Consultancy Project Main Assignment 2022

Running head: CONSULTANCY PROJECT MAIN
Consultancy Project Main
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Problems and Opportunity...........................................................................................................4
Purpose of Proposal.....................................................................................................................5
Background of Problem...............................................................................................................6
Opportunities and Improvement Plan..........................................................................................6
PESTLE Analysis – United Kingdom, for DMU Food Village..................................................8
Political factors........................................................................................................................9
Economic factors.....................................................................................................................9
Social factors.........................................................................................................................11
Technological factors.............................................................................................................11
Legal factors..........................................................................................................................12
Environmental factors............................................................................................................12
SWOT analysis for Food Village..............................................................................................13
Strengths................................................................................................................................13
Weaknesses............................................................................................................................13
Opportunities.........................................................................................................................13
Threats...................................................................................................................................14
Summary of problems and opportunities...................................................................................14

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Sources of information..............................................................................................................16
Scope of proposal......................................................................................................................16
Organization of the proposal.....................................................................................................17
Financial Analysis.....................................................................................................................18
Recommendations......................................................................................................................21
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................23
References......................................................................................................................................25
Appendix........................................................................................................................................30

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Introduction
There are various business strategies and implementations that needs to be developed for
the purpose of business planning and development in order to assess the sustainability of the
food village. The DMU Food Village operates a number of food outlet across the campus as well
as it provides hospitality services for university conferences and events. The food village is the
primary and a key dinning facility that is available to the University and is centered or located at
Centre of Campus that is just adjacent to the Vijay Patel Building (Dmu.ac.uk 2019). The Food
village has a wide variety of food menu that is available to the students and customers who are
willing to avail or take benefit of the various kinds of available food that is there on a daily basis.
The food menu basis is changed on a daily where the option for Lunch and as well as Dinner is
different for different days. The operational time for the Food Village is from 8am-7 pm (Mon-
Wed) and 8am- 10 pm (Thursday -Fri) where the restaurant or food company operates five days
a week, where the operations of the restaurant services are made available. It is well equally
important to take into consideration various business process, policies and actions that might be
useful for the food village in order to increase or stabilize the overall business operations. The
key problem that the restaurant can face is in line associated with the changing revenue
structures and various other food operators that is operating in the De Montfort University. The
key proposal that we would be taking into consideration is reviewing the current business
operations or the business structure of the food village and undertake various business strategies
and initiatives for the purpose of increasing the overall sales and increasing overall customer
experience or goodwill for the company. The financial analysis for the food village has been
done for a sum of three years whereby relevant assumptions and explanations in the field of

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revenue break-down and costs associated with the same are taken into consideration for the
analysis.
Discussion
Problems and Opportunity
The key problem that the Food business faces is the volatile sales level and increasing
operational costs for the company. The other key problem that the food business is competition
from other food retail chains operating in the food retail business. It is essential for every food
operating companies and retail chain to undertake various business and industry related factors
that can affect the financial and business performance of the company for the stated time-period.
The changes in the stated food business should be well analyzed and taken into consideration for
the purpose of analysis so that the Food village can undertake various strategies and business
functions for the purpose of improvising the same (Kang, Jun and Arendt 2015). On the other
hand, opportunities for the firm can be well in the field of increased sales activity and business
operations that would be helping the company in stabilizing and increasing the customer base or
the total sales base for the company (Foodserviceequipmentjournal.com 2019). Wide range of
available food menus and available possibilities of growth in the Food Village business can be
well evaluated with the growing demand for various food options. Assessing the needs and
demands of the business and the consumers has been the most challenging part for the food
operating company. The company should conduct various market research in order to identify
the needs and demands of the students and consumers so that it can accordingly take preemptive
actions and strategies for the purpose of overall planning and development of the food village.

