Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Report on Restaurant Business Idea

This report explores the development of a dining restaurant business idea, '21 Midpoint Cafe and Dining,' in Manchester, UK. It details the inspiration behind the concept, target audience, and competitive landscape. The report includes a comprehensive competitor analysis, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and marketing strategies. A gap analysis assesses the current and target situations, outlining action plans to enhance food freshness and pricing strategies. Market research supports the business's viability, examining the restaurant industry's success factors and failures. The report concludes with recommendations to mitigate risks, capitalize on opportunities, and ensure the venture's success by focusing on fresh ingredients, strategic pricing, and effective marketing to meet customer demands and navigate the competitive environment.

Identifying Entrepreneurial
opportunities

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
1. Background information about different sources that inspired the business idea..................1
2. Introduction to business idea ..................................................................................................3
3. Competitors analysis...............................................................................................................4
4. Gap analysis and objectives of business ideas........................................................................6
5. Market research for supporting viability of business idea .....................................................7
6. Why the idea of entrepreneur is feasible, viable and what are its strengths and weaknesses
...................................................................................................................................................11
7. Recommendations on overcoming risks of competition and tapping of potential
opportunities .............................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship can be refereed as the act of developing a new business entity by
undertaking risk in order to earn profits. In other words, it means the process or set of activities
of designing, launching and operating a new business by a person (Bruton and et.al., 2015). The
present project report is going to discuss the different sources that generated the idea of opening
a dining restaurant in United Kingdom. It will also include what the business idea is, who are the
target customer, hewer the restaurant is supposed to be open in UK. A competitive analysis will
be done for assessing the competitiveness of the market place, what the entrepreneur can do to
face such competition. The assignment will also cover a gap analysis which will show what is
the current situation of the entrepreneur and its resources and how can it fill those gaps. A market
research will be conducted for checking out the viability of the business thought.
MAIN BODY
1. Background information about different sources that inspired the business idea
The inspiration can be drawn from anywhere and entrepreneur has developed this thought
on the basis of below mentioned sources :
Attending trade shows, events and exhibitions : The entrepreneur build its idea of
starting a dining place in the UK by attending different trade shows and exhibitions where
different restaurateurs showcases their skills, experiences and valuable insights. Entrepreneur
met some distributors, suppliers, sales representatives , franchisers that influenced it to enter into
this industry. The strength of this source is good because it helped the entrepreneur in knowing
and observing the real and useful insights of the actual restaurateurs.
The limitation is that only listening and meeting people at the trade shows might not
provide the actual scenario of the food industry. People do throw fake stories about their business
for making these shows attractive and lucrative (Top 7 sources of business ideas & opportunities
for entrepreneur, 2019).
Personal experience and talents : A lot of business thoughts generates with
entrepreneur's own experience and personal talents. The entrepreneur recognised that it posses
good sense of operating a restaurant business on the basis of which it made its decision of
entering into this specific industry. It is beneficial because learning from own experiences and
developing a business idea out of that is more solid and concrete. Also, natural talent helps a
person in to a thing where its talents gets explored.
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However, for developing a idea and sticking to it on the basis of personal talent and
experience cannot make a thought viable and feasible.
Brainstorming : It is technique of solving problem by undertaking the activity of
evaluating different course of actions and selecting the best one which perfectly solves that
problems. The advantage of this source is that business idea based on brainstorming practise is
more viable as entrepreneur thinks of the various things and its advantages and disadvantages
and then decides to take a particular action which best meets its desire.
However, practising this technique is very time consuming and entrepreneur might
sometime pick up the wrong of business idea believing it to be viable.
Interest, hobbies and Dreams : This is an important source where the entrepreneur has
developed its business idea of opening a restaurant. The entrepreneur's dream and interest of
becoming a restaurateur played a big role developing this thought. The strength is that hobbies
and interest drives a person to passionately work. This helps in increasing the productivity of that
person (Burns and Dewhurst, J. eds., 2016).
The limitation is that not all hobbies and interests gets materialised. The entrepreneur has
to more practical while forming and choosing a specific direction and industry of doing business.
Drucker's model entails the innovative opportunities for the entrepreneur :
Unexpected success or failure : Entrepreneur's could develop innovative opportunity
from its unexpected success or failures in life. For example, Marriott hotel's , DW was the only
one which was performing well amongst its other restaurants and the reason was later found out
that it was near the airport. The company then decided to tie up airports for catering meals to the
passengers.
