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A MARKET RESEARCH APPROACH TO...TO DETERMINE A TARGET MARKET, EVALUATE CONSUMER HABITS AND COMPETION, AS WELL AS PROPOSE A SUCESSFUL INTEGRATGED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN.PREPARED BY...SARA KRAWCZYKPROPOSED BY...PAULINE HOFFMANIMC 640TABLE OF CONTENTS...Executive SummaryPage 3Secondary Research Page 4What Makes Encore DifferentPage 5MenuAtmosphereSpecialsCompetition and DemographicsPage 6Location and ReviewsPage 7Primary ResearchPage 8What is the Problem?Page 9QuestionsPage 9What we want answeredHow will we answer themPrimary Research ResultsDemographics of SurveyorsPage 10Open-ended questionsPage 11Survey AnalysisPage 12- 14ConclusionsPage 15End NotePage 16ReferencesWorks CitedPage 17Survey MonkeyPages 18-25Executive SummarySecondary ResearchThe secondary research that was done looked at competition, demographics of Western New York (specifically Erie County and Buffalo), location and reviews from critics and online sources. What we found by doing this research is that Encore has the potential for reach a very large target because the menu is so eclectic and the location is very desirable. Located at 492 Pearl Street, Encore moved into the space of the old Hemmingway's, a well-known Buffalo restaurant. Encore offers a gourmet entree menu, sushi menu and a less expensive bar menu to suit the needs of any event. Research found that the median household income in 2007 of Erie County is $45,129, making Encore's affordable prices consistent with the income of the surrounding areas. Although you feel like you're in an up-scale restaurant, the reasonable costs don't show it. Primary ResearchThe primary research that was collected was done through and then analyzed using the programs SPSS and CATPAC. SPSS allowed us to compared results as well as gather frequencies. CATPAC gave us the chance to look at open-ended responses and see the similarities in answers. In the primary research, we looked at the demographics of the surveyors. We wanted to know their age, income, marital status and level of education. This helped us determine the questions we wanted answered such as how do they hear about restaurants, what makes them return and how much they are spending. We also asked questions to determine various correlations between income, drive time and ageA glimpse at our conclusions...After running our tests and looking at our secondary research, some definite conclusions were made. One of the most important ones we found is that Encore has the potential to reach two very strong and different target markets. These target markets were based off of age, income, needs, media and other factors. These two groups allow us to make a marketing plan that is both effective and cost efficient. We found that word-of-mouth is one of the most effective ways people hear about new restaurants and things can be done to increase the power of this for very cheap. The results of our primary and secondary research allowed us to better gain an understanding of what we can do in the future to make an effective integrated marketing communications campaign for Encore. Secondary Research“Encore is located in the heart of Buffalo’s theater district, where it is surrounded by Shea’s theater and the hip downtown area.? This two story building provides an ambiance for all seasons, with five fireplaces throughout the restaurant, hardwood floors, rustic brick walls and our spacious outside patio that can accommodate over 150 people.? Whether you are out for a casual dinner, a quick bite before a show or an evening of fine dining the menu at Encore is diverse to suit every palate.? Depending on your mood, guests can enjoy intimate dining in our custom private booth area, our main dining room upstairs or our custom sushi station where guests can order from anywhere in or outside the building.? There is no need to leave after dinner, Encore delivers a lively nightlife where you can listen to great music and partake in the many events we host.”-Encore, Just Another Restaurant?There are many aspects of this new restaurant that make it stand out from the others in the area. The menu is diverse, the location is great and it can cater to many groups of people. right-3810Menu…The menu at Encore has various parts that can cater to the different needs of their guests. Not only do they offer a gourmet entrée menu, there is also the option of sushi, a less expensive and more casual bar menu, and then soups, salads and appetizers that are large enough to be a meal. Entrées include a grilled 8 oz. filet mignon, butter roasted 10 oz. coldwater lobster tail and open ravioli; the bar menu offers chicken wings, steak sandwich, chicken fingers, etc.; and appetizers include king crab cake, pan roasted sea scallops and house made gnocchi. All are prepared by executive chef Christopher Daigler who was the runner up in the Buffalo’s Top Chef competition. Atmosphere…Encore has four different areas that all provide a different atmosphere. This makes it a great place for different occasions or a one-stop destination for patrons. The private dining area on the first floor offers a more intimate area for guests looking for a more private experience. The main dining area on the second floor is more laid back, with a second bar and sushi station. The main bar on the first floor is a great place to meet people and is an atmosphere for both younger and older guests. Finally, the outdoor patio and bar is the perfect place to spend a Buffalo evening. 