A Detailed Reflection on the Business Plan of Vegan Daddy Restaurants

This reflective essay analyzes the business plan of Vegan Daddy, a vegan restaurant in Croydon, England, focusing on its marketing strategies, target customers, and competitive environment. The author, a marketing expert, identifies strengths such as the growing vegan trend and strategic location, alongside challenges like raw material costs and market competition. The essay details the data collection process, including primary and secondary research, and outlines a six-month marketing plan incorporating promotional activities, social media engagement, and a 4Ps marketing mix. It also examines market segmentation, customer behavior, and the restaurant's financial framework, concluding that Vegan Daddy's success depends on effective customer service and a strong understanding of market fluctuations.

Running Head: REFLECTION ON BUSINESS PLAN OF VEGAN DADDY
REFLECTION ON BUSINESS PLAN OF VEGAN DADDY
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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The practise of veganism is a growing trend nowadays. People who are more concerned
about the health go for vegan eating than opting non-vegetarian food items. In fact, health issues
like obesity are increasing in a chronic manner that pushes people to switch in vegan eating
(Ingenbleek, Meulenberg and Van Trijp 2015). Therefore, this reflective essay is highlighting the
business plan of Vegan Daddy restaurants who are selling only vegan food products in Croydon,
England. In course of the reflection, various attributes of the business plan will be come up
which are effectively help Vegan Daddy to sustain in the competitive market.
As a marketing expert working in the Vegan Daddy restaurants my job is to figure out the
possible loopholes and strengths which can be manipulated in order to achieve more success for
the company in near future. In doing my job I had faced a number of obstacles. The obstacles
were identified while mapping the target customers or in case of understanding the role of
innovation in organisational framework.
Therefore, before setting out a well developed business plan it is my responsibility to get
a glimpse of the aims and objectives of Vegan Daddy. Alike all the other companies Vegan
Daddy also follows some fundamental objectives such as betterment of the product and services
and capitalise the market as far as it is possible. These objectives led me towards understanding
the demography and target customers of the restaurants. As a marketing manager I had a limited
idea about the paradigm of demography and target customers. However, my erstwhile
experiences had restricted to small enterprises where the demographic aspect was not so
dynamic. Therefore, after joining Vegan Daddy as a marketing manager I came to know about
different approaches and ideas of customer demography which in future would help me to get a
clearer perception of the techniques. In this context, the company has a strategic location in
Croydon where .8% people purely vegan and 1.3% are fond of vegan foods highly (Frawley and

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Dyson 2014). Despite of these poor facts there are also some silver linings which can prove the
future value of this business. In fact, empirical evidences opined that veganism has a bright
future in Croydon and the predictable shift from non-vegetarians to vegan is greatly popularised
in this region. Furthermore, in the UK food market meatless food items witnesses a booming
trend that the vegan food market sales touched the record sales figure of £657 million in 2014.
Despite of it, threat elements like costs of raw materials of food products created an obstacle in
keeping pace with rapidly increasing inflation. Besides this, competitiveness in market is always
posed a significant threat for any company irrespective of its size (Galliers and Leidner 2014). In
this context, as a marketing expert it is my responsibility to figure out the possible threats and
opportunities regarding marketing occupation of Vegan Daddy. However, as a vegan I have
some idea about the preferences and dislikes of the Vegan customers and in my opinion it would
give me an advantage in creating a business plan.
In response to the growing threat in market segments and in economy as a marketing
manager my job is to collect data as much as possible and to estimate a plan for dealing with the
challenges. In this scenario, the data collection process will be generated through a double step
research process. It can be argued that data collection is a necessary step for constructing a
business plan. There are ample of approaches that can be followed in collecting data. I had some
previous experience in dealing with primary data only. Analysing the secondary data was a new
concept to me that I had learned in Vegan Daddy. In this context, there are some disadvantages
of using secondary data. The secondary data contains a gross reflection of the theme. It is the
credibility and skill of the person to extract the relevant information. Therefore, there is always a
possibility to overlook the important data. In my case, there was a possibility of getting
misinformation but in course of time I got to know about prioritisation of data. The first step will

