Research Project IB - Vlad

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened
Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague
Research Project for International Business
Written by Vlad Medvedev Prepared for David Gannon (Lecturer, Programme Leader) 14,519 words 80 pages
(+420 608484788) pc@vladmedvedev.com www.vladmedvedev.com
Since, 1 Jan 2010
Due, 25 June 2010
By Vlad Medvedev
Abstract
This project describes the success key points of newly-opened pizzeria/restaurants in Prague. Additionally, it involves the primary research of one specific restaurant named Marinara, which is located in Sdliti Kok and has a great potential due to lack of competition. Mainly, this research was dedicated to analyse the current situation of the restaurant and produce a report which will be helpful to identify the unsuccessful strategies that were implemented before and possible improvements for the future. This restaurant was called Pizza di Pepe and since there were new owners from the 1nd of April 2010, the restaurant was renamed to Marinara which is named after the first pizza ever made. These new owners, Sergey Medvedev and his wife Narine Medvedeva have changed the restaurant in many different directions, as they have a great life-time experience. However, the experience that they have gathered throughout these years is not enough. They are lacking in professional management and marketing that is nowadays taught in many business universities. Therefore, it was a great opportunity for me to help their business and get a very useful knowledge for my further studying in the college. The information for this research was gathered through questionnaires that were given to many students/lecturers of Prague College and clients of the Marinara restaurant. Observations were also made to make an adequate summary.
How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague
By Vlad Medvedev
Subsequent to the end of my investigation, I have analysed all data collected and put everything in the right format. All the information was converted onto diagrams and charts to make it easier to view and compare data. When I have finished observing my data, I have written an appropriate content in my findings section which was focusing on my main objective Possible ways of increasing sales in newly-opened restaurants. By the end of this project I have discovered many tricks and strategies that may possibly or crucially increase sales of the restaurant. This involves the restaurant appearance, customer service, advertising techniques, competition and etcetera.
By Vlad Medvedev
Acknowledgments
The process of this research was very long and the progress was very dependent on people that participated in it and guided me through. Therefore, I would like to thank all the people who participated in my primary research by filling in all the questionnaires and sharing their opinions, the priority of information that they have provided was very high as it was the base of my research. Since I would not reach such professionalism and success in the entire progress of my research without any guidance, I cannot forget my lecturer Dave Gannon who guided me through the project and carefully checked my work for any errors and grammatical mistakes. Additionally I would like to thank all the members of staff and especially bartenders who have helped me by giving out most of the questionnaires in the restaurant with professional manners in regards to all the clients. I would also like to thank my parents who own the actual restaurant and who participated in this project by negotiating with all members of staff from the face of mine. I cannot leave out my classmates as they have helped me by sharing their advice and constantly checked my work. In addition to all that I have to mention that nothing in this research would be achieved by me without the help of these people.
By Vlad Medvedev
Table of Contents
PRAGUE COLLEGE COVER SHEET.........................................................................................................0 COVER PAGE ........................................................................................................................................1 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..........................................................................................................................4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................5 TABLE OF GRAPHS ................................................................................................................................8 BACKGROUND .....................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 9 RESTAURANT OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 10 RESTAURANT SUCCESS IN THE PAST ............................................................................................... 10 RESTAURANT TODAY.................................................................................................................... 11
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................13
MY OBJECTIVES FOR THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................. 13

METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................14
PRIMARY RESEARCH.................................................................................................................... 14 Questionnaires .............................................................................................................. 18 Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 27 SECONDARY RESEARCH .............................................................................................................. 30
By Vlad Medvedev FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................31
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 31 LIST OF GRAPHS .......................................................................................................................... 32 Questionnaire 1 (From Prague College) .................................................................... 32 Questionnaire 2 (From Marinara) ................................................................................ 38 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................... 49 PEST Analysis .................................................................................................................. 49 Porters Five Forces ....................................................................................................... 51 INTERNAL ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 54 Capability ...................................................................................................................... 54 Competitive Advantages ............................................................................................ 54 Position Audit ................................................................................................................. 55 Organisational Structure .............................................................................................. 56 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS - PRIMARY ............................................................................................. 