TO5102:03 Tourism & Hospitality Operations Management
The growing concerns over the health and wellness aspects are a priority for Australian population. The increased awareness in the society has put pressure on the restaurant in hospitality industry to offer healthier food options (Burns, 2010).
Consequently, traditional restaurants are in continuously re-developing and switching menu to add healthy food choices for its health-conscious consumers. The consumers demands food and drinks that offer good in taste as well as healthy. With growing demands of junk food alternative and rising commitment of Australian towards adoption of a healthier lifestyle, the business proposal is to develop a themed restaurant that feature healthy food idea.
The Health themed restaurant would be to cater the health-conscious individuals in Australia.
The restaurant will offers a menu of various types steamed vegetables and meat in sandwiches, burgers and other side and main dishes, steamed sea food with no use of oil along with healthy drink, diet beverages and salads at a reasonable rate.
The restaurant menu will also feature food option based on dietician’s recommendation to cater need of diet food to match with the health theme. The restaurant will provide dine-in, take away and home delivery services in some areas.
The health themed restaurant is planned to open at a central suburb place in Brisbane city in Queensland. The demographic characteristics in Brisbane city have dominance of young people in the age group of 20 to 29 years and have a good average earning of $108,893 per family.
According to Buys & Miller (2012), the 2011 census reports population of 15,000 million comprising of 49.3 percent male and 50.7 percent female population and with a good educational level as 330,000 inhabitants have Bachelor degree or equivalent higher degree. The growing population of Brisbane is an opportunity for business growth. These demographic characteristics form the reasons for choosing Brisbane city for the health themed restaurant.
The themed restaurant targets health conscious customer segment especially young people and families that fall in medium to high income group. Stephens et al. (2015) studied the consumption pattern of youth in Australia and found that the current shift from unhealthy eating habits of youth is towards healthier food choices.
This age group is a potential target which is likely to appeal for health food choices and majority of youth population in Brisbane is a positive factor for business profitability of themed restaurant. Moreover, the availability of health food and drinks at an affordable price can be an appealing factor to average income group in Brisbane.
| Strengths | Weakness |
| –Availability of Funds
-Distinct menu plan -steamed vegetables /meat/sea food -Location in suburb at a central place -Service will offer take away and free home delivery services some areas – Offer multiple payment options -Competent and skilled staff -Low supplier influence in sourcing locally |
-Low investment in marketing activities
-Operating in highly competitive industry -Increased competition can lead to high promotional cost -High operational cost in adherence to food safety and quality standards
|
| Opportunity | Threats |
| –Profitable industry for business venture
-Growing demands for the healthier food choices -High purchasing power of customers – Develop a whole new market segment -Leadership capability in healthy food service segment
|
-Competition from existing restaurants providing gluten-free, low fat and healthier offering in menu
-Food regulations -Economic downturn -Rise in interest rates -Rise in raw materials cost |
There are several restaurants in the town that offer healthy eating spot. One of the main competitors is Kitchen Sanitarium’s which is a set up by a health food establishment offering distinct vegetarian menu with plant-based foods such as legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds , vegetables, cereals, grains, vegan dishes and assorted salads.
The key strength is its effective cost control, comprehensive menu and multi-skilled workforce. Another competitor identified is Botanica, a takeaway shop which is offering gluten-free products, variety of salads and vegan baked goods in its menu. The key strength of the company is its wider reach to niche markets in Brisbane.
The themed restaurant plans to segment its market based on demographic characteristics such as age and income and behavioral characteristics such as benefit sought from healthy eating. The profitable target population for the health themed restaurant identified is young health conscious individual, fitness enthusiast belonging to middle and high income group.
The positioning will be based on the healthy product attributes and assorted food healthy choice in health themed menu. The restaurant plans to adopt a competitive pricing strategy to develop new customer segment and to sustain the market competition.
The orders will be booked through phone, website and from restaurant premises. The restaurant in second year will plan a new channel such for mobile app development for ordering. The marketing activities will include TV promotions, advertisements in health magazines to target the health conscious market segment (for 3 months) and promotions through website and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter) to create a buzz for the restaurant opening and distinct menu by creating an awareness of the healthier food choices offering for traditional Australian dishes.
| Expenses | Cost (in $) | Payment cycle |
| Office rent | $ 5500 | monthly basis |
| Cost of Furniture/Lightening/Decoration | $ 23500 | Start-up cost |
| Cost of New equipments and storage equipments | $ 14500 | Initial set up |
| Installation of food equipments | $ 9500 | Start-up cost |
| Food purchasing | $ 5000 | Monthly |
| Recruitment cost and salary of employees | $ 45000 | Monthly |
| Technology cost (IT system)- order and payment | $ 3250 | Initial set up |
| Website development | $ 1200 | Start-up cost |
| Marketing / Advertisements | $ 6500 | For first three months |
| Stationeries | $ 400 | Quarterly |
| Total | $ 114350 |
The management team of themed restaurant will employ ten trained professional staff for full time. Three customer service executives, three, one restaurant manager (owner), and one cashier will be hired to run the restaurant operations. Additionally, two staff workers will be hired for cleaning and maintenance of restaurant premises.
The qualification of chefs with Bachelor degree in culinary arts, training in oil-less cooking techniques and salad preparation with food handling certificate and broad knowledge of organic and nutritious food will be considered to match the restaurant theme. The restaurant manager will be responsible to supervise the staff and handles the overall administration of the restaurant business.
Burns, P. (2010). Entrepreneurship and Small Business: Start-up. Growth and Maturity. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Buys, L., & Miller, E. (2012). Residential satisfaction in inner urban higher-density Brisbane, Australia: role of dwelling design, neighbourhood and neighbours. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 55(3), 319-338.
Stephens, L. D., McNaughton, S. A., Crawford, D., & Ball, K. (2015). Socio-economic differences in predictors of frequent dairy food consumption among Australian adolescents: a longitudinal study. Public health nutrition, 18(18), 3326-3336.
