ABC Restaurant: A Unique Buffet Essay In Gold Coast, Australia.

Questions:

1.Develop a Proposal for a Tourism Business.

2.You are Required to Develop a Written Operations Manual that Describes how you will Manage the day to day Aspects of your Proposed Business.

Description of the Business

John and Kelly are couple who are the in the opinion of opening a restaurant in Australia. The couple had earlier worked in a renowned restaurant in Australia where John was the head cook and Kelly worked as an accountant. They named their restaurant as ABC Restaurant. The couple wants to operate their business in the food and beverage sector of tourism so that they can attract domestic and foreign customers who come for a visit in Gold Coast in Australia (Thornton et al.,2016). The couple have the idea of providing extensive and unique food delicacies to their customers at a reasonable price. The restaurant will be specialized in a combination of a variety of food items that comprise of the common food items that are eaten in Australia along various other cuisines like Chinese, Continental and even Indian. The restaurant has the objective of providing food menu various kinds so that they can attract various types of customers who are coming for a visit in Australia. The restaurant will mainly be famous of their Pacific North Eastern Cuisines. The restaurant looks to follow a differentiation strategy with the help of their distinct menu that makes life hard for the customers to choose the item that will meet their desires.  

ABC Restaurant has unique features because it will be the only buffet restaurant that operates in its geographic location. It is known that Buffet is a food service style where variety of food that are cooked fresh are displayed in sequence in which customers usually prefer, starting from starters that customers prefer to fulfil their appetite, and then towards the main course and finally the desert section to make their teeth sweet. Another special feature of the restaurant will be that they have a variety of buffet meals according to their variety of cuisines they prepare (Lee et al., 2016). Therefore, the customers have the choice of choosing the cuisine they want to have and accordingly visit the buffet table that provides their kind of food. The ABC restaurant with the help of their buffet service will ask their customers to serve their food themselves and thereby reduces the cost of employment and can even satisfy the customers as they can have unlimited food at a fixed cost. The rates are fixed for different cuisines of buffer and the customers need to pay a fixed amount to eat all the items within the buffet of that cuisine unlimitedly without requiring paying more.

The company will have lots of benefits with respect to their opposed features as they are the only class of restaurant in their locality who are having the buffet facility and unlike other restaurants they have four variety of buffet services all differentiated by the food items and every one of them have starters, main course and desserts in their section. Another feature of this restaurant is their free complimentary drink that they provide to all their customers once they take their seat in the restaurant. The customers will be provided with cold refreshment that soothes their mind and refreshes them (Choudhury et al., 2016). The flavour of the drink is a unique one as it is prepared by John himself and thus is a secret. The restaurant along with their unique food items, buffet service and reasonable price will even provide a variety of soft drinks and cocktails that can be accompanied with the food that are consumed by the customers. ABC restaurant will have the bar facility and with the availability of extensive liquors that can enrich the class of the restaurant.

Differentiation Strategy

The restaurant has the idea differentiating their business and their products from the other food and beverage industries that operate in the market. The restaurant having the luxury of operating in a large business area and with two floors tries to exploit their business area efficiently. They even publicise in the market for giving out the two floors on top for the purpose of wedding and business meetings (Yapa et al., 2016). It is an effective plan as the giving the floor out for rent brings in extra money and the food that are serviced in the business meeting and weddings are even provided by ABC restaurant. Their catered buffet service makes the service even easier. The restaurant even frames their policies effectively by making the weekend of their customers even better. The restaurant provides special buffet on certain days to attract more customers. For instance, on the first Friday of every month the restaurant arranges a special seafood buffet for their customers. The restaurant is open on all 7 days and therefore giving out their utmost services to their customers. Another feature that makes ABC different from their rivals is their extensive customer service. The stewards and the waiters are very gentle and well dressed and they are always ready to help when a customer is in need of it. In case of children and old aged people, the waiters serve their food in their table and thereby restricting them from going to the buffet table and servicing their own food (Brindal et al., 2015). The restaurant is located at a precise location and where the amount of tourist is very high and therefore, the restaurant can be easily accessible. Like any other restaurant, ABC restaurant has a unique dish as well for which it is famous for and their unique dish is known as “Prawn in the heart of a Coconut”. The dish is prepared by keeping the prawn within the coconut and adding spices in it as the prawn gets cooked with the help of the coconut water without the use of oil. It is a tasty dish and is the most consumed item in the restaurant (Lee 2015).

