Bbq Restaurant Marketing Plan

Smiley’s BBQ – Marketing Plan

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Smiley’s BBQ is a relatively new, family owned restaurant that serves premium BBQ food at its flagship location on Olive Street as well as from its state-of-the-art food truck. Smiley’s has 20 part-time employees of servers and kitchen staff, and 6 full-time employees that include management and a smoke chef. The owners often work during busy times and make appearances as well, but also focus on the higher level business objectives during and after the restaurant closes. While they have only been in business for a year and survived the 90% restaurant failure rate (1. Keller), they can tell that the warm months will be their best for sales due to people connecting BBQ with the summertime. One of the challenges they face is to boost demand in the winter time.

A SWOT analysis will serve as the foundation for this marketing plan that will focus on their growth strategy. Being a business-to-consumer company in a crowded restaurant industry, this plan will help them become profitable by increasing customer relationships and branching out in an innovative manner in the food industry.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
   Founded as a family friendly restaurant, Smiley’s BBQ has become one of the hottest talked about barbeque places in the area. Only recently incorporated in 2013 by John and Jane Miller, Smiley’s is looking to further create a name for themselves as it serves up tasty BBQ dishes for an affordable price. Presently, the company is run by the husband and wife duo without any other outside investors.
   

1. The Marketing Environment

• Competitive Forces. The competition in the restaurant market is extremely competitive. Luckily, in St. Louis the niche BBQ market is not as competitive with standouts such as Bogart’s in Soulard, Pappy’s (their closest competitor in proximity to our building), and the newest upstart SugarFire (that happens to be expanding into St. Charles as well [2. Mahe]). Yet, Smileys’ has to compete with all restaurants as well as an increasingly amount of competition coming from grocery chains such as Dierbergs and Schnucks that offer fresh BBQ as well.
• Economic Forces. The economy is slowly recovering from a large collapse in 2008. To that end, potential customers have come back into the market with dollars to spend on eating out. Fortunately, Smiley’s is an affordable food destination that a family can eat at without breaking the bank. However, additional economic downturns could prove problematic for their future.
• Political forces. The only political hurdle that Smiley’s has encountered is the location of their restaurant. They chose the location in close proximity to Pappy’s smoke house and have had some backlash from them for being “on their turf”.
• Legal and regulatory forces. With being a restaurant we have to abide by all the food safety regulations that the City of St. Louis dictates along with the State of Missouri and federal laws. All licenses have been granted are up to date.
• Technological forces. They currently have only two large smokers where they smoke the meat starting the day before. They could use another one or two when they get the right funding to expand.
• Sociocultural forces. BBQ is as American as apple pie. So, their product is often imitated at home with people smoking and grilling their own meals. Larger more professional grills have come on to the market making it easier for people to cook professional BBQ on the weekends.  
  

1. Target Market(s)
   By focusing on a commitment to service and quality, Smiley’s BBQ has effectively implemented a differentiation strategy that allows it to compete with more well-known BBQ brands in the St. Louis area. Its target market for lunch time during the week is definitely downtown workers who are on their lunch break. During the evening and weekends the target market opens up to families. It’s most profitable product is the pulled pork sandwiches and offers a unique dipping sauce for their onion rings.
   
2. Current Marketing Objectives and Performance
   Being a smaller company, Smiley’s does not have a dedicated sales and marketing staff. A lot of those duties fall on the owners and general manager of the restaurant. Currently, the restaurant has a website that acts as a central marketing tool for online and social media efforts. Customers can learn more about the restaurant and its menu by visiting the site. General hours of operation and location information are available as well. The social media outreach is headed by a Facebook page that works to get people to “like” the page and receive marketing posts in their news feed when Smiley’s posts things. One performance goal in this regard is to get 5,000 people to follow the Facebook page. As of this writing, Smiley’s is half way to this goal.
   
   The company has a low amount of debt on a revolving credit card and currently is in a 3 year lease on the space that they occupy in a commercial real estate property. While they have seen some success in the inaugural year their marketing objectives include increasing revenues by 20% and profits (which were very slim due to startup costs) by 300%. Revenues should exceed $500,000 and profits are expected to be $60,000.
   