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Purpose of Proposal
The purpose of the proposal is to evaluate the current business strategy of the Food
Village Restaurant Operating style and what are the possible ways with which the sales and
business activity of the company can be further increased (Osaili et al., 2013). There are various
business strategies and implementations that can be done in order to improve the business
profitability and sustainability and the same would be viewed from the long term perspective so
that the stakeholders of the food village can enjoy the associated benefits. The proposal would be
aiming at finding out ways by which food village can increase the projected sales and the
customer base (Feenstra 2014). The operational and business expansion plan for the Food
Village was drawn up with the help of various operational and strategic plan that the company
would be coming up for the purpose of expanding the overall capacity of the restaurant and for
increasing the overall revenue base of the company. The increase in sales and customer base can
be well done with the introduction of new kind of food products and services especially as a new
services which would be attractive to the target consumers (Foodservice Equipment Journal
2019). Researching the demand of the target consumers and executing them in the form of
business demand would be the key idea that the company would be approaching for the purpose
of expansion. The business of the food village has been solely dependent on the demand from the
University Students and Teachers it becomes very important for the Food Village to analyse the
transactions period when sales for the company would be high and when the same would be low.
It is important to identify the period when the company would be having a high sales or high
demand and low sales or lower demand so that it can accordingly take appropriate actions for the
purpose of business development.

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Background of Problem
It is equally important that the market analysis of the demand of food be assessed with
the help of current market research where likes and preferences about a particular product can be
well analysed. The current food operations section that the Food Village is having allows them to
serve both Lunch and Dinner in the restaurants (Levison 2013). However, it is well important
that the food restaurant open up various segments in which in addition to the two meal offered
they would be offering an all the way beverages and munchies section where some combinations
of fast foods, beverages and munchies would be well served to the students and consumers. It is
well important to add a wide variety of food range options that would be made available in the
Food Village Food Counter. It will not be only an addition of the food and variety of services
that the company would be focusing for introduction it would be strategizing and better
management of the resources and services that will be catered by Food Village. Services play an
important role especially when considering it from the food industry or hospitality industry the
way of cooking and way of serving act as an integral part in the restaurant line of business
(Turnwald et al. 2017).
Opportunities and Improvement Plan
Technological innovations and modern equipment’s has allowed the food industry to
grow in a much prosperous way and the same would be helping the Food Village Hotel in
attracting a large base of consumers (Foodservice Equipment Journal 2018). Researching the
demand of the target consumers and executing them in the form of business demand would be
the key idea that the company would be approaching for the purpose of expansion and planning
out the various course of action plan for the business. Food Equipment in various sections of the
restaurants would be introduced and the same would be as follows:

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Beverages:
 Nuova Simonelli the ultimate Coffee Machine that has been officially launched by the
Aurelia Wave, which itself is the most advanced espresso machine it has ever designed.
 Black and White4 Super Automatic Coffee Machines which is introduced by the UCC
that has almost raised the bar for high street coffee and how people perceive about the
coffee amore than a beverage (Foodservice Equipment Journal 2015).
 Zerica Water Dispensary Machine will be installed which will be brought down with the
help of Cascade Water Systems in the premises of Food Village.
Cooking:
 Alto Shaam will be helping the Food Village in providing a multiple range of multi cook-
ovens which is an improved version of multi cook ovens providing a range of food
cooking options to the chefs.
 EVO Fryers the most energy efficient cooking equipment range that would be introduced
for providing a range of healthy foods in replacement to normal deep fried oily foods as a
step for promoting the new tag of company “Eat Healthy Stay Healthy” (Scully et al.
2017).
 Cinders Barbeque would be introduced for serving various barbeque foods which will b e
a live counter that would be set up in the Food Village Foodservice (Equipment Journal
2019).
 In order to sustain with the high demands and speedy process of food services during
peak seasons and peak times we would be able to better serve our customers with a range
of Lainox High Speed Ovens which can be well used and implemented for speedy and
effective food services.

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Counter Services
In the counter services range there would be addition of equipment and tools that not only
improvises the way of serving but also keeps the taste of the food intact, this can be well done by
the Food Village with the help of available range of equipment and tools.
 Discreet Inductions which has been launched by Grande Cuisines heats induction-
friendly holding equipment during the time of the service, while discreetly hidden
from view beneath the work surface is one of the key attraction of the product that
would be introduced (Foodservice Equipment Journal 2015).
 Servers Drop in Units that is Suited and well adjusted for the Gastro norm
configuration process will be installed in the new units that are currently available in
refrigerated and heated configurations, which uses a plug-in 13amp socket.
 Compact Merchandisers would be introduced in the fast food and munchies sections
where sandwich and other quick services items can be easily placed and stored
effectively. The key feature of this product is that it is well refrigerated with
recirculating cold air that cascades down the front and over the shelves for
maintaining an even temperature that would be around 5 degree Celsius.
PESTLE Analysis – United Kingdom, for DMU Food Village
PESTLE analytical framework is applied for analysing the external macro-environmental
influential factors for an organization, which cannot be controlled by the organization. PESTLE
stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors (Nurmi
and Niemelä 2018). The PESTLE analysis for the DMU Food Village is explained below.

