Business Report: Planning for Growth Strategies, Unit 42

This report provides a detailed analysis of planning for growth, focusing on The Fat Duck restaurant as a case study. It begins with an introduction to growth planning and the restaurant's background, followed by an examination of external factors using PESTLE analysis to evaluate growth opportunities. The report then explores the restaurant's competitive advantages, including quality, staff, and service. It delves into the Ansoff growth matrix, discussing market penetration and market development strategies. Furthermore, the report covers sources of finance and concludes with a business plan, providing recommendations for future growth and development. The report also includes an overview of the business plan and presentation requirements, and is a comprehensive exploration of strategies for sustainable business expansion.

PLANNING FOR GROWTH

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 considerations for evaluating growth opportunities..........................................................3
P2 Ansoff growth matrix........................................................................................................7
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................9
P3 Sources of finance.............................................................................................................9
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................12
P4 Business plan...................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Growth planning is basically the strategic activity which enables the organizations to
track their growth in terms of their revenue and thus allows them to devise various strategies for
growing as well as developing in the future. The Fat duck restaurant is primarily the restaurant
being established in 1995 and headquartered in Berkshire, England. This restaurant provides
wide range of meals as well as dishes to customers ranging from breakfast to dinner. The main
aim of this report is to evaluate the current position of The Fat Duck restaurant in market and
hence recommend various strategies for growth.
This report gives a brief overview of selected business, competitive advantage for
business, opportunities for business, Ansoff growth matrix, sources of the finance and
recommendation.
LO 1
P1 considerations for evaluating growth opportunities
In order to analyses growth opportunities of business, Pestle analyses model is being used
by new firms.
Political factor: As restaurant industry is growing well and there is high opportunity to get
success in market. Government is supporting this sector and continuously providing support to
business. Free trade agreements and visa policies are helpful in attracting ne buyers that help
business to gain success in market.
Economic factor: Fat duck restaurant can get opportunity because there is high employment rate
in the county hence capacity of people is also high hence people spend money to get restaurant
services hence enterprise has opportunity to gain success in market.
Technological factor: This is another major element that shows opportunity to business. In the
recent time fat duck restaurant will use advance technologies such as POS machines that will
help in keeping records properly and providing immediate services to wide range of consumers
of restaurant hence it will enhance opportunity to grow well in market.
Social factor: This is the factor that has high influence over business performance, people of
country like to go restaurant hence enterprise will offer food to the consumers as per the taste of
consumers that will enhance opportunity for Fat duck restaurant to grow well in market.
The fat duck restaurant is basically the renowned and well-known restaurant being
established in the year 1995 and have its headquarter in Berkshire, England. It is run by the

popular chef Heston Blumentahl. This is considered as one of the most liked restaurant in
England and thus having a small business, this restaurant houses more than 32 staff which has
increased from past few years. This restaurant initially gained first Michelin star in the year 1999
but with its high degree of consistency, it gained three Michelin stars in the year 2004 which
made it one of the fastest growing restaurant in UK. This restaurant is basically known for
fourteen-course menu which features a wide range of dishes like nitro-scrambled egg, bacon ice-
cream, Alice in Wonderland etc. The most renowned and remarkable thing which has made this
restaurant popular among people of UK is mock turtle soup which is made up in such a way that
it gives the look of fob watch (Dierwechter, 2017). This dish has ultimately become one of the
major contributor in revenue as well as profit of this restaurant. The Fat Duck restaurant is
considered as one of the highly growing business which despite its small business have grown to
a high extent from past few years. Talking of the capacity, restaurant has seating capacity of
around 40 and have fourteen tables.
Coming on the quality as well as services of the restaurant, it provides a high quality
services to its customers by having a great treasure of trained staff and chef. The Fat duck
restaurant have a large proportion of the chefs which are highly skilled as well as trained and
thus complies to the ethics and food standards by providing healthier and fresh meals to the
customers. This main aspect which has helped this restaurant to become widely known restaurant
in UK is their ability of experimentation. Most of the items in menu of this restaurant is mainly
developed through experimentation like egg as well as bacon ice-cream which came after the
investigation of the flavour encapsulation. Not only its dishes have won hearts of most people in
UK, but the beverages which are being served by this restaurant has become one of the major
catalyst in growth of restaurant. The various kinds of beverages being served by the restaurant
help people to become nostalgic and make a deep connection with their childhood memories.
This restaurant besides this has a separate lab where various equipment like centrifuge are being
placed for making the chocolate wine (Frenchman, 2017). Apart from the beverages and dishes,
this restaurant is also known for its great sweet dishes and desserts like Sardine, Black forest etc.
Alongside, the dishes are served are highly innovative like Sounds of Sea which is the widely
known dish of this restaurant. This is basically the plate of the seafood with seafood foam.
Talking of the events, this restaurant is considered as the ideal place for hosting a large number
of business and social events like conferences, marriage, birthday parties, social gatherings etc.

