Small Business Enterprise Report: The Kitchin's Performance Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of The Kitchin, a small business enterprise operating in Edinburgh, UK. The report begins with an overview of the business, including its mission, services, and products, followed by an identification of its strengths, such as the use of fresh, local ingredients and a cozy dining atmosphere, and weaknesses, including limited opening hours and staffing. A comparative analysis of The Kitchin's financial performance and brand awareness with a competitor, Wedgewood, is also included. The report then provides recommendations to overcome the identified weaknesses, such as increasing staff and extending opening hours, and strategies to strengthen and maintain existing performance, including adapting to digital platforms and enhancing customer engagement. Finally, the report suggests recommendations for business expansion, including strategic development and menu diversification. The report concludes with an assessment of the impact of proposed changes and plans for managing and monitoring the improvements in the business's performance.

Small Business Enterprise

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Profile of business and its weaknesses & strengths..............................................................1
1.2 Business analysis with the help of comparative measures....................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Recommendations to overcome weakness............................................................................6
2.2 Ways through which existing performance can be strengthened and maintained................6
2.3 Recommendation for expansion of business in new areas....................................................7
TASK 3 ..........................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Assessment of plans and business objectives........................................................................8
3.2 Revision of business plan to make changes........................................................................10
3.3 Action plan for executing changes......................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Report on the impact of proposed changes on business......................................................12
4.2 Plan how the changes will be managed in the business......................................................13
4.3 Monitor improvements in the performance of the business over a given timescale...........14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Small business is being termed as the primary supporting system for the economy of UK
and is also defined as the main contributor which assist in driving growth, developing effective
opportunities of employment and starting of new markets. Playing a role of seedbeds for
creation, small business enterprise's encourage competition in market by providing original ideas
regarding business thereby, stimulating the status quo. Business organisation which are small are
very valuable for the United Kingdom and represents around 99.9% of the business and therefore
the government also encourage them to make proper growth (Altman, Sabato and Wilson, 2010).
The present report is based on the topic of small business enterprise which will discuss various
concepts in relation with the micro trades. In order to understand the impact as well as
importance of SBE, The Kitchen is being considered as the case in the report. In this report
different ways with the help of which performance can be maintained, distinct and new area
where business can make expansion and also the plan and objectives of the business will be
discussed in this report.
TASK 1
1.1 Profile of business and its weaknesses & strengths
Overview
The Kitchen was got started in the year 2006 in Edinburgh, UK. Its main belief is provide
nature on the guests plate and it is considered as the passion visualized by Chef Tom Kithin who
make establishment of the restaurant with the partnership of Michaela Kitchin. They provides
modern cuisine of British which is inspired by the French cooking by sourcing some finest as
well as freshest local produce. They make operations in 78, Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh.
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The Kitchen is being established to give relaxed and warm atmosphere to the visitors by
keeping Scottish attribute which can be viewed all over its texture and tones. They provide non-
intrusive and welcoming service to guests, which is considered as their strong point of the
ultimate experience of dining.
Team: Maire d' Sylvain and Philippe Nublat (Beverage and Food Director), Michaela &
Tom Kitchen (Owners)
Business nature: Dining restaurant
Mission: The Kitchen's mission is its belief message “ From nature to the plate” i.e.
delivering finest and fresh meal which is being baked with topical farm produce. They believe in
improving experience of diner's with the combination of non-intrusive delivery, cosy ambience
and taste.
Services and products: The Kitchen's provide guests with large variety of drinks, food
and online products of shopping like recipe book, meal and gift vouchers.
Opening times: Tuesday-Thursday: 12:15 PM- 2:30 PM, 6:30 PM-10:00 PM
Fri- Saturday: 12:15 PM- 2:30 PM, 6:30 PM-10:30 PM
closed on Sunday and Monday
Menu
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Payment Method: E-wallets, Cash and Credit
Contact: The Kitchen, 78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX
Telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail]
Strengths:
The Kitchin serves good food quality baked with finest as well as fresh local farm being
developed in relaxed and warm atmosphere. The ingredients are also of standard quality and are
being supplied by the general suppliers daily in the kitchen. Fish and meat are also sourced and
entire filleting and butchering are done inside (Aremu and Adeyemi, 2011). This is considered as
the one of the main strength of The Kitchin's baked British food. Dining area is made of original
wood and stones which provide sense of cosiness and intimacy. They also have strong
relationship with the suppliers who give seasonable vegetables at reasonable reates.