57 Description..................................................................................................................... 57 Inbound Logistics .......................................................................................................... 58 Operations ..................................................................................................................... 58 Outbound Logistics ....................................................................................................... 58 Marketing and Sales While Serving the Clients.......................................................... 58 After Service .................................................................................................................. 59 SECONDARY VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS.......................................................................................... 59 Human Resources ......................................................................................................... 59 Procurement ................................................................................................................. 60 Technology Development ........................................................................................... 60 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................ 61
By Vlad Medvedev CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................63
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 63 CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSONNEL OF MARINARA ........................................................................... 64 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 64 Strength of Customer Service ...................................................................................... 65 Weaknesses of Customer Service ............................................................................... 66 Possible Improvement .................................................................................................. 68 VISUAL ASPECT OF THE RESTAURANT ............................................................................................ 69 POSSIBLE ADVERTISING STRATEGIES .............................................................................................. 70 DELIVERY SERVICES ..................................................................................................................... 71 SUMMARISED INFORMATION STRATEGIES OF INCREASING SALES .................................................. 71
RECOMMENDATIONS .........................................................................................................................74
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 74 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MYSELF ............................................................................................... 75 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LECTURER/STUDENTS ON THE SAME SUBJECT .......................................... 76 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE RESTAURANT .................................................................................. 77
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................79
WEB PAGES................................................................................................................................ 79 BOOKS/MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS .............................................................................................. 79 CITATIONS/QUOTES .................................................................................................................... 80 LECTURE NOTES .......................................................................................................................... 80
By Vlad Medvedev
Table of Graphs
FIGURE 1 WERE YOU ALWAYS WELCOMED.....................................................................................32 FIGURE 2 STAFF WAS KNOWLEDGEABLE AND HELPFUL ..................................................................33 FIGURE 3 WERE YOU DISCRIMINATED DUE TO LANGUAGE ISSUES ................................................34 FIGURE 4 STAFF IS ALWAYS FRIENDLY AND CHEERFUL ...................................................................36 FIGURE 5 IN OVERALL, DO YOU LIKE CUSTOMER SERVICE IN PRAGUE? .......................................37 FIGURE 6 SERVICE RECEIVED IN TAMELY MANNERS ......................................................................38 FIGURE 7 KNOWLEDGE AND HELPFULNESS OF STAFF (MARINARA) ..............................................39 FIGURE 8 FRIENDLINESS AND CHERFULNESS OF STAFF ....................................................................40 FIGURE 9 STAFF ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS...............................................................................41 FIGURE 10 MARINARA SERVICE IN OVERALL..................................................................................42 FIGURE 11 WILL YOU COME AGAIN AND CALL YOUR FAMILY/FRIENDS? ....................................44
By Vlad Medvedev
Background
Introduction
Since the 12th of April a new semester has started in Prague College, and so there was a new class called Research Project for International Business. The purpose of that class was to choose a business related story which was going to be investigated during the next few months. Since then, each member of our class has faced an interesting situation that they had to investigate. However, it was a very tense experience for us, as we have all faced obstacles in our way which were sometimes hard to dodge, and as it was stated by Catherine Pulsifer Our ability to achieve success depends on the strength of our wings gained through knowledge and experience. The greater our knowledge and experience, the higher we can fly. Therefore, the experience that we have gathered throughout this project will be very useful for our future. Additionally, the success of this project will give us a further step into our HND studies. After gathering all the information which as I said was very stressful, we were all prepared to summarise it and start writing our final report. And as I have mentioned before, we all have chosen a business related situation that we had to investigate. Therefore, I have chosen a restaurant that is owned by my parents. This is because the use of this project will be doubled, or even tripled. The exact topic that I have chosen is How to increase sales of newly-opened pizzeria/restaurants in Prague
By Vlad Medvedev
Restaurant Overview
For the past years Pizza di Pepe was the only known Pizzeria/Restaurant located in Sdliti Kok. Surrounded by 10,000 people living in that area, Pizza di Pepe was in a huge advantage of others. Although there was no competition in that area, Pizza di Pepe was lacking in professional management, which lead the restaurant to low income and popularity. From the First of April 2010, the owner of that restaurant has changed, following with its name and look. Since that day, the restaurant was called Marianara, named after the first pizza ever made. New owners, Sergey Medvedev and his wife Narine Medvedeva have changed the restaurant in many directions, from the members of staff to its look.