Competitive advantage for business
The Fat duck is one of the well known restaurant in UK which is widely known for its
great quality as well as service. This restaurant even though having little diversification has
gained a competitive advantage to its best. Although, it is a small business but the restaurant has
gained popularity in UK from past few years which has helped them to gain competitive
advantage.
Quality
Quality is one of the main aspect which has helped restaurant to attain competitive
advantage and thus have helped them in establishing the position in market. The organizations
like many restaurants are known for their great quality in terms of the food being served to
customers, services offered to customers, staff etc. (Albert, 2017). This has become one the most
important basis for restaurant which can help the restaurant in achieving competitive advantage.
Thus, restaurant can achieve a great aspect of quality by improving its services as well as
technology and this will help to improve performance in market. By providing the top class
quality to the customers as well as suppliers, The Fat Duck restaurant will be able to capture a
high market share and this will allow them to enter the new market.
Staff
Staff is one of the most important aspect of each and every organization whether big or
small which directly contributes towards the success of organization. When the staff as well as
employees of even a small organization are highly skilled then their skills as well as ability help
the organization to achieve competitive advantage (Angotti, 2018). The Fat duck restaurant can
provide effective training to staff which will help them to achieve competitive advantage and
thus will help them in future to diversify their business in wider geographies. This trained staff
will eventually help the restaurant in entering new market and achieve competitive advantage.
The competent as well as highly trained staff will help the organization to achieve competitive
advantage and will help to take the brand message to wider audience. This will eventually help
the organization to enter the new market.
Service
A customer always looks for the organization who have the potential to fulfil all their
needs and demands and thus rely on the organization which provides a great service to them.
Thus, service forms an integral part of any organization which helps them to achieve the

competitive advantage. When the business offers a great and high quality services to customers
then it leaves a positive impression on minds and hearts of customers. Thus, providing a high
quality service will help this restaurant to achieve competitive advantage. By offering great
quality services in terms of technological advancement, reduction of queue time etc. will help
this restaurant to eventually establish position in market (Bagheri, and et.al., 2018). By providing
the high class services to the customers, restaurant can establish its position in market and
increase is brand recognition. This will also help the restaurant to enter new markets like
Denmark, Netherlands etc.
Opportunities for business
There are wide range of opportunities which are being available to The Fat duck which
will help them in future to diversify their business and thus develop in wider geographies. In
order to exploit these opportunities, restaurant needs to continuously look for the market trends
along with the customer’s trends which will help them to capture a great market share.
Technological advancement
Since the advent of advanced technology, people have now become technology-oriented
and thus looks for technology and innovation in each and every aspect (Daniels, 2017). This will
be a great opportunity for restaurant which will help them to become a market leader. For
example- restaurant can incorporate technology like Kitchen display screen which will help
customers to know the time of their order processing. Besides this, the restaurant can install
guest kiosk where customers can order their food by sitting at their seat and thus this will reduce
queue time. This is one of the biggest opportunity which is available to restaurant which they
should seize.
Innovation
This is the another opportunity which is available to restaurant and thus will help this
restaurant to achieve competitive advantage as well as enlarge customer base. Each and every
customer looks for innovation in every product as well as service and thus like to depend on
those organizations which brings continuously brings innovation. This is one of the biggest
opportunity that can be availed by restaurant and will help them to capture a great market share.
Even though being a small business, restaurant can increase its investment in innovation and thus
this will help them to eventually gain an edge over their competitors (Dierwechter, 2017).
Health is wealth

Nowadays, a large number of people have become health conscious and thus looks for
food which is healthier and organic as it will protect them from various diseases. This increasing
awareness of people for their health and greater demand for healthier food has been a widespread
opportunity for this restaurant. The Fat duck restaurant should shift its focus from fatty processed
food to healthier options. This opportunity will eventually help them to attain competitive
advantage. Thus, this restaurant has the chance to define health in more defied terms
(Frenchman, 2017).
P2 Ansoff growth matrix
Ansoff matrix is basically the framework which helps the organizations to analyse their
capabilities as well as strategies which will help them in their growth as well as development.
Market penetration
In this strategy, organization mainly uses already existing products as well as services
within the existing market. In short, this strategy of the Ansoff matrix mainly addresses that
organization endeavours to increase their overall market share by taking their products as well as
services within existing markets where it has already made its presence. This can be achieved by
The Fat Duck restaurant by selling high number of products as well as services to the established
customers or through looking for new customers in existing market. Besides this, restaurant can
achieve market penetration by decreasing overall price as well as increasing promotion as well as
distribution support (Heydari and Sullivan, 2018). The fat duck restaurant can face moderate risk
here as if restaurant will advertise the existing products without making innovation in it and will
serve to existing customers then customers might switch to other competitors in search of
innovation. In order to mitigate this risk, restaurant can bring innovation within their products
and services like increasing menu options, bringing innovation in dishes etc. and can serve to the
customers.
Market development
This is the another strategy of Ansoff matrix in which organization mainly expand within
new geographies as well as segments by making use of the already established as well as existing
offerings. Basically, in this strategy organization mainly enters the new market by seeking help
of their existing products and thus expand within wider geographies. This strategy is mostly
effective as well as successful when the firm owns the proprietary technology which can
leverage within new markets. The Fat duck can make use of market development and expand

