A Little Taste of Home

Abstract

This marketing plan is for a restaurant to be located within the U.S. military community of Vicenza, Italy.  Over the past three years, many soldiers and family members complain of lacking American food. The name of the restaurant is A Little Taste of Home.  Majority of restaurants in Vicenza serve Italian dishes.  This restaurant will serve American dishes and cater to soldiers; both active duty, retired, and their family because there are no other restaurants in the area that have an all-American menu. It will be opened the whole day unlike most Italian restaurants that open during lunch and dinner hours only. Additionally, it will give an alternative to disburse in home currency or in USD. The restaurant’s mission shall be to serve those who serve past and present by providing them and their families a taste of home while serving abroad.

 

A Little Taste of Home

Introduction

This marketing plan provides a justified reason to set up “A Little Taste of Home” restaurant in a bid to cater for the longing needs and desires of American soldiers living and working in Vicenza, Italy. As much as they live away from home, they deserve to enjoy their lifestyle, which in this case, is having access to their favorite traditional food. The fact that the borough is one among many areas that lack well-established restaurants to serve American dishes despite the significant number of Americans living in these areas. This presents an opportunity to establish a flourishing business that has a promising future in terms of returns. Establishing a restaurant that serve quite a significant number of customers in the area will ensure proper utilization of realized viable market opportunities that might come with a cost but greater returns worth taking the risk. Besides, not only Americans living in Vicenza will be our target markets but also a number of other residents who have had a taste of American food and loved it. Indeed, the Italian food served in almost all restaurants in Vicenza area does not positively appeal to most Americans living in the area. Personally, I have heard a lot of complains among Americans who lament that sometimes they wish they could fly back home just to have a taste of their home food because they do not like the Italian food. Some even prefer to buy food and cook for themselves because they do not like the Italian food that is served in the restaurants. “A Little Taste of Home” restaurant will ensure maximization of this presented opportunity and introduce a new taste in the area, which will definitely attract more customers to ensure that our business is sustainably booming.

Background

The town of Vicenza is an evenly populated borough with over 500, 000 residents. About 10, 000 American soldiers and their family live in the area. Currently, there are close to 150 restaurants operating in the area and out of these only about three restaurants sell American style food. Personally, I have lived in the area for three years and I continually heard Americans complain about how the food that they are served at the restaurants does not meet their needs. The fact that there are no other restaurants in the area that serve an all-American menu despite there being a number of potential customers in dire need of the food presents a viable opportunity worth venturing into. Because most Italian restaurants that operate in the area open only during lunch and dinner hours, we shall utilize that opportunity to command a large market by availing our services in 24-hour basis. As such, there will be negligible competition for A Little Taste of Home restaurant and gauging from the quality of our service back at home, we shall receive a warm welcome both from our American brothers and from sisters working and living in Vicenza and the local residents who will definitely love the taste of our scrumptious food.

As stated earlier the few restaurants that serve mostly American cuisine have not received good review from their American consumers, which automatically clears the way for us to attract a huge bevy of potential customers for our business in the area (SBA.BOV, 2014). Basing on the quality of our food, it is imminent that we shall capture a large market and ensure the survival of our business. In addition, the majority if not all restaurants in the area allow their customers to make payment for the services provided in terms of the local currency. Most Americans find this inconvenient because they have to change their dollars for them to have access to the services. Therefore, “A Little Taste of Home” will ensure that this issue is resolved and make it our payment system flexible and more convenient by allowing our customers to pay either in local currency or in U.S. dollars.  According to SBA.BOV (2014), this would help to attract more customers whose experience at the restaurant will be turned into unforgettable moments to make them come over and over again hence ensuring the success of our business. Our benevolent services will certainly serve as a competitive edge as well as make it hard for new entries.

Other than competitions, there are a number of anticipated challenges including government policies or bureaucracy, political chaos, cultural differences, foreign exchange fluctuations, and employees’ competencies. It is possible that we could face more government rules and regulations than expected and this could have an adverse effect on the success of the business. Some countries impose stringent rules and laws to foreign investors and setting up a restaurant in Vicenza, Italy could prove more cumbersome because of certain rules and regulations inflicted on foreign investors such as tax laws and requirements. It is also possible that challenges emanating from political chaos in Italy could adversely hurt the company.

The fact that American citizens are being targeted across the world due to rising terrorism makes the venture into the Italian market a risk because this could make our business a target of terrorism. Cultural difference is another challenge that we will have to deal with for our business to flourish. Despite the fact that U.S. is a multicultural country that includes Italians, operating business in Italy will not be the same as operating one in America because of the fact that what is considered morally right in the U.S may not be culturally accepted in Italy and this could prove detrimental to our business. The volatility in the foreign exchange market will also affect the business in terms of profits when converting the Italian currency into U.S dollar. In addition, because the Italian government requires that any foreign business operating in Italy should employ a minimum of 70% local resident, this will pose a challenge as regards to employees’ competencies. However, various strategies that will be discussed later will be employed in a bid to overcome the aforementioned challenges and ensure the survival of the restaurant.

 

Discussion

“A Little Taste of Home” plans to ensure its survival in Vicenza through thick and thin. The aggression of the company shall be ensured through a number of marketing strategies as well as solutions to the impending challenges in the new market. As identified in the background, government policies or simply bureaucracy challenges due to possible stringent rules and laws shall be approached with a thorough feasibility study of the legal-political environment in Italy and specifically in Vicenza will be carried to identify a number of legal issues. The study will be analyzed critically and device entry strategies that will ensure zero infringement on the legal system that governs business enterprises in Italy. Rudimentary, recognizing our boundaries as far as our business boundaries are concerned is critical, as this will confine us within the legal requirements of the country.  As the Entrepreneur.com (2014) reveals, this will be in form of the legal form that our restaurant will take in a bid to hedge against legal measures that will adversely hurt our business. Precisely, the study will help us understand how to deal with Italy’s bureaucracy such as licensing and the type of insurance policy to undertake.