Restaurant Success in the Past

As it was mentioned before, lacking in professional management caused the restaurant to lose its customers. However, it did not always have a bad popularity. Three years ago the restaurant was owned by a completely different person. Back then, it was bringing much higher profits. Not only clients increased the income with their daily visits, but also deliveries provided to people living within the 10,000 people range. However, there were some global issues that have severely decreased its success. The past owner was smart, and so he predicted the global crisis, therefore he sold the place to another man named Peter Novak. New owner had a different idea about the business. Suddenly, he started making a low quality but cheaper meals and deliveries. Therefore, they were losing their clients. According to Novak P.
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(2009) within two month since he was the owner, 70 % of sales have dropped. The main reason for business failure was an incorrect strategy chosen The lower price, the more you sell. After a while, there was another person who bought that restaurant. His name was Tom Kral. As the past owner, he was following the same strategy, trying to drop the prices to attract more customers. Unfortunately he was not able to run the business properly. The restaurant was lacking in a well organised and professional customer service. Many customers were not satisfied with the service and did not come back again. Similar with food provided to customers, chef was not good enough to cook well. Therefore they have changed their menu which could only suite a certain number of people with much lower standards. Tom Kral has been running the restaurant for a year and due to family problems and unsuccessfully managed business, he had to leave. The present owners, who started working from the first of April 2010, knew all the mistakes that were done by previous owners. And so they have changed the strategy.
Restaurant Today
Since the last owner left and new arrived, many things in the restaurant have changed. The main reason why clients did not want to come to the restaurant was food. Therefore, firing the past chef was the first step to gain success. Since there was a new chef, food served to clients was not only tasteful, but decorated professionally. Bartenders and waitresses were also changed. Additionally, on the twentieth of April the menu was changed. As it was said by Medvedev S. (2010) many people around the area were used
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to the old menu, and this is why we cannot serve a completely different food. Therefore we will change the menu again in 3 month, adding a better quality food and taking off the old ones. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very warm and in average, clients stay over 30 minutes after they have eaten their meal. Nowadays, the restaurant is getting its popularity back. It was also noticed by the staff, when they started receiving good comments from clients that were happily enjoying their meal.
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Aims and Objectives

My objectives of the research:
My objectives for this research were to gather as much information as possible, about what customers want, why they visit some specific restaurants in Prague and what do they do or don not like about the Marinara restaurant. Therefore, after gathering this information, new possibilities were available to me. Moreover, I was able to summarise all the information and make further step towards my objectives. To be specific, my final objectives for this research were as follows: 1) Possible ways of Attracting Customers 2) What are the Advertising Strategies 3) Compare Business with Competitors
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Methodology
Many businesses in Prague and particularly restaurants fail in the first year, due to high competition in the city. This is why I took it as a challenge to find the possibilities of increasing sales, and mistakes that could be avoided in the future. At the current stage, methodology was a very helpful step that guided me through the entire research project. In order to follow the whole research process without making any mistakes, I had to look through the objectives that I have to accomplish by the end of this research. To have successful results, I had to make an accurate primary research where I was using a certain type of techniques. Furthermore, I was aiming to gather the information from a certain type of people, depending on their age, marital status, financial status and social class. In my case, the target audience that I have chosen was male and female aged 20 to 60 years old with an average income. The reason for such wide target audience was people that usually visit the restaurant and live nearby it. Since there are about 10,000 people living within the place with a large variety of age. In addition, secondary research will be done in order to support my investigation and give me an opportunity to add up more value onto my work.