0128905What is also special about Encore is that with two floors of dining and a spacious outdoor patio, they can accommodate several types of banquets. Whether hosting a corporate event or celebrating an anniversary they offer several options to suit the size and budget of any event. There is no set menu for banquets; therefore with the help of their staff you have the freedom to create the perfect menu for the event. Specials…Encore offers dining specials through out the week to make this already affordable restaurant and bar even more of a bargain. Happy Hour is 5pm-6pm daily with two for one drinks and half off sushi and bar menu; Tuesday is Sushi Tuesday with unlimited sushi for $20.95; and Friday Happy Hour is 6pm-8pm and offers ? off specialty martinis and $5 ? pitchers of Blue Light. Competition … is a travel site that offers reviews and rankings of the best attractions, dining and events in cities around the world. They are established by professionals and also by customer review. According to this site, the ten best restaurants in Buffalo are:E. B. Green’s6. San Marco RistoranteHutch’s7. Left BankSalvatore’s Italian Gardens8. BacchusOliver’s, 9. Ilio DiPaolo’sRue Franklin10. Laughlin’s The restaurants listed above are competition for Encore because they are well known, around the same price point and attract the same demographic that Encore is reaching for. What makes these such fierce competitors is that they are very well known, trusted and respected around Western New York. It is nearly impossible for any new restaurant to open their doors and instantly have that same relationship with the public. What Encore can offer though is their executive chef, Christopher Daigler, who is well known in the restaurant business for being the executive chef at Oliver’s before he made the move to Encore. Another competitor which was not listed as one of the ten best, but still challenges Encore is the Buffalo Chop House. It is located directly behind Encore making it another option for patrons in the area looking for a good sit-down meal or drinks. Erie County Demographics…2008 Population Estimate909,8452008 Persons under 18 years old 21.5%2008 Persons 65 years old and over 15.6%2000 Households380,8732000 Persons per household2.412007 Median household income$45,129()Buffalo Demographics…44538901816102006 Population Estimate276,059 Persons under 18 years old 26.3%2000 Persons 65 years old and over13.4%2000 Households122,7202000 Persons per household2.291999 Median household income$24,536()Location…left0Encore is located directly across from Shea’s Buffalo at 492 Pearl Street. This location makes it the perfect destination both before and after a show. What also makes this location great is that it is within walking distance of the popular bar scene on West Chippewa. This creates an advantage for Encore because they can bring in those looking to go out after dinner, but also those looking for a more relaxed and contemporary bar downtown. Reviews…“There’s good news for steak lovers just around the corner… and there’s good news for sushi lovers and pasta lovers and salad lovers too.”-Buffalo Rising So Long to Hemmingway’s“The layout of Encore is fantastic. If you want privacy, there are great little booths inside to enjoy a meal or some one-on-one time with someone special. There’s an upstairs for bigger parties and a spacious patio outside. Encore has three bars plus a sushi bar. Stay inside if you’re looking for a bit more peace and quiet, but for that downtown partylike atmosphere—head outdoors. I’ve done both and had a great experience each time.”The Buffalo NewsEncore: It’s worth repeating a visit by Kelly Boquard411480046355“Though it’s early days yet, Encore shows promise. It offers comfortable surroundings and a varied menu.”The Buffalo News Encore: Big, with lots on the menu in the Theatre Districe by Janice OkunPrimary ResearchA TripAdvisor Contributor?“I loved everything about eating here! The calamari was awesome as well as the sushi. I love the fact you can get sushi or other entrees. Dessert was also very good!”_______________________________________________________________________________Damian Tetkowski“I used to get the new sushi kinds from the old place some of the employees worked at and that got me into sushi. I followed them to Encore and it was unbelievable! Great food, Great drink, Great setting- love the outside/inside bar in the back!”? ? ? ? ? ?_______________________________________________________________________________Andrew Folger“Best food in town! No wonder why he is in the finals for the WNY Chef cook off.. I was very impressed.” ? ? ? ? ?______________________________________________________________________________Dana Jeffrey“best sushi ! awesome atmosphere! great selections !” ? ? ? ?________________________________________________________________________________-28194095250Peter Gemmati Jr.