Weaknesses:
Some of the weaknesses of The Kitchin is their opening time, it is very less and they
close early also. This give restriction to such customers who wants late night dining because of
work. Also they don't operate on Sunday and Monday, means customers will be limited who
wants to visit there on Sundays. Restaurant also have very less staff means possibility to serve
more customer and to add more cuisines will be limited. Finally there is limited technology used
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Source 1: https://thekitchin.com/menus/

in the process of billing and ordering which is considered as weakness as guests prefer online
medium (Bianchi and et.al., 2010).
1.2 Business analysis with the help of comparative measures
The restaurants performance could be calculated or measured with the assistance of
different bases like cost indicators, ROI, financial profits, sales, employee retention, cost
indicators, satisfaction of customers, timely supply procurements. In present, The Kitchin is
being given award with distinct accolades like Five AA Rosettes, Best UK restaurant, Michelin
Star etc. These are considered as the indicators regarding offering of good food quality, services
and customer satisfaction. Financial profit of the company can be discussed as:
Table 1: Profitability comparison in the year 2011-15 for The Kitchin and Wedgewood
restaurant
The Kitchin
£
Wedgewood
£
Year PBT PAT PBT PAT
2015 97280 90600 121827 115990
2014 82545 70470 112005 94580
2013 64865 57650 85810 74670
2012 47730 42890 68000 60540
2011 40867 32570 45150 39870
From the table 1, it could be interpreted that the profit of The Kitchin is increasing in the
years 2011-15. Profit After Tax (PAT) also presents growing trend termed as good indicator of
performance to make decision on revenue generation after deducting taxes and expenses. In
comparison profit which is attained is low if being compared to Wedgewood, so aim of The
Kitchin is to make high profits.
Table 2: Sales among the year 2011-15
The Kitchin
£
Wedgewood
£
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Year
2015 270000 395350
2014 276590 343000
2013 232470 292610
2012 202500 253500
2011 170130 197980
From the table 2 it is analysed that The Kitchin and Wedgewood sales has made
increment but if compared then Wedgewood has shown high growth in sales till the year 2014.
There is a fall of 2.38% in sales in the year 2015 whereas there is growth of 15% for
wedgewood.
Apart from the financial basis, Non-financial base involves brand awareness which
indicates service and products popularity between customers. This is described as follows:
Table 3: Brand Awareness Comparison
Year
Ending 2015
The Kitchin Wedgewood
Loyalty of customer 4 3
Awareness of brand 3 5
Perceived quality 7 7
Trademarks and patents 5 7
Scale: 1=Lowest; 7=Highest
It has been analysed that The Kitchin carries good score in terms of loyalty of customer
than Wedgewood. On the other hand, in trademarks, patents and brand awareness Wedgewood is
leading.
Table 4: Perception of customer regarding service and food quality
Year
Ending 2015
The Kitchin Wedgewood
Is it of great value 5 7
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Can it give good performance 5 6
How it make comparison with
competitor offering
4 5
From the comparison, it is concluded that in terms of the performance and money,
Wedgewood is being ranked higher than The Kitchin.
TASK 2
2.1 Recommendations to overcome weakness
Several recommendations which can be provided to The Kitchin so as to overcome
existing weaknesses are as follows:
 The major significant weakness of The Kitchin is less staff. So as to increase
competitiveness, they must hire more personnel. They could make choice of the contract
hiring as it will support in retaining selected trained individuals who can match
expectations and standards. They should also make planning of person specification and
job description by providing guidelines regarding working hours and responsibilities
(Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright, 2013).
 The Kitchin must extend working days and opening hours. Especially during weekends
they must work as many customer prefer to dine on weekends. This will increase their
profit and sales.
 The Kitchin serve their customer with British Menu which must be altered as per demand
of guests. Nowadays many customer prefer variety in food so restaurant can make use it
to satisfy and attract more guests.
 They can also maximise technology integration in billing and booking process by
accepting online payments and credit cards, this will increase convenience and access of
customers who wants mobility and quick payment methods.
2.2 Ways through which existing performance can be strengthened and maintained
The Kitchin can strengthened and maintain existing strengths in order to maintain
performance of business. The first step regarding this is to modify business as per the changes in
environment, customer preference and demand in market (Bridge and O'Neill, 2012). As today,
consumers are hooked and informed highly by making use of digital platforms such as mobile
apps, social media and internet, so restaurant must make use of digital promotion and utilization
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in the channel of marketing and process of making payments and ordering foods. They can also
make improvements in decision making and business strategies by making inclusion of credit
cards, e-wallets.