Primary Research
The following results were investigated by the end of the research: 1) 2) What do Czechs like/dislike about customer service in Prague; Why competitors do better;
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3)
What do Czechs expect from customer service in Prague;
4) What techniques should be used to increase sales through delivery services in Prague 5) What is the current visual aspect of the restaurant and how could it be improved to attract customers Use of questionnaires for outcomes 1,3 and 5 was the most effective method of gathering directly aimed information from a large number of people, without spending much resources and doing it faster. Different types of questionnaires were prepared depending on each outcome. Therefore, different type and number of people were questioned, depending on priority of each outcome. To get more accurate and reliable results, I asked as many people as possible. However, I limited myself to the maximum of 30-45 people per questionnaire. Outcome 1 had the highest priority, since success of the business directly depends on the customers opinions and wants. Therefore, I have asked an approximate number of 30-45 people in 2 different places around Prague. These are; the restaurant and Prague College (with potential clients of 20-30 years old). Similar strategy was implemented onto the outcome 3, but less number of people were questioned due to its priority, about 15-25 people. For the fifth outcome, I did not limit myself on questionnaires as this question requires more observations and verbal communication. However, my target audience for this questionnaire was people aged 30-40 years old who regularly visit the restaurant. I have asked an approximate number of 15-25 people, as there were other types of research that were implemented onto this outcome.
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There are several reasons why I have chosen specific number of people who I have questioned or interviewed. First of all, I had to focus on the priority of my questionnaires, which ones contained the most needed for me information and which did not. Therefore I have divided my questionnaires into categories by priority and given each category/questionnaire an appropriate number of people that I had to question. Then I had to be more specific about the number of people that I had to question. Starting with questionnaires I have given to the customers of Marinara. I have asked an approximate number of 30-40 people. This is because at the moment, the number of people visiting Marinara daily is very similar to the number I have questioned. Moreover, it was enough for me to question the number of people that visit Marinara daily because it makes a high spectrum of audience. Furthermore, I have received enough information since 80% of people that I have interviewed are the usual clients of Marinara. Therefore, their opinion was in high priority for me, and I have questioned about 90% of such clients. This was mentioned by the barmen Jelinek, H. (2010) Since I work here, I have learned peoples faces and I can tell you that about 80% of people you have questioned visit our restaurant all the time, and from all people that visit our restaurant all the time you have questioned about 90%. Now to mention the questionnaires that I have given out in Prague College, I have given about 15-25 questionnaires. This is because 5 of these people were teachers who have gained experience throughout their lives and could tell an answer in a proper and effective format. Other 10-20 people were students and I have stopped on that specific number of people because these people visit restaurants and
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pizzerias daily. From my calculations, these people visit restaurants at least, once a day. Moreover, they cannot spend their time traveling far. Therefore, since Prague College is in the center, these students also visit restaurants in the center. Furthermore, I have received comments of people that have visited about 5 out of 8 restaurants that I wanted to receive comments on, and I have stopped on 15 students because the other 3 restaurants I wanted to check were out of the radius that students of Prague College can travel to. I have also interviewed 3 people. The reason why I did not want to progress is because I needed this interviews to gain more knowledge of restaurants in Prague through verbal communications. I did not need to interview people to compare any data since my objective questions were answered in questionnaires. However, I have received a very useful knowledge since I have interviewed a lecturer who had a wide experience of customer service in Prague and internationally. Additionally I have interviewed the owners of the actual restaurants to receive and overall understanding of the restaurant itself and additional information of strategies that they might want to implement on the restaurant.
As I was writing about the possibilities of increasing sales, I had to make an adequate content of my own, where I included the ideas of people that were questioned or interviewed. Therefore, outcomes 2 and 4 provided me with appropriate information that increased my overall knowledge of
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restaurant business in Prague. For the second outcome, I have interviewed a person who usually visits an expensive and high quality type of restaurants in Prague, and also has a good experience with cheaper restaurants. Therefore I was able to summarise all the data and put appropriate information onto my findings section. Below I have divided my primary research onto two sections, questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires that I have created will be placed below and briefly described with further justification.
Questionnaires:
Questionnaire number one was dedicated for the Prague College students to collect information about the Customer Service and average restaurant quality in Prague.
Questionnaire 1:
Every question in this questionnaire had to be rated within 5 different options between Strongly Agree and Strongly Disagree. Question 1: You Were Always Welcomed? This question was made to understand whether the customer service in Prague is welcoming or not. Many people in Prague and especially foreigners say that customer service in Prague is terrible and in many restaurants waitress do not welcome people or even smile.