within new markets like for example Denmark, South Africa, Netherlands etc by taking their
products in new segments of customers and thus fulfilling their needs as well as demands.
Besides this, restaurant can enter the foreign markets like South Africa, Netherlands etc. by
collaborating with large organizations (Huang and van Weesep, 2019). The Fat duck restaurant
might face high risk here as most of the people due to its low brand awareness are unaware of its
presence thus when restaurant will enter new market with existing product then there might be
chances that it faces difficulty in establishing its position due to low brand recognition. For
reducing the degree of this risk, restaurant can first conduct a thorough market research in order
to know what are the market trends, customer needs and then enter the market.
Product development
In this strategy, organization mainly generally develops the new product as well as
services and then serve the needs as well as demands of the existing market. In this, firms mainly
create new products or bring some innovation within their existing market and thus advertises
within the market in which it has its business and have gained competitive advantage. The Fat
Duck restaurant can develop their products its menu and services for example it can rebuild its
menu with innovative dishes and hence apply this strategy by investing heavily within R&D
department for developing new products. Besides this, restaurant can acquire the rights of the
products of their competitors for innovating the products. (Kamoji, Koshti and Peter, 2019). In
this, The Fat Duck restaurant may face low risk as when restaurant will provide different
products to existing market then the product might become successful due to the awareness of
the loyal customers towards its products.
Diversification
This is one of the most remarkable as well as significant strategy which is used by the
organizations in which firms mainly enters the new market along with new product. Unlike other
strategies, in this organization develops new products and take these products to the new and
different market. This is considered as the riskiest strategy of Ansoff matrix as in this product as
well as market both are new and different. The major advantage of this strategy is that it helps
the organization to establish their business in new market and diversify their overall brand
message. The Fat duck restaurant can diversify their business as well as firm by seeking the help
of related diversification. In this, restaurant can establish the new products and services like
Kitchen Kiosk within the same product line and can advertise in new markets (Kinossian, 2018).

The restaurant might face high risk by using this strategy. When restaurant will enter the new
market with new products then due to low brand recognition and awareness it might not survive
the cut-throat competition. For mitigating the risk, restaurant can conduct a well-through
research on the market in which the restaurant is planning to enter for recognizing the
competitors. Besides this, restaurant can analyze that what are needs of customers and what
innovation they want.
The most appropriate as well as advantageous strategy which will help The Fat Duck
restaurant to establish their position in market and gain competitive advantage is product
development. As in this strategy, organization mainly establishes the new products and take
them to the existing markets thus this will help restaurant to gain competitive advantage in the
market. The Fat Duck restaurant can bring new products as well as services like technological
advancements, innovation in menu etc. through the use of advanced technology and innovation
and can serve them to the established market (Lê and et.al., 2016). The main reason behind using
product development as their organizational strategy is that when restaurant will bring new
products then it will be able to attract more and more customers of existing market and this will
eventually increase their profit ratio. Besides this, the amount of risk which prevails in this
strategy is moderate as firm is already aware of market as well as customer needs thus there are
chances that new product might become successful. Fat Duck restaurant needs to use
diversification strategy that would be better for the firm in entering into new market with new
products. By this way it will be able to attrct new consumers that would raise its profitability to
great extent.
LO 2
P3 Sources of finance
Bank loans
This is one of the most widely known as well as used source of finance which is being
used by the small as well as large organizations for ensuring smooth operations of their business.
The Fat Duck restaurant can use this as their source of finance for their long as well as short-term
objectives and goals.
Advantage
The main advantage of bank loan which will be beneficial for Fat Duck restaurant is that
they generally have low rates of interests and thus is cheaper. Besides this, another advantage of

