Undergraduate Major Project Integrated Case Study on Honest Burgers

This undergraduate major project integrated case study discusses the strategic issues and challenges faced by Honest Burgers, a restaurant offering different types of burgers. It also provides solutions and recommendations for the same. The strategic issues include wellness and trend, high competition, and developing sustainability. The challenges include healthy and fresh food, shifting towards e-commerce, waste reduction, plant-based products, value addition to products, ethical issues, innovation cycle, and expansion. The solutions include cost focus strategy, special plan for sustainability, strong production procedure, digitalization of operations, waste management policy, value-centric advertisement, and strengthening ethical code of conduct and social audit.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Strategic issues of the organization-............................................................................................3
Challenges of the organization-...................................................................................................5
SOLUTIONS...................................................................................................................................7
IMPLEMENTATION......................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The major project is considered as the final stage of the course after the module has been
taught to the students. These projects help the students to draw everything that have been learnt
by them in the module. This project involves basically what all things learned by the student in
the module and then integrating the learning in the project. Honest Burgers is the restaurants who
offer the customers with different types of the burgers. The burgers offered by this company are
much expensive but the quality of the food is very good. This project will discuss the strategic
issues which the Honest Burgers is facing as well as the challenges that the company is facing.
Along with this, it will also include the solutions for these challenge which the company can
make for overcoming these challenges (KENYON and COX, 2020). Further, it will also discuss
how these can be implemented in the organization as well as the recommendations that the
company can use which will help them to lead in the market.
MAIN BODY
Strategic issues of the organization-
Strategic issues are the fundamental policy or the critical challenges which must be
considered in order to achieve the vision or the goals of the community. These are the issues
which are highly considered while making the strategies of the organization because the
strategies will be made for overcoming the strategic issues which the company is facing. Making
the strategies is very important for the organization as this helps the company to have a clear
vision for the success of the company because without the strategies, the company will fail. The
company having the effective strategies will help them to take the better decisions for the growth
of the organization as by this the company becomes more productive and more profitable
(Bryson and George, 2020).
Strategic issues are the unsolved or unresolved questions which are needed for taking the
decisions tom avoid the risks in the organization and for the smooth running of the company. It is
very important for the Honest Burgers and other company as well to consider the strategic issues
make the effective strategies for the better working of the company.
Some strategic issues which the Honest Burghers is facing are such as-

Wellness and trend- In the present scenario, the consumers are becoming more health
conscious and the consumer trends are shifting towards the healthy food. The products of the
Honest Burgers are considered as the fast or the junk food and these are much harmful for the
health of the consumers. The consumers are becoming much aware about the Health problems,
and they are more concerned about their lifestyle. This health and changing consumer trends has
caused high risk to the company. The consumers are shifting themselves to the food which is
healthy that is the food which will not have any negative impacts on their health. This has
impacted much to the company because this has become much difficult to solve this problem
(Adhikari ed., 2018). Honest Burgers is offering the burgers which is consists of the food which
may harm the health of the consumers and because if this the consumers are shifting towards the
other company who are offering them the healthy food.
High competition- There is very high competition in this market as there are many
restaurants offering the good quality products to the consumers. There many competitors of this
company such as the Umami Burger, Wahlburgers and many more. These have the competition
because they all offer the same types of the products to the customers. These companies have the
same weaknesses and strengths which makes them much similar. The problem with the Honest
Burgers is that it has much highly unhealthy food which makes this company lagging behind
because other companies are gradually trying to manufacture the healthy food so that the
company may stay ahead in the highly competitive market (Sadler and et.al., 2021). The Honest
Burgers company is not going for the innovation so this becomes the biggest weaknesses of the
company. It is very important for the company to introduce the new product in the market for
staying ahead in the market and lead the market. Honest Burgers having very competition in the
market which makes it very necessary to have innovation in the company as this will attract the
large number of the customers in the restaurants.
Developing of Sustainability- The another most important strategic issue is the
development of the sustainability. The government of the country has done commitment of
achieving the net zero carbon emissions in the year 2050 so it is very important for the
organizations as well to follow all the policies and the rules for the sustainability development.
The companies are facing many issues for maintaining sustainability and the Honest Burger is
also facing. It becomes very difficult for the company to follow these rules and the policies for
developing the sustainability in the organization.

