MCs International Hospitality Management: Haunted Maze Business Report

This business report provides a comprehensive analysis of The Haunted Maze of Lincoln, a hospitality venture aiming to offer a unique and thrilling experience through a haunted maze. The report includes an executive summary, an overview of the business structure, a SWOT analysis, market and operational analysis, financial projections, and risk management strategies. The business plan details the company's vision and mission, emphasizing its focus on customer satisfaction and employee well-being. The report also explores the market demand for Halloween-themed entertainment and outlines expansion strategies. It assesses the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to ensure its success and sustainability. The appendices contain supporting information, including financial data and market research.

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MCs International Hospitality Management with Professional Practice
TOU9175M – Managing The Tourism, Events and Hospitality Enterprise
Business Report for The Haunted Maze of Lincoln
Student: Trung Chanh Tran
Leon Davis and Princely Dibia Word Count – 3777

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Executive Summary
Lincoln city is well-known for the historic and ancient atmosphere, a peaceful city with
full of Roman traditional architecture and attractive tourism destinations. Travelers and
visitors could have the opportunities to explore the culture of a primeval city with a range of
fairytale passed by many generations. The foundation of The Haunted Maze of Lincoln is to
help the tourists having the experiment of accessing a mythical world and engaging with each
other as a team through many physical activities and brainstorming undertakings. Income and
expenditure calculations have been made for the next three years regarding to develop,
promote and achieve high financial performance. The following business plan will evaluate
the potential development of the project, giving a distinct point of view through the in-depth
analysis of operations, market research, financial predictions and expansion strategy. All
supporting information can be found in the appendices session.

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Contents
I. Introduction..................................................................................................4
II. Overview........................................................................................................5
III. Business Structure.....................................................................................6
IV. SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................8
V. Market Analysis............................................................................................9
VI. Operations Analysis................................................................................13
VII. Finance.....................................................................................................13
VIII. Risk Management....................................................................................14
IX. References................................................................................................16
X. Appendices..................................................................................................18

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I. Introduction
Business plans are widely used among new business ventures, especially for
many start-up companies in order to achieve the success in terms of financial
performance and maintain sustainability and aim to expansion. According to Gumpert
(2002), business plans are seen to be crucial and essential management tools for
entrepreneurs in the process of managing their new ventures. Many researchers have
considered writing a business plan as part of a symbolic action to gain legitimacy for
their next moves. A number of 10 million business plans are written each year
(Gumpert, 2002) has reflected the importance of a business plan towards the
launching of a new institution or organization, and this number still increases. By
revealing the future processes, evaluating the functions of every departments and
predicting the financial performance of the new venture can allow for clear aims in
order to grow. The following study will demonstrate the business plan of The Haunted
Maze of Lincoln, providing the insight and the perception of their operations
management, competitor potential analysis, pricing strategy, sustainability and
expansion plan in the future.
According to reports, Halloween spending of the British people increased
steadily from 2013 and 2016, from £230 million to £310 million. The following year
then saw a big spike in spending, which rose by almost a third to £400 million, before
a modest increase to £419 million in 2018. Finally, the revenue of 2019 is reported to
be around £474 million that reflects the rising demand in terms of visiting and
experiencing Halloween festivals (Finder.com, 2019). The report was also concluded
with a percentage of British population who believe in ghosts and paranormal
activities. More specific, 59% of 18 to 24 year olds either believe in or are unsure
whether ghosts exist. At the other end of the spectrum, those aged 55+ are the least
likely to believe in ghosts, although with only 53% not believing in them, this means
that 47% still think that ghosts either maybe or definitely do exist.
In terms of strategic management, it is important to analyze the direction of the
new venture: where the company is going, how it functions and how it will be in
future. Those processes should be evaluated through the venture’s vision and mission
statement as these are sets of core values which give all stakeholders a specific pure
background of the company and its activities. According to Joachim (2010), vision
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guides and perpetuates corporate existence. It is viewed as a mental picture of a
compelling future situation and originates from creative imagination, the act or power
of perceiving imaginative metal images and foresightedness. On the other hand, a
mission statement defines the space in which the company will operate. It focuses on
answering the question why this business should exist, also explaining about company
values, beliefs, philosophy and ambitions (Henry, 2008). In order for the stakeholders
to understand about the functions of The Haunted Maze of Lincoln, the vision and
mission statements have been stated as below:
Vision: To become a destination of choice for local people and visitors looking
for a scary and interesting place to spend time solving the quiz, enjoy paranormal
experience and earning valuable rewards.
