The Individual Consultancy Report

Customer behavior is influenced by a restaurant's physical setting and perceived cost. Customers see the physical atmosphere of a restaurant first when they walk in. Customers require wholesome meals and an enjoyable eating experience. Because of this, the physical environment needs to be appealing to customers in order to influence their psychology and behavior when using a service. Physical environment influences customers' happiness and subsequent behavior by enhancing or suppressing their emotions (Ryu & Han, 2010, p. 301). One restaurant that serves patrons in Plymouth and other regions of the United Kingdom is called Wok Fusion. The restaurant physical environment is appealing but still, has some issues that need improvement. The paper, therefore, will focus on strategies that Wok Fusion use to improve service, challenges encountered and recommendation for future improvement.

Problems identified

Menu

The menu at the restaurant is not a balancing act and has too many items. The menu size was not kept in check and had too many pages. The company offered a number of dishes and some were not delivered well. The menu should align with restaurants unique proposition.

Web pages

Web pages did not have the correct design to avail relevant information to the clients. It lacked the credibility and professionalism and tended to destroy the image of the restaurant. The menu description lacked the correct graphics, descriptions and no matching colors and text font. The company required a new web designer and new design ideas.

Plastic Take Away Package

The disposable food packaging in the fast food restaurants include plates, cups, bowls, cups, tray papers, and doilies. The material can be sourced from materials including paper, bamboo, bioresins, paper and plastics. The takeaway packaging serves the customers but most of the materials end up in recycling, litter, landfills and composting.

Strategic Tools

SWOT

Strength

The location of the business in Plymouth is ideal for the business to thrive. The town has many visitors and local business owners. The Wok Fusion restaurant is located in Mutley plain which is a busy street. There are residential quarters nearby which offers the customer base for their food. The restaurant is surrounded by many business enterprises. The staff and the business owners offer the opportunity and ready market for Wok fusion.

Weakness

Music/ Lighting

Lighting is a salient stimulus in any restaurant. The levels of lighting impact on the individual’s emotional response. The correct lighting contributes to comfort and increased eating duration. At Wok Fusion restaurant, the main color of the room comprises of green and purple, in the visual sense of relaxation, meanwhile, corresponds to the restaurant positioning. Music and interior layout on the other hand, greatly impact on revenue. The restaurant tends to have increased tempo of the music thus increase the number of table turns and decrease meal duration.

Signage

Signage is the use of symbols to communicate messages to a specified group for the purposes of marketing and advocacy. At Wok Fusion restaurant, the signages are simple but not creative. The sign indicates the logo and foods offered.

There is ample parking in Mutley Plain and can accommodate many customers using motor vehicle and bicycles. The parking lot is safe and free of charge.

Opportunities

The layout of the restaurant includes the furnishing, equipment and machinery arrangement. The layout has direct customer excitement levels, quality perception and desires to seek the service again. The location of the table at the Wok Fusion has a tremendous impact on the customer experience. Table arrangement tends to offer a sense of privacy and portrays a functionality desire and boundaries to the customers. However, there is the need for improvement on the servicescape and allow customer spend more time in the establishment.

Threat

Threats pull the opposite direction of opportunities. The other businesses surrounding the restaurant include many drinking joints. The pubs play loud music and the drunkard disturbs the customers from enjoying their food. Conversely, the competition from other restaurants and fast food kiosks pose great threats to the survival of the Wok fusion business. The new entrants into the business increase competition. New entrants may revolutionize the market and push existing business out of the market.

The parking lot at Mutley Plain will create a challenge in the near future. Parking itself cannot invite visitors to the restaurant. However, the perception of inconvenient or unsafe parking will negatively impact the Mutley Plain Street.

Facility Interior

Equipment

The tableware such as the dishes, chopsticks, knife, and forks have an impact on the food experiences among customers. The plate designs have meanings as different flavors intensity requires different color of plates. The shape of the plate does not matter. A problem, however, was identified on the table and chair settings. The arrangements are not inviting, durable and easy to maintain their cleanliness (Singh, 2006. p, 44). The customers want booth seating to allow privacy, intimacy and protect customers from interference by the staff and other customers (Shields, 2006, p. 79). The curtains seemed not to have the correct function and decoration. Also, the pattern and texture were important elements missing in the physical environment of the restaurant. Therefore, the texture of tables, floor and curtains could not inspire the customer’s imaginations.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is semi-open and the customers have the view of the chief and the cooking scene. The restaurant considered the colors and white lights. The customers have the feeling that the food preparation observes cleanliness and health precautions. Similarly, the customers check out time is clear that the situation in the kitchen. The restaurant needs to maintain the openness principle to keep the customers satisfied. Lack of clarity would lead to customer’s resentment. The restaurant ensures that smoke and other smell do not reach the dining area and erected the chimney and exhaust facilities.

