Leon Restaurant: Analysis of Strategy, Operations, and Partnerships

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Leon Restaurant, a fast-food chain in the UK, focusing on its business environment, strategy, and operations. The report begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that outlines the scope of the analysis. The core of the report includes a critical evaluation of the industry environment using PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces analyses, identifying key political, economic, social, and technological factors, as well as competitive forces. It then evaluates Leon's strategy by identifying its resources and capabilities, applying the VRIN framework to assess their value, rarity, imitability, and non-substitutability. The analysis continues with an examination of Leon's operations, using insights from the resource analysis to describe its operational practices, vision, and the extent to which operations support its mission and sustainability. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and offering insights into Leon's strategic positioning within the fast-food industry.

Managing strategy,
operations and
partnerships

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is covered the aspect of business environment of one of the fast food outlet
which is named as Leon restaurant. The different models which are used for the analysis of
external and internal environment includes PESTLE, porters-five-forces, VRIN and Value chain
analysis. PESTLE and porter help in identification of factors present in environment and have
impact over industry and organisation. This will help the organisation to ascertain that which
extent their strategy is viable in environment. VRIN and Value-chain-analysis further help in
ascertainment of strength and weaknesses in respect to their resources and capabilities in
direction of opted strategy. It has been found from the overall analysis that organisation is
sustainable in nature which have effective efforts towards the fulfilment of their vision.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of environment of the industry in which the Leon’s Restaurant operates.........4
1.PEST analysis:.........................................................................................................................4
2.Emerging mega trends in fast food industry:..........................................................................5
3. Porter's Five Force Analysis:..................................................................................................5
4. Summary of Industry environment........................................................................................1
Critical evaluation of the strategy of Leon's restaurant ..................................................................2
1. Identify the resources of the organisation ..............................................................................2
2. Identify the capabilities of the organisation ...........................................................................2
3. Evaluation of the resources and capabilities (VRIN)..............................................................2
4. Compare sustainable resource and capability with industry success factor and the impact of
mega trends.................................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of the operation of Leon's restaurant.................................................................4
1. Usage of the information gather from the resources to briefly describe the operation of
Leon's restaurant..........................................................................................................................4
2. Refer briefly to the vision of Leon restaurant.........................................................................5
3. Critically assess the extent to which the operation supports in the deliver of mission...........5
4. Evaluate the extent to which the operation is sustainable.......................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................................................9
Necessary Research.....................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The management of strategy, operations and partnership within the organisation is
essential in order to gain competitive advantage within market (Alim, 2016). Several decisions
are made by managers of companies in regards to strategic management such as change in
product line or features, manufacturing plants, adoption of new technology and systems, etc. The
present report in based on Leon's Restaurant. This is fast food restaurant chain of UK which was
founded in the year 2004. The founders of this company are Henry Dimbleby, John Vincent and
Allegra McEvedy. The vision of company to offer healthy food to customers. They also publish
cookbooks and cookware. The present report discusses about evaluation of market analysis in
which Leon restaurant is present. PESTEL analysis and Porter Five forces model is given in
context of food industry. Critical evaluation of organisation's strategy is by analysing resources
and capabilities of organisation is done in report.
Critical evaluation of environment of the industry in which the Leon’s Restaurant operates
1.PEST analysis:
It is essential for Leon restaurant to conduct environment analysis for determining the
factors that impacts on business operations. The PESTLE analysis for food industry is
mentioned below -
Political factors – In context of Leon restaurant, compliance with food standards and
policies impacts positively on the operations of restaurant as it provides healthy food to
customers with high quality.
Economical factors – When taxes are imposed on consumer items, Leon restaurant has
to increase the rates of its food items. This may pose negative influence on sales and revenues of
customers (Caiazza and Stanton, 2016).
Social factors – The taste and preferences of customers are constantly changing. The
people are now becoming more health conscious that provides an opportunity to organisation
operates in fast food industry to earn high revenues by offering healthy food. Leon restaurant
ensures that it offers quality and hygienic food to customers.
Technological factors - Rapid technology advancement is prevailing in the market that
impacts the fast food industry of UK. Leon restaurant use IT technology for promoting its