The products that they deliver are mainly common and are generally given out by the most of the other restaurants as well. However, there are certain items that are unique and are the state of the art. The reason that makes the food items of the restaurant different from the others is the quality of product used for the preparation of the item and the process that is undertaken for the preparation. John having knowledge about preparing food with the very low oil prepares tasty food with a health and hygiene touch as well (Strickland 2013). The product and services that are given by ABC restaurant is special as no other restaurant in their locality provides restaurant services along with the catering as well as arranging business meetings and weddings.

The couple have the idea of opening their business on Christmas Eve that is on the 24^th of December this year so that they can start offering their services from the day of Christmas to their customers. The restaurant will operate from 10 am to 11pm at night and will be serviceable seven days of the week.

Products and Services

The coupe has selected one of the busiest tourist spot in Australia that is even close to their abode. They have selected Gold Coast as their area of operation as it is a renowned tourist spot for the domestic and the foreign tourists. The couple have purchased their space of operation for their restaurant and have taken loan from the bank of 80% of the total amount and the rest has been paid as down payment by the couple (Simmons-Mackie & Elman, 2015). The place being a tourist spot has various cafe and restaurants within the locality along with a lot of shops for aiding the tourists for shopping.

Gold Coast has been chosen as the area of operations as it becomes easy to promote their business as the place is tourist spot. The demand for food and beverages are high in tourist spots and therefore, creating a restaurant that offers a variety of cuisines and beverages will be of advantage for the customers as well as for the couple as well. It is seen that a healthy relation can be established with the travel agencies by operating in this business and thereby the travel agencies can recommend their restaurant to the customers for a healthy and hearty meal. The place has a lot of man force and therefore the need for staff or the restaurant is lowered as employees can be easily available for the restaurant (French 2015). Gold Coast is a preferred place for visit for the tourists and therefore the couple can develop their business more easily. In 2018, the Commonwealth games will be coming to Australia that can even develop the business of ABC restaurant as more and more tourists will be visiting this area. The operating cost for ABC restaurant will be low if they function in this area as man power and other resources that are essential for the performance of the restaurant is easily available at a reasonable price.

ABC restaurant tries to target both the domestic and the international tourists in to their business. It is due to the fact that attracting both the segment of tourists will lead to higher revenue and the customer base of the restaurant will even rise. It is seen that the area is visited by the local and the foreign tourists and therefore in order to attract them, the couple have decided to introduce various kinds of cuisines in their restaurants. The area is filled with visitors around all the time of the year and therefore it is important that the business caters the need of the variety of tourists (Bloch & McKay 2015). The predicted size of the market is considered to be huge as being a tourist spot, there are various visitors that are coming from all over the globe. The Commonwealth games that will take place in 2018 will attract more tourists and therefore it is important for the couple to prepare their business accordingly to be prepared for a variety of tourists. During the first year of operations it is estimated that 55% of the customers will be from the domestic tourists as they will try to experiment their food style by trying out in a new restaurant. On the other hand, foreign tourists always prefer to take advice about restaurants and therefore only 45% will comprise of them in the first year as it is a The growth potential for both the domestic and the foreign tourists will be high as people are in need of trying out new things and the services and the various cuisines that will be provided by ABC restaurant will definitely attract more and more customers. A proper promotional activity and a word of mouth promotion from the existing customers will make their business a lucrative one (Forget 2015).

