Wk 10 EOC: Top Restaurant in Vegas

WHAT RESTAURANT AND FOODSERVICE CUSTOMERS SEEK

Restaurant and foodservice customers buy products, service, and an overall dining experience. To provide excellent service, managers must understand the elements all customers seek when they make restaurant and foodservice purchases:

• • Quality products
  -"Ingredients are fresh, including fresh fruit and even flowers, and you really taste a good balance of all the ingredients listed in every drink."
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• • Quality service
• -"Amazing service, great quality cocktails and the bartenders are very careful with how they make your drink. Great first time experience, will definitely be back for more drinks. The DJ is definitely on point."
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• • Cleanliness
• -"Great cocktail bar in Clear Lake area. Very nice upscale atmosphere."
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• • Value
• -"I definitely recommend coming during happy hour to take advantage of their amazing drink specials."
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• • Total experience
• -"Wow! This place is absolutely awesome.. Never knew cocktails could taste this good! Only been open since April 2016. Owner and Bar Tenders are super friendly and awesome... Great date night with the wife! Jon Taffer is not needed here #NoBarRescueNeeded

Wk 9 EOC: Why Tipping is Wrong

I think tipping should be banned because it not only dictates what the guest thinks of you and your service but it could also be seen as demeaning. Danny Meyer is one restaurateur who has started to ban this in all of his restaurants. It also creates a pay difference between the FOH employees and the BOH. Everyone works together to serve the guest, so why does one part get a tip and not the other? To fix the pay gap, the minimum wage could be changed to receiving what the employee deserves for his or her work. That way, any one person who aspires to make a good living would have to work for it, and not slack off and think that they still deserve the minimum wage. "The quality of cusotmer service strongly impacts a customer's overall dining experience. High-quality customer service leads to customer satisfaction and a good dining experience" (251). This would definitely create more business for the company and possibly create more jobs because people know what they are capable of doing. Yet, others believe that tipping is what drives people to do their best. "Overall, customers will reward service staff for an enjoyable experience by giving compliments or tips. If the service staff is being tipped generously, then chances are the customers are enjoying themselves" (68). That shouldn't be the reason why the staff should work properly, they should do their job because its what is required of them and because its the right thing to do. "All customers seek customer-centric service regardless of the segment of the restaurant and foodservice industry in which they are making a purchase; all customers want their own needs met. When their needs are met, customers’ views of an operation’s service levels will be positive" (250).

Wk 8 EOC: 3 quotes from Final Project

"Promotion is the means used to communicate to customers. In this book you will learn about several promotional tools managers use to ensure their customers receive, understand, and remember the messages sent to them. These tools include advertising, personal selling, and on-site merchandizing as well as product promotions, publicity, and public relations" (27).

"Sales pitch... the best performers are patient and wait until they understand the customer’s needs before presenting their operation’s features and benefits" (140).


"A mission statement, is a written reminder to employees about the purpose and goals of a company, to develop their service standard expectations. Managers also consider their own expectations" (276).

Wk 7 EOC: The Pitch

Imagine you're in Chicago, in the dead of winter of 1930. The Prohibition has been in effect for a decade now. It's the weekend and you want to go out and have fun with your friends. One of you has an idea of going to an underground speakeasy. It's risky but you all agree on going. Once you get there, you know it was a good decision. The air is thick with smoke and the music is swinging. People are dining, drinking, smoking and dancing, everything that leads to a good time. You know the risks of the Feds showing up and taking down the operation, but for now, all you want to do is have a good time.

  This is the theme of my pop-up restaurant here in Las Vegas, Nevada. A 1930's speakeasy restaurant. It will be called, Blue Velvet and will be located in Downtown Las Vegas at Freemont. The address is 321 S. Casino Center, Las Vegas, NV 89101, listing at 2.50 per SF at 1,200 SF. This is the perfect location for this pop-up restaurant because its downtown in the historic part of Las Vegas.  "Sales pitch... the best performers are patient and wait until they understand the customer’s needs before presenting their operation’s features and benefits" (140). We will be open Friday night through Sunday night, as if we were a real speakeasy; from 5 pm to 2 am. During these hours, we will be serving dinner and appetizers for later on in the evening. The waiting staff will be dressed in the 1930's attire. For the men: black suits with a bow tie, and for the women: dresses and flapper attire. It will be as fine dining as the Depression can permit, serving: European hors d'ouerves such as scalloped oysters, lima beans in tomato sauce with crisp bacon, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, rotisserie, and liver pâte. These are just a few ideas that could be served during dinner. As for the alcohol aspect, we will be serving liquor on a lower level. The motto will be, "Make your “wet” dreams come true." As for advertising, we will hand out pamphlets, and put our radio and TV ads. Since this is a popup restaurant, we will only be open for three months and possibly open somewhere else, just like a real speakeasy, where they must disappear within a short times notice. "A mission statement, is a written reminder to employees about the purpose and goals of a company, to develop their service standard expectations. Managers also consider their own expectations" (276).

This is my creative content, in which I created an advertising billboard for the Pop-Up restaurant.

Implementation Evaluation Control

The final step in any start up for a business is, figuring our how you will  execute all of your ideas to create something spectacular. "Control consists of measuring “what is” and comparing it with “what ought to be” and then addressing the planning, organizing, directing, or training needed to meet established goals and standards" (236). Everything may sound great in your head but it is needed to share your ideas with potential investors, friends and family members. With their feedback, you can adjust plans and information accordingly. "Finally, a well-developed marketing plan summarizes and addresses the marketing objectives established for a business. An effective marketing plan should be used extensively. Prior to implementation, it should be shared with those directly affected. Also, it should be modified as needed if the market environment changes in ways that directly affect the plan" (16). Once everything is set, implementing the marketing plan is simple. Get your investors, lenders, business partners together and start your business. Once all of the research, information gathering and financial paperwork is over, the fun will then begin.

Price

The price is another important aspect in any business establishment. If everything is too expensive for the experience you offer, man people won't perceive it as a good value. "Value is the difference between what customers get when they buy a product or service and what they pay to get it. All customers desire good value. But good value is not the same as low price. In fact, when products or services are sold at prices so low it is not possible to deliver good quality, it is usually not possible to deliver good value" (6). For my pop-up it'll be free of charge to enter but like any restaurant there would be a cost for food and drinks. Our prices will be worth the experience of a true speakeasy. It may be a little on the higher end, but there aren't many speakeasy themed restaurants in town. After all, they are paying for an experience, if they wanted European food they could go to any restaurant on the strip, but they come to receive that experience.

Distribution

"Depending on the portion size of the sample, the product, and its distribution samples may be costly or provide a poor return on investment" (161). Distribution of our products is how we deliver our service, drinks and food to our guests; this aspect may not seem so important but it is. It can affect the way customers feel and think about our establishment. We must distribute the same type of products and service to each and every one of our guests. This way they all receive the same service and will likely come back to dine with us.