products on websites and TV advertisement. This assists restaurant in gaining competitive
advantage in market.
2.Emerging mega trends in fast food industry:
Healthy snacking: It is one of the emerging trend in fast food industry. As large
number of population is suffering from various health related issues due to eating junk food very
frequently, the choices of people regarding food are changing. They are started switching from
fast food to healthy food (Amachree and et. al., 2017). People are getting more aware about
benefits of having healthy food. This impacts positively on Leon restaurant as it offers healthy
food to meet the needs of health conscious customers. However, if restaurant is not able to bring
differentiation in its product with time, then it may impact negatively on revenues of company as
this leads to maximize the chances of customers to switch to another brand.
Easier ordering and pick up: It is the another emerging trend that prevails in fast food
industry. From last some years, the process of food ordering and pick up has getting much easier
that provides an ease to food lovers to order food. Self ordering kiosks and digital menu boards
are used by many restaurants that helps in reducing ordering times and enable customers to
explore food menu at their own gait. It impacts positively on Leon restaurant as it operates many
restaurant chains in which it provides facility to customers to order food through self ordering
kiosk.
3. Porter's Five Force Analysis:

Bargaining power of buyers: There are several eating options available in fast food
industry due to more number of substitute. Due to this, bargaining power of customers is high for
Leon restaurant as this increases the pressure on it to offer variety of good quality products to
customers at reasonable price (Eggers, Hofman, Schiele and Holschbach, 2017).
Bargaining power of suppliers: In the fast food industry of UK, there are numbers of
suppliers available in market which offers food products to restaurant. So, the power of
suppliers is low for Leon restaurant as there are numerous suppliers in market from which firm
can avail raw materials for producing food products.
Threat of substitutes: As there is availability of huge number of substitute in United
Kingdom that offers similar products, the threat for Leon restaurant is high. For overcoming this
threat, it is required by restaurant to offer high quality and different range of food products with
effective services to customers in order to reduce the threat.
Threat of new entry: As the fast food industry has strong entry barriers and competition
is much high, it can be difficult for new entrants to enter into market. So, threat for new entrant is
moderate for Leon restaurant as it offers range of products with high quality that makes is
difficult for any other entrant to offer the same.
Industry rivalry: As huge number of customers are available in fast food industry, the
competitive rivalry for Leon restaurant is high. Leon restaurant can develop competitive rivalry
by building sustainable differentiation. It can also collaborate with competitors for increasing
market size.
4. Summary of Industry environment
There are various factors that are available in macro environment that impacts
positively and negatively on operations of company. High demand of food is the success factor
for industry that leads it towards high growth and success (Gupta, Pistorius and Vijge, 2016).
Changing preferences of customers towards healthy food is the factor that likely to change in
future and impacts operations of food industry.

Critical evaluation of the strategy of Leon's restaurant
1. Identify the resources of the organisation
Leon's restaurants are fast food outlets which mainly designed to meet the desires of the
health conscious individuals of society. The main mission of this restaurant is about providence
of food which tastes good, does you good, affordable in nature and kind to the planet. There are
large number of resources are required to carry on the day to day activities of any business or
restaurant. The most important resources which are identified in respect to the Leon's restaurant
includes their Human resources and Technology (Herrera and White, 2017).
Human resources: This includes the workforce of the organisation which works towards
overall accomplishment of their organisational and own targets. They done many aspects
towards the betterment of planet and eliminating the use of plastics.
Technology: In terms of technology Leon's restaurant is sound in nature. This is
ascertained from this that they use 100% green energy and uses biodegradable cups.
2. Identify the capabilities of the organisation
The number of capabilities present with Leon's restaurant are mentioned below:
 High quality food: Providence of the high quality food which good towards the planet
too.
 Value of natural resources: This presents through use of renewable energy which is
100% green and elimination of plastic from their offerings
3. Evaluation of the resources and capabilities (VRIN)
VRIN is the effective framework which has huge contribution towards the effective
evaluation of the resources and capabilities of the organisation. This framework indulges four
different aspects that judge the resources and capabilities of the organisation in respect to
ascertain their power to attain competitive advantage in market (Lop and et. al., 2017). The
VRIN analysis is conducted in respected to Leon's restaurant below:
Particulars Valuable Rare Imperfectly
imitable
Non-
substitutable
Resources

