Business Proposal:Akropolis Restaurant

A walk through the campus was taken to create the viable company that could begin to fill gaps in campus services. Later, a number of questionnaires were published which students replied to obtain more information on their needs. These inquiries contributed to the concept of opening a restaurant on the campus. There was a strong confirmation from the answers obtained from the students that a restaurant on the catering side was required, which would provide the students with uniquely good services. Most of them confirmed that even though there were other restaurants on the grounds, there was a lack of quality of service both regarding the cuisines offered by these establishments as well as a lack of good quality customer service. The team decided to perform another survey, which by sampling the establishments, just to make sure that this was an area that could be exploited. After careful analysis of, there was a general confirmation that it was the best idea to start a restaurant, which would offer unique services concerning comfort, customer service, and good food.After further analysis, a name unique to the services to offered was found after an extensive search. While it might not be unique, the name represents the unique services that the restaurant hopes to achieve. The name for the restaurant settled upon was Akropolis. The name was preferred because the cuisine that the restaurant wants to offer is Greek cuisine. There is an already established restaurant by that name that offers Greek food found in Denmark and established in 1991.Recruitment and SelectionSince this will be a new restaurant, the recruitment process will focus primarily on experience. Greek cuisine being a different kind of offer on campus, the first part of recruitment would be to find a chef who has exclusive experience in Greek cuisine. It is not foreseen that the kind of chef being sought will be available among the campus students, so it is recommended that through the use of advertising in the media is the best way so that to reach a wide target audience. This will also make the recruitment to achieve a diverse range of experience from possible applicants. The media to be used is the campus newsletter and social media platforms. After identification of probable candidates, they will be called for a one on one interview so that they can be gauged on their experiences and expertise (Roberts, 181). The hope is at the very least recruit two chefs who are experienced in the field of Greek cuisine. This was reached after consideration on the size of the workforce that is needed bearing in mind that the chefs are not to be overworked. Once the chefs have been recruited, there is hope is that they will engage other employees to be recruited later on how to go about preparing and serving the food.Since the business would still be in its initial stages, the number of positions is also limited. This, however, would tend to change increasing the number of employees gradually as the business expands. After doing a job analysis, the required kinds of positions that are needed to kick-start the business was documented. Required staffs include waiters, chefs, a manager and other supporting personnel like cleaners and security (Caruth, Caruth and Pane,97).There is a plan is to start with a minimal number of service waiters, two cashiers, two chefs and a number not exceeding ten for supporting personnel. The type of position will depend on the experience of each in the catering industry and the place of residence. The business prefers to hire most of the personnel from the learning fraternity who reside in the campus grounds. This is a huge potential that is available for our disposal since the offer a workforce that is cheaper to pay and willing to work. The choice of hiring those residing in the campus grounds is driven by the fact that there might situations where the restaurant closes late in the night and opens early. Therefore, having employees residing in the campus will make it easier for commuters and the management. A manager with skills to run a restaurant will be hired through the same methods to be used recruiting other staff. However, to reduce cost; the preference is that the manager has experience in procurement, accounting, and management.Employee Motivation StrategiesBorrowing the words of Richard Branson a happy employee translates to a happy customer (Raymundo,4. According to him, for a business to perform well, it should put the employee first but give him the tools to perform a good job (Raymundo,4). For this reason, the plan is to make sure that the employees will feel motivated and happy with the kind of motivation instruments that the business plans to employ. The team has gone through all the theories available to boost employee confidence, and each one of them plays a role in one way or another.By applying the Hertzberg's Two-Factor theory of motivation, its two factors can be used to motivate all our employees. These factors are motivational and hygiene factors (Latham, 37). Motivational factors are those that lead to employees to feeling satisfied therefore, feeling motivated to work harder. Hygiene factors, on the other hand, are those factors that lead to dissatisfaction if absent. From the kind of employees that targetedfor employment, they are going to be consistently be given with feedback, and through this feedback, they will learn how they can progress in the business if an opportunity arises. There will be consideration that employees are properly remunerated and enjoy some benefits while working in the restaurant. Initially, this is going to be through the provision of lunch or dinner depending on what shift one is working while making sure that this will not hurt the restaurant books.The Maslow's theory will also be applied when considering the remuneration that is going to be given out. According to this theory, an employee's most basic need should first be met before they become motivated to achieve higher (Lauby,1). The understanding is that most of our employees will come from the learning community on the campus. These are usually young people. They will want to feel safe and physiologically satisfied. So the remuneration that is going to meet their basic needs which include food and water