Background

Wil’s Grill is a fast food business with a portable commercial model. The enterprise serves fresh burgers, fries, and beverages. Between 2014 and 2016, the company did well with the profit margins rising between 18% and 25% respectively. The primary target market for Wil’s Grill is the students at Northern Arizona University and community events where the people need street food. The food jointwas later moved to another city and the owner of the enterprise, John, hired temporary employees to keep the restaurant running. To improve the business and tap into a larger segment of the market, John needs to invest in expanding his variety offast food or to maintain his current menu but add catering to the services rendered.

The advantage of Wil’s Grill in this scenario is that the business is portable, which makes it flexible thus it is easier for the company to reach its clients. Moreover, fast food is a convenient meal for most people, yet it is also considered to be of high quality because of its good tasteand affordable pricing. Quality food entails hygiene and health, which are attractive to customers. The hiring of few and temporary workers would be considered a weakness for the company as it would be challenging to have employee loyalty when the job is not permanent or secure. Furthermore, a small number of staff members means that the business is not service-oriented. The brand of the company is also inferior given that the majority of its respondents have never heard of it. The core competencies of the enterprise are to serve clean, affordable and grilled fast food.

One opportunity that the business should tap into is technological innovations to improve productivity. For instance, the use of social media to market the brand name would ensure that it is familiar to most people.Through technological innovations, John can gain popularity in a large population and reach a broader market thus maximizing profits. The food joint also faces several threats such as bad weather, which makes it difficult for customers to go out for food. Competition is also a threat to the business as other corporations are trying to reach the same market. Nonetheless, Wil’s Grill does not have experience in the catering market, and that could prove to be detrimental.

Problem Statement

The Critical Analysis has been undertaken is to find a way in which Wil’s Grill can increase its profit by 15% in two years through gaining brand recognition, expanding into the catering market segment, and reaching those customers who usually operate outside the regular schedule of the restaurant, which is late hours.

Strategic Alternatives

One option that the business can try is to adopt the cost leadership strategy, which will ensure that the restaurant maintains its presence in the market segment. The approach will help the company in gaining a competitive advantage by keeping the costs of production and raw materials low to maintain low product prices. By being a cost leader based on low rates, the products will keep up with the pace at the market as the prices will be below average. People are always looking for quality food at affordable prices. The second alternative would be the niche cost leadershipapproach whereby John will ensure that he keeps his prices lower than the other businesses while still providing a competitive edge that will give the company an edge in the market. While working on gaining a competitive advantage, it is paramount that the quality delivered is high to ensure that the clients become loyal to the enterprise.

Implementation

In implementing these strategic alternative solutions, Wil’s Grill needs to keep in mind that the costs should be kept low; these include costs of research and development, material costs and costs of production.  The business should also ensure that the prices of the food and the services are below the average market price means that while he provides quality services and food to his customers, the prices should be below average making the products more affordable and convenient for his market. He, however, needs to ensure that his kitchen equipment is updated and current. For instance, having a bigger refrigerator will reduce his costs of constant restocking of supplies and allowing him to sell more products for the same duration of time. With the new equipment, the restaurant will also be able to provide the services and the food faster than usual.

Tracking Metrics

The tracking metrics that will be sued to verify that the plan is working include the use of income statements before and after implementation to confirm that the profit margins are changing for the better. The financial documents will show if there has been an improvement in the profits or if there have been any loses. Moreover, the competitor’s prices will be used in comparison with the newly implemented rates to ensure that they are below average but not too low to incur unnecessary losses. Moreover, the modification of technology or tools of production such as kitchen equipment will be checked to determine whether production has increased and if the quality has also improved.

Take Away

For every business, it is paramount to undergo a critical analysis to determine if there are ways that one can improve the company and expand the profit margins. The evaluation digs deep into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats while looking at different alternatives that aresuited to the commercial enterprise. With such an investigation, corporationsare able to know where their weak points are and work on them. Furthermore, implementing various corporate models into alternative solutions leads to success since suchapproaches have been tried and tested in other organizations, and proved useful.

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