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be relied upon the primary market research in which street surveys and sample surveys are
considered to be an essential part (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). On the other hand the
second phase is comprised with the secondary sources in form of internet and related magazines
and articles. In fact, a data collection process had been initiated to understand the vegan market
and its future which pointed out that there is a blooming exposure for the demand of vegan food
products in UK but at the same time the competitiveness can be produced threat for Vegan
Daddy. Therefore, innovative food menus with comfortable venues are pivotal for the Vegan
Daddy. Proper advertisement should be done through verbal transmission or digital footages.
Handbill or leaflets are also supposed to be a good initiative for attracting more customers in the
Vegan Daddy restaurants (Boddy 2016).
For creating a proper marketing plan I chose a six months planning procedure which
includes all the necessary steps that will be activated during this tenure. The marketing plan of
Vegan Daddy was too prolong and strenuous for inexperienced people like me. It requires a great
deal of concentration and understanding of the entire procedure. In order to create a six months
marketing planning I came to know about these risk factors and in accordance had set a decision
making plan for myself. This self assessment in return helped me to prioritize my steps in future.
The first month would put focus on opening the brand new outlet in Croydon. It was further
associated with a number of other staffs such as planning a marketing strategy with a creative
concept. Preparation of a marketing message and press release requirements were also taken into
consideration. The next month would be dedicated to the promotional measures and mechanism.
It was encapsulated with free lunch strategy and banners, posters media promotion had also put a
great influence into the promotional strategy. Furthermore, relying on the customer responses we
were going to introduce a restaurant app and sending out the QR codes to our customers. Social

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media had been played a pivotal role in this regards. The next thing was accompanied with
creating and enhancing a brand image. For this purpose I suggested to organise some events on
importance of veganism. Local schools and colleges were our target for convincing the young
generation about the advantages of vegan food products. It was supposed to be beneficial for
Vegan Daddy to attract the young customers and capitalised the market more.
The marketing strategy was further accompanied with a marketing mix tool. There are
two types of marketing mix strategies like 4Ps and 7Ps planning (Armstrong et al. 2014). In this
context we chose the 4P marketing mix strategy. It contains a detailed analysis of product, price,
promotion and place (Khan 2014). Therefore, in case of Vegan Daddy, the restaurant is looking
for food service efficiency where a proper mannerism will be practised while dealing with the
customers. It seems like Vegan Daddy is ought to focus on its service facilities in a concerned
approach. In addition to this, the pricing strategy also plays a very significant role in procuring a
solid marketing plan. Vegan Daddy maintains a cheap pricing strategy with quality items and
services. Besides this, the company takes a great interest in its repeat customer trend. The
prevalence of customer repetition symbolises the brand value or popularity of a company that
Vegan Daddy is going to inculcate in its market orientation. Healthy menu options with a sober
and clean restaurant environment is considered to be key characteristics of Vegan Daddy that
will keep the company running in a high competitive market. The local community is on the
primary target of the company because it ushers a great deal of regular customers. In this regards,
the decent and healthy meals free from animal by-products create a positive perception about the
company and its service. In order to set a promotional strategy, Vegan Daddy is going to follow
the in-house promotion in the first year. It includes brochures, menus highlighted with nutrition
value, graffiti and posters and flyers. Moreover, free lunch day, free advertising, media

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promotions are also considered to be a part of the promotion plan. Geographical location also
delivers a significant impact on company’s success. Hence, the Vegan Daddy has opened their
outlet in the shopping centre in Boxpark, Croydon. Due to this strategic location the Vegan
Daddy is able attract customers and in return yields high profit.
At the same time, it is imperative for Vegan Daddy to formulate its market segmentation.
Market segmentation is identified as a practice through which the company categorises its
different genre of target customers (Brito et al. 2015). In case of the Vegan Daddy, the market
segmentation is primarily focused on the families and customers of both male and female
genders. The probable target customers will be of age between 25 and 65. However, it is
important for the restaurant to get an idea of the psychology and behaviour of the potential
customer. There are some process through which we can get a clear picture of the demands and
requirements of the vegan consumers. It can be argued that the survey is the best option for
getting the complete understanding of consumer behaviour. However, in case of Vegan Daddy
the survey process was supposed to be difficult. The reason behind this hardship was the lack of
giving reviews and responses from the side of the customers. Most of the time, they were not
willing to give any response and wanted to skip it. As a result of that it put an obstruction for the
marketing manager to get the actual picture (Ke and Li 2015).
In course of the discussion, it can be asserted that the cash flow and financial statement of
Vegan Daddy is based on a strong organisational framework where the business funding is
mainly generated either by getting loan from the bank or personal investments. Besides this,
monitoring strategies like reduce the employee turnover rate and customer repetition are also
come into discussion.

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Therefore, it can be argued that Vegan Daddy has a strong marketing plan with accurate
understanding of the market condition in the present case scenario. The company not only puts
emphasis on maximizing its customers through providing quality services and products but also
concerns about employees. There are a number of threats that the company is facing in the
course of expanding its market capitalisation such as competitive market and economic
instability in the country. However, there were some issues regarding the expenses and mapping
target audiences. Furthermore, there is a problem with managing the employees. Despite of these
challenges it can be concluded that with proper understanding of the fluctuations of the market
with a good customer service will push Vegan Daddy towards meeting its goals. A healthy
workplace culture also provides impetus for future sustainability of Vegan Daddy.

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