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Our service audit report revealed that there were several key issues that Tomahawk’s management team should focus on. One of the key issues was that Automatic does not have integrated promotional strategies and their promotional efforts seemed to be targeting all customers. Hence, we suggest that promotional efforts should be targeted at special market segments. In addition, promotions emphasized more on pricing discounts, rather than accentuate the service experience and quality which is a far more sustainable form of competitive advantage.
Physical evidence also plays an important part as customers often use physical evidence as peripheral cues to their perceptions and expectations of a service. It can also facilitate with the service delivery process and we have recommended ways in which Automated can leverage on Its physical evidence to enhance customer’s service experience and reiterate their positioning strategy. Finally, recommendations are provided for supply and demand management, Internal marketing and Improving customer quality, satisfaction and retention efforts which In turn may assist In more memorable and efficient service deliveries.
Table of Contents . 0 Situation Analysis. O Customer Analysis. Perceived Risks. 2 Service Product Strategy. O Positioning Strategy. O Service Process & Blueprint 35. 0 Role of Physical Evidenced 96. 0 Current Pricing Strategies. O Current Promotional Strategies. O Supply and Demand Management. 0 Analysis of Customer Quality, Satisfaction and Retention Offertories. O Internal Marketing’s. 0 Conclusion36References37Appendix391. Situation Multidimensionality Is located on level 3, Melbourne Central which Is regarded as an Inner-city precinct for shopping, eating & entertainment. This Japanese sushi train restaurant is situated in a very nominative environment, with numerous direct and indirect competitors located In Melbourne Central or outside on Swanson Street. The mall competitor of Automated Is O-Benton, which Is located at Melbourne Central food Court, providing sushi, sashimi and Japanese hot food, similar to what delivery.
There are also several sushi bars on Swanson Street, which compete for the lunch hour crowd. A comprehensive Competitor Analysis is presented in Appendix 1 . Japanese restaurants have become a very important part of the culinary service sector in Australia. Based on our on-line research, there are over 1 50 Japanese style strangest, cafe, and bars in Melbourne (MIX, 2006). All these demonstrate that Japanese restaurants are very popular in Australia. Consumer’s knowledge of Japanese food is now very extensive and consumers are becoming more demanding.
Sushi is one of the popular Japanese foods in Australia and is becoming a healthier food alternative due to its low fat content and minimal artificial seasoning (Tanana, 2006). Melissa Stopples, M. D. (2006) regards sushi as an important factor for healthy eating. Consumers’ decisions for healthier lifestyles usually stem from their values and levels, which they have built over time through exposures to the media. Empirical studies have shown that females in their mid-ass’s and older make up the largest portion of the health food market (ABS, 2005).
In Australia, woman make up more than 50% of the population and the proportion of the population aged 65 years and over increased from 10. 3% to 13. 1% between 1985 and 2005 (ABS, 2005). Age can be a direct factor that influences an individual’s disposition to live a healthier lifestyle. With the increasing amount of time individuals spend at work, time shortages and mime shifts have become a main issue in designing fast and healthy products and services. Customers are preferring products that require little or no preparation time and are convenient to purchase and consume.
As for the affordability factor, some consumers prefer to buy sushi at grocery stores or outlets because it is cheaper and ready-made. However, the restaurant service industry continues to thrive despite the higher living costs. Melbourne diners are generally very well-informed and demand a lot in terms of the food they purchase and the service delivered by the restaurant. Automatic wants to position itself to meet the changing consumer needs by providing healthier meal alternatives in a relaxing, friendly and modern atmosphere.
Please refer to Appendix 2 for a complete SOOT analysis. 2. 0 Customer Multidimensionality has two main customer segments and two sub- segments. These are:Main segments;university students;Business peoples segments;Movie goers;Shopping familiarities four are most prevalent segments Melbourne central, the area attracts business people (around the central business district), university students (with REMIT and Melbourne University close by), as well as vie goers (Hoots cinema is situated on the same floor) and families who are shopping within Melbourne Central or nearby.