Challenges of the organization-
Challenges are the aspect which needs very high focus to stay ahead in the highly competitive
market. It is very important for the company to consider these challenges as without focusing on
these challenge will hinder the success of the company. There are many challenges the Honest
Burgers is facing in the present era such as-
Healthy and fresh food- The consumers are becoming much aware about the health and
the fresh food for their consumption, so this has become much difficult for the company as they
have to focused on these very much (Bromiley and Rau, 2019). The government has made many
rules and regulations which must be followed by the company in their organization for providing
the food to the consumers. The Honest Burgers is the company which is offering the burgers to
the customers and these are not healthy for the consumers. They have to follow the rules and
regulations as well as the standards for offering the better quality food as well as the healthy food
to the consumers. Nowadays health consciousness is getting more attention in the society and
such fast foods like burgers are considered a product with higher energy or calorie. Specially for
providing tasty and delicious burgers the company is using chuck and rib cap which not only
makes it expensive but also makes juicier and not suitable for those who will to avoid such over
energetic products.
Shifting towards the e-commerce- The consumer is not preferring to buy the food by
the online order so the other companies also have to adapt this technology as this is decreasing
the customers in the restaurant. The consumers want that the organization should offer the
service of online order of the food, and they can have this at the home rather than visiting the
restaurants. The Honest Burgers company has not adapted this technology yet because of which,
the company is much lagging behind as compared to the companies who have started offering
the facilities of delivering the food at their house (Nakat and Bou-Mitri, 2021). Other
organizations are using E-Commerce in fully fledged manner but Honest Burger Ltd is not using
it properly (Sachs and Kettenmann, 2019) By Search Engine Optimization and other digitalized
policies market grasp can be hiked. It is a big challenge to mould the existing model of
commerce in the business and also using it in immense way so can maximize the outcomes of
marketing.
Waste Reduction- This is the most crucial challenge which the company has to consider
of reducing the waste by the consumer as this is harming the environment. Honest Burgers if

reduce the waste then they will be able to cut the unnecessary costs and will also help in the
development of the sustainability in the country as reducing the waste will automatically reduce
in harming the environment. Over the time there are a lot of movements are taking place the best
example is inception of circular economic model which says there should not be such production
system which pops out wastage. People are getting more conscious toward environmental aspect
and companies are also supposed to render their services and products abiding with the laid
down ethical norms pertain to the environmental well-bing.
It is generally seen in the food industry the waste of the eating material is so often, if the
customers do not like the taste or some other issues take place then they pour out the item. So
there is need to control such practices.
Plant based products- There has increase in the amount of the purchasing in the plant
based products for their health perspective. This has caused much loss and decrease in the
customers of the Honest Burgers company. The company is mainly providing burgers with the
best potatoes and quality beef. So can get the customers attracted. And Honest burgers is well-
known for the meat burgers specifically with the use of beef. Pointedly after the hit of pandemic
people are more likely to prefer natural and organic products. This would be a severe challenge
to take them into consideration and provide them the best quality burger as they want.
Value addition to the products- Since extending just tasty burger is not sufficient the
companies are supposed to add some values to the consumers who are consuming it. Due to
health consciousness and improved purchasing decisions people are no longer such traditional
customers, before making their orders they keep such value additive elements in mind
(Shipworth, 2019.)
More than flavour and ingredients, they want like vitamins, protein, minerals so can believe in
the product. Such burger products are strong choice of kids too and parents are very much aware
of their choice with respect to food items. For packaging the product the company uses plastic
wrappers which is not considered hygienic so such minute points are placing new challenges
before honest burger.
Ethical issues- The company is mainly offering meat based burgers and across the world
pointedly in UK where there are lot of different groups and organizations who are opposing such
products which are based on meat. Further UK (Burger-Helmchen, 2020.) is becoming a centre

