Business Analysis Report: The Kitchin Restaurant, Edinburgh

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes The Kitchin Restaurant's business performance and proposes strategies for improvement.

[SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE]

INTRODUCTION
Small business contributes a lot to the UK economy. The companies in the SME sector
contribute a lot by way of creating new employment opportunities and generating new market
ideas. They are the major source of driving innovation in the industry and thereby help to
create a competitive market structure of the UK economy (Bridge and O'Neill, 2012). Small
business enterprises consist of 99.99% of businesses in the UK economy.
The purpose of this report is to highlight the type, structure and mission of The Kitchin
enterprise. It also reflects the internal constraint and restrictions faced by the business. The
report also produces a plan so as to achieve e-business objectives and thereby helps to monitor
the performance of the business over a given time scale (Blackburnet al.,2013)

TASK 1
1.1 PRODUCE A PROFILE OF A SELECTED BUSINESS SO AS TO IDENTIFY ITS
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS
OVERVIEW OF THE BUSINESS
The Kitchin restaurant was opened by Tom and Michael in 2006 on Edinburgh's Leith
waterfront. The restaurant is awarded as the best restaurant in the UK in 2007. The restaurant
works on the philosophy of “From Nature to Plate” so as to provide a pleasant experience to
the guests (Burns, 2016). The chef of the restaurant uses French cooking techniques so as to
serve British cuisine for which ingredients are sourced from some of the finest and local
producers.
The restaurant is designed so as to provide a warm and cool atmosphere to the customers as
surrounded by Scottish heritage and wooden structure. They offer the ultimate dining
experience to their guests and provide thanks to their professional teams (Bridge and O'Neill,
2012).

Profile of the business
Nature of the business Dine- in restaurant
Mission The mission of "The Kitchin” can be understood by its philosophy
statement “From nature to Plate”. The company believes in serving
the customers with the finest meal that is made up of local produce.
Also, they believe in proving the best possible experience and
atmosphere to the diner along with a combination of taste and cosy
ambience (Black burn et al., 2013).
Product and services The company offers a wide variety of products ranging from food
drinks to beverages and thereby provides outstanding customer
services to its guests.
Team Proprietor: Tom & Michael
Food and Beverage Director: Philippe and Maitre d’ Sylvain
Analysis of strength and weakness of The Kitchin
Strengths
The restaurants serve the best quality food which is made up of farm local produce so as to
provide a warm and relaxed atmosphere to the diners. They use ingredients that are of best
quality and source the same from Scotland’s fantastic natural larder. Also, they do in the
housing of butchering and filleting on a daily basis (Holliman and Rowley, 2014).
The Kitchin serves best
cooked British food across
the UK. Also, the
restaurants maintain a
touch of cosy dining with
grey table tops and woven.
The furniture is designed by using original stones and wood features so as to give it a look of

Scottish Heritage. Thus, the texture and colour tones used by restaurant make it look attractive
and warm place (Choudhary et al., 2013).
The services offered by the Kitchen are outstanding and non-intrusive. The company employs
over high-end professionals and trained staff so as to serve a delicious meal and provide a
pleasant experience to the customer in the dining area.
Weakness
The working hours of the kitchen are very limited and thereby restrict the flow of the customers
in the restaurant. Also, the restaurant is opening from Tuesday to Saturday. As the restaurant is
closed on weekends so it is unable to attract the prospective customers and it ultimately
impacts the profitability of the company (Marston et al., 2011).
Also, the restaurant offers only British food which left the customer with limited choice. It also
raises the dissatisfaction level of the customer who prefers to taste new servings. Another
weakness of the restaurant, it is unable to update its billing technology as nowadays, most
customers prefer online payments.

1.2 CARRY OUT ANALYSIS OF THE KITCHIN USING COMPARATIVE MEASURE OF
PERFORMANCE
The comparative performance of the restaurant’s business can be measured using several
financial tools and profitability ratio. Financial indicators such as sales, ROI, customer
satisfaction, staff turnover and procurement of supplies need to be considered so as to conduct
the business analysis of the Kitchin (Marston et al., 2011).
COMPARABILITY ANALYSIS
For the purpose of comparison, we take Wedgewood The Restaurant
Financial Indicators for the
year 2018
The Kitchen (£) Wedgewood The Restaurant
(£)
Profit after Tax 1,40,290 1,25,270
Sales 5,45,255 4,25,270
ROI 12% 10%
Brand awareness 5 4
Loyalty 3 4
Customer perception of food
service and quality
5 7
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that The Kitchin has a high profit generating
capacity as compare to the Wedgewood restaurant in the UK (Grant, 2016). Also, the sales of
the company keep growing which acts as a good measure of the performance indicator. Thus,
the objective of the Kitchen is to generate higher profits in the upcoming years. Also, ROI is a
good indicator of the financial performance of the restaurant. From the above, the Kitchen is
able to generate 12% desired return to the shareholders in the market.
Besides this, financial indicator, non-financial indicator play a major role to evaluate the
performance of restaurant in the food industry. In terms of Brand awareness, the Kitchin has
gained customer value and importance as compared to Wedgewood restaurant. It is also the

