Essay: Start-up Guide For A Fast Food Restaurant In Lahore, Pakistan.

Based on the structure learned in class, the pitch must answer the following questions:
1. Who are the founders and what is the vision for their start-up (motivation)?
2. Who are the target customers and what are their needs (customer pain)?
3. How does the product or service of your chosen start-up solve the customer pain
(market opportunity)?
4. Who are the competitors or potential collaborators in the industry?
5. What is the business model (how do they generate revenue)?
6. Is the start-up profitable and sustainable (will it have long-term success)?
7. Why or why not would you recommend an investment in this company?

Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Entrepreneurship can be defined as the activity of taking up a creative idea, developing and designing a business around the idea, managing the business activities as well as accepting the risk associated with the success of the business (Burns, 2016). This start up guide will focus on developing a restaurant business in Lahore, Pakistan. It is a widely accepted fact that food business can be identified as that kind of business which can yield substantial revenue irrespective of the economic condition. It has been observed that in Lahore there is a lack of fast food restaurants where people can find quality food at an affordable price. As a result opening a restaurant in this area has been considered to be a profitable business. This guide will provide a detailed overview of the business along with the key insights of the industry.

Mr. Abbas Ali, Mr. Adeeb Hasan and Mr. Zunaid Ali are working together for materializing the idea of opening the fast food restaurant business. However, this specific idea was the brain child of Mr. Abbas Ali who proposed the idea and elaborated the benefits and prospects of this business before Mr. Adeeb Hasan and Mr. Zunaid Ali and they also agreed to invest in this business.

The trio agreed on naming the restaurant as “AA & Z’s Restaurant”. They have planned to start the business with the vision of selling delicious and high quality food as per the customer’s need and also providing the customers with commendable service through the demonstration of efficiency, warmth and graciousness.

In this section the relevant information regarding the marketplace that can affect the business activities of AA & Z’s Restaurant will be collected and analysed. As opined by Henrekson and Sanandaji, (2014), it is quintessential to perform an appropriate market analysis before starting a business because this helps the business to get an insight of the marketplace where it is planning to operate. In this context it can be stated that the entrepreneurs should analyse the recent market trends, demographic features of the location so as to design their products in accordance with the choice and preference of the target customers (Lee et al., 2016).

In order to identify the most suitable target customer group the business organisations mainly use the STP tool. AA & Z’s Restaurant will use the STP or segmentation, targeting and positioning technique for identifying the customers who are needed to be targeted and thereby designing the strategies through which it will be able to cater the needs of the customers (Storey, 2016). STP is a sequential process such as the organisations should first focus on dividing the entire customer base into a few suitable segments this segmentation can be done on the basis of demographic features, geographical features or cultural differences. Then in the targeting activity the most suitable customer segment is selected for targeting through specific marketing strategies and techniques (Spence et al., 2018). In the positioning the strategy the organisation determines where to position its business on basis of the nature of the targeted customer base. The STP analysis of AA & Z’s Restaurant can be stated as follows,

Developing a Restaurant Business in Lahore, Pakistan

The entire population of Lahore can be divided in to several age groups, such as people below 20, 20-40, 40-60, 60 and above. This demographic classification of the population clearly depicts the fact that a majority of the population falls in the age group of 20-40 and 40-60. Therefore, it would be appropriate for the organisation to target the people falling in this age group. The customers of this age group generally demand high quality foods at an affordable price with the least delivery time (Zahra et al., 2016).

The AA & Z’s Restaurant will therefore target the people within the age group of 20 to 40. The main reason behind targeting these people is that most of them are either student or are working (Jin et al., 2015). The students are expected to find the restaurant affordable as it will sell fast food at a comparatively lower price. On the other hand, the working professionals will found the place trendy that serves good foods (Mathe et al., 2017). They are expected to opt for the high priced foods as they will be possessing the higher purchasing power.

AA & Z’s restaurant will place it on the low price, high quality segment. This is because mainly the organisation is addressing or catering the needs of the middle class consumers and students as per their affordability placing the business in this segment will help the organisation to attract a huge customer base.

AA & Z’s Restaurant will try to address the customer pains as efficiently as possible. It effectively implies that effective staffing and market research will help the organisation to determine the needs of the customers. The employees of the organisation will focus on serving the customers dedicatedly and politely (Walker, 2016). Foods will be prepared using fresh and high quality ingredients. This will allow the organisation to provide good foods at an affordable price.

