Integrated Case Study: Honest Burgers' Strategic Response to COVID-19

This report examines the strategic challenges faced by Honest Burgers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the pandemic's impact on the organization's performance and utilizes PESTLE analysis to identify external market factors and SWOT analysis to assess internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report critically evaluates solutions for enhancing organizational performance and sustainability, considering strategies for competitiveness. Ultimately, it recommends actions for improving business operations and concludes with a summary of the report's key findings, emphasizing the need for adaptation and innovation in the face of unprecedented challenges within the hospitality industry.

Integrated Case Study

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is mainly focusing on the strategic challenges that were faced by Honest Burgers
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Honest Burgers is a chain of fast food restaurants that is based
in Wales, England and was established in the year 2011. The report has mainly focused on
highlighting how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the activities of organisation and led
to the declining in the levels of organisational performance. Moreover, this report describes
various challenges with the help of PESTLE analysis for identifying various external market
factors that influence the organisation and its activities. Along with this, the report has provided
a SWOT analysis of the organisation for identifying its internal strengths and weaknesses along
with the external opportunities and threats for overcoming various challenges. Furthermore, this
report as critically assigns various solutions that could be helpful for the organisation to gain a
higher level of performance and sustainability within the market. In this context it has evaluated
various strategies and solutions that can be helpful for Honest Burgers to achieve a high level of
organisational performance and gain competitiveness. In the end the report has recommended
certain aspects that can be utilised by the business for innocent its abilities and overcoming
issues within its business operations along with the conclusion that summarizes what the report
has been providing.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Strategic Issues faced by the organisation.......................................................................................1
Challenges faced by the organisation.....................................................................................4
Solutions for tackling the challenges and issues....................................................................9
Implementation of these solutions in the organisation.........................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The hospitality industry is a broad concept that consists of various services like hotels,
restaurants, leisure/relaxation, travel and tourism, events etc. Hospitality businesses have faced
many severe challenges and consequences due to the upcoming of COVID-19 pandemic. Honest
Burgers limited is a restaurant that deals in serving food to people, headquarter in Brixton
Village, London, and was established in the year 2011. The following report will provide about
the strategic issues and various challenges that the organisation faces such as COVID-19
pandemic. In this context, it will also provide certain methods and solutions to overcome these
challenges as well as the implementation of these solutions within the organisation (Berme,
2021). In the end, and will consist of recommendations to the organisation for improving their
overall performance and competitiveness in the market.
Strategic Issues faced by the organisation
Strategic issues are those challenges that are affecting the ability of the organisation to
achieve its aims, objectives and goals. The strategic issues are mainly affecting the abilities of
the business to achieve their strategic development, growth and objectives. Honest Burgers have
also faced various strategic challenges that have affected the efficiency of the organisation for
achieving its objectives, goals and aims, due to various reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic is
among those factors that has given rise to the strategic issues and has affected the productivity
and performance of the organisation towards its customers and clients. These strategic challenges
are the major contributors for developing the solutions and strategies to overcome them (Burhan
and et. al., 2021).
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the major factors that has negatively impacted the
hospitality industry businesses and their operational activities. COVID-19 is considered as the
biggest global crisis after the great depression 1981-82, because it has halted the global market
activities. It had created many issues that were faced by Honest Burgers that are elaborated
below.
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 Hiring and retaining the staff: It is among the most common problems in the hospitality
industry and the organisation requires employees to handle the front-desk, kitchen,
housekeeping, catering etc. activities in the hospitality industry which was highly affected
due to COVID-19 pandemic.
 Changing market dynamics and trends: The changes in the advertising and marketing
trends across the globe has affected the hospitality industry and made the traditional
marketing methods effective in a rapidly changing market.
 Operational issues: During the COVID-19 pandemic the operational activities across the
market have shifted online (Costa and et. al., 2018). The hospitality industry has also
witnessed the shift in reservation management, front office, payments and bills, hygiene
and cleanliness etc.
 Changing expectations of customers: The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the
expectations of customers from the businesses in the hospitality industry regarding their
food habits, cleanliness, safety and hygiene etc.
 Irregular cash inflows: It was among the major challenges in the hospitality industry
during the COVID-19 pandemic because the customers have faced difficulties in making
payments for many months.