Operational Details

ABC restaurant has the aim of serving every section of the society where it operates and therefore their food menu comprises of all the food items that will be preferred by every section. The demographics of the area mainly comprise of teenagers and middle aged people and therefore the food items and the services provided by them will attract every one of them. The restaurant has a bar for the teenagers to relax and have a drink and the buffet and dining facility will attract middle aged people to come out with their families and feel the taste of their delicious cuisines at a reasonable rate (Jasbón & Esteban 2015). The main reason that the targeted customers will be more inclined towards the business that will be started by John and Kelly will due to their differentiation strategy. The restaurant provides buffet service that is only available in their restaurant in the Gold Coast and therefore customers have the advantage of consuming unlimited amount of food ranging from appetizers, main course to desserts at a fixed price (Ka-shiang 2014). The restaurant having the facility of arranging weddings and business meetings will attract the corporate world and the people who are planning to get married as then they will get the luxury of hiring a place for their event along with the availability of food within the same cost. This is a advantageous proposition for the customers as well.

It is known that there are various other restaurants that are operating in the area. The market survey undertaken by the couple have shown that there are five main competitors for them in the market. They are as follows:

• Food Fantasy
• Jupiters Casino 1
• Fables
• Citrique at Marriot
• Cove Cafe

It is seen that most of their competitors specialize in providing extensive food quality along with efficient customer service. Food Fantasy is a restaurant that is renowned for their Continental cuisines and offers a vast variety of items to satisfy their customers at a reasonable rate. Jupiters casino 1 restaurant offers the facility of dining along with the provision of bar and the facility of a casino where the customers can play their worth out in order to win. This restaurant is pretty expensive and may not be of a choice for domestic tourists.  Fables are a bar cum restaurant offering the service of a hotel as well where the tourists can stay during their visit to Australia. However, it is seen that their food quality is not up to the mark and they only provide domestic cuisines and do not have the facility of providing various cuisines to their customers (Brett & Murnion 2015). Crtique at Marriot is an expensive restaurant that provides all the facilities that a customer needs. However, the high price is what makes them dissimilar to ABC restaurant. Cove Cafe is a beach side restaurant that offers hard and soft drinks along with snacks to their customers. Therefore, it is seen that everyone their competitors have their unique facility but no one provides the service ABC have plans of providing. ABC will be the only restaurant having the buffet service along with arranging corporate meeting and weddings within their premises. The restaurant even provides five varieties to cuisines to their customers at a rate that is cheaper than ever (Pike &Bianchi 2016). By looking the operations of the rivals, it is seen that their main focus has been attracting new and potential customers and maintain the existing customers as well. The restaurants are always on the lookout for changes and according to the changing taste and preferences of the consumers they change their food items and their business strategies. The preparation of an operation al plan better the rivals can only be possible with the help of taking in the strategies from the rivals that will be effective for ABC restaurant and develop a plan that will up lift the services of the restaurant.

The management team will comprise of the couple themselves John and Kelly who will be owners of the restaurant and will administer the progress of the restaurant. John will be head cook as he has experience of working in a five star restaurant. Recruitments will be made for assisting John for the purpose of cooking and as well as for waiters and stewards for the restaurant (Xu et al., 2013). The restaurant will appoint few people for the marketing activities and Kelly will be head of accounts that will be looking at the financial part of the business. A manager will be appointed for the restaurant who will be in charge of supervising the proceedings of the restaurants.

The couple do not have a business background and it is their first venture into the line of business. They both have vast expertise in their line of operations and John for the past ten years has been the head cook for a renowned five star hotel. On the other hand, Kelly has been an accountant for over eight years and before staring their business she had been working in the same hotel as John a financial advisor and had been handling accounts there. Therefore, it can be said that the new business in good hands. The management experience that is required to operate the business is available in John and Kelly.