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Political factors
Political factors are those which are determined and controlled by the government of an
economy. These factors include political stability, government policies regarding the welfare of
the economy, business condition, international trade relations, taxation etc. These factors affect
the business performance of an organization and also determine the level of investment in the
economy which would boost the business performances (Zinovieva et al. 2016). The political
power of the UK is highly significant in the world. The political system of the UK is quite stable,
although the issue of Brexit has brought some uncertainties in the political scenario since 2016.
David Cameron stepped down after the Brexit referendum in June 2016. His successor, Theresa
May also failed to negotiate the deals for Brexit by invoking the Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty
and the country gained a new Prime Minister within a very short span of time (Jensen and Snaith
2016). Apart from this uncertainty, UK has good international relations with the rest of the
world, thus, creating a favourable political as well as economic support for business growth. The
taxation policy is favourable for the businesses, such as, there is 18% corporate tax on profits.
The Food Village will have a stable and non-interfering government and the fall in the corporate
tax is helpful for setting up the business.
Economic factors
These factors include all types of economic elements that influence domestic businesses
and international trade. Starting from the volume of production, these factors include various
micro and macro economic variables, such as, the level of money supply, inflation rate,
unemployment rate, consumption level, interest rate, terms of trade, exchange rate, national
income, investment level etc. (Castaño, Méndez and Galindo 2015). UK is a developed economy
and in terms of nominal GDP, it is the 5th largest economy in the world (Bell and Morse 2018).

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The GDP of the economy till 2nd quarter of 2019 was £513,029 million, inflation rate was 2.1%
in July 2019 and rate of unemployment was 3.7% till April 2019 (Ons.gov.uk 2019). The service
sector is major industry in the UK with 80.2% contribution in the GDP, followed by industrial
sector with 19.2% and agriculture with only 0.6% (Bell and Morse 2018). Due to higher terms of
trade and strong international relations with majority of the countries, along with the
Commonwealth Countries, the level of FDI is very high in the UK. Among the services, the
financial services dominate the economy. Although the country has a growing economy, the
Brexit issue has brought about high level uncertainty, as it would lose the access of the single
market of the EU and there will be changes in the terms of trade and international relations once
it formally leaves the EU. Thus, almost all the sectors of the economy are facing the challenges
that the uncertainties are bringing. The value of pound fell after Brexit referendum and that
raised the consumer prices within the economy. However, some domestic sectors, such as, the
restaurant industry is experiencing a good growth due to increased investments and
globalization, which has been contributing significantly in its global expansion (Zinovieva et al.
2016). In case of Food Village, the restaurant has the scope of business growth due to higher per
capita income, growth of service sector, moderate inflation and job opportunities in the economy.
Furthermore, this restaurant provides food at lower prices to the students in spite of rising
inflation in the economy, which has increased its acceptability and market share. As found from
the DMU website, the restaurant kept its prices unchanged even during rising inflation in the
economy and thereby earned customer satisfaction and loyalty (Dmu.ac.uk 2019).
Social factors
These factors represent the socio-cultural factors of a nation, such as, traditions, beliefs,
tastes and preferences, health awareness, population volume, integration of cultures due to

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migration etc. (Castaño, Méndez and Galindo 2015). These aspects are highly valuable for
business growth of a nation as these factors influence or determine the direction of the business.
UK has high level of cultural integration as there is a large number of migrated population
residing in the country since centuries. Thus, the tastes and preferences are extremely varied and
that has resulted in a large number of restaurants serving food from different countries and
regions. Moreover, the birth rate in the UK is higher than the death rate, the population is
expected to reach 74 million by 2039 (von Schantz, Ong and Knutson 2019). The country also
has very highly educated population and thus, their awareness about health is quite strong. Thus,
for a restaurant like Food Village that serves healthy food at a reasonable price, the scope of
growth is high. They need to understand the demographics of the region they are serving, as in
this case, the university students with multicultural background and they should cater to their
needs according to their tastes and preferences.
Technological factors
Being an economically developed country, the UK is capable of investing large amount
of funds in the research and development as well as in the technological sphere. London is the
hub of financial and technological institutions and various new technologies are developed and
implemented in the businesses, which improves the business performances (Gutierrez, Boukrami
and Lumsden 2015). The restaurant industry is also emphasizing on the technological innovation
for expansion of services and introducing new items to sustain in a competitive market.
However, being a small restaurant, Food Village is lagging behind the other large restaurants or
the chain restaurants in terms of technological upgradation or innovations, which require large
amount of funds. Thus, further investment is required in Food Village.