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Therefore, I have placed this question in the questionnaire in order to understand the level of customer service in Prague. Also, I will be comparing the answers between foreigners and Czechs to see whether Czechs got used to this level of customer service and even like it, or not. Since the restaurant is not located in a tourist zone and surrounded by many locals which are Czech, it would be useful for me to know whether Czechs really want a better quality of service or not. Question 2: Staff is Knowledgeable and Helpful? Once again, the purpose of this question was to understand the level of customer service in Prague. Looking at many comments that people provided me, the majority of people suggest that staff in Prague is lacking in knowledge, therefore they are not able to help. This question would be very helpful for me to understand the overall level of knowledge of staff in Prague. Therefore, I will be able to provide further comments on the knowledge of staff working in the Marinara restaurant and make possible solutions. Question 3: Where you discriminated due to language issues? This question was in a very high priority for me, since when I have done my questionnaires 11 out of 14 people living in Prague were discriminated at least once. This was also a personal experience for me. Moreover, by saying discrimination I mean that the customer service personnel was very rude and
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was not willing to communicate or help in any way, sometimes even ignore you. Looking at my personal experience, customer service in Prague and especially Czechs are very discriminative, not only the color of your skin matters but the actual language you have spoken to them. In many cases when I tried to speak Czech the customer service personnel was not willing to help me and sometimes they even said on purpose that they did not understand me. Therefore, I have placed this question to understand the present level of discrimination in Prague, since many people say that it gets better. Especially with a younger generation, Czechs get more used to foreigners and they do not show such nationalism as the older generations. Question 4: Staff is always friendly and cheerful Many people say that staff in the pubs is friendlier however in the restaurants staff is not friendly at all. CS personnel in many restaurants looks very unhappy with their job and even disappointed, therefore they try to fist their anger on customers. Most of the time, you may not even see a smile on their faces. Therefore I have made this question to match it with a similar question that I have given to the customers of Marinara. Question 5: In overall do you like Customer Service in Prague? This question gives an opportunity for people to give an overall opinion of customer service in Prague. Additionally, on the other hand if I have not
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included some important questions in my questionnaire, people could still give an overall answer including all of their personal opinions which I have not covered on my questionnaire. Question 6: What do you like best about customer service in Prague? This is an open-answer question, therefore I will be able to gather as much information as possible from it. This particular question is very important for me as it will give me many ideas of other people of what are the best things in customer service. Therefore, I will be able to implement this information into my findings section, and this information directly affects my whole project as I gather ideas of improving the business. Question 7: What could be improved? This question is very similar to question 6 but on the other hand it is completely opposite. The question itself, will give me ideas of possible improvements for an average restaurant in Prague. Moreover, I will be able to add more value onto my findings section as I will be talking about the possible improvements for the restaurant and this will help me to find more possible ways of improving the service and as following the profits of the restaurant.
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Question 8: Additional comments This question does not give me a direct answer but on the other hand it is one of the most important sections of my questionnaire. Additional comments allow a person to openly share their ideas and opinions, in connected with my topic. Therefore I will be able to gather the information very widely and get as many ideas as possible to improve my research.
Questionnaire 2:
This questionnaire was prepared for the clients of Marinara. This questionnaire was the most important part of my research as I asked all the clients directly. Therefore I got the answers which are directly connected with the restaurant, so the accuracy of this research was a lot higher. Same as the first one, this questionnaire is rated in the scale of 5, from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Question 1: Service received in timely manner This question was made to see whether the staff in Marinara is working quickly or not. Since people are very sensitive to the speed of service they receive, the restaurant may lose a lot of clients if the staff will not work fast enough. Therefore this question will help me to identify this situation and make possible solutions for the future.