John has a master’s degree in tourism and hospitality management and has made double majors in hotel management as well in the field of cooking. Kelly after completing her MBA had joined the part time tourism course in order to gain knowledge about the tourism sector. John has more than two years of experience in cooking and has the relevant certificates to run the business (Min & Lee 2014). It is essential for the couple to appoint a manager who has a minimum of 2 years of experience in the managerial role so that he/ she can control the business effectively.

ABC restaurant requires extensive advertising as it is new to the business. The employees of the restaurant require to be provided with the accurate knowledge about the objectives of the restaurant so that they can deliver the same while operating. It is essential that the food menu card gets updated regularly so that demands of the consumers are met. In order to maintain a proper management within the restaurant a POS system is required to be installed. The service and the ambience of the restaurant describes how well the management operates and therefore, it is of utmost importance that the buffet strays remain full and when the trays are half they are needed to be filled with food immediately. During the operations of the business it is essential that the manager is present all the time so that they can keep an eye on the employees and rectify any problems that are seen in the operations. The anticipating power of the management is a must and therefore they must predict the days when the demand will be high and thereby prepare them accordingly so that they can cater the needs of all the employees (Forget 2015).

The set of skills is vital for the operations of the business and therefore determination of the cost of the food and portion that requires to be delivered needs to maintain properly. There should be accessibility of free WIFI in the restaurant to cater the needs of the customers. The restaurant should have knowledge about the safety and accordingly should make plans to make the restaurant safe and secured for operations and eleven for the customers.  A good set of communication skills is a must so that interactions with the customers as well as within the employees can be undertaken to create a friendly ambience. Proper knowledge about food is there within John and that needs to be conveyed among the employees as well. The restaurants require maintaining a positive attitude and needs to keep alert about all the activities. These skills can make the operations of the restaurant a better one.

Human Resource

The requirement of human resource is very limited for the restaurant as John the owner himself is a good cook. He is need of two assistant cooks, two helpers and around twenty waiters to maintain their services high. All the employees will be working full time. A manager is needed for the control and supervision of the restaurant so that all the activities of the business can be managed properly.

The duties are well explained to the employees as the assistant cooks have the role of cooking and helping John in his cooking activities. The helpers will assist the cooks by giving out the essentials required for cooking and washing and cleaning the plates and the tables. The waiters are in charge of servicing the food and taking orders from the customers. they act as a medium between the customers and the restaurants. Every one of the employees are accountable to the managers and reports their activities to them. The manager on the other hand reports all the operations to John and Kelly. John being working in the kitchen therefore has better knowledge about the activities and can take decisions there as well.

Within the next five years all the employees are required to be competent about the business activities and the objectives and the aims of the business so that they can deliver the best to their customers and maintain completive edge. The company initially wants to recruit a small number of people with the help of the employment journals and wants to undertake on the job training so that they can be trained on the job and thereby can have an idea about the operations of the business (Khan 2014). The staff turnover can be reduced with the help of healthy and lucrative remuneration facilities and in case of seasonal rise in the customers the restaurant employs part time employees through the employment journals and references.

The restaurant has a soothing ambience that attracts the customers. the decoration has been with the help of light weighted wooden cravings and furniture to bring out a traditional Australian outlook. The restaurant undertakes promotional activities with the help of advertisements through newspapers, magazines, internet and other social media. Advertisements are given on televisions to make the customers aware of the opening of a new business. Billboards are even used for promotions and advertisements outside the airport are given to make the foreign tourists aware of the services they provide.

The expansion of the business is possible with the help of generating a huge customer base that will lead to rise in profits. The establishment of the restaurant and the creation of a brand image and customer loyalty will lead to the expansion of the restaurant in various other localities. The public relations will be handled by Kelly and she will, with the help of innovative software will keep track of all their customers and can keep in touch to remind them about the new additions that will be done to the business from time to time. The crisis management will be done by John and Kelly themselves and they will evaluate the problems and can prepare a plan that can eradicate such problems (Marzuki et al., 2014). The measurement of the marketing efforts will be investigated with the help of number of new and existing customers who are visiting the restaurant after promotion and comparing the number of customers visiting each month with the previous month. The latest technique of POS and customer recording and transaction recording is done to keep track of all the activities that are undertaken by the restaurant and maintenance of very old record is even possible.