Mission: To provide customers with an exciting and amusing haunted house
experience while concurrently offering a diverse selection of Halloween costumes and
related items. The Haunted Maze of Lincoln will be dedicated to provide its guests
with highest quality of service. In addition, we will continuously strive to create
valuable input for both owners and investors, also encourage the staff to develop in an
environment of trust, loyalty and caring.
II. Overview
This hospitality of entertainment is the combination of exploring experiment
under an enormous pressure of horrified atmosphere and paranormal activities, which
is caused by man-made auto machines and costumed staff in order to give customers
the feeling of mysterious and scary moments. While the customers or players is
appointed with a mission of getting out the maze by solving the quiz. They have to
take part in various of actions and activities consist of brainstorming, group working
and problem solving in order to collect the clues. And through those they can have all
data and information to solve the final quiz, which helps them get out of maze. The
physical evidences of the project can be clearly recognized by a maze-shaped building
located in Boultham Avenue, where is within walking distance and can easily be
accessed from the city centre. The building is decorated in a vintage-styled 1900s
English house with plenty of big pine trees to create a separated feeling and tension
atmosphere. The aims of this business is to provide a much more modern entertaining
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experiments for the local folks as if this kind of industry is barely found in
Lincolnshire.
Not following the old-fashioned tourist attractions in Lincolnshire, where
people tends to go to those places, pay for a ticket at the entrance and explore things
in a quite uninteresting way, and the worst thing happens at the end of the adventure:
they never come back for the same thing. The Haunted Maze can provide customers
the feeling of getting things done and receiving achievements through their efforts
within a limited time. The courtesy and satisfaction feeling will be the huge factors
helping bring them back for more adventurous experiments. Plus, in a modern world
where social media plays a vital part in everybody’s life, people gradually turn
themselves into couch potatoes, sitting in their living rooms, eyes in the television or
mobile phone. This project can be a good opportunities to get everyone out of their
rooms, make friends and students engaging more with each other or help a classic 4-
person family having a wonderful weekend doing the mental and physical exercises.
III. Business Structure
The company investors plan to develop business based on the satisfaction and
happiness of the clients as well as all the employees. All team members will be
expected to maintain complete discretion and proficiency regarding the procedures
and operation system of the haunted maze. Also the board of directors want to ensure
that their first priority is the safety and well-being of all stakeholders, including their
staffs and especially the customers. The employees will be expected to fully
acknowledge how to function all physical evidence of the property through many
training sessions and team engagements.
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General Manager
Operations Staff Administrative Staff
Customer Service Team
Security Team
Sales – Marketing Department
Accounting Department
Administrative Team

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Figure 1: Business Structure of The Haunted Maze of Lincoln
Job Roles and Responsibilities
General Manager: The manager will be in charge of all aspects of
setting up the business, physical evidence requirements and maintenance issues. It is
expected that the general manager can have the ability of predict and oversee the
potential and sustainability of functioning the new venture through many promoting
and business branding activities. Also General Manager is expected to be responsible
for all safety codes and stakeholder’s well-being management. Their responsibilities
includes of preparing, checking and observing all the installation and equipment
before, during and after the show. Finally, an Emergency Action Plan should be
outlined in case of any facilities malfunction.
Operations Staff: The operations staffs will perform their roles as indicated in
the assigned character descriptions, focus on instructing and guiding the tourists to
complete the maze in the right direction. All staffs are expected to take responsibility
of the own safety and the well-being of customers during the show. Any observations
of unsafety conditions shall be immediately reported to the general manager through
two-way radio. Security staffs are responsible for conducting frequent safety check of
all facilities evidence with the assigned areas. They are expected to make quick
movements and assist all stakeholders to the safe zone in case of any unhealthy
conditions or events (fire hazards, electrical hazards, tripping hazards,…). Two-way
radio will be equipped for each security employee in order to maintain frequent
communication with general manager and administrative department.
