Restaurant Promotional Strategies Analysis

This assignment requires a comparative analysis of the promotional strategies employed by two renowned restaurants: The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Students must examine their respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in the context of marketing. The analysis should draw upon provided resources and highlight key differences and similarities in their approaches.

Food and Beverages
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
Strengths and weaknesses of The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay..................................3
MACRO ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................5
Pestle analysis..................................................................................................................................5
Suggesting for improvement of business.............................................................................................6
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................................8
APPENDIX........................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
The following research is based on food and beverages and to understand its importance in
hospitality sector, two restaurants The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay are taking into the
consideration. These both organization are dealing in hospitality sector and also offer food and
beverages in UK. Objectives that will cover under the study are effectiveness of operational
planning in hospitality unit, recommendations for developing performance indicators, evaluation of
importance of marketing, sales and promotion in relation to food and beverages management. Along
with this, SWOT and PESTEL analysis tools will also use to assess the internal and external
environment where both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay are operating their business.
Strengths and weaknesses of The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
In the case of The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurants, SWOT analysis
helps in provides information that can be use to match the organization capabilities and resources
with the competitive environment. But, before analysis, a checklist has to be prepare which include
menus, resources, promotions techniques, staffing and merchandising. The develop list helps in
separating the strengths and weaknesses of both the organizations. It becomes easy to compare the
food and beverages services as well as other operations. The evaluation of different operations of
both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurants are as follows.
Menus: The Ledbury restaurant has opened in 2005 in London which has operated by young and
energetic team of different chef's and other staff members. Dining style of this restaurant is Casual
Elegant and cuisines are in nature of contemporary European. It has offered lunch and dinner
services to the customers. Menu of The Ledbury has divided into different segments: tasting, lunch,
set lunch, vegetarian tasting and dinner. Along with this, the pre dessert menu of restaurant is
Brown Sugar Tart and Stem Ginger Ice Cream (About The Ledbury. 2016). On the other hand,
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has offered elegant and unsurpassed modern French cuisine by using
different kinds of ingredients. The dining style of this restaurant is fine dining and characteristic of
its cuisines is contemporary French. Menu of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has divided into different
segment: A La Carte, Lunch Menu, Prestige Menu, Seasonal inspiration, vegetarian menu, dessert
and wine. Along with this, the various kinds of starters and main courses have also offered by
restaurant to its customers (About Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. 2016). Although, the quality of the
food and drinks of both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurants are good in
quality and give excellent experiences to the customers. The menus of the both restaurants are
different in nature and they are offering huge number of diversified food and beverages products.
Staffing: The Ledbury has hire the new employees by posting the job descriptions on various
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information sources such as company website, job portals, newspapers etc. For each and every
position, HR department of restaurant has created a complete job description. At the time of staffing
of new applicants, The Ledbury ensure that it hires skilled persons so that quality of services should
be maintain. Along with this, the dress code for the staff members are smart casual. The reason
mention dress code is maintain the equality between the employees at the workplace (Ashe-
Edmunds, 2016). On the other side, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurant has outsource its staffing
activity because organization wants to focus on its core competencies. The entire process of
recruiting and selection of new applicants has done by other company. HR department of Restaurant
Gordon Ramsay has manage different activities related to employee management such as payrolls,
salaries, insurance, basic details of the staff members etc (Ashe-Edmunds, 2016). The dress code for
the employees are jacket where they can carried any dress style.
Merchandising: The best way to make money in restaurant is to sell as much as merchandise as it
possible with high possible margins. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and The Ledbury restaurants are
two organization which are operating business based on this method (Rieple and Singh, 2010). The
Ledbury has use window displays techniques for marketing for its food and beverages. Here,
restaurant has display its some special food products according to the seasons in the windows in
different equipments (Marrs, 2015). On the other hand, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has used
destination merchandise method for market its food and beverages services in the target market.
Under this, there are various kinds of food and beverages menus for the customers which are special
and unique in the nature. The taste and flavours of food products give excellent experiences to the
users (The 6 Types of Merchandise Your Retail Store Must Carry. 2015).
Promotions: The Ledbury has used different types of promotional techniques to promote its brand
as well as services in the target customers. In this context, restaurant has posted the new upcoming
events in the organization, customer reviews on its services, launching of new food or beverages etc
on different social media (Svastisalee and et. al., 2011). It has helped restaurant to developed and
maintain good public relationship with the consumers. Along with this, by organizing the contests in
the restaurant, The Ledbury has promoted its services. In this, end users no need to buy the food or
services. By conducting the different contest on various occasions or on monthly basis, it has easy
to bring the attention of the customers (Hose, 2016). On another side, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
has taken the help of different types of advertisement methods for promoting the food and
beverages services. It has convey the important information to end users and increased the customer
traffic (Troy, 2012).
