Restaurant Concept Paper: Meat Barge - Business and Marketing Plan

This restaurant concept paper outlines the business plan for Meat Barge, a fast-casual restaurant concept aiming to fill a gap in the Canadian market by offering healthier and tastier meat options. The paper details the target market, which includes young urban professionals, and analyzes current trends in the food industry, such as the growth of fast-casual dining, the impact of delivery services, and the importance of sustainable produce. The restaurant's concept emphasizes a unique service style, dining décor, and a global-inspired food style, with a menu designed to highlight the quality of the meat. Marketing strategies focus on product and pricing, as well as channel and communication strategies. The paper includes a menu design, marketing strategies, and plans for the future of the restaurant.

Running head: RESTAURANT CONCEPT PAPER
Restaurant Concept Paper
Name of the student
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Introduction
Meat Barge is a concept which aims to bridge the gap in the Canadian market
where fast causal in the meat segment is still untapped. The restaurant aims to use next
generation food science to provide healthier but tastier option of fast food for the local
consumers. Meat Barge has formed partnership with local producers to develop
sustainable methods and achieve a top reputation in the market. In partnership with the
Butcher Chef, Meat Barge aims to create the fast causal environment serving one of
the best qualities of meat and fast food. Chef Derek von Raesfeld has inspired
development of an exquisite menu specially designed to present the unique profile of
different types of meat flavours. Therefore, the restaurant is trying to raise the bar by
developing a menu and meals that fast causal has not experienced before. Meat Barge
will hire staffs that fit the profile for being passionate, sincere and committed to their
work who are ready to learn from every opportunity they get and grow along with
their organisation. However, the success of the restaurant depends various other
factors such as analysis of the target market, current trends in the global culinary
world, concept of the restaurant and strategy for marketing the concept. These factors
provide an understanding about the overall plan and its feasibility in the current
market.
Target Market
Based on the concept of a fast causal restaurant and consumers visiting the
Butcher Chef, the consumer profiling has been done based on their distinct behaviour
and location. The restaurant offers services to similar consumers all over the week and
the fast causal restaurant is generally for a younger urban crowd looking for a classy
experience at reasonable prices.
Target market throughout the week
Gender: Male and Female
Age: 20-35 years
Marital status: Married and Unmarried
Children: No
Education: Students, Graduates, post graduates
Job: Corporate officials, part time employed, students
Geographic Location: local
Income: $20,000 - $45,000
Trends
Fast casual dining
The recent trend in the market shows that there has been flat growth for all
restaurants using a concept of fast casual dining. The fast casual dining has been
experiencing significant growth in the industry and has taken a larger share of the
restaurant landscape. These restaurants offer enhanced quality of their food with value
price points. The total fast causal growth in the global market was 9% in the year of
2017 for all the 250 chains in the world (Beckett, 2019). There are fast causal
restaurants which are growing at exponential rates. The United States are a fast casual

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nation but Canada has also experienced significant growth in the past few years.
Canada experienced double digit growth in the fast casual segment where fast casual
is expected to grow even further. It offers the patrons with the opportunity to control
their own experience from starting to finish (cbinsights.com, 2018).
Consumers are looking for a sweet spot where these consumer segments are
provided with healthier options where both quality and convenience are being
maintained. The main advantage of using fast casual is that they do not need to be
creative while implementing their marketing strategy as the fast casual market is still
not saturated. However, in order to implement this trend effectively into the restaurant
concept, the differentiation between fast casual dining and fast food staples has to be
made. The firm has to make the consumers understand that they offer fresher and
healthier options (Beckett, 2019). The servings are expected to be classy where metal
dishes will be used for serving food, the ambience will be upscale and alcoholic
beverages will be served. Therefore, posters and menu boards are essential to
highlight the differences between the consumers’ needs and wants. Moreover,
community connection is another significant way which will be used to partner with
local schools, sports teams and other firms. It helps in making the franchise more
fulfilling than before and engagement with the local consumers on a personal level.
Delivery Disruption
According to the data from NPD Group research, 2.8 million orders are made
online today out of the 61 million orders made in a restaurant (Beckett, 2019). It
implies that 5% of the total orders in the global market are from online platforms
(Beckett, 2019). Digital push has a significant impact not only from the point of sale
systems to reservations. Delivery is one of the most powerful transformation in the
market. It offers innumerable opportunities for growth and expansion where digital
sales is expected to grow from 6% to 30% by the end of 2025 (Beckett, 2019).
Meat barge will take advantage of the new business delivery model cause
disruptions in the food business to incorporate online delivery services. The company
will partner with Uber Eats, Foodora and DoorDash at the initial stage to offer online
service to the consumers by making delivering food based on their convenience. The
firm will also ensure that packaging of the food is performed efficiently to maintain
the aesthetics of the food offered.
Sustainable produce
Sustainable produce and farm to table are two concepts which has been a key to
developing competitive advantage in the restaurant for the past decade where the
consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable measures taken by restaurant
organisations (Morrison et al., 2017). Locally produced food and seasonal food are
key to developing a palate which is unique and differentiates the restaurant from other
companies. These product are fresh and organically produced to reduce the harmful
impact on the surrounding environment. Therefore, Meat Barge will form partnership
with local farmers to offer fresh produce to the consumers and healthier options.
Moreover, sustainable produce needs to be added on to the concept of farm to table in
the modern market to gain competitive advantage. It implies that protecting the
environment by growing crops without the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides. In