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Legal factors
The legal factors include various policies and regulations that should be obliged by all
types of sectors in the economy. For example, the hospitality sector must follow the regulations
on consumers’ health, hygiene and safety, food quality, labour laws for employee protection,
minimum wage laws etc. (Hamilton and Webster 2018). The legal structure in the UK is quite
flexible and favourable for the growth of the industries. However, violation of these regulations
and guidelines can result in imposition of penalties. In case of Food Village, the restaurant
follows all the regulations regarding the food quality, adequate nutritional elements in food,
hygiene aspects, consumers’ health and safety and benefits for the employees, such as, minimum
wage, labour protection laws, etc. It also displays the nutritional value of the foods on their menu
charts to make the students aware about the food value.
Environmental factors
Environmental factors include those aspects that affect the surrounding environment of a
business from their activities. These factors involve issues like wastage of resources, pollution,
carbon emission, and responsibility towards the community (Castaño, Méndez and Galindo
2015). Industries are adopting various sustainable practices to reduce the environmental impact
of their activities and likewise, the Food Village is also promoting sustainable practices for
reducing wastage of valuable resources, such as, raw food and processed food, using LED lights
for energy saving, energy efficient equipment, reducing carbon emission from equipment etc.
However, for investing in community development, they require more capital, which is difficult
for Food Village.

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SWOT analysis for Food Village
SWOT analysis is the framework that evaluates the internal factors of an organization
that are controlled by the management and which reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the
organization for better assessment of its capability to identify the opportunities and threats in the
market. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Bull et al. 2016).
Strengths
Food Village is a partnership venture between two large, renowned and financially stable
organizations, The Chartwells Group and the De Montfort University (DMU), which makes its
background strong. It has won awards for serving quality food and choice of services. There are
diversified healthy food choices suitable for students with multicultural background and at an
affordable price. It has large seating capacity and has partnership with established suppliers who
provide high quality product supply (Dmu.ac.uk 2019).
Weaknesses
The employee strength is quite less than the number of regular customers in Food
Village. There are only few checking counters, which increases the waiting time for the
customers. Due to these reasons, the service time is quite slow. The menus are rarely changed or
updated. The promotional activity is also less relative to the competitors (Dmu.ac.uk 2019).
Opportunities
The restaurant should invest more capital for increasing man power and implementing
technological innovation. That would be beneficial for improving their service time and quality.
They should utilize their strong financial backing by the stakeholders for increasing their
capacity in menu choices, types of services and innovation in food offerings (Han, Nguyen and

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Lee 2015). It also has the opportunity to capture a top position among the rivals by employing
efficient promotional techniques, such as, online marketing through social media, which is less
time and cost consuming but has a wider reach to the target audience (Tuten and Solomon 2017).
Its high quality of food should be promoted for attracting more health conscious customers. It
can also increase its popularity among the customers by participating in the social awareness
programs or community development programs within and outside the university, such as,
procuring fresh raw materials from the local producers. Food Village also has the opportunity to
expand and update and improvise their menu offerings. In this process, they should open up
scopes for collecting feedback from the customers. Various promotional offers can help the
restaurant attract more customers.
Threats
Rising number of restaurants with advanced technology, comfortable arrangements,
faster service and more updated and innovative menu choices are major threats for Food Village.
Apart from that, lack of promotional activities is affecting their brand awareness and thereby
affecting the number of customers. Seasonal threats are high for the restaurant as there are
holiday seasons in the university (Quang et al. 2018). Moreover, it does not increase its price
even during inflation, which is a threat to its profitability.
Summary of problems and opportunities
From the above analysis, it can be said that Food Village has quite a few problem areas
that create threats for the business and at the same time, has some opportunities that can be
exploited to make the business grow. Firstly, the restaurant should focus on the problem areas,