Administrative Staff: Those employees are in charge of calculating and
controlling all the issues regarding to ticket sales, revenue and business income. Also
the staffs are responsible for building and planning the appropriate approaches for the
venture in terms of targeting to the right market, recruiting more visitors and building
a bigger reputation in the market segmentation. Promotion and distribution are also
important parts of demonstrating the expansion strategy of the company. Therefore,
administrative teams shall develop strategic plans regarding to promotion activities
and distribution events to branding venture’s image, instead of focusing on financial
performance only.
Human Resources Management Strategy
As stated in the previous session, the company’s first priority is working
environment and well-being of the employees and staffs. The front-line actors will be
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assisted with essential equipment such as costumes, make-up, masks, dark robes and
shoes. Actors outside the maze will have duties of welcome and assist the patrons at
entrance. The administrative team also manage to keep the actors stay fresh and away
from getting bored by applying job-rotation every few months, as well as standard
benefits such as tea-breaks and teambuilding sessions.
IV. SWOT Analysis
One valuable tool for business owners and investors to use in identifying
internal or external factors and creating a successful development strategy is the
SWOT analysis framework, which assesses the venture’s strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. Also the framework is an approachable way for marketing
decision makers to examine all aspects of the company, potential marketing strategies,
discover healthy product launch environments, chart the development of a new target
market segmentation or assist in making decision upon release of promotion events
(Helms & Nixon, 2010). In addition, Thompson et al. (2007) considered SWOT
analysis framework as a simple but powerful instrument for sizing up an
organization’s resource capabilities and deficiencies, its market opportunities and the
external threats to the future development.
The following analysis highlights the internal strengths and weaknesses of The
Haunted Maze of Lincoln, also the opportunities and threats facing the venture in the
external environment. Owners and investors should focus on improving the areas of
weaknesses. Moreover, the company’s strengths shall be leveraged in order to
capitalize on external opportunities as they arise, and contingency plans should be
built in order to deal with threats caused by the environment.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Strategy: establish exceptional
business development strategy based
on scary experience and
brainstorming requirements.
 Structure: attractive vintage 1900s
English structure
 Skills: diverse range of service skills
 New business: lack of word of
mouth and promotion of the service.
 Seasonal Revenues: the flow of
tourists cycle occurs during
September – October and Halloween
period should be considered and
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within staffs and managers.
 Style: ancient, historic and
traditional style.
 Staff: highly skilled and well-
motivated staffs who have the
abilities to handle all possible
situations.
 Shared Values: clear and well
communicated among stakeholders.
 Reputation: design a strong
reputation development plan within
the local market first and aim for
international expansion.
managed.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Uniqueness: Experiencing historic
England history along with brand
storming through many indoor
activities.
 Market: new market emergence for
Lincoln City
 Human Resources: staffs and
employees could be recruited from
local market such as University of
Lincoln or Lincoln College.
 Guest Dependency: attract customer
to repeat consumer behavior through
great personal service and quality.
 Partnership: lack of partnerships
 Market Entry: potential for
competitors to enter the market with
the similar format and service.
 Economy: recovery from Covid-19
outbreak may take more time.
Table 1: SWOT Analysis of The Haunted Maze of Lincoln
V. Market Analysis
Market Geographic: Lincoln is an ancient and historic city which is centered
by a famous cathedral and an iconic castle. Located in the heart of County of
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Lincolnshire, the city is full of attractive buildings, including fine 16th century and
Georgian properties. Excellent shopping and leisure facilities are also available,
making Lincoln an ideal location for tourists and visitors to spend vacations with their
friends and families. People also come to Lincoln for unique prison chapel, tour the
towers an dungeons and walk along the walls with panoramic views across the city. In
the shadow of the castle and cathedral is the old quarter of Bailgate and Steep Hill,
where local pubs and restaurants are found and become an exclusive place for visitors
to stop by. Total population of the county is estimated around 756.000 and more than
50% of the people live in the urban areas.
Market Behavior: Lincoln’s economy is mostly based on public
administration, commerce, arable farming and tourism… with the iconic industrial
relics like Siemens. In terms of tourism, the city is a tourist center for historic
buildings such as the cathedral, the castle and the medieval Bishop’s Palace.
Businesses in the local area have the tendency to assist one another wherever possible,
creating a long-term relationship between venture and suppliers. Business owners
always look for partners who share similar objectives and values, as they consider
sharing the passions and sympathy is an important part of the process to ensure
customer’s repurchase behavior (Ashforth and Mael, 1989).
