Reference no: EM133102549

Scenario 1

Ram was a happy man, counting a good sum of cash every day. He had opened a restaurant only three months back in Ahmedabad and the format and the concept appeared to be a hit. He had consultations with a few of his entrepreneurial friends on the design, formal, cuisine, and target market for his restaurant. Gulfaam was a posh restaurant made to look mildly rustic, with premium pricing, non-intimidating, and with non-exotic cuisine. Located in the outskirts of the city, it more or less ensured that only those families who had four-wheelers could afford to come. The lower real estate cost made it feasible for Ram to opt for a generously designed layout with lawns, fountains, and car parks. The icing on the cake was a large number of rabbits and dear roaming inside the compound (not harmful, all precautions were there to keep the boundaries dear). Yuppie families loved the concept and did not mind the drive. They loved the food and the word spread. With the referrals working like magic, he had a few write-ups in the press.

And then came the bad news. Ram started realizing that the customers who came were mostly the first-timers and less were the regular ones. He also saw a declining trend. He assumed that it must have been the cuisine and/or  pricing and quickly did an internal inquiry on whether there had been any complaint on the food that he wasn't aware of. But there were no such leads that he could make use of. He sent his people on a survey around a five-kilometer catchment area to discover if there were any me-too or other better competitors who could have weaned away his customers on lower pricing. There was no such competition. He could neither ask any of his customers (now erstwhile) about their reasons for non-preference. As he had not kept any database. He was at the end of his wits.

At such a mental frame of low-esteem,  he met one of his friends when he was visiting one of the newer malls in Ahmedabad. He came to know that Sujeet was now into mall management and got into a conversation with him. Sujeet shared. 'You wouldn't even guess - why people come to a mall Ram replied. "Only to shop. I am ''Wrong" - was the firm reply. -Entertainment, gaming,an evening out (including dinner) stress-busting, meeting people, rendezvous, and of course, to shop. Malls are also gearing up to provide different -wise and shopping experiences to different age groups.' To his dumb-founded friend, he outlined the different merchandise that customers bought at different stages of their lives.

Then, Ram revealed his problem to his friend. Sujeet replied, 'Let us examine it in a different way as you are doing right now. Let me ask you a question. Why do you think people came to your restaurant? For your food?' Ram asked skeptically, "Do you think they came for something else?" Sujeet replied, 'I don't know. You could find out - and maybe you would be surprised at the answers. Also, at a broad level try finding out the different types of customers that usually frequent restaurants." After having a discussion with his friend Sujeet Ram wants to re-look at his strategies and wants to re-frame the concept to work on his business successfully.

Ql. Ram is considering the location of the restaurant and thinks to attract people on the basis of weekends and weekdays.

a. Suggest an appropriate Service Concept for Gulfaam with which Ram can have a stable business.

b. Who will the target market for Gulfaam with your suggested service concept? Will it change from the current TG or not? And why?

c. Will the same service concept be appropriate to attract customers on weekends and weekdays? Why/why not?

Q2 Which two consumption values can be developed and promoted by Ram that will be valuable reasons for the consumers to visit the restaurant functional, emotional, social , or epistemic values? And Why?