Human resources yes yes yes yes
Technology yes - - -
Capabilities
High food quality yes yes yes yes
Value towards
natural resources
yes - - -
Valuable
Human resource of Leon's restaurant is valuable in nature because the contribution of
their employees seen over their different functioning includes the usage of plant based items on
the menu for the purpose of saving planet, help in switching from the carbon fuel to renewable
energy and elimination of the use of plastics.
The value of technology is ascertained from their success in market along with its
existence with different image. This can be possible only through the effective utilisation of
technology towards use of 100% renewable energy and the recycle of paper cups (Nadège,
2018).
High quality food is valuable in terms of their capability because this will not only saves
the planet but provide good health to their consumers too.
Value towards the natural resources is ascertain as their valuable capability because they
use 100% green energy and eliminate the use of plastic and non-recyclable paper cups.
Rare
Human resource of restaurant is rare in nature as no one is able to copy the skills and
abilities of the individual. This provides edge and turns them as rare resource for an organisation.
High food quality is rare in nature because in respect of this they focus over the
providence of plant based menu.
Imperfectly Imitable
Human resource is inimitable in nature because no one is able to copy the characteristics
of the employees. This will provides edge to their workforce in respect to completion of work in
more precise nature.

High quality is inimitable in nature because they use to provide dishes in menu which are
plant based. Also, the use natural resources like organic milk and foods (Pawar and Gaikwad,
2019).
Non-substitutable
Human resources is non substitutable in nature as no one can copy the skills and
capabilities of employees. They all have their own different traits that gain from experiences.
High food quality is non substitutable in nature because the way the use to provide their
menu is unique in nature while carrying on the business of fast food outlet.
4. Compare sustainable resource and capability with industry success factor and the impact of
mega trends
The sustainable resource and capability identified includes human resource and high
quality of food. The success factor that present in industry is high support of supplier. The mega-
trends analysed includes high demand for healthy food.
So, from the comparison of the all aspects ascertained that effective human resource and
high quality food tends as the positive strategy in respect to utilise the benefit from positive
mega-trend and supportive role of supplier (Pearson and et. al., 2018).
Critical evaluation of the operation of Leon's restaurant
1. Usage of the information gather from the resources to briefly describe the operation of Leon's
restaurant
The contribution of effective human resource in successful operation of organisation is
ascertained from the aspect that they formulate environmental group which help the organisation
in evolvement of sustainable strategy about increment in the number of plants in menu, use of
renewable energy and elimination of the use of plastics. These will help the restaurant to perform
with the tag of healthy and unique in nature. Another contribution of human resources of an
organisation shown over functioning which is carbon neutral. This is attained by the organisation
through the use renewable energy in comparison to the carbon fuels. This will help in operation
by building the image in market in respect to value towards combat the use of natural resources.
Technology always plays the supporting role in achievement of those targets set by the
human resources and the manner in which they operates the functions. Technology is uses in

respect to the building of the biodegradable coffee-cups where new plant is established in place
of plastic cups (Sharma, 2015). Use of technology is also seen over the process of conversion or
switching from carbon fuel to renewable energy.
2. Refer briefly to the vision of Leon restaurant
The main vision of Leon restaurant is to serve the food which is good in taste and also
does good fro the consumer along with that kind for planet. In elaboration of this vision of the
restaurant attained that they want to create and provide naturally Fast food (Singh and Singh,
2015).
3. Critically assess the extent to which the operation supports in the deliver of mission
Main vision of Leon restaurant is to create and provide naturally fast food which good for
both consumer and environment (Resources of Leon Restaurant, 2018).
Number of operations are done respect to adherence of their vision. The first one is about
the use plant based items in menu. This wills contributes towards the fulfilment of their vision
but the only amount of plant based items available in menu are 45% only. So, ascertained from
that contribution of this step towards mission is moderate in nature.
Another aspect of operation they initiated by adhering their vision is about waste no food.
In this respect no process is used instead of that focus is provided upon optimum utilisation. The
contribution this towards vision is low because not possible to attain optimisation every-time.
One aspect of operation in respect to vision about use of 100% renewable energy fulfils
the vision to optimum extent (Srinivasan and Agrawal, 2018).
4. Evaluate the extent to which the operation is sustainable
The optimise sustainability is ascertained in respect to the one operation of restaurant
which is about the use of 100% renewable energy. Another operations have their different
capabilities in respect to to justify the aspect of sustainability. Usage of plant based items in
menu is sustainable in moderate nature as only 45% items are those which are plant based. In
terms of the elimination of plastics, restaurant is able to attain optimum sustainability as they
focus over the building of biodegradable coffee cups. There function towards waste no foods
does not include any appropriate approach instead of the use of optimum utilisation of resources.

