3 Place
This does not apply directly to the restaurant area as well as the theory was originally designed, because it was based more on the retailing area rather than the service area, and deals primarily with the distribution channels that exist to get products from the manufacturer, to the retailer, and the methods of retailing the product to the consumer, i.e. mail order, online order, department store, exclusive boutique, etc. It is however, not just concerned with the movement of goods, but it also deals with power and control, and competitive advantage, especially in a highly competitive market. The only distribution channels the restaurant uses are in getting the raw materials to the restaurant, to be used by the chefs in preparing the meals, so there is some logistical element, but a restaurant such as Gengis has large freezers, and facilities to store large amounts of food, so they wont run out of any item without being able to order more in plenty of time. This is not the case however with fresh goods such as fruit and vegetables which must be ordered in regularly.
5.4 Promotion
This deals with the promotion of the business, through effective marketing techniques and advertising, to enable the recognition of the product to the target audience. Thus enabling the product to be seen and interest and purchase of the product to be at its highest potential. If the marketing is successful, this potential will be converted into sales.
Promotional marketing can take many forms depending on the business type and motives. For example, supermarkets and retailers often do a ‘buy 3 for the price of 2’ deal, bakeries like to offer a tray of small samples of their foods, so consumers can try pieces to see if they like it, persuading them to try and indeed buy more. Also, pubs and restaurants often have discounted meals for two, say, ‘2 meals for £5’ or ‘3 courses for the price of 2’. In each case, the business has chosen the best type of incentive for their type of business, and tried to promote it in the most cost-effective way to reach their target market and target consumers. A bakery will leave their free samples on the counter, because they mostly look for the passing trade and so would not advertise much further away from the store unless they were a large chain of bakeries that would enjoy large revenues and could afford advertising.
The current promotion of Gengis relies solely on happy customers and their word of mouth, as well as a company profile on the Internet. Though word of mouth is the most effective method of advertising, and is undoubtedly contributing to the restaurants use, in order to appeal to a newer consumer market, i.e. the non-resident market, they need to promote the restaurant and its facilities specifically at this target market. This will involve research into promotional techniques, as well as their effectiveness.
5.5 People
This relates closer to services, whereby they depend on people to perform, and deliver the product to the customer. The customer’s evaluation and satisfaction from the restaurant will be very much related to how they are greeted, and dealt with by the service staff, as well as the quality of the meal they actually receive. Taking time to build up excellent service staff is quite essential to a restaurant, where each member of staff may have an influence over the customer. Strong relationships of this nature would also be very hard for a competitor to break up, so repeat custom is a likely result from superior service.
5.6 Processes
This is related to the consistency of the product or service, a mass produced product is very consistent, with little need for supervision, however a service such as that the Thistle offers is much more unique to each customer. Because the service is tailored on the spot, consistence is harder to achieve, increasing the need for experienced and well-trained staff. This also means the way the service is delivered has to be analysed, and constructed so the customer will know what to expect on a subsequent visit to the restaurant. Process also relates to the effective allocation of seats to the restaurant user, to avoid queues of guests, to try to prevent impatience so that the customers do not leave without having a meal, as well as taking customers orders correctly. This includes their personal and payment details.
5.7 Physical evidence
This relates similarly to place, being the premises that will be used in dealing with customers, in this case, the restaurant. Areas such as attractiveness, comfort, atmosphere and design of the premises will all contribute to the customers’ level of enjoyment of their visit. As such, the restaurant needs to be effectively designed to these ends, as well as maximising occupancy, without seeming overcrowded at peak times. With relation to Gengis, research was completed in 2000 before it was reopened as to what people wanted from the restaurant and it was decorated accordingly. Therefore this is not an area that needs to be researched for the purpose of this consultancy project.
5.8 Conclusions
The first 4 P’s are generally accepted a ‘the Marketing Mix’ but the last three were added to provide a level of completeness that the 4 P’s didn't cover entirely when looking at service marketing. Some are more appropriate to the specific restaurant area, while others could be applied more easily to manufactured goods. Either way, the 7 P’s, when combined and used effectively, provide the best framework in which to design a marketing campaign. From the very first SWOT analysis of the current situation, through to the new target consumers, recommendations can now be made on which promotional tools would be best to use, in order to provide the restaurant with its most effective methods of attracting new custom to the restaurant.