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Question 2: Helpfulness and knowledge of staff Clients will have to rate this question and so I will see how effectively the staff of Marinara is working. Since many people living in Prague or who visits the city as a tourist, say that the customer service personnel in Prague is very unknowledgeable therefore they cannot provide any help. With the help of this question I will be able to provide further comments to the owner of Marinara and add a possible solution to my findings section. Question 3: Staff was friendly and cheerful throughout Many locals and tourists are very dissatisfied with the friendliness of customer service personnel in Prague. Furthermore, people even make jokes that Czech customer service personnel look like zombies since they never smile, however I would call it a very strict opinion but on the other hand it is rightful. Therefore, it is compulsory for me to check how people would rate this question about Marinara in order to see the quality of customer service. Question 4: Staff answered your questions Staff must always answer the questions of their customers as many clients feel disappointed if their questions were not answered. Many people might feel as they were ignored if the staff does not answer questions of their clients. Therefore, it is crucial for me to see how the staff of Marinara is doing in that area.
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Question 5: What did you like best about our service Since this is an open question where people will be able to write an answer in their own words, I will be able to receive more information on it. Additionally, this question will show me the areas in the restaurant that are currently in advantage of other things. Therefore, I will be able to focus more on the things that might need an improvement. Question 6: What could be improved Same as question 5, this is an open question and on one hand it has a similar meaning as well, but on the other it is completely opposite to question 5. This question will tell me the exact things that should be improved in the restaurant. And from what I think, the ideas of possible improvements will be given from the customers point of view, which is very important since I and the owner of the restaurant have a very different view at the restaurant. Most of the time owners do not want to see anything bad in their business, they try to find good things and cover all cracks with these good things. However, from the customers point of view, I will be able to see these cracks in the restaurant and write a list of improvements. Question 7: What is your opinion about visual aspects of the restaurant This is a very unique question and it is the only one in my questionnaire that asks from the visual point of view. The service provided in the restaurant might be highly rated but on the other hand not many people would know that,
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many people would be afraid to enter the place if it is not attractive. It is true that there are many restaurants that are not attractive and sometimes even ugly and dirty, but they are always full. However, these places gained their reputation for the quality of food and services, but this took them a very long time. This is why a restaurant must be attractive from the outside to make people want to come inside and then enjoy the food and everything else. Question 8: Overall how would you rate our service This question tells me the quality of service in overall. I find it very useful since the chances that I have included all important questions is very low. Some people might not find questions in the questionnaire that they need, others will. This is why it is very helpful to have an overall rate. Additionally, people might give the highest rate for many questions as knowledge and cheerfulness of staff but on the other hand they could give the lowest rate for the overall service question. Since they might find something very disappointing in the part of the restaurant that was not included in my questionnaire. Question 9: Will you come again and call your family/friends The purpose of this question was to see whether people are willing to come back and maybe call their family and friends with them. After receiving the results, I will see if people liked the restaurant in overall or not, if not they will provide comments below of the questionnaire telling what was wrong. Additionally, I will see if people would want to tell about Marinara to their
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friends/family or not, because sometimes people visit the type of restaurant they like or could, but they would not like to tell about that place to others. Additionally, I will be able to see whether people will be telling others about Marinara or not. Because in many cases, people might like the place or it could only be the place they could afford but they would not like to tell others about it. Since owners of Marinara are willing to make a friendly atmosphere in the restaurant and not try to be a place where people would visit just because they can afford it financially, I will be able to provide them with such information and they will see whether their goals are met or not. Question 10: Additional Comments Additional Comments is one of the most parts of the questionnaire as it asks for peoples personal opinions. This gives me an opportunity to receive comments that cover things that I have not added onto my questionnaire. Moreover, I might find some ideas that were provided by people which are useful for the restaurant. Such as, people might write contacts of a brewery that makes cheaper but better quality beer, or anything else that might be helpful.
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Interviews:
There was only one type of Interview, but it had two formats. First was a verbal communicative interview and another was written on paper and signed. This is because some people were not able to speak English and there was no possibility of direct translation. Therefore, the interview itself was written on paper and signed. However, all questions were same in both of the interviews, the one that was recorded and the other that was written on paper. The questions can be found below: Question 1: Were you always welcomed? I have started my interview with a few simple questions to warm up the interviewee. However, these questions may be found on my questionnaire but on the other hand I received more comments from it since it was in a verbal form. Question 2: Was staff ever willing to help? Similar to question one, this is a very simple question to warm up the interviewee. However, as I have mentioned before even though it is in my questionnaire I have received a lot of valuable comments. Question 3: Were you discriminated due to language issues? With this question I have received many comments about discrimination in Prague overall. The interviewee told me about some particular places in
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Prague where the person was discriminated and also provided useful comments about the age group of customer service personnel was is more or less discriminative.
