Question

Hard Rock Cafe: Operations Management in Services

In its 48 years of existence, Hard Rock has grown from a modest London pub to a global power managing 163 restaurants, 23 hotels/casinos, and live music venues. This puts Hard Rock firmly in the service industry—a sector that employs over 75% of the people in the U.S. Hard Rock moved its world headquarters to Orlando, Florida, in 1988 and has expanded to more than 50 locations throughout the U.S., serving over 100,000 meals each day. Hard Rock chefs are modifying the menu from classic American— burgers and chicken wings—to include higher-end items such as stuffed veal chops and lobster tails. Just as taste in music changes over time, so does Hard Rock Cafe, with new menus, layouts, memorabilia, services, and strategies.

At Orlando’s Universal Studios, a traditional tourist destination, Hard Rock Cafe serves over 3,500 meals each day. The cafe employs about 400 people. Most are employed in the restaurant, but some work in the retail shop. Retail is now a standard and increasingly prominent feature in Hard Rock Cafes (since close to 48% of revenue comes from this source). Cafe employees include kitchen and wait staff, hostesses, and bartenders. Hard Rock employees are not only competent in their job skills but are also passionate about music and have engaging personalities. Cafe staff is scheduled down to 15-minute intervals to meet seasonal and daily demand changes in the tourist environment of Orlando. Surveys are done on a regular basis to evaluate quality of food and service at the cafe. Scores are rated on a 1-to-7 scale, and if the score is not a 7, the food or service is a failure.

Hard Rock is adding a new emphasis on live music and is redesigning its restaurants to accommodate the changing tastes. Since Eric Clapton hung his guitar on the wall to mark his favourite bar stool, Hard Rock has become the world’s leading collector and exhibitor of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, with changing exhibits at its cafes throughout the world. The collection includes 70,000 pieces, valued at $40 million. In keeping with the times, Hard Rock also maintains a Web site, www.hardrock.com, which receives more than 100,000 hits per week, and a weekly cable television program on VH1. Hard Rock’s brand recognition, at 92%, is one of the highest in the world.

           

Source: Adapted from J. Heizer, B. Render, and C. Munson (2020) Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Global Edition, 13/E, Pearson

In every successful brand such as Hard Rock, there must be strong contributions and coordination among different functions to make an operation successfully runs smoothly. Many of the decisions made by operations managers are dependent on information from the other functions. At the same time, other functions cannot be carried out properly without information from operations. Referring case above, kindly answer the questions below:

Q1. How does Marketing function contribute towards the success of Hard Rock operations?

Apply 5W1H writing strategy - Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
explanation and give and example.

Answer 1

Who contributes towards the success of Hard Rock Operations

The marketing function is one of the most important functions contributing to the success of Hard Rock. Their positioning, which resembles their name and the worldwide popularity the name brings. Cafe has lived up to its expectations by designing its operations cafe, casinos, or live music in the same manner. Their collection of memorabilia and quality only improved their marketing mix.

What marketing function contributes to success?

Hard Rock cafe's focus on the entire marketing mix, whether Place, promotion, product, placement, etc. is uniquely designed. They are rightly positioned towards the youth in a category that is loved worldwide. Plus, their placements in major cities like London, or Florida brings them a generation of music genre lovers, that has nostalgia along with the freshness of today's taste. A popular website only adds to it. Thus, all marketing function contributes to success.

Where Marketing function contribute to the success of Hard Rock operations?

Hard Rock cafe is present across multiple locations in different ways like in cafes, hotels, music venues. Serving millions of meals each year. The marketing is not just limited to cafes but also retail shop to increase revenue and brand recognition. This marketing mix is used in all of their operations whether it is taking surveys and rating the quality or website that must be having engaging content too. Hence, in all places across multiple business marketing helps them position better and cater to people's needs.

When Marketing function contributes towards the success of Hard Rock operations?

Marketing has not just contributed to its success recently but over the decades. Millions of people arrive at their cafes annually and get across their brand in one or the other way. This recognition is not recent but is the result of a long journey that Hard Rock has covered. Whether it is updating themselves to the changing needs, or having an impressive collection of rock n roll that exhumes nostalgia. Their marketing function played a successful part all along the journey. It has only improved in recent times with TV broadcasting and website to engage customers.

Why Marketing function contribute to the success of Hard Rock operations?

Marketing is essential for any business to generate sales. It builds recognition and trust over time. If done correctly, the same marketing can be translated into other products or services. The same is done by Hard Rock by having cafes, casinos, music venues, retail shops, etc. across the world. This marketing has created brand recognition. Improving all aspects of marketing has positioned themselves at a unique place that is liked by all

How Marketing function contribute to the success of Hard Rock operations?

Marketing is uniform across all its channels and businesses. The same logo that resembles the quality and offerings that goes around rock n roll. To contribute towards success, marketing is used to link it with people's aspirations, their liking. Hard Rock has done it for decades and continues to do so. It brings people. sustain a strong brand signal and differentiate itself in a way with little competition. This positioning has helped them bring more sales and success. This is how their marketing contributes towards success.