Question

"Possible measures that would be beneficial to restaurant businesses impacted by a pandemic crisis?

Out of the following three theories. Which one can be best used to create a theoretical framework to discuss this topic and why?

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs

Porters Five Forces

Marketing Mix and the 4 Ps

Answer 1

Among the various segments in the economy , the restaurant and fine dining segment and the fast food chains are also among the worst hit sector by the pandemic . As we know majority of the restaurants wok on the basic of Negative working capital , or the Current liabilities are more than the current assets for the business as they procure the raw materials like food grains and other cooking stuff on credit basis and the suppliers are paid off when the sales of the final product is achieve by the restaurant

.Restaurant business -

Problems in-	Crisis due to pandemic	Measures to overcome
Drop in sales	The sales revenues of most of the fast food chains and restaurants have dropped due to the nationwide lockdown for the pandemic and it causes huge trouble for the long term sustainability of the business operations	New marketing strategy need to be adopted revolutioning the product lines. In order ot stabilize the revenues , promotional campaigns to be modified from direct discounts to bundle offers on discount on higher purchases
Govt. Intervention	The local govt has put many restrictions on various parts and regions regarding operability of fast food and restaurants	Top management must consult with the govt bodies to ensure about the new hygiene standards adopted in order to ensure customer safety
Hygiene issues	Customers are not preferring to have outside food.	Proper sanitization along with the procurement of raw materials from only reliable suppliers to ensure the sustenance in customer faith
Financial problem and cash crunch	Lack of working capital to ensure day to day operations .	Working capital management to be managed efficiently by finance and accounts division , stabilizing the inventory turnover
Mode of dining	Dine in mode is not preferred	Customers must be encouraged to have Take away options for their order. This is also save additional overhead expenditures like electric by the franchisee
Variety of items served	Older items in menu poses challenge	The product line needs to be changed with new products with higher consumable shelf life in order to ensure safety
Customer Relationship management	In store customer interaction is a problem	Online and e-form based feedback form customers can be obtained in order to serve them better in the future

The theoretical framework of Marketing Mix along with the 4Ps are essential to be discussed in this context .

The Marketing mix essentially describes all the tools and techniques used in order promote advertise and distribute the products to the end customer . As such from the above description on problems and challenges we find that in all the 4ps of marketing , i.e “Product” “Price” “Placee” 7 “Promo” there is a need to formulate new strategy in order to attract future customers-

Product – New product menus

Price – competitive pricing is required .

Place – The place of serving from dine in to takeaway

Promotiions – From traditional direct discount to the use of budled offers like BOGO to improve sales

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