“Ate at encore for the first time! Service was amazing and the food was even better! will definately be coming back!!!”What is the Problem?The problem that Encore is facing right now is that there is no defined integrated marketing communications campaign in place. Although they have a Facebook page and are known through reviews, Encore does not know their target, what they like, what they are doing and how to engage them. Because Encore is a new business in a city filled with competing restaurants, our other problem is applying our primary research to a campaign that can run on a minimal budget. This requires knowing what specific target markets are doing so we can reach out to them in the most direct and effective way. Our secondary research shows us that the median household income for Buffalo is much less than the income for Erie County, so another problem that we have is figuring out how we get the residents of the suburbs downtown to eat at Encore. Questions we want answered...The questions we want answered all have to do with finding our ideal target and getting to know them better. Some of our questions include...A comparison of what different ages spend on entreesHow consumers hear about restaurantsWhy people do or do not return to a restaurantVarious correlations between income, drive time and ageSo how will we find our answers? (Methods)We are going to answer our questions by running a variety of tests based off a reliable data analysis program, SPSS. This program allows us to run multiple tests that give frequencies, averages and comparisons between questions. CATPAC software is used to analyze open-ended questions. All of our data comes for a survey that was distributed through . Demographics of Surveyors...What is your age?Mean29.78Median22Mode21Minimum20Maximum62What is the highest level of education you have completed?FrequencyPercentHigh School712.5Some College2341.1Associate's47.1Bachelors1933.9Graduate35.4What is your yearly income?FrequencyPercentunder $20,0003460.7$20,000- 24,99911.8$25,000- 29,99911.8$30,000- 34,99923.6$35,000- 39,99958.9$40,000- 44,99947.1Over $50,000814.3What is your marital status?FrequencyPercentSingle 4275Married1221.4Divorced23.6Using CATPAC we were able to analyze these open-ended question to get a series of answers which all had multiple respondents.Why do you go out to eat?The survey showed that people go out to eat because:They don't want to cookThey have plans with friendsFor special occasions or eventsThey want to food that the specific restaurant servesWe can use this information when targeting consumers in our campaign because we can highlight the advantages which people see in going out to eat. Also, because Encore offers catering services, we can market that for consumers special occasions at a different venue. What was your best experience at a restaurant?The majority of people answered that their best experience at a restaurant had to do with the food, service and atmosphere. This is a very important result because it is something that can be taken care of for little cost and increase the rate of returning customers. By knowing that those three things are what matter to the majority of consumers, the staff at Encore can work to maintain and improve their service skills and friendliness, while making the already great food better and more memorable. What was your worst experience at a restaurant? The main problem surveyors had with restaurants was a long wait time. This was followed by bad service and food. This question is especially important to the internal marketing strategy of Encore. Nothing can ruin a visit to a restaurant more than waiting a long time to be seated or untimely service of food. Encore must have enough people on staff to deal with consumers so they have a good experience and are more likely to return. Also, they could avoid having long wait times at the door by offering call ahead services or to-go options. What's your favorite restaurant to visit?Surveyors answered that their favorite restaurants have good prices, a favorite food or offers Italian food. Although preference in type of food was asked in a different question, a lot of respondents answered their favorite restaurant was an Italian one. If Encore started offering some more Italian dishes they might be able to bring in more customers and turn them into reoccurring clients. Survey AnalysisAge vs. Frequency of Dining OutRespondents between the ages of 20 and 25 are dining out between one and six times a month, while respondents who were 45 and older were more likely to answer they went out to eat six to ten times a month. This can help us better determine a target market by seeing who is more likely to go out to eat. Age vs. Cost of MealWhen comparing age and cost of meal, we wanted to see if there was a correlation between how old the customer is and their spending point so we broke the surveyors up into two groups, 20- 34 and 35- 62. 52.8% of people from 20- 34 answered the average they spend is $10, and 33.3% said the average is $15. For this group of people, we could market the bar menu and drink specials to because that is more within their budget. For the group of 35- 62, there was the same percentage, 35.7%, for both the $10 and $15 averages. However, 28.6% of those respondents said they spent $20 or above. Because this group would be more willing to pay +$15 for an entree, we could market the rest of the menu to them. How often visit downtown vs. AgeAgain for this test, we broke the group up into two different segments, 20- 34 and 35- 62, to see if there was a correlation between visiting downtown Buffalo and age.For the group 20- 34, the majority (44.7%) said they visited the downtown area 2- 3 times a year, and surprisingly 31.6% said they never do. 23.7% of people answered they visit downtown 2- 3 times a month or more. We found similar results in the second group of 35- 62. For these respondents, 63.6% of them answered they visit downtown 2- 3 times a year, 18.2% said once a month and 18.2% said they never visit. Do they use call ahead services?This question is important because, again, it would help us better understand consumers and their desire to have good service. 