Dealing with possible political chaos in Italy is another challenge that we will have to deal with in a bid to ensure our survival in Vicenza. In the past few years, terrorists have persistently targeted American foreign investors based in different countries across the globe. For most Americans, it is certainly known to them that facing such a contingency in a foreign land is highly probable because of the fact that America has been on the forefront in fighting global terrorism to the extent of fishing them out in their home country. Consequently, this has made American citizens and supporters susceptible to terrorism.  According to SBA.BOV (2014), taking up an insurance cover against loss of property due to terrorism is certainly the most appropriate way to ensure that we do not suffer huge losses in such circumstances. To counter against a possible terror attack will also require an installation of high advanced security systems that monitors every nook and cranny to minimize acts of terror.

Besides, the fact that most of our customers will be American soldiers and their families makes our restaurant highly susceptible to terrorism. As such, we shall rely on the vigilance of the soldiers to provide proper expertise and skills on how best to install security measures to counter any terrorism attempt. Additionally, cultural differences pose severe challenge. It is possible that we could start our operations in Vicenza and engage in practices without our knowledge that we are engaging in a heinous social faux pas can unfavorably affect our business in long run (SBA.BOV, 2014). Therefore, it will be best to conduct a feasibility study and analysis of the socio-cultural environment in the area in order to avoid possible blunders that could eventually render our business as a social felony against the culture of the thousands of residents residing in Vicenza. This will enable us to learn their culture and the embedded cultural differences as well as make our interaction with Italian clients possible. Accordingly, we will be in a better position to create a positive image both to our potential clients and to our employees to win eventually their loyalty.

The fact that we will be accepting both the Italian local currency and the USD makes it a challenge against the business profitability as far as foreign exchange fluctuation is concerned (SBA.BOV, 2014). Converting the local currency into USD could be a huge loss when the rates go against the U.S. dollar. As such, it will be ideal to always hedge against this risk through proper financial mechanisms that favor us such as engaging in futures and forwards contracts with our suppliers. In conclusion, dealing with the challenge of employees’ competencies will involve a thorough selection and absorption of reliable and competent team of employees to ensure that our operations are aimed at obtaining the ultimate goal of success.

Implication

Running business in Italy is quite a challenge. There are numerous implications that will arise from the venture. These include; ethical, social, financial, and legal implications. The ethical implication of establishing a restaurant in Vicenza, Italy could arise from advertising, sales, promotion, pricing, employment, and conversion strategies. Ethics refers to morally accepted by the local residents of a certain area. This means that what is morally conventional in United may not be received well in Italy. Advertising and sales ethics differ from country to country. Our marketing strategies may not have a positive appeal to Italian citizens and this may spark a lot of attention from the authority hence causing a lot of turbulence to the company’s future success. The social implication of establishing a restaurant business in Vicenza could also emerge from various angles such as employment strategies where thorough scrutiny of potential employees to work in the restaurant may not be positively received by the Vicenza residents. This is because they may feel that we are being too strict on our criterion for choosing people to work. Besides, some of our business operations may be a social intrusion in terms of cultural practices and religious believes among others.

As opined by the SBA.BOV (2014), financial implications could also come in different dimensions. Starting restaurant in a foreign country involves huge financial costs such as licensing, taxation, and operating costs among other relevant and irrelevant costs alike. All these constitute to financial implications that we shall have to deal with in a bid to place our business in a profitable position not just in the short run but also in the end. Another implication is the political or legal implication that will arise from the establishment of a restaurant in Vicenza. International business and trade attracts many political-legal interests between the trading countries. As a business that aims to benefit not only the American soldiers living and working in Vicenza, Italy but also a number of stakeholders who will in one-way or the other form a nexus with the business. Consequently, this will arouse a lot of political or legal attention from both countries.

Recommendation

For the business to succeed, there are a lot of pending issues to deal with. The fact that the restaurant will be targeting American soldiers and their families living in Vicenza, Italy makes the target market significantly small. That is, the restaurant may not operate efficiently because of the limited market, which could consequently affect our returns in the end. Therefore, this calls for further research to understand the population in order to assess the potential of future transactions and the volume of anticipated earnings for the success of the business. Further research could be executed for the purposes of familiarizing with the business environment to enable good marketing decisions to trigger a large volume of returns. It would also be of greater benefits to exercise patience in order to understand the general environment for proper execution of the business.

As much as we may assume that there will be little or no competition in establishing a restaurant in Vicenza, there is a possibility that other people may have noted of the same opportunity and are possibly thinking of exploiting the opportunity. Besides, entry of other competitors in the market is possible. However, it is possible to go beyond the limit to make sure that the restaurant business stays ahead of other as well as create barriers to entry. In addition, cultural differences could pose more challenges than anticipated. As such, carrying out an intensive research to help in understanding and being accustomed to these differences hence allowing easy and faster interaction with the local residents in Vicenza. It is also worthwhile to contact commercial attaches to provide reliable advice concerning the best approach to take in establishing business abroad. Besides, they will help to negotiate for a possible elimination of taxes and fees to reduce the financial constrains that arise from the venture.

References

Entrepreneur.com. (2014, March 5). The Ingredients of a Marketing Plan. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Entrepreneur.com: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/43026.

SBA.BOV. (2014, March 7). Doing Business Abroad. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from SBA.GOV.: http://www.sba.gov/content/resources-doing-business-abroad.