Kitchen is unable to gain Customer loyalty due to low variety in food options and less number of
working hours. In the context of customer value and food perception, the Kitchen offers the
best quality food and warm experience to its customers (Gianos, 2013).

TASK 2
2.1 RECOMMEND APPROPRIATE ACTION SO AS TO OVERCOME IDENTIFIED
WEAKNESS IN THE BUSINESS
Following are the weakness so as to overcome the weakness suffered by the Kitchen:
 The company needs to hire a number of staff in the kitchen and business process so as
to improve its competitiveness in the industry (Thébaud, 2015).
 The company can also go for contract hiring so as to select the personnel that are the
best match as per the standards and requirements of the company.
 The Kitchin needs to be open on Sundays and thereby increase their working hours so as
to increase the flow of the customers during weekends.
 The Kitchin needs to clearly state our duties and responsibilities in the job description
while hiring potential employees from the market.
 The restaurant needs to add more line of items along with British menu so as to serve
the customer with rich variety (Clastres, 2011).
 The Kitchen requires making updations in the billing and booking technology. The
incorporation of online billing system will provide easy accessibility and convenience to
the customers.
 The Company can provide Wi-Fi access so as to keep the customer engaged during the
waiting time. This will further improve the satisfaction level of the customer.
 The marketing department of The Kitchin requires carrying out market research so as to
analyze customer demand and preferences (Baran and Yıldız, 2015).
 The restaurant requires improving their business strategies with regard to the use of a
mobile app so as to keep the customer at ease.

2.2 ANALYZE THE WAYS IN WHICH EXISTING PERFORMANCE COULD BE
MAINTAINED AND STRENGTHENED
The existing strength of the Kitchin could be strengthened by maintaining business
performance. It is required by every business to adapt to the changes in the external
environment. The demand and customer requirement needs to be finding out with the help of
market research (Ward, 2012).
Also, the Kitchin can use the digital platform and other social media apps so as to influence the
customer for online ordering and payment decisions. The Kitchin needs to pay special attention
to its value chain so as to provide effective services to its customers. Also, effective relation
needs to maintain with the suppliers of the imported ingredients. This will further help the
Kitchin to determine the strategic competitive advantage.
Besides this, the Kitchin requires to focus on competitor strategies so as to draw the counter-
strategies for the same. This will further help the Kitchin to add more cuisine option and expand
the menu so as to provide the customer with different taste experience (Surujlal, 2013).

2.3 PROVIDE JUSTIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO EXPANSION OF BUSINESS IN
NEW AREA
The Kitchin requires requiring devising proper business plan that can further help in expanding
the business operations in a new area. There must be a proper alignment of resource and
growth plan so as to achieve the business objectives in an effective manner. Also, the use of
SMART framework can help The Kitchin to set the priorities and make the budget plan
accordingly (Glasmeier and Christopherson, 2015).
The following recommendation with regards to the business expansion of The Kitchin:
 The Kitchin need to increase their number of staff so as to explore the new avenue.
 The growth objective of the restaurant can be meeting by elaborating the menu so as to
provide more cuisine option to the diner.
 The integration of technology can help to attract prospective customers and thereby
increasing sales in the UK market.
 The restaurant needs to build an established connection with the customer with the
help of social networking and other digital platforms.
 Feedback from the customer should be valued for the purpose of further expansion.
 Brand awareness needs to be increased by way of promotional and advertising
activities.
Figure: Ansoff’s Matrix
[Source: Goss, 2015]

The Ansoff’s Matrix can be used for expanding the business operations of The Kitchin.
The restaurant may develop a market development strategy by introducing the product to the
new market. Also, the surplus fund can be used for developing new products in the future.
Another way to expand the business operation can be done by way of a diversification strategy.
This further requires entering a new product to the new markets. The Kitchin may decide to
open a resort somewhere outside UK (Thébaud, 2015).