6. Recommendations for Gengis at the Thistle Hotel, Middlesbrough
From all the investigations conducted and information gathered, it is now possible to give our suggestions to the Thistle Hotel regarding ways in which they could create a strategy to attract non-resident customers to their restaurant. Before the hotel begins considering a marketing strategy, they need to take steps to make the publics aware of the restaurants existence and as such the following recommendations are made:
6.1 Advertisements
In order to help the hotel make an informed decision about any further action to be taken, The Evening Gazette was contacted to get example prices for advertisements. There are a number of packages available. The most appropriate comprises of a cost of £13 for every square centimetre used. This means for a substantial advert, it would cost approximately £70 for the Thistle to place an advertisement for their restaurant. For this price, they would be able to submit their own design containing any information they wished for a week’s placement in this local newspaper. Also any advertisements of this nature are then automatically placed in The Herald Post, the free paper, at no extra cost to the company. Both of these newspapers are widely distributed around Middlesbrough and would as such begin to raise awareness of Gengis at the Thistle Hotel. Such advertisements could also be used to promote any special offers the restaurant may have.
TFM is the local radio station. They regularly offer to announce advertisements and as such were contacted to establish prices. As we were informed that prices could not be given over the telephone, it was requested that information was posted out so that it could then be given to the restaurant manager. It is thought that advertising on the radio would be an effective way to attract the attention of non-residents of the hotel. This is because people may be listening to the radio on the way into and out of work and so Gengis’s advertisement may be the last they hear before deciding what to do for their evening meal that day. This would be particularly effective if used alongside promotions as described later in these recommendations.
Television and billboard advertisements were also looked into. However as the Thistle group in general is aiming to keep costs low at the moment, they were thought to be unfeasible for the promotion of the restaurant.
6.2 Promotions
Once awareness is established by the above proposed advertisements, it has been found, from the investigations undertaken and marketing theory, that the best way to attract new customers is to give them a reason to come into the restaurant in the form of promotions.
As the hotel is situated near to local office buildings, it would be suggested that they take the opportunity to exploit this market. They could do this by offering specific promotions just for the employees of such local businesses as the Cleveland Business Centre and Garlands office building. After looking into this area, it has been found that the most effective way to do this would be to offer two meals for the price of one. This would attract the non-residents and the restaurant could issue a specific menu for this offer in order to minimise reduced revenue. For example, such a lunchtime menu may not include the T-bone steak, as this is one of the more expensive items for the restaurant to order in.
As suggested earlier, the local newspapers could be used to advertise not only the restaurant itself, but also the offers they have. One such offer could be a wine offer comprising of, if the customer buys two large glasses of wine, they get the remainder of the bottle free. This would be good for the restaurant as well as the customer as a bottle of house white or red wine is £13.90 and two large glasses of wine comes to £10 so they would be losing little revenue compared to the increased revenue obtained from selling more meals.
With regards to children, although there is a menu available, it is not very extensive. To help encourage non-residents with children to dine in the restaurant, the restaurant should offer some incentive. The most realistic way for them to do this would be to promote an offer entailing free meals for children under the age of 5. If this was successful, it may also be beneficial to have an offer for slightly older children. The suggested offer is children between the ages of 5 and 14 eat for half price. This would attract more families to the restaurant an increase its revenue as children’s meals are only half the size of normal menu meals and as such do not cost as much to produce.
6.3 Conclusion
If the management of Gengis takes all of these suggestions into account, they will be able to raise awareness of the restaurants existence and attract more customers from the non-resident market.
The most important aspect of the recommendations is the initial advertising of the restaurant. Once this is done, the management will find it much easier to approach the non-resident market.
Bibliography
Berry, L and Parasuraman, A. (1991) Marketing Services, The Free Press
Lovelock, C and Wright, L. (1999) Principles of Service Marketing and Management, Prentice Hall
Wickham, P. (1999) Management Consulting, FT Pitman Publishing
Brassington, F and Pettitt, S. (2000) Principles of Marketing, FT Prentice Hall
Bitner, M and Zeithaml, V. (1996) Services Marketing, McGraw-Hill
Appendices
1 Example menus
2 An example of a completed questionnaire
3 Minutes of meetings