for ethnic harmony where people from different ethnic group are living together who strongly
avoid use of Beef due to their ethnic believes or some other reasons.
Farm management also becomes another challenges since there has been such instances where
illegal farms supplied beef and some other types of meet in the nation so for every organization
who is associated in this business to ensure procurement from legal source of farms and other
row material providers. Treatment of animals is also a serious issue which must be pondered
over.
Information sharing is another such aspect that how the company is getting operated and what is
the process of making burgers so on. Since the society is getting more inclined toward free flow
of information and by the definition of law people are also given this legal right to ask for such
information (Belyaeva, Rudawska and Lopatkova, 2020.)
Innovation cycle- Although Honest Burger Ltd is providing a range of different burgers
consist both veg and non veg, but innovation cycle of vegan burger is very slower. It is having
around 25 sites in UK but out of them a few are providing veg burgers (Hrga, 2020)
For non vegetarian customers there are ample number of such products available yet the other
competitors of the company are providing more options even on reasonable price and with better
hospitality so with this regard the company is needed to focus on its innovation cycle so can
provide better to the customers and can also make its own position stronger.
Expansion- Honest burger is having around 25 sites and out of them 22 are in just
London (Daldrup, Krahl and Bürger, 2020.) Other areas on UK are also having great market for
such product and it would be a great challenge for the company to ensure its wider presence in at
least UK so can give tough fight to the competitors who are performing better due to their higher
expansion and better policies with respect to expansion of the business.
In the upcoming time for the company it would be a big challenge to cope up with the soaring
competition and positioning in the market. Besides the local competitors there are many such
global organizations are also making their entry in the markets, and they can snatch bigger
market share which would not be good for the financial health of the entity.
SOLUTIONS
There can be number of such solution techniques abiding with them would eradicate the
challenges and other strategic issues of the organization.

Company can form cost focus strategy for encountering competition. Since in the market
there are many of its competitors are not only giving it strong competition but are also grabbing
great market share. Honest burger is providing burgers with good quality, but they are very
expensive so can reduce the cost by some extra efforts and forming strategy pertain to it.
Special plan for sustainability will help the company to encounter sustainability
challenges. It covers policies pertain to waste, use of energy and dissolution of plastic waste and
other forms of waste generated by the organization (Siong and Yaacob, 2020.)
For healthy and fresh food related challenges the company can lay down strong Production
procedure which decides the production practice of the organization and can make sure
proper abiding with the rules and regulations with respect to food items which are decided by the
government.
Digitalization of the operations is an essential requirement for the company because
where all other organizations are relying on it the company is still not using it in fully fledged
manner, As the fourth industrial revolution is also based on the digitalized operations so it would
be a better solution to thrive more.
Waste management policy is rigorously needed to be implemented not just to meet the
ethical requirements but will also help to bring more efficiency to the organization (Watanabe,
Naveed and Neittaanmäki, 2018) Some other things like the company can promote the customers
to finish the item they purchase so food item wastage can be controlled.
Value centric advertisement where the value customers will be cherishing would be
represented so potential buyers can know which ingredients are used and how it brings better or
something unique to them. For instance- in description the ingredients like vitamin, protein can
be highlighted.
Strengthening ethical code of conducts and social audit may be complied by Honest
Burger so that can help in eradicating such ethical issues which may kick off legal perils for the
organization. Social audit will help to over look such non financial aspects which may create
perils in the future.
R&D expenditures can be raised so can introduce something new specifically veg
burgers with multiple tastes which would expand its market and attractive changes will also
incentivize the growth of the entity (Chen, 2018.)