76.8% of people said that they do use call ahead services, so if Encore were to offer this, people would defiantly use it. This would make it easier for people to experience the food at Encore, and decrease any wait time at the restaurant itself. Marital status vs. How often do you visit downtownThis test was intended to see if more single people or couples were visiting the downtown area. Our results found the following:This test shows us that married people are actually more likely to go downtown than single people because they are visiting once a month. When asked in an open- ended question why people are visiting downtown, the majority of answers had to do with meeting friends, sporting events, nightlife and the bars.How do you hear about restaurants?SourceYesNo% YesFriends and Family51492.7Reviews114420Newspaper94716.1TV203635.7Radio144225Magazines5518.9Online3535.4Word of mouth49787.5As we can see from the above chart, the ways people are hearing about restaurants is mainly through friends and family, word of mouth and TV. This is important to our research because it relates back to our CATPAC analysis of why people do or do not return to restaurants. If people have a poor experience because of service or food, they are likely to tell others. When this happens, the main source of free advertisement is gone. righttopFavorite kind of restaurantWe wanted to ask this question to see if there was a specific type of cuisine that surveyors preferred. If there was an overwhelming result, we would know we could offer that and potentially gain more consumers. The results of this question are showed in the chart to the right. As the chart shows, the majority of people desire a restaurant that serves American, Italian or Mexican food. A menu which features all of these can bring in a greater audience. What are people ordering and how much they spendIn this test, we looked at what parts of a meal people are ordering the most and then looked at the average price they were spending on their meal. Part of Meal% YesAverage $$ SpentAppetizer32.1$10- 15Soup or Salad48.2$10- 15Main Course89.3$10- 15Dessert10.7$10- 15Drinks66.1$10- 15Travel TimeOne of our problems was getting people from surrounding areas to downtown Buffalo, so this question helps us gage how far people are likely to travel to go out to eat. ConclusionsWho is the target?Through our primary and secondary research, we found two different groups that we can target for different reasons. Group OneGroup TwoAge21- 3435- 62ResidenceErie CountyErie CountyIncome$35,000 and below$35,001 and aboveAttention GetterSocial networksNewspaper, onlineMarital StatusSingleMarriedWhat do we offer them?Drink specialsEvent specials (i.e. Shea's)No cookingNo cookingCateringThese are two very different target markets, but Encore can serve both their needs, and our data shows that both groups would be good markets.Group One would benefit from the bar menu because it is a cheaper alternative to the gourmet menu. Also, this age group is more likely to be linked in online so they would benefit the most from receiving messages via Encore's Facebook page (plus this would cost Encore nothing). We could offer this group drink specials to get them to come in when they are visiting other bars in the area. Group Two is more likely to come downtown and has disposable income to order more things off of the gourmet menu. These consumers are more likely to read the news, either online or in print, so it would be more beneficial to spend money here on print ads in the news or ads online. To this group, we could offer specials that go along with local events (Shea's or HSBC events), and also catering for events in the area. RecommendationsOur research helped give us direction for the beginnings of a great IMC campaign. In brief, these recommendations are:Be internally aware of the consequences of poor service and long wait time; make sure the staff is friendly and timely.Start a call ahead service so people coming home from work can order ahead and bring the food home with them. This also cuts back on wait time. Promote catering through local newspapers and online sites; newspapers and online sites will reach the demographic that has the income for this service.Advertise the three bars that Encore has to offer that will bring in a younger crowd; Chippewa is around the corner so offer competing drink specials. End Note...This research was done for the first time using and asking questions which were thought to be of great use. Although the questions asked were a great start, more could have been asked to better determine the specifics of our target markets. A second survey will be sent out which includes the following questions to people who live in and around Buffalo:How often do you try a new restaurant?Would you patronize a new restaurant in downtown Buffalo?What radio station are you listening to?What newscast are you watching?What section of the newspaper do you read?Do you receive the local Bee or Gusto?What zip code do you live in?Do you work in the city of Buffalo?These questions will be of great help in the following weeks and months as our IMC campaigns develop further. Works Cited…"Best Buffalo Restaurants." 10 Best. My Recipes Network, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <;. Encore . Encore Buffalo, 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <;. Queenseyes. "So long to Hemmingway's, Hello to Encore." Editorial. Buffalo Rising Online. Buffalo Rising, 6 Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. < so_long_to_hemmingways_hello_t>."State and County Quick Facts." U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <;. ................
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