 Data security challenges: During the COVID-19 pandemic most of the organisations
have shifted online and this has increased the possibilities of data leakage, viruses,
hackers and cyber security etc.
 Losing loyal customers: COVID-19 pandemic has affected the loyal customers and their
loyalty towards the organisation because of loss of connection and engagement.
 Rapid change in technology: The use of technology has intensified in almost all the
industries across the globe and it has affected the choices of customers.
 Business Restoration issues: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the overall
hospitality industry and the businesses have to suffer losses and they have to work hard to
restore their businesses to their original position.
Many other impacts of COVID-19 can be seen on the business of honest burgers such as
declining sales and profits (Elsafty and Raghe, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly
affected the hotel industry across the world and has created various issues such as lower down of
market share, safety and security of customers and employees, lowering down profitability,
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changing technology etc. It has also affected the overall functioning of the organisation as the
traditional methods of business practices were inefficient during the pandemic and the
organisations needed to adopt new techniques and technologies for improving this situation. The
rules and regulations that were implemented in the context of social distancing and complete
lock-downs have lowered the efficiency of organisations to operate in optimum manner. This has
led to lowering down of profits and decreasing efficiency of the business across the market.
Figure 1. S. Lock, 2022, Daily impact of COVID-19 on restaurant dining in the UK 2020-2022
Statista.com, 2022.
It has been obtained from the above graph that COVID-19 pandemic has hit the UK Hotel
industry adversely. It was mainly due to the results of lowering down of the meat processing
facilities in different regions, social distancing, lock-downs etc. across the UK. The graph shows
that the COVID-19 has severely affected the customers and has dropped the overall customers
visiting the hotel. In reference to the Honest Burgers, it can be said that various issues have also
affected the employees working within the organisation and lower down the profitability of the
company. Along with this, it influenced the ability of the organisation to provide high level
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satisfaction to its customers and have better customer service due to the lowering demand of
customers to eat outside (Erginel and et. al., 2018). Therefore, it was compulsory for the
management at Honest Burgers to COVID-19 pandemic for improving their profitability,
production and performance across the industry.
Challenges faced by the organisation
There are many challenges that we face by the organisation in its external environment and
these challenges have negatively impacted the operational activities of the business. The
challenges have affected the overall performance of the organisation and lowered the efficiency
of the business. In reference to Honest Burgers, various challenges can be identified that were
encountered by the organisation in its external market during the COVID-19 pandemic. The
challenge has affected the ability of organisations to provide greater levels of satisfaction to its
customers and have optimum performance in the market. For examining various challenges that
were faced by Honest Burgers, PESTLE analysis is provided. It will help to examine and analyse
the external environment factors and various external challenges that impact the activities and
organisational performance of Honest Burgers.
PESTLE analysis
It is an effective tool or framework that can be utilised by the firms to critically examine
their external environment factors that may influence the operational activities of the
organisation in a particular market (Galli, 2018). PESTLE is an acronym for the political,
economic, social, technology, legal and ecological factors that prevail in the external market
within a particular area. PESTLE analysis of Honest Burgers is given below.
 Political factors: It refers to the political or government aspects that affect and intervene
in the operations of the business and its activities. The political factors mainly consist of
the taxation policies, quota restrictions, tariff barriers, National conditions etc. Honest
Burgers is negatively impacted by the political changes such as the restrictions by the UK
government regarding lock-downs, employment laws, safety protocol and social
distancing etc. This has resulted in decline of the supply chain efficiency of Honest
Burgers as well as the lowering down of the number of customers that decreased the
profitability of the organisation. It has also impacted the prices of goods and services into
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the market as well as the availability of raw material for continuing the basic activities of
the organisation (Haerizadeh, 2019).
Figure 2(The British Pound, Brexit and the Pandemic)
 Economic factors: It refers to the external factors that affect the overall economic
conditions in a given place or area. The economic conditions mainly consist of the
inflation-deflation conditions, exchange rates, interest rates, employment rates,
investments etc. These economic factors have majorly affected the economy of UK
during COVID-19 pandemic and have also affected the overall performance of the
organisation. The major economic challenges were the increase in unemployment rates
across the UK, inflation and rising prices etc. that have affected the activities of Honest
Burgers. This has reduced the overall profitability of the organisation as well as the
ability of the organisation to maintain a minimum amount of profits within the market for
sustaining the business (Kaswan and Rathi, 2019). Various economic factors such as
inflation, rising unemployment, reduction in investments etc. have significantly lowered
down the activities of the organisation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the profitability
of the organisation has also declined due to the lower purchasing power of customers.