Market expansion practice would be a good policy for expansion since the market is
getting competitive and other competitors are also placing bigger challenges before Honest
Burger so this will help it.
IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation of the practices for eradication of challenges can be carried out as follows-
For implementation of cost focused strategy practices like- improving efficiency,
increasing the scale of production, using advanced technologies, sourcing raw material from
cheaper sources etc. can be used to lead the cost in the market (Seidl and Werle, 2018)
Sustainability strategy can be implemented focusing on what the company is, data
management, action orientation, reporting methodology, invest in process, keep bigger
perspective for futuristic growth of the organization rather than short term profit.
Production procedure improvement is implemented with the tasks like- improvement of
business process, evaluation of production line, timely up gradation, recycling, identification of
production bottlenecks etc.
For implementation of digitalization practice Honest Burger can prepare proper strategy,
align the organization, adaptive implementation (Park and Roh, 2018.) complying with the laws
pertain to digitalization, and reducing data security related risks too.
Steps like setting framework, deciding targets, insuring proper execution of reuse, reduce
and recycle policy, further the company can also abide with the principle of circular economy
where entire focus would be on eliminating waste from the production practice so waste
management may take place in fully fledged manner.
Value additive advertisement can be implemented with identification of the target
audience, determining role of the advertisement, being creative to present the value, using a
range of sources like both digital and conventional channels to ensure sufficed dissemination of
value additive appeal of the company.
Ethical code of conducts are complex in nature due to undefinable definition of ethics
and it varies for different companies. For implementation such policies can be laid down, then
communicate with the all prominent stakeholders, understand the codes and timely review their
execution in the company and can also ask for recommendations for further improvement.

To enhance R&D capabilities steps like- deciding R&D portfolio, area of focus, deciding
the cost or fund allocation for particular research, and also considering the feedbacks of the
potential customers can be used for the purpose of implementation of research and development
programme of the company (Formentini, 2019)
Market expansion is a very tough plan due to the finance it needed and long term
outcomes of such plan. To carry out it proficiently Honest Burger is anticipated to Create
overview, develop finance plan, looking up new channels, seeking market dynamics, engage new
audience, audience analysis and then product and market plans. By following the cited activities
market expansion plan of the company can be implemented.
So for implementation of the suggested plans to deal with the challenges Honest Burger
is facing or more likely to face in the nearer future.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it has been identified that organization had faced varied
challenges, which had put adverse impact on its business success in food & beverage industry. It
has overcome the negative impact of each challenge and strategic issue in effective manner, by
applying useful techniques and approaches. By conducting this form of practice, it had achieved
key objectives and gained competitive advantages, in term of increasing profitability,
productivity and performance level, even better than last few years. By using advanced
technology in the context of specific issues and challenges, firm had taken experience of
generating revenue, and improved its performance, which play significant role in regard to
success & growth of supermarket. Furthermore, by summing up above analysis, it has been
summarized that supermarket had improved worse practice and also increased organizational
effectiveness as well as efficiency. The consideration of appropriate and justified solutions
enabled management to eliminate impact of some external factors that lead to increase work
pressure, and also create negative environment in the workplace that affect employees
performance and productivity level. It is fact that the implementation of effective suggestions
provide organization chance achieved competitive advantages in different manners by applying
various techniques.

RECOMMENDATIONS.
It is quite essential for Honest Burgers, and its management to engage themselves in the
context of solving key issues and overcoming challenges that put negative impact on brand
success in the market. For purpose of conducting these practices and obtaining unpredictable
results, organization consider some strategic recommendations and these are;
 It can be said that Honest Burger can sustain for longer in the food and beverage industry,
too long, when it considers the current market trends that individual customer prefer to
follow. As in the recent time, people prefer to eat health and prepare the same things at
home. It recommended to company and its management to make a plan to offer keto
burger, which is the most popular variety of burger amongst youngsters and other
individuals as well. They prefer to purchase this king of food item that is healthy and
tasty too.
 In the context of second issue, and to overcome other challenges, organization can take
effective actions in form of using the best digital marketing channel or platform, which
enable them to generate excellent brand awareness in the whole world, where potential
buyers and stakeholders accessible. It enables company to gain the attention of profitable
customers, who are able to conduct word of mouth promotion activity after obtaining
satisfaction from products they purchase and service they can utilize.
 It is also quite essential of Honest burger to consider CSR concept, which is important
and beneficial too for its business image and reputation in the market, where other
companies are existed (Johnson, Ashoori and Lee, 2018). In today's ear, each and every
organization take initiative to become a sustainable brand, and just because of this reason
Honest burger can also conduct the same initiative but in unique manner. As they can
take approach to utilize recyclable materials for purpose of packaging burger, which help
to eliminate its carbon footprint and enable firm to put positive impact on environment
and human being as well as wild life that had been affected due to increasing pollution.
As it is important for company to do that appropriately and in ethical manner.

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