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such as, lack of efficient marketing, lack of menu choices, slower services, price upgradation,
technological advancement etc. It should utilize its strong financial background for hiring more
people and train them to improve the service speed and quality, investing more in research and
development of technology and menu, by conducting research and taking customers’ feedback. It
should also invest capital for marketing. Social media marketing and various promotional offers,
such as, discount pricing, coupons etc. should be introduced to attract larger customer groups and
increase brand awareness. It should also increase menu choices in comparison to the rivals.
On the other hand, there are various opportunities that the restaurant can exploit. It has
reputation for serving high quality food with good nutrition value, which is in high demand these
days. The percentage of health conscious people is increasing rapidly and thus, the tastes and
preferences are changing, level of income is increasing and thus, the restaurant can apply proper
marketing techniques and channels for reaching out to a larger audience. Moreover, it should
also contribute in the community development through engagement with the local producers of
fresh raw materials. That would not only help the local farmers and suppliers economically, but
would also help the restaurant to increase their brand awareness among the consumers and
increase their market share. They should also focus on market research to get an idea about the
rivals and choose their menu options accordingly. Furthermore, increasing manpower would help
the restaurant to improve their services, increasing number of counters and reduce the queues for
the customers. The market has opportunities for technological advancement and innovations and
Food Village must take actions to adopt to those advanced equipments, such as, Nuova Simonelli
coffee machine, Zerica Water Dispensary Machine, Black and White Super Automatic Coffee
Machines, energy efficient cooking equipment range, Cinders Barbeque machine, etc. Thus,

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Food Village has the opportunity to grow its business if it makes investments in the proper
direction.
Sources of information
Secondary research has been conducted for this proposal of growth for Food Village. The
official website of DMU and various online information sources for Food Village were explored
thoroughly to get an overview of the restaurant. Its offerings, promotional activities, and issues
were investigated from the websites and analysed using various theories. Several journal articles
and books have been consulted to explain the underlying business theories and models for the
restaurant business, such as, the concept behind the SWOT and PESTLE frameworks. All the
secondary information were analysed to understand the opportunities and threats that can occur
for Food Village. Based on the analysis of the internal and external environment of Food Village,
the potential solutions for improving the business growth of Food Village can be proposed.
Scope of proposal
The proposal for Food Village aims to give an overview of the business environment for
the restaurant and how it can improve its business growth in a feasible manner. The restaurant is
a small one that runs inside the DMU, and it is established through a partnership between the De
Montfort University and the Chartwells Group. Both of these institutions are large corporate
houses with strong capital source. Thus, from the analyses of the internal and external
environment for the business, it is observed that Food Village can expand its business in a
feasible manner, by utilizing the capital funding. Secondly, various problem areas were
identified from the analyses and it is found that by addressing the issues like lack of manpower
and skilled employees, lack of infrastructure to increase counters and installing advanced
technologies and equipment, inefficient marketing techniques, lack of menu offerings etc. the

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restaurant can enhance its business growth. This proposal will provide some recommendations
on how to address each of the problem areas and threats in a cost effective manner so that Food
Village can also improve its profitability and capture a larger market share in a competitive
market. This paper contains a detailed analytical approach for identifying the opportunities, that
is, the potential growth areas followed by a detailed financial analysis to address the cost aspects
of the business and its feasibility of expansion.
The theoretical models that have been used in this proposal were SWOT and PESTLE
analytical frameworks. SWOT framework analyses the internal environment of an organization,
which are controlled by the management itself. This analysis is useful for understanding the
strengths and weaknesses of the organization and how it can identify the opportunities and
threats and make strategies to address those (Sarsby 2016). On the other hand, PESTLE analysis
is useful for getting the overview of the macro environment for the businesses. It explores the
political, economic, social, technological, environment and legal features of the nation that
influences the business performance of an organization. For example, the stability in the political
and economic environment is favourable for business growth, similarly, population growth and
their cultural background, their tastes and preferences influence the business performance.
Hence, to identify the threats and opportunities of a business, it is essential to evaluate the macro
environment (Anton 2015).
Organization of the proposal
The proposal commences with the specific problem of the restaurant Food Village that
runs in the DMU for the university students. It is followed by the purpose of the proposal which
is to identify the growth opportunities for Food Village. In the next section, the background of
the problem as well as growth opportunities is explained by applying the SWOT and PESTLE