Air Quality/ Temperature

The air quality in the restaurant is of high quality due to ventilation. The designers of the facility made necessary arrangements for air circulation throughout the day.

Other Tangibles

Service staff appearance, gender and the number of employees have a significant role in promoting business. The uniforms at the Wok Fusion aimed at influencing customer’s emotions and other social cues. The staff’s uniform was mainly black. Although the uniform looked professional, it did not convey the organizational core values and image in an up-close and personal manner.

Marketing Mix

Product

The food product from the restaurant is what the consumer want and satisfy their need. The restaurant must thus endeavor to offer high-quality food and serve the clients.

Price

The restaurant is the price leader in the market. The prices need to be low to stay ahead of the competition. The restaurant keeps the price down but still maintains high-quality products and services.

Place

The product should be availed from the position where the target customers can access the products. The restaurant plays an important role as the access point to access the product. The restaurant design must be attractive and inviting people to have a distinct food experience (Sabherwal, 2011, p.94).

Promotion

The restaurant uses the public relations, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and the social media are essential communication tools for Wok Fusion restaurant. The tool should be useful in sending and conveying correct in the best way to reach as many audiences as possible. The message may be appealing to customer’s emotions or informative.

Physical Evidence

The products and services are the evidence that the restaurant is offering consumer in exchange for their money.

Potential Solution and Recommendations

More Characteristic Uniform

The current staff’s uniform is mainly black. The restaurant needs uniforms more iconic, consistent with the restaurant style and characteristic clothing. The restaurant needs to make the staff look amazing and modern as well as fit and function for the employees. The uniform should have a design specifically for the restaurant and promotes the core value of the business. The designers should add the latest performance restaurant uniform shirts that stand up to toughest working shirts. The aprons for the chefs should be durable and available in amazing colors in line with high-performance fabric.

Menu Image Improvement

The content on the website is the main reason people visit business enterprises’ websites and has the direct impact on website access. The content should be good, interesting and ranking highly on the internet search engines. The content should animate potential and existing customers to encourage them to visit the restaurant and the website repeatedly (Ryu, Lee & Kim, 2012 p, 30). Similarly, the menu on the dining table should be attractive. The menu should include the correct font, bold designs, bright pictures, colorful layouts to appeal to the customers. Wok Fusion needs to incorporate images on highest gross margin menu items to stimulate the consumers. The menu should align with restaurants unique proposition.

Natural and Environmental Friendly Takeaway Box

In the takeaway package, some use of plastic packaging box, and some use of the hard paper box which is consistent with the current green concept. The restaurant needs to invest in the paper box that is biodegradable thus increase its volume and applicability.

Implantation Plan

The restaurant will act as the marketing testing area as the business tries to improve on the deliverables. The restaurant will shift from the semi-open kitchen to the see-through the kitchen so that customers can view the commitment to the freshness of the food products. The strategy is to serve the market with the correct services and products.

The company will try the competitive edge through the chefs, menu, and the physical environment improvement. The menu improvement will involve blending the local taste and the international foods into a fusion recipe. The pricing strategy will be generic and will have an average price paid for the food products. The customers must be aware of the products and thus need advertising and promotion. A word of mouth will be an effective and cheap means to reach the customers. Also, the local media such as the print ad will be explored in promoting Wok Fusion. The aim is to promote the restaurant as an energetic and fun environment with unbeatable product quality at acceptable prices. The social media will play a role in building the brand through promotions other marketing gimmicks used by the fast food franchises.



References

Ryu, K., & Han, H. (2010) Influence of the quality of food, service, and physical environment on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in quick casual restaurants: the moderating role of perceived price. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism, 34(3), 310-329.

Ryu, K., & Han, H. (2011) New or repeat customers: How does physical environment influence their restaurant experience? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(3), 599-611.

Ryu, K., Lee, H., & Kim, W.G. (2012) The influence of the quality of the physical environment, food, and the service on restaurant image, customer value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(2), 200-223

Sabherwal, V. (2011) Restaurants have become outlets for some of the most creative interiors in the world. Architecture + Design. 28(5), 94-100.

Shields, J. (2006) Effects of atmospherics on revenue generation in small business restaurants. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 18(2), 79-87.

Singh, S. (2006) Impact of color on marketing. Management decision. 44(6), 783-789.

Walter, U., & Edvardsson, B. (2012) The physical environment as a driver of customers’ service experiences at restaurants. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 4(2), 104-119