There are two categories of dining service at Automatic which all groups purchase:;Sushi train;Standard dining in (ordering from menu, I. E. Hot food)At this point in time, Automatic does not offer any take away service. Table 1 shows the market segment, benefits sought, frequency of use, buying conditions, dining mode and expectations from the service based on customer survey results (Appendix l), informal interviews with customers and Automatic staff:Table 1 :
Customer segment millenarianism Segmentations Equestrienne of Subbing ConditionsDiningModeExpectationsUniversity Students- Value foregone- Socializing- Convenience- Dish variety- Atmosphere frustration- Varies:- Once or twice month- Once everyone months- Lunch- Dinner- Friday dastardly- Casual underlines dining- Sushi train- Standard – Not so focused on the level of service quality- Expect moreover functionless (I. E. Rarity of dishes, taste notability to satisfy hunger at unaffordable price)Business People- Atmosphere frustration- Dish variety- Food laity- Service quality- Healthier meals- Faster meals- Varies, battlegrounds frequent- Once a week- Fortnightly- Once a month- Lunch(mainly)- Monday Thursday- For meetings calumniating – Sushi train(mostly)- Standard- High expectations food quality, service quality and general atmosphere of restaurant- Expect healthy and faster implosive goers- Convenience(Hoots next door)- Faster meals- Once or twice month- Dinner- Friday dastardly- Casual dining- Sushi train(mostly)- Standard- High expectations service quality, nonpolitical physiotherapist antislavery of footslogging Families- Convenience- Novelty- Socializing- Atmosphere frustration- Dish variety- Once a month – Lunch- Friday dastardly- Leisure Andalusia dining- Sushi train- High expectations the cinematographers frustration, the serviceable (sushi train seen as novelty) and variety of dishes are highly regarded is evident that the market segments all differ somewhat in their benefits sought, frequency of use, buying conditions, dining modes and expectations.
Therefore, it is important for Automatic to consider these various purchasing intentions and buying behaviors to best capture these markets and optimize their service capabilities. 2. 1 Perceived Restringing in Automatic Restaurant could be high in experience qualities. There might be some uncertainty and consequence perceived by customers. The following table illustrates the potential risks and our suggestions to managers to mitigate those risks:Table 2: Potential Risks and Strategists Category Perceived Risks Current Strategy RecommendationsFinancial – Will the price be much higher than expected? – How much money will be spent on the meal? – Can I afford this?
Full menu is available on the website at the moment; customers can actually heck it before dining unproved a copy of the menu on different window or at the experience of eating at the sushi train be enjoyable? None Display awards or positive federation reviews at the front of transparent to reduce perceived Rushmore information and testimonials canals put on thirstiest : www. Automatic. Com. Physical- Will I be comfortable sitting at the sushi train? – Will I be comfortable dining in? Unchanged the chairs at the sushi train,provide more space between seats Andover or change the dining chairs tome comfortable looking unconventional- What if the food is not good as it should be? Should I trust the freshness of the sushi and sashimi dishes? Sushi chef works on site Just by the sushi train, so the customers can observe the whole sushi making process- Dots placed on the sushi train dishes to determine time of preparation and how long it has been on the sushi trainee service should actively encouragement spreading of positive word-of-mouth by satisfied customers, e. G. Comment or suggestion book can puppet by the counter or near the entrance show positive word-of-mouth underscores experience’s editorial reviews and awards canals be displayed in he argumentation’s- Will the hot food take a long time to be prepared and delivered? Ensconce the customer’s orders hot fodder the menu when it is during peacetime, front-line staff should informed of the expected waiting time.
During the waiting process, wait staff also update customers with Theodore status. Social I want to be associated with the other customers in here? Inversions of imagery that insupportableness target market on website print ads. Another strategy is to segment thematic in terms of frequency of Susann buying conditions (time of services) and promote accordingly,enticing particular segments o uses their service at specific times. 2 Service Product Strategy service is high in experience qualities since the taste, quality and satisfaction of the food and service can only be fully evaluated after the purchase or during consumption. Thus, overall, service encounters are episodic.
Automatic Restaurant lies in the middle of the goods/services continuum (see Figure 1). Tangible elements of the service include restaurant’s website, service facility and food offerings. However, there is also a large part of intangibility, such as the quality of the dishes and service delivery process itself. To reduce intangibility, the restaurant can feature tangible assets such as dcore, physical infrastructure, service providers (uniforms) or print advertisement. Figure 1 : Goods/Services Continuum terms of inseparability, customers’ experience of the service refers to the behaviors of front line staff while the service is being provided and the interaction between front line staff and customers.