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analytical model. This is beneficial for understanding the issues and opportunities for Food
Village in an in-depth manner. The sources of the secondary data collected for the analyses were
explained in the next section. This is followed by the scope of the proposal, which provides an
overview of the theoretical models followed to explain the backgrounds of the issues and
opportunities. In the following section, financial analysis has been performed to show the
feasibility of the business growth for Food Village. This is useful for understanding the risks,
budgetary considerations and expected payback period. In the concluding section, few
recommendations are provided for the restaurant for exploring the opportunities and overcome
the challenges for achieving profits and a larger market share for a sustainable business.
Financial Analysis
The financial analysis of the company will done by drawing up the financial projections
for the Food Village for a sum of three years whereby relevant sources of incomes and expenses
were taken into account for the financial analysis. In three years of time development and
changes in the Food Village will be done solely based on the development and improvement in
the field of operations and management of the company (Haag 2013). Technological Innovations
and better services would be done with the help of introduction of various equipment and
catering products that the company would be introducing for the purpose of utilizing them in the
desired course of financial period planned out. Introduction of the various foods services and
equipment’s would be financed by the Food Village with the help of internal as well as external
financing. Sales Breakdown that is expected to be earned by the Food Village will be primarily
discussed given the current set of observations including the forecasted increase in the sales and
the customer base of the company (McKenzie 2015).

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Financing: The initial start-up amount that would be required for the changes and introduction
of various technological equipment’s and utensils would be around $1,000,000 that would be
used by the Food Village for better operational services. The two primary sources of finance for
the Food Village would be Equity Source and Debt Source of financing where equity would be
contributing around $7,000,000 and Debt financing in the form of borrowing and loans will be
around $3,000,000 (Sutton 2013).
Start-Up Costs and Requirements: The key startup costs and requirements that would be full
filed and required in the operation and sustainable operations is as follows:
Start-up Requirements
Start-up Expenses
Fixed Costs Particulars Amount
($)
Premises (RENT & RATES) $22,500
Salaries $27,500
Interest on loan 8% $37,500
Accountant Fees $1,750
Payroll Tax $2,750
Retainer contracts $3,000
Sales and Marketing $5,250
Postage & Telephone $500
Broachers $1,250
Logo Designs $1,750
Market survey $2,250
Preliminary expenses $500
Lease payments $2,500
Total Fixed Costs $109,000
Average Monthly Costs
Rent $1,875
Lease payments $208
Interest on loan 3% $3,125
Postage & Telephone $42
Repairs and Maintenance $104
Salaries / Wages $2,292
Total Average Monthly Costs $7,646
x Number of Months: 12
Total Monthly Costs $91,750

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Total Startup Expenses $200,750
Operational and Direct Expenses: The operational expenses for the Food village primarily
would be in the field of rent or warehouse, salary and wages, accountant fees and other sales,
marketing and miscellaneous expenses that the company would be operating in the defined trend
period. The total operational expenses that would be incurred by the company would be around
$104,500 in the first year of operations (Chan, Kwortnik and Wansink 2017).
Sales: In the first year of operations after the introduction of various food devices and ne range
of food services the Food Village expects the sale to be around $360,000 in the first year and the
same would be growing at a market penetration or at a growth rate of 10% for the year 2019. On
the other hand, side the associated cost of goods sold by the company was around 45% for the
company (Block et al., 2013). The increase in the sales is expected to grow at the expected rate
of 10% due to the introduction of various food range and services that the company would be
introducing for better serving the consumers. The newly added section of Beverage and
Munchies counter lined up with modern technical equipment would be helping the business in
gathering more customer base for the business.
Profitability and Payback Period: Profitability plays an important role after all it is a key
measurement for the company in terms of value creation by the company. After assessing all the
sources of revenue for the food business and the expense that the company would be incurring it
was estimated that from the first year of operations the company will be having a sustainable
base of profitability. In terms of profitability the company is expected to earn a return on equity
investment of 32% in the first year of operations and the expected payback period for the project
investment will be around 2.98 years as outlined below. The payback period of 2.98 years well

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reflect that the food business would be recovering the invested equity amount of $500,000 in less
than a period of three-years and that would be source of additional wealth creation for the equity
stakeholders of the company giving a positive and string wealth creation opportunity.
Payback Period Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Amount Invested (Equity Investment) -500000
Final cash Flows Received 157,748 153,181 192,333
Total Cash Inflows 503,262
Payback/Amount Recovered -500000 -342,253 -189,071 3,262
Payback Period 0 1 2 0.98
Total Payback Period (In Years) 2.98
Recommendations
Following are some recommendations that Food Village can adopt to improve their business
growth and increase share in a competitive market.
 Food village must focus on increasing its capital resources as any further improvement
process in any of the sections would require investment. The restaurant should restructure
its business operations to attract more customers and improve its position among the
rivals, which all run within the DMU campus, such as, The Riverside Café, The
Kimberlin Library Café, The Campus Centre, which contains Subway, Coffee Hut
(Starbucks), and Simply Fresh. In order to do that, it should make strategies to prioritize
the actions to be undertaken. Accordingly, it should arrange the investment and
sponsorship and allocate the funds efficiently. Making efficient strategies will help the
Food Village to reduce resource wastage.
 The restaurant should conduct a market study to understand the marketing strategies and
menu offerings of its rivals and also to understand the needs and tastes and preferences of
the customers. Based on the findings, they should innovate the menu choices and upgrade