In respect of the contribution of this towards extent of sustainability is very low due to lack in
perfection in approach (Swink, Melnyk, Hartley and Cooper, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that strategies have huge contribution in
ascertainment of sustainability in business offerings. Effective application of all these help an
organisation in attainment of competitive edge. Role of external and internal factors is optimum
in nature in respect to build successful strategies. In respect to analyse the impact of external
factors PESTLE and porter is conducted. This helps in determining industry trends and their
impact on restaurant business. To analyse the internal abilities of an organisation VRIN is
conducted in respect to resources and capabilities. The sustainable resources and capability
analysed includes human resource and high food quality. These contributes towards the
attainment of vision of Leon restaurant about naturally fast food. Vulnerabilities are identified in
respect to food waste management and use of technology in some aspect as they does not help in
attainment of optimum use of resources.

REFRENCES
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analysis. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 54. pp.208-212.
Eggers, J. E., Hofman, E., Schiele, H. and Holschbach, E., 2017. Identifying The ‘Right’Supplier
For Module Developments—A Cross-Industrial Case Analysis. International journal of
innovation management. 21(03). p.1750026.
Gupta, A., Pistorius, T. and Vijge, M. J., 2016. Managing fragmentation in global environmental
governance: The REDD+ Partnership as bridge organization. International
Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics. 16(3). pp.355-374.
Herrera, M. E. B. and White, S., 2017. Lenovo’s venture philanthropy: Evaluating and planning.
In The Role of Corporate Sustainability in Asian Development (pp. 29-53). Springer,
Cham.
Lop, N. S. B., Ismail, K., Isa, H.M. and Khalil, N., 2017. Factors Affecting the Operational
Performance of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects: Cases in
Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences.
7(11). pp.1394-1409.
Nadège, D. N., 2018. An Examination of the Role of Regional Bodies in Conflict Management:
The Case of East African Community in Burundi Conflict (2009 To 2017) (Doctoral
dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
Pawar, A. B. and Gaikwad, R., 2019. “A Study to Assess Coping Stratergies among Parents of
Mentally Challenged Children at Selected Special Schools of Miraj, Kupwad and
Kolhapur Corporation Area”. Indian Journal of Public Health Research &
Development. 10(7).
Pearson, J. and et. al., 2018. Flood resilience: consolidating knowledge between and within
critical infrastructure sectors. Environment Systems and Decisions. 38(3). pp.318-329.
Sharma, D. D., 2015. Contract Strategies in Hotel Industry: Swedish Hotel Firms Abroad.
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Conference(pp. 222-229). Springer, Cham.
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traffic offloading for 5G-enabled multiaccess edge computing networks. In 2018 IEEE
International Conference on Applied System Invention (ICASI)(pp. 303-307). IEEE.
Swink, M., Melnyk, S. A., Hartley, J. L. and Cooper, M. B., 2017. Managing operations across
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Online
PESTEL analysis of Food industry, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://freepestelanalysis.com/pestel-pestle-analysis-of-restaurant-industry/>
Porter's Five Forces, 2013. [Online]. Available
through:<https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/porters-five-forces.html>
Porter's Five Force Model of Food Industry, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.porteranalysis.com/porters-five-forces-model-of-food-industry/>
Porters Five Force Analysis, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:uc4ZYmTH-GcJ:https://
www.instantassignmenthelp.com/porters-five-force-
analysis+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in>
Resources of Leon Restaurant, 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://leon.co/magazine/blog/three-stars-by-the-sra/>