Incongruities: The model states that a discrepancy exist in what it should be and what
actually happened. This inconsistency encourages an entrepreneur in developing an innovative
idea for filling that gap. For example, most of restaurant provides unhealthy and high calories but
people are inclining towards healthy and nutritious diet. Thus, this made entrepreneur to think
out of box and developed an idea of providing highly nutritious food.
Process need: This source includes determining a weak point of company process
whatever and redesigning that process. For example, a restaurant recognises that waitrers are not
effectively been able to take orders, therefore it decided to provide devises that takes orders and
directly sends to kitchen electronically.
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Market structure and industry change: Entrepreneurs always keeps an eye on the
market structure that who is performing how.
Demographics: It means changes in ethnicity, population, education level etc. It is one of
the predictive factor that helps entrepreneur in developing an innovative opportunity.
Changes in perceptions: Generations changes, mood and perceptions of people changes.
This calls for innovative business ideas. For example, nowadays teens prefers high protein food
because of the growing trend of fitness. This have led companies to change their menu tio cater
to the needs of customers.
New knowledge: Latest and new knowledge help entrepreneur in creating a more
innovative idea. For example, in the technology driven era, people using technology in their
operations are way ahead of entrepreneurs that are using traditional methods of running a
business (Concepts and Characteristics of Entrepreneurship, 2019).
2. Introduction to business idea
What is it?
The entrepreneur has formed a thought of developing a dining restaurant called 21
Midpoint Cafe and Dining, a restaurant that will serve proper meals and will also include a
cafeteria providing wide range of coffee variants. The restaurant is supposed to serve both vegan
and non vegan dishes to its customers.
Who is the target audience?
The entrepreneur has decided to serve its products and services to professionals and
average earning, working class people do not get time to cook food because of their long and
unusual working hours. Also, the tourists segment of market has been chosen by the entrepreneur
along with working professionals (Burton, Sørensen and Dobrev, 2016).
Where is it ?
The proposed business venture is supposed to open in Manchester, one of the biggest city
of England. The entrepreneur decided to start its restaurant business in this city because of high
class working people base, natural beauty and historical architecture of place. The entrepreneur
has also one underlying interest in opening up its business in city because of its high rate of
tourism.
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3. Competitors analysis
The entrepreneur would face intense competition from established restaurants in
Manchester. A competitor analysis for assessing the competitiveness of market is done below:
Criterion McDonald Mr. Cooper House &
Garden
Taco Bell
Products It offers quick food
such as burgers, fries,
beverages. It includes
both vegan and non
vegan food items.
It is one of the local
restaurant that
provides British
classic dishes with
new twists.
Taco Bell offers
Mexican food such as
tacos, burritos, nachos
etc. It offers authentic
taste of Mexican food.
Price The food offerings of
McDonald's is priced
moderately.
Its prices are slight
higher than other
dining restaurants in
Manchester.
Taco Bell believes in
cost leadership
strategy of pricing. It
offers food at the most
reasonable prices.
USP Quick delivery of
food, world biggest
restaurant chain
(Cooper and Folta,
2017).
It provides the best
ambience and its
restaurant theme of
trees and birdhouses is
one of a kind in
Manchester. Its
cocktail servings have
won many awards.
The mouthwatering
taste of its products is
the USP of Taco Bell.
Marketing strategy It focuses on
competitive strategies.
It uses every possible
medium for
advertising and
promoting its business.
It focuses on serving
best to customers that
create good word of
mouth. It does not
market its place
aggressively.
It uses social media
and mobile apps
advertising to its
maximum. It started
offering kid meals for
beating competition.
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Customer satisfaction
is ultimate goal.
No. of employees It has around 440000
employees in 2017 in
its 37241 restaurants
globally.
For running one
restaurant, it requires
15-20 to operate
efficiently.
It has about 210000
employees in its 7000
restaurants across
world.
The entrepreneur can take advantages of some weak points of these established brands. It
can make its highly fresh by using organic inputs, avoiding frozen foods and microwaved food.
It can promote its 21 Midpoint restaurant through social media, spreading templates near the
offices etc. It can employ technology in reducing que, digitally taking orders, the latest kitchen
equipments and a local chef which has abundant knowledge of cultural and authentic dishes. It
can make restaurant's theme more attractive, open kitchen and can make its place hygienic which
would help entrepreneur in gaining attention of customers (Camp, 2015).
Success of restaurant industry:
 Growing tourism making restaurants highly profitable
 Demand from people working at unusual hours at workplace.
 Increase in purchasing power and in living standards of people.
 Quick accessibility to great food at moderate prices is one of reason of its success
(Davidsson, 2015).
Failures :
 Strict regulations of government regarding health and safety.
 Employment laws and high employee turnover
 Unusual working shifts leading to exploitation of societal factor.