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the existing menu. The range of menu should be increased while maintaining the food
quality and nutritional value of the food, for which the restaurant has earned reputation. It
should also increase vegetarian and vegan food and gluten free food choices to cater to
those customers who have preferences for those items. The menu design should be made
more colourful and attractive, which should mention the food value of each item to make
people more aware and more interested.
 They should hire more employees and train them to increase their efficiency of serving
the customers fast and better. High quality customer service is the first and foremost duty
of the hospitality sector and the profitability of the businesses depends on the level of
customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hence, to overcome the challenge of slow service and
long waiting time for the customers, more skilled employees are required in the
restaurant.
 Food Village must focus on installing advanced equipment in their kitchen for fast and
better delivery of orders. It should invest in installing modern and advanced kitchen
appliances that would make and process the orders faster and in a resource efficient
manner. This would help it to enhance its food quality by maintaining the food value and
also by enabling it to produce more orders in a shorter time span. Manpower alone is not
sufficient, but technological advancement is also required for enhancing business
performance and service quality.
 Food Village must focus on investing in marketing. Lack of efficient marketing has been
affecting its business profitability. Compared to other food outlets in the DMU, Food
Village invests very less effort for marketing and its marketing occurs through Word-of-
Mouth technique by the regular customers. However, it should start social media

23CONSULTANCY PROJECT MAIN
marketing as it is a highly efficient way marketing these days and as the students are the
young generation, spending a large amount of time per day on the social media. Hence,
the restaurant should utilize the advantages of social media marketing and reaching to a
much wider target audience in free of cost and within a very short span of time. The
process of feedback collection is also easier in social media, which will be beneficial for
Food Village for understanding the needs and tastes and preferences of the target market.
Posting promotional videos and updates on the social media is also useful for staying in
the newsfeed and generating contents by the user. Hence, it is necessary for Food Village
to be active on the social media for creating brand awareness and increase market share.
 Efficient resource allocation is highly required for Food Village. Being a small café, the
percentage of loss gets higher if resources are wasted and hence, it is important that
funding and other resource allocation is done efficiently.
 Food Village should also take sustainability measures, such as, using energy efficient
lights and other kitchen equipment, using machineries that emit less pollution.
Furthermore, it should also take part in social responsibilities, such as, engaging with the
local producers and suppliers to help in the regional economic growth.
Conclusion
The operational and business expansion plan for the Food Village was drawn up with the
help of various operational and strategic plan that the company would be coming up for the
purpose of expanding the overall capacity of the restaurant and for increasing the overall revenue
base of the company. Technological Innovations and better services will be done with the help of
introduction of various equipment and catering products that the company would be introducing

24CONSULTANCY PROJECT MAIN
for the purpose of utilizing them in the desired course of financial period planned out and that
would be helping the Food Village in better management and allocation of resources. There are
various business strategies and implementations that were presented so that the Food Village can
improve the business profitability and sustainability and the same would be viewed from the long
term perspective so that the stakeholders of the food village can enjoy the associated benefits.

25CONSULTANCY PROJECT MAIN
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Appendix
Feedback questions for the clients
1) Are you satisfied with the quality of the food served in Food Village? If not, please
mention the reason.
2) Do you find the prices of the food items are reasonable as compared to other cafes within
the university?
3) Would you prefer to come to Food Village if special offers and food items are introduced
during festive time, that is, for a limited time?
4) Would you feel interested to visit Food Village frequently if we keep a surprise menu and
price everyday as ‘menu of the day’?
5) Please give suggestions on the menu choices that you would like to have in Food Village
6) Are you satisfied with the marketing techniques followed by Food Village? Do you find
the promotional actions effective? Please give suggestions on how to improve our
marketing strategy.
7) Are you satisfied with the quality of services by the staff in Food Village? Please suggest
how we can improve the quality of customer service