1. SWOT ANALYSIS

1. Strengths

• Smiley’s is the only local BBQ competitor that owns and operates a food truck to bring the brand to predetermined places.
• The restaurant location is in close proximity to a more established competitor and foot traffic occurs regularly from people leaving long lines at the other place to try out Smiley’s since they were already in the “mood” for BBQ.
• Smiley’s is the only local BBQ place that offers boneless ribs via a patented rib removal process they license through Al ‘Bubba’ Baker (3. Sander).
• Being a family owned business, management (and the owners) are very hands on and keep up with what is going on without the place feeling “corporate”
  

1. Weaknesses

• Being a new restaurant and food brand, the consumers need more education to know who they are and what they have available.
• It seems as though most of the BBQ places have more of a sauce selection than Smiley’s. This has been one complaint that the company has heard.
• The process to smoke the meat properly is time intensive and to keep the product fresh adequate estimating of demand is necessary. This sometimes results in running out of certain popular meats towards the end of the day.
  

1. Opportunities

• The modern day worker eats out for lunch more than they have in years past.
• Many companies in the area have catered events in which Smiley’s could branch out and create a catering program.
• Many festivals are around the St. Louis area during the spring and summer (i.e. Taste of St. Louis, Taste of Clayton, Fair St. Louis, etc.) that Smiley’s has yet to be a part of.
  

1. Threats

• Competition from more established BBQ brands in the area is strong. Some have even gotten special mention in various “foodie” press (6. Newbould)
• Turnover of part time wait staff is an issue
• Any downturn in the economy could be hurtful to the company if people start to eat at home more often or bring lunches to work.
  

1. Matching Strengths to Opportunities / Converting Weaknesses and Threats

• Smiley’s has more opportunity for business growth during its off peak season that it has not tapped into yet.
• Various BBQ competitions that competitors have won in the past are available for Smiley’s to enter.
  

1. MARKETING OBJECTIVES
   Smiley’s BBQ is in the business of selling delicious BBQ at affordable prices. Besides formulating a market-oriented and customer-focused mission statement, Smileys should establish an objective to achieve growth in profit of at least 300 percent over the next 3 years (or averaging about 100% growth a year). About half of this 300% should come from new customers while gaining repeat customers for the other half of the growth.
   
   To accomplish its marketing objectives, Smiley’s should develop benchmarks to measure progress. Periodic reviews of these objectives will provide insight on how the performance is going and allow for any corrective action to be taken at an appropriate time. The major marketing objective is to get more people to try their products since an informal survey they performed mentioned 95% of customers said they would return. This leads Smiley’s to believe that just getting people to try their food once will create repeat business a majority of the time. Because of this success rate, Smileys will use the knowledge of these successes to market toward new customers. To capitalize on its success of current customers, Smiley’s should establish benchmarks to improve the menu it offers and look for new opportunities to add innovative BBQ to its menu. These benchmarks will be created from reviewing the current menu sales and looking at customer suggestions for what they would like to see (Example: Selling desserts has been suggested often).
   
   Another objective is to list coupons in various publications as well on the website to get repeat customers (or new business) to visit the restaurant in the off peak season. This effort seems to be one that can really help the bottom line since most of the fixed costs the company will still be incurring.
   
2. MARKETING STRATEGIES

1. Target Market(s)
   Target Market 1: Business workers
   Example:  Workers at Wells Fargo, AT&T, Edward Jones, and Scottrade that often go out for business or team lunches. These business people like any chance to get out of their cubicles and have the discretionary income to not have to bring their lunch. In fact, many studies actually believe doing too many “working lunches” can actually be counterproductive (4. Gould).
   
   Target Market 2: Families
   Example: Any type of family with children that can take advantage of the kids menu. While maybe not an every night occurrence, families often have at night out in which they can all enjoy a meal without needing to do the dishes. 
   
   Target Market 3: Football enthusiasts
   Example: Any person who likes watching college or NFL football. Since the winter months are slow, this season Smiley’s is trying to make itself a destination place to watch football games on the weekends since they have TVs.
   