Mentioned organisation can also keep check on strategies of competitor so as to make
improvement in the decision of business. As like their competitors they can elaborate menus and
can add more cuisine in order to make attraction of more customer who wants to make
experiment in the tastes. Analysis of competitor's services and products must be done so as to
include more uniqueness and differentiation in their restaurant.
Further, The Kitchin must widely make promotion of their quality strengths in regards
with friendly chef and staff, authentic taste, warmer dealing with customer so as to make
promotion of uniqueness by making appeal to customer on regular basis with tricky offers and
catchy promotions. This will give strengths to their USP (Burns, 2010). Apart from this, selected
suppliers and the staff of The Kitchin are considered as their main strengths, so they always
make relationship with them by involving them in the process of decision making.
2.3 Recommendation for expansion of business in new areas
There are various recommendations with the help of which The Kitchin will make
improvements in the expansion of their business, these can be as follows:
 There should be an appropriate business plan regarding strategic development and
expansion so that plans of growth, resources and objectives of business can make
effective alignment. This will also give support to make decision on budget planning,
timescales and priorities under SMART objectives.
 They should also make increment in their staff so as to make planning of expansion
avenues and achieve requirements of business for growth.
 They are required to make expansion in their menus and cuisine options on plate so as to
make appeal to desired consumers and also increase sales (Cerrato and Piva, 2012). Also
they should optimise and integrate process of business as per change in times where
guests make preference of card payments and e-wallets over payment of cash. They must
also open their restaurant on weekend for large hours so as to have more sales.
 The Kitchin can also maximise their relationship and connection with the consumers by
making increase in social networking. For instance, customers can be encouraged by
them to ask problems related with ingredients and foods utilized in preparation which can
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be solved by the food team. The fast process of responding and questioning will improve
engagement of customer and will also support in identifying developing requirements.
This opportunity related with consideration will appeal interest of customer and increase
value of brand.
 In order to make increment in visibility, they can continuously make addition of
newsletter or promotion to the customers which will pull their interest. Segregation
marketing with several channels of communication will extend profitability, retention and
base of customer (Chittithaworn and et.al., 2011).
TASK 3
3.1 Assessment of plans and business objectives
Aims and objectives of marketing: The Kitchin restaurant, which is being located in the
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK is in requirement of making expansion of its customer base to 10% by
the year 2017. Therefore, the plan of business will give light on the estimation regarding the
amount of consumers they wants to increase. Moreover, another key intent the desired plan must
make serving is to cover the loss of the amount 3.42% and increase its margin of profit so as to
face the aggressive competition in market. The restaurant must also provide serious efforts in
making effective utilization of online marketing tools by the assistance of social media tools such
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as Mail Chimp, Piktochart, Place It, Facebook page insights and many others and give more user
friendly mobile application and website in six months (Donner and Escobari, 2010).
Operational Information
Location of restaurant: The Kitchin restaurant is having location in Leith, Edinburgh.
Local farmers, local grocery stores and shop of meat are considered as the key suppliers of
restaurant who make supply of seasonal vegetables and fruits directly in kitchen.
Financial information
In the year 2013, there has been a loss of 3.42% which is suffered by restaurant contempt
of minimal increase in the generation of revenue in between 2009-12.
Summary of objectives of business
The Kitchin has several SMART objectives which are being defined as follows:
Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely
Increasing service
of delivery by
minimising the
customer's
waiting time for
receiving food
which is provided
on table.
Measurement of
progress by
customer call
backs and time
quotes for having
check on
satisfaction
(Fassin, Van
Rossem and
Buelens, 2011).
By making place
of delivery within
reach of waiters
serving tables.
There is a
practical view
because by
minimising time
of waiting, more
orders can be
received.
The restaurant
requires to start
process instantly
and there will be
a requirements of
2 weeks for
training staff.
Developing
services of
takeaway by
making sure that
there is no
compromise on
quantity and
quality of food.
Designing of
grading chart of
1-10 scale and
involve check off
list to follow for
managers.
Setting of
attainable
standards can be
achieved and
controlled as
manager submit
and prepare
information.
Setting practical
time in which
delivery of food
can be done.
Project should get
started at earliest
so as to end it in
within 3-4 weeks.
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