Also, customers’ expectations of the service have a significant impact on the perception of the quality of the service. The same service differently. The foods provided by Automatic are all handmade, so here is an inevitable level of variability in the features and flavors of the foods. To reduce heterogeneity, Automatic has already put its staff members through intensive training and required to perform standardized steps that need to be followed during the service delivery, thus attempting to reduce variability. The nature of a service is perishable, therefore it is crucial for Automatic to create a more memorable dining experience for their customers. In terms of product permissibility, dry foods and beverages can be inventoried.
However, sushi and sashimi (fresh/raw produce) on the sushi train are highly perishable. Normally, foods on the sushi train will be taken off after a certain time to ensure freshness and quality standards. Additionally, spare seats and tables during lunch cannot be stored to meet a large demand at evening, so supply and demand management needs to be carefully considered. Automatic can reduce prices or offer promotions during weekdays to attract customers to utilize the spare seats during the lower peak time. Different types of core and value added services. Automatic provides various types of services both core and value-added peripheral services to their customers.
Figure 2, summarizes the types of services provided:Figure 2: Core and Peripheral elements offered by Admonishes a restaurant service is high in experiential qualities, core and supplementary aspects of a service are equally important. Both are complimentary to each other and a failure in one can negatively effect customer’s evaluation of the other (Moorish, 2002). The value added benefits offered to the target segment include:; Modern Japanese dining experience, from the physical evidence (satisfactions, relaxing layout of the restaurant), to the welcome/greeting insaneness; Value for money. Fresh food and ingredients (important to keep sushi and sashimi fresh); Convenient location and no waiting time (particularly, the sushi train); Professional and friendly services.
O Positioning Gastroenteritis’s personification’s wants to position itself as a modern Japanese restaurant that provides a stylish, friendly and comforting dining experience. The sushi train is the main differential point they want to emphasize to customers. In terms of price, they want to been seen as market competitive (affordable and value for money dining), whilst providing high quality food as well as healthier, convenient ell alternatives. Customer’s personification’s to the survey results (Appendix 3), when customers were asked what came to their mind when thought of Automatic, most of them thought of ‘Friends’, ‘Japanese Restaurant’, ‘Friendly staff, ‘Clean’, ‘Modern’, intentions.
However, there were somewhat mixed perceptions about food quality, with ten listing above average and the remaining five selecting between extremely poor to average. Similarly, perceptions of value for money received the highest response frequency in the ‘average’ category, with other four respondents selecting ‘below average’. Thus, Automatic needs to consider this issue when devising promotional plans to align consumer’s perceptions of the brand to the firm’s positioning intentions. 4. 0 Service Process & Pulchritudinous restaurant opens 7 days a week for lunch and dinner. Reservations can be made either by phone or in person. Phone calls will be made to confirm the booking in the morning of the booking date.
The business hours are as follows:Lunch (Moon-Sun)11 :MOA-??3:Nondrinker(Moon-Sun)5:30 PM 1 :Impounding in Automatic can be a sensational experience, besides the meticulous and healthy Japanese cuisine, the whole dining environment can also be memorable. The objective for Automatic is to provide customers with seasonal Japanese food with a consistent high standard service. Dining modes include either sitting at the sushi train or standard dining at the table with a la carte menu. Automatic has the most desirable sushi train in Melbourne. It offers more than 32 variable dishes from the train and about 40 people can be seated around the facility. The service process of the sushi train is outlined in Figure 3. Comparing with other dining service processes, this process is more like self-service.
It is simple and with ere limited divergence. One of the most critical steps is replenishing the sushi train. There is always a sushi chef working in the train in front of all customers. His main responsibility is to refill the sushi train with freshly made sushi dishes and take off plates which have been on the train for a longer time (in order to meet food quality standards). The maximum time that any dish can remain on the sushi train is 1. 5 hours. By putting different color stickers on the cover of each dish, the chef can easily tell when a dish was made and how long it has been on the conveyor belt. Therefore, these dots are used as a quality control/assurance mechanism.