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terms of livestock, Meat Barge will focus on the welfare of the animals and develop
healthier meat options. These two aspects are responsible for offering nutrients and
healthy food options to their communities.
Restaurant concept
Service style
The service style of the fast casual restaurants are similar to a fast food
restaurant except that the food quality is perceived higher when compared to the fast
food joints. Customers will order their food on the counter and their meal will be
served hot to their table and it will also offer the consumers to order food to go. The
restaurant will follow a silver service which is platter to plate where the food will be
presented and served from the platter to the plate of the consumers by using a service
gear. It will start from the left hand side of the guest. The menu will be visible at the
counter where the consumers will have plenty of options to choose from and they can
also decide on customisation options.
Dining Décor
In terms of the dining décor, the dining room will be divided into bar and
dining area. A fast causal needs to be more than a good décor where the design will
based on offering fast services to their consumers but it should have a full-service
design of a fine dine. The dining area will consist of marble tops surrounded by dark
brown wooden chairs. The windows will be black trimmed which provides view on
the baking areas. The restaurant will also include black-leather cushioned seats along
with an Oak table. The wall will consist of white tiles with bookshelves along with
low hanging lights. These lights will take a contemporary look along with large size
menu boards along with various arts on the wall. Various quotations will be printed to
address the theme of the restaurant.

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Counter area
Bar area
Dining Area

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Contemporary Wall Art
Food Style
The food style for Meat Barge will be a global platter where essence of every
country can be witnessed. Butcher Chef and Chef Derek von Raesfeld will have
significant influence on the menu. Based on the local farmers, the menu will be
customised. Meat will be key ingredient in the menu where meat prepared from
different cultures and styles will be presented. A separate bar menu will be created
which will consist of the cocktails, beers, whiskey and others. Chef’s specialities will
be changed every day based on the local produce for the consumers to try something
new every day of the week. The menu will be solely developed to offer value for
money to the consumers using sustainable measures.
Menu Design
In terms of menu design, the organisation will have an analogous colour palette
to provide a harmony between the colours and develop a cooler menu as the menu is
addressed to the younger consumers (millennial). The menu will be designed to
highlight the key specialities offered by the organisation by putting it in the centre of
the page. It will include all the meat items along with various low cost items suitable
for fast services. The menu will include combo’s and customisation options put in a
box which will be convenient for the consumers to understand and order. The
oversized boards will be there to support the consumers along with normal menus in
case of detailed understanding. Moreover, the menu will indicate the items that are
spicy or gluten free for better understanding of the consumers.
In terms of the bar menu, Meat Barge will use a similar look which will be
provided separately on the bar counter. Oversized wall menus are speciality of the

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restaurant and smaller menus will provide more options, starting from cocktails, wine,
whiskey, rum and others based on the ideal beverage. The consumers can choose
quickly or may take time based on the menu which serves the purpose of a fast casual
dining experience. Moreover, the bar menu will also be influenced by Chef Derek von
Raesfeld for complementing the food and the drinks.
Oversized Menu
Wall menus

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Normal menu
Bar Menu
Marketing
The restaurant market is highly competitive in nature which implies that
marketing and brand awareness are one of the major strategies for improving
consumer footfall in new openings. The marketing strategy will be focused on
offering healthier food options to the consumers in Canada along with a great

