Weapons of Influence in the Fast Casual Restaurant Industry
Elizabeth Smith, Christina Schmitzer, Celisa Jackson
Mishal Patel, Erik Kuper & Rachel Kosetner
MKT 402 at 10:30AM
October 28, 2014
Weapons of Influence in the Fast Casual Restaurant Industry
The fast casual restaurant industry is a relatively fresh concept that is growing quickly between fast food and casual dining options. Fast casual is becoming a popular choice for many individuals and families since it still offers relatively quick, inexpensive food with more customization and higher quality options. It is also a preferred choice as compared to fast food since many individuals are striving to eat more nutritious foods and live a healthier lifestyle. Since
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However, there are many other strategies that marketing managers could take advantage of to start influencing their customers to a greater extent.
A new way reciprocity can be implemented in the restaurant industry is by sending out flyers on the web, via email and social media. Under this system, when customers walk into the restaurant with the flyer, they will be given a free menu item, such as a free drink or side. This again would draw customers into the restaurant for the free item and typically cause the customer to purchase extra food to go along with their “free item”.
Social Proof
The greatest evidence of social proof within the entire restaurant industry is the use of review sites such as Urbanspoon, Yelp, etc. These sites use credibility of the masses to reassure someone that others also tried and liked this restaurant. Chipotle is the king of the fast casual restaurant industry when it comes to the utilization of the social proof weapon. An example is their line layout. By ensuring that lines are always visible from the door, the principle of social proof is at work; if multiple people are in line for Chipotle, it must be worth buying.
Though the Werther effect is based upon the idea that publicizing a suicide increases the imitation of this action (directly or indirectly), this effect can be utilized
Fast food has turned into a genuine fundamental of our everyday life and made a religion of establishments that reaches out to the millions of Americans across the country. The Fast Food industry in a few eyes has been one of the sharpest developments this world has seen. It has been driven by our stomachs and our wallets for 40 to 50 years it's as yet developing to this date. The man who make-believe it can be known as the best representative, this nation has ever observed. The Fast Food Industry is big to the point that it has influenced our wellbeing, changed our way of life, and misshaped our territory as far back as the very first moment.
Individuals have many roles in society- mother, father, husband wife, brother, sister, employer, employee, and so much more. However, we do not see individuals doing essentially the most important role,which is an informer. In today’s society, most people either do not choose to show wrongdoings of society or decide to ignore it. Some righteous individuals decide to adjudge the social norms and show them to society. These people display conformity- complying with what is “normal” or socially acceptable, uniformity-being unvaried or the same, and centralized control- concentration of power in a group or company. Throughout the texts Fast Food Nation by Eric Schussler, Susan B. Anthony’s On Woman’s Right To Suffrage, and Malala Yousafzai's
Fast Casual Restaurant fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant that does not offer full table service but promises a higher quality of food and atmosphere than a fast food restaurant. In the USA it is a relatively new and growing concept to fill the space between fast food and casual dining. The typical cost per meal is in the US$8–$15 range. Two emerging fast casual restaurants are Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread.
By the 1950s, the fast food industry blast was going all out, joining and culminating showcasing techniques acquired from before days. Fast food establishments had turned out to be well known eating prevents across the nation, because their institutionalized menus, effortlessly perceived signage,
With the fast pace of Americans, they do not have to travel far to find a fast food restaurants. While families are working double shift jobs and less time to cook and take care of other family duties. The speed of fast food can provide convenience in
Fast casual sits between the more traditional full-service restaurants and the typical fast food establishments. Like fast food, fast casual is typically ordered on a counter and offers no table service. The atmosphere is generally a little bit more upscale with a simple look, which can include plates or cutlery. Food is usually prepared with mass-produced food items, however considered to be higher-quality and often locally sourced with a wider selection of healthy options. The menu is the same from location to location and mostly inexpensive.
Furthermore, industry awareness will create a position within the fast casual segment of the restaurant industry where it can favorably influence the market (Hitt et al., 2015). The restaurant industry consists of a variety of segments. The three largest segments in the restaurant industry include: (a) full-service, (b) quick service, and (c) fast casual (Subramanian, 2013). CMG is included in the third largest segment of fast casual, which happens to be the fastest growing segment with an 11 percent growth rate between 2007 and 2011 (Subramanian,
Between fast casual and fine dining, the fast casual industry remains a rapidly growing industry in the hospitality sector. From its early stages in 2000 to 2014, the fast casual industry has grown 550 percent with Americans spending over $21 billion at fast casual restaurants in 2014. Separating itself from fast food, fast casual provide consumers with fresh ingredients, customization and superior customer service. Founded in 1993, Chipotle (CMG) is widely recognized as the cornerstone of the fast casual industry. With over 1600 locations worldwide, Chipotle continues to grow with revenue increasing 27.8 percent from 2013 to 2014. Since Chipotle went public in 2006, investors have longed for a new company to replicate Chipotle’s success.