APPENDIX
Necessary Research
PESTEL Analysis
Factors Citations Political: Political factors have huge impact on
restaurant industry. Government announces various
regulations and rules for restaurant industry from
time to time in order to take care of people's health.
Leon restaurant checks standard of cleanliness in
restaurants and it follows rules and policies made by
government in a order to run its business operations
smoothly. This restaurant ensure that food products
are fresh and healthy at the time of purchasing,
cooking, delivery and packing which helps firm in
running its operations smoothly.
(PESTEL analysis of Food
industry, 2016)
 Economical: When there are economic changes in
the country, this has negative impact on restaurants.
Stable growth in the economy of country and risky
economic markets are great threat for restaurant
industry of UK. When economy of countries are
strong, it provides opportunities for restaurants. If
there are any changes made by government in tax
rates of consumer food items, then it impacts
negatively on fast food industry and the firms
operates in it. It leads Leon restaurant to increase
prices of its food items that may result in declining
sales.
(PESTEL analysis of Food
industry, 2016)
 Social: Social factors includes trends and habits of (PESTEL analysis of Food

consumers. People are becoming more aware about
benefits of having healthy food. Their tastes and
preferences are changing continuously. Leon
restaurant provides healthy food to customers which
impacts positively on image of company. The
customers are provided with good ambience and
dinning that provides it an advantage in competitive
market.
industry, 2016)
 Technological: Different restaurants use IT
technology for publicity. The fast food industry of
UK is based on use of technology. Firms use TV
channels and websites to advertise their food
products. By this, people can check the menu of
restaurant online and can get information about the
availability of food product. As the restaurant
(PESTEL analysis of Food
industry, 2016)
Porter's Five force model Bargaining power of buyer: When customers are
powerful, the tendency for bargaining increases by
price sensitive customers as prices are reduced.
When the purchasing decision are made, bargaining
power increases. The basic demand of customers is
good quality food and great experience at affordable
prices. When prices are high, customers do not enjoy
going to that restaurant or buying food orders from
restaurant. It increases the competition pressure on
Leon restaurant. This not only declines the profit of
restaurant, but increases the pressure to offer variety
of products at affordable prices. The brand loyalty
among customers is also less as number of brands
(Porter's Five Forces, 2013)
(Porters Five Force Analysis,
2019)

available in market. So, the bargaining power of
customers is high for restaurant and in order to
attracting more customers and earn more profits,
firm can offer variety of products to customers. Bargaining power of suppliers: In fast food
industry, the number of suppliers are more in
market, so their power is quite low. Backward
integration, flexibility in supply chain etc. decreases
the power of suppliers to perform their operations in
industry thus, reduces competitive pressure over the
organisations operates in sector. So, in case of
Leon's restaurant, the bargaining power of suppliers
is low as there are various suppliers available in
market from which firm can get fruits and vegetables
for preparing food.
(Porter's Five Forces, 2013)
 Threat of substitute: In fast food industry, the
threat of substitute is high as there are various
restaurants available in the market that offers high
quality food at affordable price with range of
facilities and services like home delivery etc. In case
of Leon restaurant, it has relatively high rate of
substitution as there are many similar restaurants
exist in UK which are offering the similar type of
products and services to the people. This has made it
compulsory for Leon that it has to provide high
quality food products to customers at less prices then
competitors in order to gain competitive advantage
in market.
(Porter's Five Forces, 2013)
 Threats of new entry: The increasing demand of (Porter's Five Forces, 2013)

fast food attracts many new entrants towards the
industry. These entrances are not the competitive
source in food sector of UK as the barriers to entry is
strong. As the competition is much high in industry,
adequate amount of capital, strong brand image,
attractive outlets and product differentiation are
required by an entrant to enter into the fast food
market. However, to start up a restaurant is cheaper
in comparison to other business. So, the threat of
new entrant is moderate for Leon restaurant as it
offers variety of food products which are hygienic
and of high quality. Competitive rivalry: A competitive strategy with
effective competitors provides company a
competitive advantage over other organisations. In
context of food industry, rivalry is relatively high.
As there are number of competitors available in the
industry, price wars among them increases
competitive pressure in fast food industry. So, the
competition rivalry for Leon restaurant is high as
equally balanced players are available in the
industry which provides tough competition to
organisation.
(Porter's Five Forces, 2013)
(Porter's Five Force Model of
Food Industry, 2017)