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Figure 3(The economic effects of coronavirus in the UK)
 Social factors: The social external factors are related to the culture and demographic
trends of the community and people. It consists of the beliefs, ethics, traditions, values,
cultural aspects, demographics, population distribution, lifestyle etc. that affects the
overall business activities. The Honest Burgers has witnessed the business losses in
profits due to the changes in the social habits of the customers, lifestyle preference and
their purchasing power. The customers deprived themselves from eating outside and
preferred the consumption of homemade things (Kaswan and Rathi, 2020).. Due to the
changing social behaviour of the customers and declining purchasing power due to the
increasing unemployment rates has been among the most crucial challenges that have
affected the availability of customers for the company. Honest Burgers have lost their
ability to attract customers and gain profits from them, which also reduced the market
share of the company and declined its competitiveness.
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Figure 4(Percentage Change in life-for-like sales of pub, bar and restaurants groups prior to the
COVID – 19 lock-down in Great Britain in March 2020)
 Technology factors: During the COVID-19 pandemic the companies across the world
have witnessed a rapid technology shift in their business activities. The technological
factors are mainly connected to the innovations, changing technology, digital
transformation, use of the internet and many other technical aspects. Technological
factors are among the latest trends that have affected the activities of Honest Burgers
during the COVID-19 pandemic. The occurrence of digital platforms for marketing,
digital businesses, online shopping and online delivery systems have majorly affected the
activities of organisations. Due to the high frequency of technology changes the
organisation has witnessed lowering down of efficiency and performance within the
market.
 Legal factors: It mainly refers to those compulsory laws and regulations that must be
adhered to by an organisation religiously in order to abide by the basic principles for
smooth flow of its activities. It mainly consists of the regulations, licensing, employment
laws, intellectual property rights, copyright etc. that must be fulfilled by the organisation
(Madhani, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic the organisation has faced various
challenges in motivating their employees to work within the organisation and provide
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safe working conditions to them. Honest Burgers also faced the challenges of maintaining
social distancing, safe working conditions, mask-on rules, hygiene conditions etc. due to
the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. It has reduced the productivity of the organisation
and has lowered the performance of the company in comparison to its performance before
pandemic.
Figure 5(What impact do you think COVID 19 have on your business in the following areas)
 Environment factor: It refers to the ecological balance and good health of the
atmospheric conditions for supporting fit life of organisms at that place. It mainly
includes the climatic conditions, weather patterns, temperature, pollution, climate change
etc. that affects the activities of business in that area. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the
environmental factors have grown positively and have also encouraged the organisation
to work towards the sustainable growth and betterment of environment health
(Mastronardi and et. al., 2020).. It has become the moral obligation of the organisation to
avoid meat processing and non-veg food production in their hotels that was the major
cause of pandemic outbreak. The company has to focus over the changing customer
demands from non-vegetarian products to the vegetarian products for enhancing customer
experience and overall profitability of the business.
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Figure 6(Restaurant Industry Collapses Due to Widespread Shutdowns)
Solutions for tackling the challenges and issues
It is very important for a business to develop effective strategies that can be helpful to
solve various problems, issues and critical challenges. This ensures the higher profitability of the
business by increasing its overall performance and optimisation of business activities. Honest
burgers should develop and analyse various solutions to help the organisation overcome critical
issues and challenges within the external business environment. SWOT analysis is a strategic
tool that is helpful in identifying the internal strength and weaknesses as well as the external
opportunities and threats for the organisation that are prevailing in the market (Moya and et. al.,
2018).. For developing various solutions the company can adopt SWOT analysis for identifying
critical strengths and opportunities for the business to grow and various challenges and
weaknesses that should be overcome for increasing its effectiveness and efficiency. With the
help of SWOT analysis, Honest Burgers will be able to develop suitable solutions by
understanding their internal strength, weaknesses, and external threats and opportunities in the
market. Given below is the SWOT analysis of Honest Burgers.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 Honest Burgers have a solid reputation  Honest Burgers provide high quality
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