In the era of globalisation and advancement it has been observed that various fast food restaurant chains are spreading their wings in the international market (Lee et al., 2016). Lahore is not an exception the two gigantic organisations in this regime, Subway and KFC are already operating in the restaurant industry. These organisations are old and have already gained a reputation among the customers for their quality foods and services (Kimes, 2016). Hence it can be expected that AA & Z’s restaurant will face significant competition from these two rival organisations. On the other hand, there are some small budget friendly fast food restaurants as well which can also become a threat before the organisation. Therefore, it can be expected that during the initial stage AA & Z’s Restaurant will face certain difficulties but with the passage of time as it will start gaining reputation for quality and lower price it would develop a niche customer segment for itself.

The business model of AA & Z’s restaurant will focus on developing an unique value proposition, menu choice, target customers and effective financial projections. In the context of unique value proposition it can be stated that the key unique selling point of AA & Z’s Restaurant will be providing high quality fast foods at a friendly price which will be affordable to the students and the middle class working professionals. Moreover, it will also include a cafeteria alongside the restaurant; a wide range of coffees will be available in there.

Analysing the market has helped the organisation to identify the customer segment as the people between 20 to 40 years of age and 40 to 60 years of age. This targeting is appropriate as most of the people within these age groups are found to be inclined towards eating outside and it has become a lifestyle trait among them as well.

A perfect financial projection will also help the restaurant to effectively estimate the future costs and potential benefits that could be derived from the business. It will also play an important role in analysing the business risk as well.

AA & Z’s Restaurant will accrue the key ingredients from farmers which will ensure the quality of their foods. It will also supervise the preparation to delivery stages as strictly as possible to ensure that quality is not compromised (Kim et al., 2014). This will ensure that the customers of the restaurant are satisfied they keep visiting the restaurant.

As a start up the business may face a few issues which may arise in the form of stringent competition on the part of the gigantic organisations already operating in this industry. This will affect the profitability of the business initially (Yang, 2017). However, it is expected that in near future the restaurant will be able to provide the customers with high quality foods at an affordable price which will help it to develop a better reputation. Then with the passage of time AA & Z’s Restaurant will be able to operate profitably.

On the basis of the above analysis it can be recommended that the restaurant should always focus on keeping the cost associated with infrastructure as low as possible. It could hire an efficient architect who will be able to design a spacious restaurant for them which will be cost effective. This is because investing more on these may reduce the quality of services. Hence, it should focus more on hiring expert employees and accruing fresh materials directly from the farmers which will help it to maintain the quality of its foods.

Reference List

Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Henrekson, M. and Sanandaji, T., 2014. Small business activity does not measure entrepreneurship. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(5), pp.1760-1765.

Jin, N., Goh, B., Huffman, L. and Yuan, J.J., 2015. Predictors and outcomes of perceived image of restaurant innovativeness in fine-dining restaurants. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 24(5), pp.457-485.

Kim, M.G., Lee, C.H. and Mattila, A.S., 2014. Determinants of customer complaint behavior in a restaurant context: The role of culture, price level, and customer loyalty. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23(8), pp.885-906.

Kimes, S.E., 2016. The evolution of hotel revenue management. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 15(3-4), pp.247-251.

Lee, C., Hallak, R. and Sardeshmukh, S.R., 2016. Innovation, entrepreneurship, and restaurant performance: A higher-order structural model. Tourism Management, 53, pp.215-228.

Lee, C., Hallak, R. and Sardeshmukh, S.R., 2016. Innovation, entrepreneurship, and restaurant performance: A higher-order structural model. Tourism Management, 53, pp.215-228.

Mathe, K., Scott-Halsell, S., Kim, S. and Krawczyk, M., 2017. Psychological capital in the quick service restaurant industry: a study of unit-level performance. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 41(7), pp.823-845.

Spence, L.J., Frynas, J.G., Muthuri, J.N. and Navare, J. eds., 2018. Research Handbook on Small Business Social Responsibility: Global Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Storey, D.J., 2016. Understanding the small business sector. Routledge.

Walker, J.R., 2016. Introduction to hospitality. Pearson Higher Ed.

Yang, F.X., 2017. Effects of restaurant satisfaction and knowledge sharing motivation on eWOM intentions: the moderating role of technology acceptance factors. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 41(1), pp.93-127.

Zahra, K., Zafar, T. and Khalid, M., 2016. Marginality, social exclusion, labour force participation and urban poverty: a case study of Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan Development Review, 55(4), pp.521-541.