Market Growth: According to Global Tourism Solutions report, the visitor
economy in Lincoln has grown by 6% year on year. The latest data shows that over
the past decade, the number of people visiting the city per year has grown from 3.4
million in 2008 to 4.26 million in 2018. There has also been a year-on-year increase,
growing from 4.22 million in 2017. This rising had a huge influence on the city’s
economy as the economic impact has also grown by 30% over the past five years, and
now sits at over £216 million. This is a 6% increase compared to 2017, well above the
average growth for other destinations around the country. Moreover, the Visitor
Economy covers a whole range of activities and skills and welcomed more than 34
million visitors to Greater Lincolnshire’s world class visitor attractions in 2017,
contributing in support for around 39.000 jobs (Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise
Partnership, 2017).
Competitors Analysis: In order to achieve a strong and solid foundation for the
new venture, it is essential for the managers and owners to complete their research
regarding to competitor analysis. Scanning for completive terrain, shoring up the
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defenses against potential competitive incursions and planning for response strategies
is vital for organizations to develop and create more financial values, especially for
start-up companies and new business ventures (Smith et al.,1992). Moreover,
competitor identification serves as an important function in several fields such as
assistance of pricing policies, product design, communications strategy and channels
of distribution. This stage can help the internal stakeholders avoid the threats by
external environment and reduce the chance of being blindsided (Zajac and
Bazerman, 1991). According to Peteraf (2002), direct competior is a firm that scores
high in terms of both market commonality and resource similarity is one that serves
the same market needs with the same types of resources as the focal firm. While firms
with resource endowments similar to the focal firm that do not presently serve the
same customer needs are considered as potential competitors. And finally, firms are
serving the same market needs as the focal firm but with different types of resources
are called indirect competitors or subsitutors.
For The Haunted Maze of Lincoln, although no potential competitors due to
the location, there are few organizations and tourist attractions compete for the same
business sectors as direct competitors and substitutes, which have been identified
below:
Direct Competitors Indirect Competitors
 Lincoln Ghost Walk
 Escape Lincoln
 Deliverance Escape Room
 Lincoln Castle
 Lincoln Cathedral
Table 2: Competitor identification of the business
Target market: According to Lincoln Census Demographics, the average age
of people in Lincoln is 37, while the median age is lower at 34 (Localstats, 2011) with
a number of 87.2% of people living in Lincoln were born in England, specific
number can be found in the Appendix 2. Regarding to what have been stated in the
Introduction, spending on haunted attraction of the British people has steadily
increased over the past. Thus, millennials, local societies, families and tourists are the
target audience that company is aiming at. The city also has an abundance of high
schools, two well-known universities which are University of Lincoln and Bishop
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Grosseteste University and the largest education institution in the county – Lincoln
College. Therefore, it is believed that students would also become typical patrons of
the business.
Marketing Mix:
Product: The company will generate substantial gross margins from the sales
of admission tickets to The Haunted Maze of Lincoln. The secondary product line for
the business will be Halloween costumes and other related items.
Place: Products and services will be distributed to the customers via personal
selling, direct marketing campaigns, advertising and promotion events both online and
offline. The project will be located at Boultham Avenue, near Witham river where is
close to the main target audience – students and local people nearby University of
Lincoln.
Pricing Strategy: The business will charge an admission of £6.99 per
customer. It is expected to generate an amount of £655,290 revenue in the first
financial year. Moreover, the pricing strategy will be consistent with the
differentiation objective, to provide added value for a reasonable rate as opposed to
discounting and devaluing company’s products and services. Depending on the week
days, there are discount and offers available, such as discount for students on the
Monday, Tuesday of weeks if they are going in a group of 5, the target is to get more
customers via referrals. Families and tourists are going to be the main audiences in
weekend as they have got more time and money to spend at that time.
Promotion: Primary focus will remain on mass communication with local
press such as the Lincolnite and other advertisement agencies in the area. Direct mails
of promotion will be sent to potential groups of customer as a mean of business
branding strategy. Personal selling in the local market will remain an important
element of the mix in order to generate substantial resources of clients to fund the
target growth. And finally, building long-term relationship with local institutions such
as universities, colleges and chains of local firms will play a vital role in the
marketing strategy.
Sustainability and Expansion Strategy
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