 Shifting preferences of customers towards low calorie food (10 Reasons Restaurants Fail
to Survive, 2018).
The restaurant industry is highly competitive and dynamic all over the globe. There is
high risk but risk provides high rewards. The competition and dynamics of this industry could
be handled by keeping an eye on competitors and needs of customers (Kirzner, 2015).
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4. Gap analysis and objectives of business ideas
A gap analysis is the assessment of actual performance with estimated or desired results
(Eckhardt, Ciuchta and Carpenter,2018). A comparison is done of current state and future state
for analysing that situation and strategies are formed filling those gaps.
GAP analysis
Criterion Current situation Target situation Action plan
Freshness in food Many restaurants are
serving that is
preheated or frozen.
To provide freshly
produced food using
wood ovens for giving
authentic taste.
 Daily
purchasing
vegetables and
other items for
producing fresh
food.
 Avoiding
excessive use
of microwave
and frozen
food.
Price Proper dining
restaurants charge very
high from customers
with very less quantity
(Hitt and Duane
Ireland, 2017).
The entrepreneur
could fill the gap by
pricing its products
low.
 Finding cost
effective
supplier
 Controlling
wastage while
making food.
Staff Restaurants fails to
provide dishes that are
fusion of local dish
with modern touch due
to ignoring local chefs.
Proper mixture of
cultural dishes could
be blend with new
twists and adding a
protein and nutritious
 Hiring
experienced
local chef for
understanding
needs of
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touch to it. working class
people and
giving them
home like food.
The entrepreneur has various objectives behind its restaurant opening and wishes to achieve
them through formulation of strategies in the following manner:
Objectives of 21 Midpoint Restaurant
 Earning stability and competitive position in market.
 Earning desired financial results.
 Achieving maximum satisfaction.
 Developing a competitive advantage
Strategies for achieving these objectives
 Serving what customers wants for achieving customer satisfaction.
 Making cost of operations effective for achieving high profitability.
 Employing local chefs and staff who can understand the taste of customers better.
 Providing consistency in services and products and low prices would help in beating
completion and maintaining a stable position in market.
5. Market research for supporting viability of business idea
The entrepreneur has done some market researches for determining the viability of its
idea of opening of a dining restaurant in Manchester, UK. There are two methods of conducting
researches that are primary and secondary (Suddaby, Bruton and Si, 2015). The entrepreneur has
conducted primary research for finding out whether its idea would be a viable or not.
Primary sources : The entrepreneur prepared a questionnaire and included a sample size
of 25 people.
Questionnaire
Q.1 How often do you dine at restaurant?
 Twice in week
 only on weekend
 Once in a week
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Q.2 Do you prefer vegan or non vegan food?
 Vegan
 Non Vegan
 Both
Q.3 What do you hate most about a restaurant?
 Hygiene factor
 Frozen and Microwaved food
 Both of the above
Q.4 Are you price sensitive ?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Q.5What do you recommend on price, quality, staff and ambience....
THEME 1: Customer often visit restaurant Twice in week.
PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS
Twice in week 15
Only on weekends 8
Once in a week 2
Interpretation- From the above questionnaire conducted from 25 potential customers of
21 Midpoint Restaurant and it was identified that, 15 respondents said that they visit a restaurant
twice in a week. They cited the reason behind this that they do not get time to cook food
themselves due to their jobs. 8 people said that they go a restaurant only on weekend and 2
people only once in a week.
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THEME 2: Maximum customers preferred
PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS
Vegan 6
Non Vegan 8
Both 11
Interpretation- From the above questionnaire conducted from 25 potential customers of 21
Midpoint Restaurant and it was identified that, 6 people in the survey preferred vegan because of
their personal reasons. 8 People only eats non vegan food and the reason they gave was that they
never liked vegan food. 11 respondents said they do not mind trying out both the segments. They
said that they prefer having best of both the worlds.
9
Twice in week
Only on weekends
Once in a week

THEME 3: Hygiene factor and Frozen and Microwaved food preferred by customers.
PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS
Hygiene factor 8
Frozen and Microwaved food 3
Both of the above 14
Interpretation- From the above questionnaire conducted from 25 potential customers of 21
Midpoint Restaurant and it was identified that, 8 people strongly prefers a complete hygiene in
restaurant. 3 people were of option that they restaurant's microwaved and frozen food which
sometimes restricts them in visiting the places. 14 people said that they dislike both of the above
things.
THEME 4: Maximum customers are price sensitive.
PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS
10
Vegan Non Vegan Both
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
RESPONDENTS
Hygiene factor
Frozen and
Microwaved food
Both of the above