Building Maintenance Processes And Practices For Santoor Restaurant, Dhaka

Brief history of Santoor Restaurant Dhaka

Discuss about the Building Maintenance Processes and Practices.

The owner of a hospitality property is constantly looking for renovating or refurbishing its current structure and designing something better that would engage the attention of the customers (Tsai Dev and Chintagunta 2015). The physical renovation or restructuring of the hotel interiors are important for giving special ambience to the customers, which would let them to come back to this place time and again (Do?an et al. 2013). The renovation can take place due to multiple reasons such as satisfying the design needs, building needs, economic viability and others. It is important to adopt environment sustainable practices which are being implemented in the project (Tsai Dev and Chintagunta 2015). The financial value of the renovation and the different return of the development should be carefully analyzed. The renovation project needs to undertake an optimum approach that would satisfy the needs of all the involved stakeholders.

This report would identify the renovation measures of the Santoor Restaurant located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The various considerations would be assessed by keeping in mind the principles of asset management. The current use of the restaurant site would be discussed along with the proposal for site upgradation. The analysis of the target market would be done by comparing the target market theory with the expectations of the customers visiting Santoor restaurants. The renovation concept would be discussed along with the different risks associated with the renovation.

The Santoor Restaurant is one of the most popular Indian food restaurant operating in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The restaurant has high number of customer visits on a regular basis as it has a good market position in Dhaka. It serves different kinds of foods including Indian foods, Asian foods, Halal foods and different kinds of vegetarian food. The restaurant also serves good quality of seafood (Wilson et al. 2016). The visitors review on the different travel website such as TripAdvisor shows that the restaurant has both positive as well as negative attributes, which has drawn a mix reaction from the customers (TripAdvisor.com 2017). In spite of the good food served in this restaurant, there are certain complaints of customers regarding the internal atmosphere. In TripAdvisor, the customers have expressed their concerns for the ambience of the restaurant including dirty linens, impolite attitude of the waiters, poor service, bad tastes of some food items, interior decorations and the arrangement of the internal assets of the restaurant (TripAdvisor.com 2017).

Justification of need of refurbishment

The Santoor Restaurant has the most basic layout in terms of both external and internal structure. The external layout of the restaurant suggests a shadowy building with red brick structure (Bangladeshifood2.blogspot.in 2017). The external structure has neon signs that are quite attractive. The entrance for the restaurant has wooden doors which are considered as the one of the important points of customer entry. The interiors of the restaurant are characterized by black color furniture with “ebony” window panes and there are pieces of marble that adorn the above ceiling (Bangladeshifood2.blogspot.in 2017). The restaurant has chic interiors, however, there is lack of proper arrangement of the tables. They are haphazard with no fixed layout.

The restaurant has small waiting area for persons who cannot be accommodated in the main area. This area is not a separate entity and is merged with the main dining hall. They do not have any menu cards for the customers who are waiting for in the waiting area. The restaurant does not have a separate bar and the facility aims to create one in the near future (Bangladeshifood2.blogspot.in 2017). The restaurant kitchen is relatively small and is not adequate for the various types of cuisines served. The kitchen does not have a preparation area due to the lack of space in the restaurant layout (Bangladeshifood2.blogspot.in 2017).

The current site use of the Santoor Restaurant is a mixture of good and bad characteristics. It is true that the internal environment is chic however, the current sitting arrangement looks quite clumsy and hence renovation is important. If the interior lacks aesthetic appeal then there would be less number of customers. In Dhaka, there are many restaurants that provide good interiors and hence it is important to survive the competition by giving thee customers a good ambience. It is also important to create separate waiting area since no customer enjoying their food wants to see impatient faces queuing up for tables. There is chaos in the waiting area and hence this place should be a separate one. The kitchen is considered as the heart of the restaurant and hence it is important to build a relatively big one, which would meet the food requirements of the customers.

There is a need to give the restaurant a five star look so that more number of customers are attracted to it. This would be due to the fact that there would be increase in the value added services to the customers.

Current economic environment

The current use of the Santoor Restaurant site shows that there are certain design issues with the restaurants which lower the customer satisfaction. It is important that the restaurant property goes through refurbishment in order to gain competitive advantage. The entrance needs to be more decorated so that the customers are happy to enter the restaurant. It is important that the waiting area of the restaurant should be an individual one and it should be made in a separate corner of the restaurant. There should be menu cards provided in the waiting area also. The dining room is important for the restaurant and a linear arrangement of the tables should be made for a more aesthetic look. It is necessary to incorporate a separate area for the bar services of the restaurant so that there are increased customers in the restaurant property. The kitchen area needs to be expanded and there should be separate segregations inside the kitchen for better preparation of the foods.

The whole pattern of the restaurant would need to changed so that a five-star view can be given to it. It would give a trendy look to the restaurant. There would be open kitchen with different celebrity chefs of the world. There would be strong clear glass wall in the kitchen so that the cooking bad odors does not bother the customer. Also, the customer would be able to view the cooking process and the preparation of their favorite item. There would be the construction of a juice bar at the terrace of the restaurant which would serve various kinds of juices (such as organic juices, tropical juices).

The proposed design is a feasible one and there is no need of expansion of the restaurant property. It is only required that the internal layout be changed so that all the necessary changes can be made. The dining hall space should be modified in order to accommodate two additional corners containing the bars and the waiting area. This would be adjusted automatically if the dining hall has a linear arrangement of the tables and the chairs, which would imply space saving layout.