One of the process divergences that we should pay attention to is when the front line staff counts the plates according to the different colors at the end of each meal (in order to tabulate the total bill). This usually takes one to two minutes and the accuracy of counting and tabulation really depends on the personnel. Currently there is no control or double checking of this counting and billing process, thus the divergence of this process can lead to some service failures, for example, overcharging or undercharging. The replenishment of the sushi train also has high divergence. The sushi chef makes many more dishes should I make? ‘ at his own discretion. Therefore, Judgments like these depend on sushi chef himself and may be subjective. Compared to the sushi train, standard dining in is a more complex process.
The service process is illustrated in Figure 4. Although the process is quite standardized, the restaurant environment is dynamic and often require customization and adaptability by service personnel. In the order taking process, the front line staff can play a very important role to reduce pre-purchase risk by giving proper commendations and explanations about particular dishes. The nature of the service is high contact, therefore service quality and customer satisfaction highly depend on how well the service provider can play out the role and follow scripts. During all service processes, the wireless communication technology is well deployed to arm operational efficiency.
All order information is stored in the central registry computer, terminals at the bar and kitchen are connected to the wireless network and orders and messages can be easily accessed by the bar staff and kitchen staff on a real-time basis. By avoiding information loss in transition, the communication cost is largely reduced. As seen in the blueprints, there is a potential bottleneck for the whole service process. The average time to serve the food is longer than what customers can usually tolerate. Without improvement, it can also lead to order cancellation and an unsatisfied customer. Although the IT technology can help with the operation efficiency, it does fail sometimes. When people get used to relying heavily on technology to accomplish tasks, technology downtime could be another potential bottleneck in the service process.
We identify the following as the critical incidents of the service:Make a reorganization’s and asking customers for chosen mode for administrating and allocating staggering verifiability’s of verifiability’s of dishes on the deteriorating factuality of footlessness of servicewoman in the dining environment (lights, music etc)Accuracy of billing (sushi train dish counting)Quality of waiting serviceability’s of penetrable 3 below shows a summary for common complaints and recovery process:Table 3: Summary for common complains and remedial actions decontrolled / Complain Descriptiveness’s who will be dealing tit the complications description of procedure to deal with the complainer taking too loneliness staff or Megalopolises to the customer and try to identify the cause for the delay and ask kitchen to hurry up with that particular dish. Wrong ordering staff or Megalopolises to the customer and notify the kitchen about the change, customer will only be charged the correct dish. Cause. If required the manager will deal with the council. Complementary food or drinks will usually be given out. There are a number of ways that the service process of Automatic Restaurant can be improved:on-line reservation system can be deployed to improve the flexibility of booking and reach more potential customers.
Since there is already a restaurant website in place, the cost of the on-line booking system should be feasible for the businessperson quality standard of dishes on the sushi train should be put in place to reduce the variability in food quality between chefs. Customer complaints and wastage of food can also be used as indicators of deciding chef’s remuneration and redoubtable checking of the dish counting from the sushi train service is highly commended to reduce the chance of overcharging or undercharging. It may take a few more minutes in the service process, but it will improve the service quality and avoid service failure. It is more difficult to conduct service failure recovery (Chatham, 2006), so we recommend doing it right at the first time. To avoid the tension and distrust between employees, double checking can be conducted by the supervisor/ manager randomly at a specific time.
By adopting this approach, the accuracy of billing by the front line staff is expected to improve. The wait staff can also regularly Lear finished plates from the sushi train table and update the register accordingly, in a timely unrecompensed waiting general seems shorter (S. Taylor, 1995). Therefore, to avoid the bottleneck caused by long waits in food delivery, we recommend that Automatic restaurant provide with magazines or other forms distraction (I. E. Encourage them to have a few drinks at the bar) reduce perceived length of the waiting time recommend that weekly technical maintenance should be conducted for the ordering/let systems in order to mitigate potential service failures caused by system or connection failures.
To reduce costs, the manager or front line staff can also be trained to accomplish this routine contingency Plainfield 3: Automatic Sushi train service blueprinting 4: Automatic Dine on table service blueprints. O Role of Physical Photochemistry’s serviceable proves to be an important cue to how the service may be perceived by current and potential customers. The physical evidence and atmosphere of a restaurant can also assist in creating a firm’s image. Thus, it is important for the physical evidence to be congruent to the image of service and quality that the firm wishes to portray to customers, as well as being eye-catching and enticing for customers to trial the service.