   Target Market 4: Festival Goers
   Example: People who attend outdoor food and music festivals. Generally, these individuals are only looking to get small portions and snack or try several different vendors. The festival menu should take this into account.
   
2. Marketing Mix

• Products. Smiley’s BBQ has an array of smoke meats such as Pulled Pork, Beef Brisket, BabyBack Ribs, Turkey, and Chicken. Additionally, they offer premium sides to go with the main dish such as baked beans, corn on the cob, potato salad, and onion rings. Various portion sides are available depending on lunch, dinner, or off the food truck.
• Price. Smiley’s menu is very affordable and is value priced. An average lunch bill runs about $10 and dinner is more like $12 a person. Although, it all depends upon the portion size and the exact meat. The company uses local suppliers of meat to be able to bring the cost down as much as possible. Additionally, Smiley’s often runs daily specials to give customers even more value.
• Distribution. Being a restaurant, Smiley’s does not have much in the way of distribution. Although, they do operate a food truck at least once a week to be able to sell food at locations other than the restaurant. Take out is always an option and the company is considering doing delivery if there is enough interest in it.
• Promotion. Most of the promotion is done to get new customers to try Smiley’s BBQ. Since the company enjoys a 95% customer satisfaction rate, few promotional dollars go to reminding those people about the value the company has in the restaurant market. Along with a traditional online presence, Smiley’s promotes through social media and various local print advertising for the St. Louis Market. The use of the food truck also promotes the company through advertising when it drives from location to location. Smiley’s is also looking at doing digital coupons since the trend of conversion rates of digital users for food categories is higher than traditional coupons (10. Heffernan)
  

1. MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION

1. Marketing Organization
   Although the food that Smiley’s sells is customizable to a certain extent, it is relatively the same menu for all customers. However, the marketing functions are loosely organized based on customer groups. This allows Smiley’s to focus its marketing efforts on the needs and specifications of each group. The marketing efforts will be focused around the following targeted groups:  (1) business workers, (2) families, (3) Football enthusiasts, and (4) festival goers. All of the groups marketing efforts will be headed up by co-owner Jane Miller. She will have full decision making authority. This will be the way the marketing management will be organized for the foreseeable future. If there ever comes a time in which the company grows to need a dedicated sales staff then the company will look at those options when the time comes. Although a drawback to this structure will be a single point of failure, it will also allow management a better opportunity to consolidate decision making and allow a better opportunity to monitor competitors marketing activities. (i.e. follow the leader in advertising.)
   
2. Activities, Responsibilities, and Timetables for Completion
   All implementation activities are to begin starting January 1, 2014. Again with all Marketing efforts, Jane Miller will be responsible for implementing these tasks unless she delegates something to any other employee:
   

• By the end of the first week of January, update the content on the corporate website to add the new PDF menu that we had created in 2013.
• By the end of the first week of January, update the link to the new PDF menu on our corporate Facebook page.
• By January 15, send off the advertising copy (and coupons) to the Riverfront Times advertising department for them to be able to put it in their February edition.
• By January 16, make sure the website, Facebook, and Twitter all get a message that mentions to come to Smiley’s for the Super Bowl.
• By February 1, contact “Show Me Food Trucks” (9. Show Me) to get our information about our food truck added to their system.
• By February 15, start work on a new customer satisfaction survey that we will run for a whole month.
• By March 1, contact Mike Kociela at mike@TasteSTL.com (or 314-534-2100 x22) (5. Kociela) to inquire about how Smiley’s can participate in the Taste of St. Louis for 2014.
• On March 15, finish work on the customer satisfaction survey that we began on in February. Implement the survey.
• By April 1, finalize the plans for all the festivals that Smiley’s is going to be a vendor in.
• On April 15, remove the customer satisfaction surveys from their respective places and start the process of analyzing the data that was collected.
• By May 1, compile the results from the customer satisfaction survey and report the findings in a special management meeting.
• By June 1, fill out the inquiry form for Groupon (7. Groupon) to get more information on their program to see if it will be a good fit for Smiley’s.
• By July 1, create a plan for a new product offering based on feedback received from the customer satisfaction survey. Rob will be in charge of this with input from the rest of the team to determine feasibility.
• By July 31, develop a BBQ sauce naming contest to allow customers to try a newly developed sauce and give a suggestion on the sauces name. The winner will get a gift card and see their idea put into Smiley’s sauce selection.
• By September 1, create a Food Eating Challenge with their products. Contact the writer of a recent Riverfront Times article to add them to the list of food eating contests in St. Louis (8. Garrison).
  

1. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

1. Performance Standards and Financial Controls
   A comparison of how much is spent with what the overall goals are should be included with the report. The following is a list of suggested performance standards and financial controls:
   

• The total budget for the website and social media maintenance, customer satisfaction survey, Riverfront Times advertising should be equal to 50 percent of the annual promotional budget for the coming year.
• Funds available for various festivals for Smiley’s to be a vendor in will account for 30 percent of the annual promotional budget.
• Maria will be responsible for reporting all financial expenditures for the marketing efforts. She will save receipts for expenses in a folder designated for those items as well as entering everything in digitally in an Excel workbook also designated for marketing items only.
• All marketing incidentals shall be paid for with the Chase corporate credit card to earn rewards and save money. Additionally, if any bills can be paid on a credit card without incurring additional fees then the Chase credit card should be used for that as well.
  

1. Measuring Actual Performance
   To analyze the effectiveness of Smiley’s BBQ marketing strategy, it is suggested to compare its actual performance with the overall objectives. Monitoring procedures should be developed for the overall marketing activities that are required to implement the marketing strategy that is being analyzed. The following performance measuring procedures are suggested:
   

• A monthly meeting will take place between the management and a marketing update will be given in regards to the status of the current projects.
• A perpetual check of coupon usage will be available via the sales system. All coupons are entered at the time of order and can be accessed via the management portal.
• A quarterly report will be created to see what the best-selling products with and without coupons are.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Keller, Tracy, Concordia University, “Why Do 90% of Restaurants Fail in the First Year”, June 18, 2012
   http://online.csp.edu/blog/business/why-do-90-of-restaurants-fail-in-the-first-year
   
2. Mahe, George, St. Louis Magazine, “St. Charles Gets A Ribbing: Sugarfire Smoke  House Finalizes Second Location”, December 10, 2013
   http://www.stlmag.com/Blogs/Relish/December-2013/St-Charles-Gets-A-Ribbing-Sugarfire-Smokehouse-Finalizes-Second-Location/
   
3. Sander, Brice, Huffington Post, “’Shark Tank’: Former NFL Player Al ‘Bubba’ Baker Presents His Patented D-Boned Ribs”, December 9, 2013  
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/shark-tank-former-nfl-player-d-boned-deboned-ribs-video_n_4410675.html
   
4. Gould, Tim, HR Morning, “The hidden dangers of the working lunch”, July 9, 2009
   http://www.hrmorning.com/the-hidden-dangers-of-the-working-lunch/
   
5. Kociela, Mike, Taste of St. Louis, Sponsorship Opportunities, Accessed Dec. 15, 2013
   http://tastestl.com/about-the-taste/
   
6. Newbould, Arthur, The Daily Meal, “Five Barbeque Joints Worth Knowing in St. Louis”, May 28, 2013
   http://www.thedailymeal.com/five-barbecue-joints-worth-knowing-st-louis
   
7. Groupon, Accessed December 15, 2013
   https://www.grouponworks.com/get-featured
   
8. Garrison, Zach, Riverfront Times, “The 6 Toughest Eating Challenges in St. Louis and One Foolish Man’s Attempt to Beat Them All”, November 6, 2013
   http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/11/the_6_toughest_eating_challenges_in_st_louis.php
   
9. Show Me Food Trucks, Accessed December 15, 2013
   http://showmefoodtrucks.com/ 
   
10. Heffernan, Neal, Knowledge Networks, “Digital vs. Traditional Coupons”, Accessed December 16, 2013
    http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/fact-sheets/KN-Trend-Report.pdf