The service quality of the restaurant can be maintained with the help of creation of a benchmark that requires maintaining in order to keep the services high. The performance standards will be kept with respect to the benchmark and this benchmark is created a level higher of the standards maintained by the rival restaurants. The customer relationships are maintained by communicating with the customers by the manager and giving out feedback forms to gain knowledge and suggestions of how to improve their services (Scott-Parker et al., 2017). The complaints that will arrive will be dealt swiftly and the root of the problem will identified and it will be looked upon that such problems do not arise again. The aesthetic appeal is a significant factor for the customers and therefore ABC restaurant has a good check on the maintenance, security and the comfort of the business. They undertake hurly cleaning of the restaurant to keep the place hygienic and healthy. The type of building where the business operates has a key and therefore, an open ambience with free entry of sunlight and air is preferred. An emergency exit is even available that can be used by the customers to evacuate in case of emergency.

ABC restaurant requires minimum seven partners to function their business effectively. They are as follows:

• Suppliers ( raw material)
• Legal advisors
• Banks and other financial institutions
• Stakeholders
• Government
• Customers
• Competitors

The products and the services are priced at a reasonable rate and constructive revenue and yield management strategy is used in order to increase the revenue of the business and increase the customer base. The target market is not seasonal and the firm tries to maintain their business high for every time of the year while during peak seasons they are in the idea of increasing their sales (Camillo & Di Pietro 2015). The availability of a large space for operations reduces the crowding of the customers and with the help of buffet service, more number of customers can be accommodated at a single time. There is a waiting room for the customers are in line and complimentary drinks are given to them for their patience for waiting.

The main source of revenue is through the restaurant business. The service of giving out the floors on rent of weeding and corporate meetings is high but the revenue from the restaurant and food service is higher. The initial capital for starting the business has been gained from the bank (Baras 2015). Sales maximization is the process the couple have decided to raise their revenue. Cost effective and innovative tools will be used for reducing the operational cost for the business.

		Year 1
Cash Received
Cash From Operations
Sales		$0
Receivables		$0
Cash Flow from Operations
Additional Cash Received
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received		$0
New Current Borrowing		$0
New Other Liabilities (interest-free)		$0
New Long-term Liabilities		$0
Sales of Other Current Assets		$0
Sales of Long-term Assets		$0
New Investment Received		$4,110,000
SUBTOTAL CASH RECEIVED		$4,110,000
Expenditures		Year 1
Expenditures from Operations
Cash Spending		$200,000
Bill Payments		$2,149,150
SUBTOTAL SPENT ON OPERATIONS		$2,349,150
Additional Cash Spent
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out		$0
Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing		$0
Other Liabilities Principal Repayment		$0
Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment		$0
Purchase Other Current Assets		$0
Purchase Long-term Assets		$1,380,000
Dividends		$0
SUBTOTAL CASH SPENT		$3,729,150
Net Cash Flow		$380,850
Cash Balance		$427,850

The restaurant requires gaining certain health and safety licences along with trade license to operate the business. Food licensing is even required to operate the business. The restaurant has a complaint addressing section all the complaints can be stated and swift action can be taken to rectify them. The risks associated with the business can be controlled with the help of the various tools and strategies that can safeguard the operations of the business (Magowan 2014). The business can be legally protected with the help of an insurance that will protect the restaurant and the customers.

 The business requires operating by safeguarding the environment and therefore they make use of chimneys that de-filtrate the smoke reduce pollution (Gainsbury et al., 2015). The restaurant makes use of eco-friendly resources to make the customers aware that they think about the environment. Ethics are even maintained as the firm operates without any fraudulent activities.

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