The economy of Bangladesh is considered as the 41^st largest in the world and it is considered as the second largest economy in the world (Brunn et al. 2016). There is a GDP growth of 6.5% and the country has large amount of exports in sectors such as domestic agricultural sector, remittances and the readymade garments (Brunn et al. 2016). The country has high per capita income which implies that the residents of the country would be able to spend at the local restaurants (Brunn et al. 2016). Tourism has major contribution to the GDP of the country.

The local economy would be benefitted from the improved business value. There would be an increase in the employment services as the local unemployed youths possessing suitable qualifications can be recruited.

According to the target market theory, the segmentation is a process through which the target market is broken down into smaller market segments so that it becomes easier for the companies to cater to them (Firat OzaltinTurker and Metin 2014). The segmentation can be based upon the geographic, demographic, behavioral and the psychographic characteristics (Firat OzaltinTurker and Metin 2014).

The expectation of customers visiting Santoor Restaurants is that they get quality food and good interiors. They expect to have proper arrangement of the internal facility of the restaurant. An increasingly number of customers have shown interest on the bars and they prefer a separate area for drinks and beverages.

The target market would comprise of the young generation, teenagers and the professionals who love to have interesting food in a unique ambience. The upper middle class and the affluent class would be the primary target market of this restaurant.

The competitors of Santoor Restaurant give excellent food to the customers along with wonderful ambience. Le Meridian Restaurant, Flambe Restaurant, The Mirage and others offer breathtaking interiors with beautiful decorations that capture the attention of the customers (Alam et al. 2016). This has led to the setting up of benchmark, which implies that the Santoor Restaurant needs to be at par with their standards (Firat OzaltinTurker and Metin 2014). It is important to provide the benchmark set by the competitors so that the restaurant can continue getting more customers.

The competitors such as Le Meridian Restaurant, Flambe Restaurant and The Mirage also have the five star look and they provide unique services to the customers. Their structure is similar to the proposed structure and hence they are the competitors.

The new restaurant design should try to take into account the effect it would have on the external environment (Guerrero Maas and Hogland 2013). It should be careful about the disposal of wastes and the subsequent treatment of the wastes during the renovation process (Guerrero Maas and Hogland 2013). There are some major aspects of sustainability which is concerned with the four main items namely plastics/paper, food, water and energy (Okonkwo 2013). It is also important to use right mode of cooking (emphasis on green fuel) so that it has minimal amount of air pollution (Guerrero Maas and Hogland 2013). The restaurant should also strive to use the right kind of refrigeration which would conserve energy.

The sustainability of the renovation process would be achieved by implementing sustainable material selection, sustainable design and construction process.

Santoor Restaurant should take into account the financial implications when engaging in renovation (Okonkwo 2013). The restaurant should aim for 10%-15% increase in the ROI of the firm. ROI is dependent on the kind of restaurant and the service style of the restaurant (Okonkwo 2013). The cost of remodeling of the restaurant would be around $35,000 in the current year. The NPV value of the renovation shows that there would be positive value of the current assets. The payback period of this hospitality property would be 5 years; however, if there are negative economic trends such as recession, then it may take longer time (Okonkwo 2013). The payback period can be calculated by dividing the cost of the investments with the annual net cash flow.

The renovation is considered as the process of the improvement of the outdated or broken structure of the buildings (Smith Jaggar and Love 2016). It is also referred to as something new which can improve the business prospects of the buildings. It can range from various processes such as planning, engineering, structural repair, rebuilding and the various kind of finishes applied to the buildings or the service delivery points (Olanrewaju and Abdul-Aziz 2015).

This renovation concept is closely related with the renovation of asset (Smith Jaggar and Love 2016). The asset management is considered as the management of the financial as well as non-financial properties so that there is an improvement in the overall returns (Love et al. 2014). The renovation would be required in the areas of the dining room, waiting area, entrance area and the kitchen of the restaurant.

The stakeholders of the renovation project of the Santoor Restaurant include the project managers, sponsors, owners, managers, employees, suppliers, creditors, local government, local residents, media and the competitors (Kraak and Story 2015).

There are several risks associated with the renovation process such as health hazards, lack of funds, lack of manpower and others (Van Os et al. 2015). There can be health hazards such as negative health effects of asbestos, lead materials, moldy wall interiors and fumes from the adhesives, coatings and the paints, which is harmful for the different stakeholders (Van Os et al. 2015).

Conclusion

The hospitality industry is one of the most lucrative industries that face stiff competition in the market. It is important to renovate the existing structure of the restaurants so that they can gain competitive edge. This report is based on the Santoor Restaurants and the need of its renovation. The brief history of the restaurant is being discussed and the current use of the site is being described. The justification for the need of the refurbishment of the current property is defined. The analysis shows that the main areas of the restaurant in which the renovation is needed are the dining room, waiting area, kitchen and the entrance in which it is important to present good tastes to the customers. It is important to present good aesthetic value to the consumers and hence the proposal for site up gradation is given. The feasibility of the design is analyzed along with the current economic environment. The analysis of the target market is done and the competitor benchmark is defined. The implementation of the sustainability implications along with financial implications is discussed. The renovation concept is defined along with the identification of the stakeholders. The risks of the renovation process are also defined. This report would broaden the understanding of the renovation concept.

References

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