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ambience and locally source food. Moreover, the partnership of Meat Barge with The
butcher and Chef Derek von Raesfeld will be highlighted to create a sense of trust
among the target consumers. The marketing strategy and campaigns will focus on the
major unique selling proposition of the company which is higher quality at lower price
and memorable experience.
Product and pricing strategy
The first step of the product strategy is identifying the key menu items which
can become popular among the consumers in the market. The key products will be
highlighted in the campaign by making it look tastier. The products in the menu will a
diversity to highlight the global cuisine. It would provide the consumers with the
option of choosing among a large variety of options. In terms of the pricing strategy,
the restaurant will go for cost leadership where they will offer best quality dishes to
their consumers at the lowest price possible. The food items in the menu will be
moderately prices but will have a significant lower price in comparison to a fine dine
restaurant. However, Meat Barge will offer best possible menu along with the upscale
ambience to the consumers. A happy hour pricing strategy will also be there from 3
pm to 7 pm. Moreover, at the initial stages, Meat Barge will offer discount of 15% on
all items both delivery and in store service.
Channel and communication strategy
In terms of promotional strategies, both traditional and digital marketing
strategies will be used to reach the target consumers. As the target consumers
consisting of millennial generation so digital marketing is expected to have a higher
penetrating rate than the traditional forms of marketing. In terms of traditional
marketing, the firm will distribute flyers and pamphlets to high end stress and mall
areas to target young consumers. Hoardings and billboards will be placed at prime
locations in front of shopping districts, bus stops, train stations and airports.
Moreover, local events will be organised where live shows will be arranged where
sample dishes will be prepared. These dishes will be prepared in front of live audience
to display the culinary skills and theme of the restaurant. Moreover, a three day
opening event will be held before the restaurant launch where numerous food critics
and food bloggers will be invited to taste the food and review on the ambience. It will
create a positive exposure among the consumers and enhance the brand name of the
consumers.
On the other hand, in terms of the digital marketing strategy, Meat Barge will
develop an online presence by creating pages of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
SnapChart. These pages will be created to display offers and dishes along with
addressing the queries of the consumers. The firm will hire a separate team to engage
consumers and solve all their queries and issues. It will be an effective means of
developing a brand image on the social media platforms. Moreover, Meat Barge will
hire famous YouTubers to vlog on the ambience and quality of the dishes. Search
engine optimisation and search engine marketing will be other aspect of the digital
strategy. In this respect, the organisation will promote their restaurant theme where
consumers searching fast casual will always be provided Meat Barge as a prime
option. Furthermore, Instagram will be used to share live food preparation and service

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along with various images of delicious food to make it more appealing to the
consumers.
Conclusion
In light of the above context, it can be concluded that Meat Barge is a fast
casual restaurant offering healthier and tastier options to their consumers. Even
though, the market for fast casual is still niche, there are plenty of growth
opportunities based on the current trends in the market. Moreover, the restaurant will
also offer takeaway and delivery services to their consumers with high quality
packaging at affordable prices. It makes the concept even more appealing as food
brings numerous possibilities on the plate where passionate and collaboration with
Chef Derek von Raesfeld the restaurant is bound to succeed. It is expected to be a
local favourite in no time and will be one of flag bearers of sustainable produce.
Moreover, this concept can be one of the new trends and disruptive concepts in the
restaurant business as it leads to new doorways in culinary world. Online delivery and
takeaway services are also key features of the restaurant which is expected to boost
the brand awareness and increase footfall through word of mouth.

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Appendix
Source: (Gaille, 2018)
Source: (Maras, 2019)

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References and Bibliography
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cbinsights.com. (2018). 11 New Restaurant Concepts Reimagining Fast Food &
Casual Dining. CB Insights Research. Retrieved 16 March 2020, from
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/new-restaurant-concepts-fast-food-
casual-dining/.
Gaille, B. (2018). 20 Canadian Fast Food Industry Statistics and Trends.
BrandonGaille.com. Retrieved 16 March 2020, from
https://brandongaille.com/20-canadian-fast-food-industry-statistics-and-trends/.
Gottschall, R., Gultek, M. and Heroux, L., 2018. Similarities and Differences in US
and Canadian Restaurant Marketing Strategies: A Cross-Border Analysis of
Menu Offerings. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 6(1), pp.1-
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Gregorash, B. J. (2017). The modern Canadian restaurant: food for
thought. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
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segment/.
Mathur, T., & Gupta, A. (2019). Impact of ‘Dining atmospherics’ and ‘Percived food-
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Morrison, D. M., Ramsay, C. M., Victor, O., & Osiri, J. K. (2017). From Farm to
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Vercammen, K. A., Frelier, J. M., Moran, A. J., Dunn, C. G., Musicus, A. A.,
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journal of preventive medicine, 57(3), e77-e85.
Vercammen, K. A., Frelier, J. M., Moran, A. J., Dunn, C. G., Musicus, A. A.,
Wolfson, J. A., & Bleich, S. N. (2019). Calorie and Nutrient Profile of
Combination Meals at US Fast Food and Fast Casual Restaurants. American
journal of preventive medicine, 57(3), e77-e85.