Katie Kudler Market
Expansion through Catering Service
Introduction
Considering an expansion for catering services needs number of resources in order to become successful. In addition, a number of factors must first be considered so as to adapt the establishment to current market and business trends. Thus, this marketing plan must first be done so as to assess the potentials of the project to succeed and to last. In this report, the project on the expansion of Katie Kudler Market will be assessed based on the restaurant environment. This plan aims to provide insight on the marketing mix which includes the description of the products, price, distribution, and promotion.
Marketing Design: Marketing Mix
Products and service designs
it can be said that catering services can offer various products. For Katie Kudler, the products that will be offered are based on the needs of the target market within their market boundaries and community. The catering facility will regularly serves meals and snacks the target market. Their services are rendered by having designated food personnel behind the counter to assist the customers’ food orders. So as to maintain the efficiency and speed of service, the food counter is made in such as way that both ends of the counter serve as the entrance to the food line. The center of the counter serves as the paying booth for food purchases. They also have telephone lines to cater services outside the store.
Catering facilities have numerous strategies on how their rendered services can be better than competitors. Aside from maintaining speed in service, one of the aims of the catering facility is to serve food at its best quality. In order to do this, sanitary practices is an utmost standard operating procedure in the facility. Proper cooking and serving uniforms for the food personnel are provided. This does not only help in maintaining cleanliness in the facility but it also serves as a protective gear of the employees from kitchen hazards.
Proper equipment that is available in the catering facility also helps in achieving food quality. Food heaters and chillers for instance, help in maintaining foods at the right temperature. Hence, this prevents food contamination. Using the appropriate kitchen tools in the facility also helps to cook and serve foods at its best (, 1995). This goal of the catering facility does not only facilitate in serving the customer appropriately, but most importantly it shows that the food service area prioritizes its customers. This in turn results to high customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Price
The off-premise services rendered by the selected catering facility is only limited to buffets, cold platters and box lunches. Service charges added to the total food cost cover the costs of transporting food and supplies. At times, high-profile affairs are also serviced by the catering facility. While the cost of food items does not vary much from the standard for these high-profile affairs, excellent service is a must. Thus, extra costs are incurred for additional managers, chefs and waiters, which depend on what the affair requires. The facilities standard per person charges include food and labor as well as linen, china, flatware and other supplies.
So as to make the catering service more affordable, the facility tends to maintain things simple. Typical events such as household parties and banquets benefit from this catering offer. Like other caterers, one of the common strategies of the catering facility is volume discounts. This common practice among caterers is applied in which per-person charges are reduced as the number of guests increases.
Distribution
For the distribution process of the catering services, this part will consider the people behind the catering service for Katie Kudler. Personnel working in the facility include the managers, food servers, kitchen staff and dishwashers. For off-premise services, waiters and chefs served as the facility’s extra personnel. Each of these employees has their own designated duties and responsibilities in the area. This way, efficiency of service is maintained in the facility.
In times when demands for services increases, the catering facility tries to cope up by conducting reliable forecasts. Records of previous catering operations are regularly kept by the facility so as to keep track of its daily activities. This aids the facility from predicting sudden increases of service demand. In order to cope with peak months for off-premise services, customers are advised to make their reservations ahead of time. Through this system, the facility is able to plan ahead for availability of food items, supplies, and personnel that will be used for the special events (1995).
Promotion
In order to promote the Katie Kudler catering service to market a combination of communication tools may be used. These will include the radio, online marketing, and printed advertisements. These tools were selected based on the catering services are the ones where the targets are highly exposed to. In this way, the manufacturer can make the most out of its promotional efforts. Most importantly, the aimed promotional outcome is achieved. The catering services will be promoted specifically in the newspapers and health/food magazines. As the target markets have access to these reading materials, this promotional tool was selected. In addition, these publications are useful or interesting to the targets; hence, they are likely to read the printed Katie Kudler catering services advertisement. Another approach is through online marketing.
This promotional tool was selected not only because the target markets of the beverage product is exposed to this medium, but also because this tool is easy to do and not as expensive. Aside from being a promotional medium, the internet is a tool for marketing communications as well. Due to its interactive nature, the internet is an efficient method used in communicating with the consumers. Hence, several companies are beginning to realize the advantages of using the internet as a tool for communication. For the catering services, the management will use two forms of online marketing. One is through the company website promotion, and the other is through online newsletters sent through e-mails. Though it will be difficult to cover a good market size with these promotional instruments, internet and e-mail use is very accessible. Moreover, schools and work sites have online services, which potential target markets can have access to.
Previous studies have noted (, 1989 and 1993) that the combination of various advertising media like newspapers, radio and television results to an optimized promotional effect. Recent literatures have also considered this promotional strategy as an integral component of marketing and communication strategies in several companies worldwide (, 2005). The IMC approach has been beneficial to several companies as it helps in identifying the most useful and appropriate methods in communicating and establishing good customer relations, including good relationships with stakeholders like the employees, investors, suppliers interest groups and the public in general. As this strategy utilizes multiple means of product promotion, a larger market have access to the company’s marketing efforts. In addition, using such strategy enables the use marketing means that are available and affordable to the company; thus, this strategy is effective as it promotes flexibility and resource optimization.
Conclusion
Putting up a restaurant business is a difficult task due to the number of factors one must consider. A number of challenges will be encountered during the process, which needs alternatives and immediate resolutions. Thus, in order to assess the potential of the business for success, it is important that various criteria are taken into account.
While it may take a lot of resources to put up a catering service, the benefits that it can provide can eventually outweigh the expenses. Aside from that, the food services offered by the company will definitely increase in quality, hence, greatly contributing to the goals of the facility. Through careful and effective planning, budgeting, and implementing, Katie Kudler market can commence on little changes, improving the facility one step at a time. The important thing is that constant adaptation to change is being done and that the company catering facility is coming up with ways on how to improve their services better.
Reference
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