Note: SWOT analysis of both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay restaurants in
Appendix
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MACRO ENVIRONMENT
Pestle analysis
Macro environment consists of external factors which affect performance of corporation to a
great extent. Both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay are operating in UK. Owing to this,
it will be affected by external environment in the same manner. It has been explained as follows- Political factors-Political factors affect performance of corporation because of changes in
external environment (Kubota and Shimano, 2010). Here, Genetically modified labelling is
the regulation of UK government imposed in 2004. It states that it is the momentary for
restaurants to inform consumers of fast food if food contain Genetically modified ingrediets
(Baraban, 2010). Similarly, introduction of Goods and Service Tax affected price of product
to a great extent. Owing to this, both organization shifted their focus on improving service
quality so as to attract more buyers. Economic factors-The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay may suffer from economic
issues due to changing policies and regulation. At this juncture, debt crisis and high
exchange rate tend to have direct impact on profitability of restaurants (Haug, L.S. and et.
al., 2010). Due to such kind of issues, income inequality take place which reduced buying
power of customers. However, restaurants tends to perform good even at the time of
recession because consumers addicted of hotels, try to shift to food of restaurants. Social factors-There are positive changes in social factors which proves to be positive for
growth and development of both restaurants (Belda, Ribes-Dasi and Riudavets, 2011).
Number of people travel across nation are increasing which increases scope of fast food
chain. In addition to this, busy life styles of UK residents provide more scope for growth of
restaurants by increasing demand of fast food. Similarly, customers are becoming health
concious because the nation is already facing main issue related to obesity (Lang and
Heasman, 2015). Technology factors-Under this, social media is becoming the most significant aspect for
managing the business (Haug and et.al., 2010). Here, The Ledbury Restaurant is using
up[graded technology for the purpose of having great ambiance to consumers. This way it
promotes products and services by using appropriate technology. On the other hand, Gordon
Ramsay also making use of new technologies for customer attraction (Kemp and et. al.,
2010) Environment factor-Restaurants get affected because of change in environmental factors. It
can harm corporation through climate change that raises ocean level and situation of floods
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can destroy resorts and restaurants (Mena, Adenso-Diaz and Yurt, 2011). In addition to this,
rise in cost of oil and coals boosts prices of products and services which may create
dissatisfaction among buyers.
 Legal factor-Legal factors affect performance of UK restaurants to a great extent. It is
because company need to ensure compliance of Health and Safety guidelines and Food
Standard Agency's regulations imposed by government of UK. Furthermore, consumer
protection regulation and employment Act imposed by UK need to be considered by
organization. In case of default made by any restaurant, Fast Food agency can take legal
action because this it responsible for health and safety of UK residents (Mashhadi and Ijaz-
Ur-Rehman, 2012).
SUGGESTING FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BUSINESS
The above mentioned findings are showing that both The Ledbury and Restaurant Gordon
Ramsay are operating in UK and provides wide range of food services to customers. Thus, some
kind of issues which are uncontrollable can affect performance of the same. Here, Pestle analysis
has been used to analyse the situation of corporations. Similarly, SWOT analysis has also been used
for assessing effectiveness of both corporations in the marketplace. These two tools are effective in
order to analyse the current position of restaurants and accordingly bringing improvement in the
same (Peric and Djurkin, 2014). As per the application of both tools, management of The Ledbury
and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay can be suggested for meeting expectation of buyers and increasing
profitability.
The Ledbury
The Ledbury offers additional services related to outdoor dining, wheelchair access and non-
smoking restaurants. However, it offers relatively less variety of beverages. Owing to this, company
can focus on providing wide range beverages in order to ensure rapid growth in the marketplace.
Though, it uses effective promotional techniques but still innovative ideas can be implemented to
enter into new market (Brey, 2010). For example, it can enter into new market of UK with variety
of combo pack of food. Here, focus can be laid on low prices in order to value customers' spending
and retain them for longer time span. Furthermore, The Ledbury can focus on its innovative
strategies to beat competition and ensure its continuous growth at international level (Ruiz-Molina,
Gil-Saura and Šeric, 2013). Apart from this, focus can be laid on research and development thereby
expectations of customers can be assessed. This proves to be effective in offering food services.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay should focus on technological innovation in order to attract
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more buyers. This aspects can increase sales turnover which leads to create competitive edge of
firm in the marketplace. Furthermore, focus can be laid on marketing and promotion of products
and services. This way buyers will be attracted towards Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. In addition to
this, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay can expand itself in emerging market of UK(Tsiotsou and Ratten,
2010). For this purpose, corporation must focus on recruiting competent workforce and provide
them training in order to bring innovation and creativity in current service quality. Thus, companies
can create its strong position on the marketplace (Pomeranz, 2013).
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report concludes that restaurants should focus on its promotion policies
and proper development of staff members. It helps to meet expectations of buyers and deliver them
good quality of services. It can also be said that SWOT and PESTLE are imperative tool to assess
performance of organization in specific country. Restaurants can adopt effective strategies for
increasing skills and knowledge of employees working so as to retain buyers for long er time span.