since the assumption here is that they are already housed by the school. By doing this, their self-esteem will be raised, and they will work harder.The Expectancy theory states that people (employees) choose how to behave depending on the outcomes expected from their behavior (Lauby,4). This plan tends to apply this theory by coming up with a set of personal development plans, which will determine the number of benefits each employee will get. The personal development plan will be based on customer feedback on a certain employee, the amount of profit the business makes and recommendation from the manager. By using this theory, the plan is to have an employee of the month every time and who will enjoy certain rewards for the period he or she enjoys that status. By doing this, the level of competition among the employees will be high which will increase productivity.The Hawthorne effect theory suggests that people tend to work harder and perform better when they are being observed (Latham, 21). However, the business will want to offer some sense of responsibility to its employees. It is not the intention of the business to always hover around the employees lest they feel molested or untrustworthy. However, around this issue, the business wants to take the approach of providing qualitative feedback to its employees through employing some systems of quality checks. It will also provide a system of working hours, mostly in shifts that are selected by an individual in most cases. The space for the restaurant will be properly constructed for easy movement and all security checks installed in the establishment. By doing this, our employees will feel safe, self-motivated and will work to the best of their capabilities.The three-dimensional theory explains that meaning is interpreted by the behavior of self or other people. How behavior is attributed can have a direct influence on our behavior in future (Latham, 56). This theory will be applied to motivate employees by giving them specific feedback on their failures and how they improve those failures in the best way. This will be done by seeking services of peer trainers or motivational speakers to offer them solutions on how they can be best performers in what they do. This is extremely important, especially because most of them are supposing very new to the business and they do not have the experience dealing with customers who are diverse in the habits, religion, or race.FundingThe business plan requires funding, which is not easy to get. To raise capital, the first decision is to raise the money between ourselves. This way the contribution will be from our savings and the funds received from the government as bursaries. However, this is not enough. Therefore, other ways of coming up with the capital will be undertaken. The other way is to employ a form of crowd funding from the students. The plan is to campaign to the students the benefits and the change in the culinary pleasure they will get if this business plan goes through. A special promotion to every student who contributes towards the establishment either through subsidized prices for the first few days or months after takeoff or through lifelong membership to the restaurant for the time they will be on campus will be on offer. The reason why these two ways of raising funds have been preferred is that the students will have a feeling of ownership to the restaurant.There is a possibility that the two mentioned ways of raising the capital might not raise the target capital. If they do not raise enough, then other ways will be sought. The other preferred mode of raising capital is by searching for a suitable sponsor who has the interest of the campus. The idea is that the sponsor will fund the establishment of the restaurant and will be paid back within a stipulated time, probably years but with interest to be decided on. However, if a sponsor willing to be paid back after sometime will not be found, then he or she can be offered part ownership of the business depending on the amount of funds he will have brought compared to the already raised funds. In this case, the sponsor to be sought would be probably an established business organization, an institution like a church or an individual businessperson who is trustworthy.If the discussed methods fail, then this idea should be sold to the Faculty. It is a good idea that will bring a learning ground to the students. It can also offer internship programs to the students if well run. If the faculty agrees, it will act as the main sponsor for an indefinite amount of time but will be responsible for the hiring, management and day-to-day running of the restaurant. It will create jobs for the students but at the same time will act as a way to earn extra income, which can be used to provide sponsorships to needy students.ConclusionThe business plan as discussed is a good venture because if implemented will bring unique services to the campus. It will change the attitude that other eateries have towards the students and the teachers who dine there. By implementing strictly to the standards discussed will offer revenue to the campus and students and at the same time will be a learning ground for other businesses around the campus. There is a lot of challenge going, but with enough support from friends, institutions, and the campus in general, this is an idea that will serve as an example to students. The fundamental idea is that students will have something that they can call their own, will motivate them, and will inspire them.ReferencesCaruth, Donald L, Gail D Caruth, and Stephanie S Pane.Staffing The Contemporary Organization: A Guide To Planning, Recruiting, And Selecting For Human Resource Professionals: A Guide To Planning, Recruiting, And Selecting For Human Resource Professionals Third Edition. 3rd ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2009.Latham, Gary P. Work Motivation: History, Theory, Research, and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2007.Lauby, Sharlyn J. Motivating Employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press, 2005.Raymundo, Oscar. "Richard Branson: Companies Should Put Employees First". Inc.com. N.p., 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/oscar-raymundo/richard-branson-companies- should-put-employees-first.html