The fast food, or quick service restaurant industry (QSR), represents approximately 200,000 restaurants and $155 billion in sales in the U.S. alone, they are one of the largest segments of the food industry (Hoovers, 2011). This segment of the restaurant industry is “highly competitive and fragmented… number, size and strength of competitors vary by region, market and even restaurant. All of these restaurants compete based on a number of factors, including taste, quality, speed of service, price and value, name recognition, restaurant location, customer service and the ambience and condition of each restaurant” (Chipotle, 2010).
The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people and adults. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. Personally, working for a fast food restaurant for a brief moment in my life, I can attest to this. Marketing also plays a big part to more people eating fast food. It’s in our culture in America to expect fast food companies to market and strategize their ways to make us, the consumers, to buy more food and consume more food so they can make more profit. Especially now with commercials and social media. The fast food industry has thrived in the modern era. It’s thriving so much, the industry is growing faster than the U.S economy, at
The trends that once favored fast casual chains like Chipotle are slowly shifting back to the fast food and casual dining sector. The swing has favored big names like McDonald’s and Buffalo Wild Wings that have seen consistent growth after pushing out strategic system wide changes over the past 2 years. And for those not named Chipotle, fast casual operators haven’t had it all that bad. In fact, Panera is coming off a superb first quarter that proved growth wasn’t a foreign concept. Tomorrow’s results from Panera, McDonald’s and Buffalo Wild Wings highlight each category of the restaurant industry and paint a clearer picture of the state of consumer spending.
Most people use social media throughout the day, so sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will provide the visual aspect of the marketing scheme by viewing the restaurants website. Our website will include a menu and pricing for customers to gather information and decide prior to arrival. Flyers displayed at the hospital and colleges will provide a reminder of the healthy, cost-effective choices available in close proximity of their location. Billboards will enhance the travels by putting a mental and physical image to compliment the radio advertisement. The advertisements will focus on healthy and sensible pricing meals especially when time is a factor. Radio broadcasting brings the first attention to the restaurant because people listen to the radio or music during their travels to and from work. Since the economy has pushed families into a two income requirement, this provides the most abundant opportunity to attract this audience. Furthermore, Pita Pit will have multi-purchase redemption cards that will entice customers to buy a meal and be rewarded for their loyalty with a future free
The online restaurant reviews have changed the style of consumers purchasing among the restaurant industry. For this reason, many scholars study the implication of online reviews in the restaurant industry (Schindler & Bickart, 2012). When their expectations are met, consumers only have indirect information about the quality of a service or product until they have been purchased, and so they look for mediators to reveal this information (Parikh, Behnke, Vorvoreanu, Almanza, & Nelson, 2014). The restaurant reviews present a variety of information which help the restaurant’s consumers to make selections. By reading the restaurant reviews, consumers can get more detailed information about previous consumers’ overall food and service experience (Z. Zhang, Ye, Law, & Li, 2010). Also, with online reviews, the customers are aware of the restaurant before dining (Titz, Jd, & Y Cruz, 2004).
History shows that the concept of fast casual dining is not unfamiliar. According to Erin DeJesus of Eater.com “The expansion-happy Wolfgang Puck launched his chain Wolfgang Puck Express back in 1991, before the term "fast-casual" had even entered the culinary lexicon.” It is believed to be a movement that started as people demanded higher quality food, faster, and at a cheaper price point. One of the “founding fathers” of the fast casual movement is Steve Ells’ Chipotle. When he launched his concept in 1993, not even Ells knew that he had just started a revolution in the food industry. Although it took him years to develop the brand into the powerhouse it is today, in the early 2000’s, the popularity of the fast casual dining concept took off, and has been trending up ever since. Fast casual dining has been extremely successful due to the concept’s ability to meet all the needs of different age groups, especially the Millennials. As the concept continues to draw in extra consumers
As a result of America’s ‘car culture’, restaurant owners started building great numbers of restaurants, often placing them near highways and main streets. The new restaurants were designed to be easily recognizable from the road and were built uniformly in architecture and color scheme. Advertising efforts were also increased. The idea behind these innovations was to make the consumers feel that wherever they went they would feel comforted by seeing a familiar building and be induced to eat there. However, there was another, not so obvious reason. In building these restaurants all over the country, placing multiple franchises in the same town, owners made fast food something more than cheap. They made it convenient. They made it seem unavoidable. In doing this fast food became accepted into modern-day culture. It was no longer regarded as a creation of the lower-class, which was hugely empowering for the leaders of the industry.