Physical evidence is extremely crucial for experience goods, as the physical infrastructure is the key to delivering the service experience (Moorish, 2002). As Automatic wants to be positioned as an affordable (value for money’), modern Japanese restaurant, the internal and external elements of the serviceable can be analyses. External Elements:Automatic Restaurant is located on the third floor of Melbourne Central. Depending on where you enter from (I. E. Corner of La Tribe Street entranced from downstairs (Swanson Street entrance), the restaurant may be hard then Automatic can be seen immediately, as it is directly in front of the escalators.
However, if customers are coming up from level 2 escalators (from the main Swanson Street side), Automatic is rather obscured from initial view because the restaurant is tucked away around a corner. Figure 5 and 6 show the outside view of Automatic Restaurant:Figure 5: Outside of Automatic Restaurant (angle view)Figure 6: Outside of Automatic Restaurant (front- on view)The sign outside Automatic blends nicely with the color of the wall, over sometimes it can be hard to distinguish and could potentially be missed by customers. The clear/transparent glass on the outside makes it easy for customers to look into the restaurant. The dining area, bar and in particular, the sushi train are clearly visible from the outside and is eye-catching.
Five customers were informally interviewed on their initial impressions of the appearance of Automatic Restaurant and all responded that the sushi train was the first thing that caught their eye when walking past. The restaurant’s transparency reduces perceived risk, as customers can form expectations on the quality of the food and service by observing, also allowing them to identify with the customers who are dining in the restaurant. Customers have also mentioned that the restaurant looks ‘exclusive’ and ‘expensive’ from the outside, despite management’s push to position the restaurant as ‘friendly’ and ‘affordable’. It is interesting to note that most of the fifteen Automatic customers who were surveyed by the audit team, associated the terms ‘Friend’ and ‘Friendly’ with the restaurant, after experiencing the service.
However, speaking to the five interview participants, initial impression of the restaurant (I. . From the outside) were somewhat contrary to that. Thus, we see a mismatch between how the management wants the restaurant to be perceived and customer’s initial perceptions. Automatic may want to think of ways to make their restaurant look more appealing from the outside and facilitate customers to align their perceptions with management’s intended image. Some suggestions include:;Place a menu outside – this provides customers with more information and reduces their perceived risks (I. E. Financial);A more noticeable and appealing external sign;Signage around Melbourne
Central (especially around the third floor), directing customers to the argumentatively Elements:The service escape needs to facilitate the service encounter between service provider and the customer and the actual delivery of the There are seven key internal areas:;Queuing area;Dining area;Sushi train;Kitchen (semi-visible);Bar;Bathroom;Front Counterfeiter 7 is a blueprint of the inside of the restaurant (please refer to next page):Figure 7: Internal Service Escape of Automatic Restaurant (bird’s eye view)The service escape is generally aesthetically appealing for tooth staff and customers, with clean, modern and ‘edgy’ dcore. The colors: red, white, black are consistently used throughout the service factory (I. : cutlery, crockery, tables chairs) as seen in Figure 8 and Figure 9:Figure 8: Table setting for standard dining infringer 9: Consistent use of colors throughout the restaurant kitchen is partially visible and often customers can see the chefs working inside. The sushi chef is situated within the sushi train and customers can see him preparing the dishes to be put on display, again reducing potential perceived risks. There is also another benefit of having the sushi chef so close to the point of customer contact – it enables him to establish rapport with the customers and often, he can recommend and/or customize a dish to suit the needs of individual customers.
Figure 10 is a picture of the open sushi kitchen within the sushi train:Figure 10: Head Sushi Chef inside open sushi kitchen sushi train layout allows for customers to socialize and play a more active role in the service delivery process. They are able to observe and Judge the food before making a choice and generally food delivery is instantaneous (it is right it front of them), thus customers do not need to ponder and wait. Figure 11 shows a picture of the sushi train:Figure 11: The Sushi Trainee chairs around the sushi train however, are of some concern. Tightly packed together, with not much room to move or to put bags (and other possessions). The chairs also have a light ‘springy’ effect and feels rather unstable.