Similarly, models of communication must be upgraded like social media, mobile app through which
brand recognition can be created. Moreover, focus can be laid on complying regulatory framework
and provide range of food services accordingly. This aspects tend to beat competition and create
ensure fast growth of corporation at national level.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baraban, R.S., 2010. Successful Restaurant Design. London, John Wiley & Sons.
Belda, C., Ribes-Dasi, M. and Riudavets, J., 2011. Improving pest management in pet food mills
using accurate monitoring and spatial analysis. Journal of Stored Products Research. 47(4).
pp.385-392.
Brey, E. T., 2010. Developing a better understanding of resort management: An inquiry into
industry practices. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management.20(1). pp.79-102.
Haug, L.S. and et.al., 2010. Levels in food and beverages and daily intake of perfluorinated
compounds in Norway. Chemosphere. 80(10). pp.1137-1143.
Kemp, K. and et. al., 2010. Food miles: Do UK consumers actually care?. Food Policy. 35(6).
pp.504-513.
Kubota, H. and Shimano, K., 2010. Effects of ski resort management on vegetation. Landscape and
ecological engineering. 6(1). pp.61-74.
Lang, T. and Heasman, M., 2015. Food wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets.
Routledge.
Mashhadi, A.H. and Ijaz-Ur-Rehman, Q., 2012. Impact of External Environment on the
Performance of the Fast Food Industry. International Journal of Management, Economics and
Social Sciences. 1(1).
Mena, C., Adenso-Diaz, B. and Yurt, O., 2011. The causes of food waste in the supplier–retailer
interface: evidences from the UK and Spain. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 55(6).
pp.648-658.
Peric, M. and Djurkin, J., 2014. Systems thinking and alternative business model for responsible
tourist destination. Journal of Kybernetes. 43(3/4). pp.480 – 496.
Pomeranz, Y. ed., 2013. Food analysis: theory and practice. Springer Science & Business Media.
Rieple, A. and Singh, R., 2010. A value chain analysis of the organic cotton industry: The case of
UK retailers and Indian suppliers. Ecological Economics. 69(11). pp.2292-2302.
Ruiz-Molina, M. E., Gil-Saura, I. and Šeric, M., 2013. The use of ICT in established and emerging
tourist destinations: a comparative analysis in hotels. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Technology. 4 (2). pp.96 – 118.
Svastisalee, C.M.and et. al., 2011. Supermarket and fast-food outlet exposure in Copenhagen:
associations with socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Public health nutrition.
14(09). pp.1618-1626.
Tsiotsou, R. and Ratten, V., 2010. Future research directions in tourism marketing. Marketing
Intelligence & Planning. 28(4). pp.533 – 544.
Online
About Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.opentable.co.uk/restaurant-gordon-ramsay>. [Accessed on: 10th March, 2016].
About The Ledbury. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.opentable.co.uk/the-
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ledbury>. [Accessed on: 10th March, 2016].
Ashe-Edmunds, S., 2016. The Best Startup Staffing Methods. [Online]. Available through:
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/startup-staffing-methods-41879.html>. [Accessed on: 10th
March, 2016].
Hose, C., 2016. To Ten promotional strategies. [Online]. Available through:
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193.html>. [Accessed on:
10th March, 2016].
Marrs, M., 2015. 25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas: Tips & Strategies to Win in the Food Business.
[Online]. Available through: <http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/01/14/restaurant-
marketing>. [Accessed on: 10th March, 2016].
The 6 Types of Merchandise Your Retail Store Must Carry. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://retail.about.com/od/merchandising/fl/The-6-Types-of-Merchandise-Your-Retail-Store-
Should-Always-Carry.htm>. [Accessed on: 10th March, 2016].
Troy, 2012. 7 Main Types of Promotion. [Online]. Available through:
<http://troysmarketingblog.blogspot.in/2012/05/7-main-types-of-promotion.html>. [Accessed
on: 10th March, 2016].
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APPENDIX
SWOT analysis of The Ledbury Restaurant
Strengths
Offering more than 5 additional services to the
guest such as non smoking restaurant, outdoor
dining, wheelchair access etc.
Skilled staff members
Offers different food and beverages services
Good staffing method
Effective promotional techniques
Excellent services
Great ambience of restaurant
Weakness
Not offer too much value of customer spending
Merchandising techniques are not effective to
attract consumers
Limited market share
Limited offering of types of beverages
Opportunity
Innovation in consumer services
Take the advantage of digitalization for increase
sales of services.
Expand the business in different UK locations
Can be offer different types of cuisines
Threats
Increase competition in food and beverages
sectors
Stagnated growth
Change in customer taste and preferences
SWOT analysis of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Restaurant
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Strengths
Strong position in the market
Provide wide range of food and beverages
services
Highly commitment of customers.
Effective utilization of the resources.
Specialized in French cuisines
Weakness
Poor staffing method
Only adopt one method of promotion of services
Increase competition with local established
restaurants
Not unique dress code for the staff members that
create differences between them
Opportunity
Bring new experiments in food and
beverages services
Open new restaurant chain in different
locations of UK
Threats
High competition
Limited growth
Entering of various new restaurant in the market
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