this source of finance is that it is highly flexible (Levesque, Bell and Calhoun, 2017). For
example- when The Fat Duck restaurant will receive the loan from banks then they will not be
bounded by any law addressing how they have to spend their money and how much. This is the
greatest advantage of bank loans which will help Fat Duck to achieve competitive advantage.
Disadvantage
On the other hand, major disadvantage of bank loans is that it is generally becomes
complicated for the organizations especially small businesses to qualify for the loans. Banks
generally analyses the financial information of organization before providing fund or loans
therefore when the organizations does not have sound financial position then the loan is rejected.
Being, a small business, this source of finance will be difficult for fat duck to avail.
Business angels
Business angles are basically the independent individuals as well as entity who mainly
provides the capital for development of the business. The Fat Duck restaurant can seek the help
of business angels for the growth as well as development of their business.
Advantage
The major advantage of this source of the finance is that it has a great funding range
(Levy, 2016). The angel investors mainly invest a great amount of capital in small and start-up
business around £2 million which can help these businesses to conduct most of their operations.
Disadvantage
The major disadvantage of business angel is that it’s generally requires high time as well
as expense to search for the most suitable as well as potent business angels. The restaurant will
have to invest a great time for searching the angles who are highly transparent and who can
invest a great amount. Business angel will help Fat Duck restaurant by providing high capital and
fund for their various purposes like diversification, innovation etc.
Bank overdraft
Bank overdraft is predominately the extension of the credit from lending institution
which is being granted when the account ultimately reaches zero. This is considered as the most
reliable as well as effective source of the funding for small business which helps them to conduct
their operations even when account has no balance.
Advantage

The major advantage of bank overdraft is that it requires no paperwork as well as
formality which are requited in ace of the personal loans. For the small needs of financing, firms
can directly withdraw the required amount directly from account. Another advantage is that it
helps to keep the good track record of small businesses. When the amount is not repaid within
given period then cheque does not bounce and this helps to keep a good record of small
organizations.
Disadvantage
Major disadvantage of Bank overdraft is that it generally as high rates of interest. In
comparison to other sources, bank overdraft cost high interest which might pose problem for The
Fat Duck restaurant (Liang and et.al.,2018). Bank overdraft will allow the restaurant to have a
great track record and will help them to maintain sound financial position. Besides this, it will
help restaurant to conduct their operations smoothly by continuously withdrawing the money for
a period of time even when account reaches zero.
The most effective source of finance which The Fat Duck restaurant can seek for the
growth of their business as well as development is bank loans. The main rationale behind
choosing bank loan is that it will help The Fat Duck to take loans as well as borrow funds at
much lower interest rate. This is one of the biggest advantage of bank loan which will help
restaurant to carry out various operations like diversification, product development etc. Due to
low interest rates, restaurant can easily take the loans and borrow huge fund for its activities.
Besides this, there will be no boundation on The Fat duck restaurant as how to spend their
money. They can easily invest their money as much as they want and where they find suitable
(MacLachlan and et.al., 2017).
Recommendation
Being a small business, The Fat Duck restaurant should analyze various options as well
as opportunities which will help them to develop and grow their business in future and will also
help to achieve the competitive advantage.
Defining brand
Brand plays and important role with each and every organization where big or small and
thus defining it in the most imperative way is highly essential for growth as well as development.
Without defining the brand as well as taking brand message to wider audience, a business cannot
strive to achieve success. The Fat Duck restaurant before making changes in any aspect of its

business should define its brand to the wider audience in most effective way. The restaurant
should align their brand to their core values and should take recreate its brand in the most
influential way which will attract the customers and will help to understand that what the brand
is saying (Albert, 2017).
Increasing quality
Quality is what makes a business. The organizations no matter big or small should
initially analyze the quality of services as well as products which it is offering to the customers
because quality is the prime thing which helps business to survive in cut-throat competition.
Thus, The Fat duck restaurant should continuously strive for improving its quality in term of
products, services, staff, technology etc. This will eventually help them to go beyond the
expectations of customers (Angotti, 2018).
Motivating staff
The use of the best practice for employees as well as worker is generally considered as
one of the most effective strategy which helps small as well as large businesses to gain an edge
over their competitors. The best practices like rewards, appreciation ultimately help to motivate
the staff and their commitment towards work increases. Therefore, the fat duck restaurant should
continuously find ways and practices for motivating and encouraging its staff like through
recognition, rewards etc. This will help them to deliver best services to the customers and
develop great relation with them (Bagheri, and et.al., 2018).
Innovation and creativity is what they need
Having a great congruence with the level of technology as well as monitoring the
innovation is what a business needs for making its organization successful in market. Innovation
has a crucial role to play in overall performance of business and thus enhances it. The Fat duck
restaurant should turn back to their products and should bring required innovation and
technological advancement within them in order to diversify its business in wider geographies
(Daniels, 2017).
LO 3
P4 Business plan
Introduction
The Fat Duck is situated in Bray which is approximately 25 miles away from London.
The restaurant began their operations in 1995. the success ratio of restaurant is more than good