Question 4: In overall do you like Customer Service in Prague? Again, this question was in my questionnaire. However, it was very helpful in an interview as well. The person who I interviewed was able to provide many comments about Customer Service in overall, and add a lot of personal experience as well. Question 5: Do you eat Czech national food? (e.g. Czech Knedliky or Roast Pork Knee) This question was only mentioned in my interview but not questionnaires. Moreover, I have asked this question in my interview to see whether people really prefer Czech food or not, especially foreigners. Therefore I will be able to focus on food that is served in Marinara. Question 6: In average, do you like the quality of food served in Prague, whether it is a French or Italian restaurant. With this question I was able to receive comments about food quality in Prague, no matter from where it is from. Therefore I would be able to compare an average quality of food served in Prague with the Marinara
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restaurant. Additionally, this would be twice as useful since food served in Marinara is a mix of Italian and Czech cuisine.
Question 7: Do you like pizza served in Prague? Many people say that it is very thin how could it be improved? Majority of people who eat pizza in Prague say that Czech cooks always make the pizza too thin, as especially foreigners. Last time it was mentioned by Enchavarria, R. (2010) who said that Pizza in Czech Republic is always too thin that you cant really feel the taste. Therefore, I wanted to include this question in my interview to hear the opinion of others about this issue in Prague. Question 8: Which restaurant do you visit the most, and why? This was my last question in the interview and it turned out to be very useful for me. The point of this question is to ask people what restaurant do they like the most and why. Therefore I was able to find the most visited restaurants of Prague and see the reason of such popularity, maybe there are some techniques that could be used in Marinara as well. After collecting this information I was able to summarise it and put everything in different categories and compare my results. Since my report is about possibilities of increasing sales of newly-opened restaurants in Prague, my research was done correctly without any mistakes or difficulties.
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Secondary Research:
To receive more accurate results and finish the project successfully, I supported my investigation with a secondary research which involved such sources as: Electronic Articles Newspapers Forums Search Engines Books Magazines
And other sources that provided me with appropriate information in regards to Marinara. Forums gave me an understanding of successful restaurants in Prague and main keys to their success. Some information was gathered from personal opinions of people online. Many articles that were posted online share a good experience in regards to many successful and unsuccessful businesses. With a good explanation of any mistakes and how could it be avoided. The secondary research also decreased the time I spent on finding section. Such as, food costs in other restaurants or any comments provided in regards to their service. Moreover, I was able to find statistics about Prague restaurants and results of previous questionnaires that were done by other companies inconnected with customer service.
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Findings
Introduction
The purpose of my report was to gather as much information as possible about restaurants in Prague, and make a possible solution of increasing sales of newly-opened restaurants in Prague. Therefore, all data was collected by giving out questionnaires in Prague College and the restaurant that I am focused on which is Marinara. Additionally, interviews were done to gather some extra information and receive more ideas from people. The information that was called from questionnaires was put into excel and afterwards, converted onto pie charts, graphs and other appropriate diagrams. Below, you can find the list of graphs with introduction and description of each diagram.
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List of Graphs
Questionnaire 1 Customer Service in Prague (Data gathered in Prague College) Question 1: With this question I wanted to receive more information about customer service personnel in Prague. Since many people and especially foreigners say that they do not get welcomed by customer service personnel. Therefore I needed to see the data on chart to compare the average of Prague with the Marinara restaurant.
You were always welcomed

6 Number of People 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 1: You were always welcomed
As you can see on the graph, there is a number of people who gave their opinion on this question on the left and the rating scale below. The rating varies from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree and in average, there were about 3.5 people giving an opinion in a specific scale. For example, 5 people
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Agreed that they were always welcomed in Prague by customer service personnel, and 2 people strongly disagreed with this. Question 2: Due to many negative comments provided by people on the knowledge and helpfulness of staff. I had to add this question onto my questionnaire. This graph will help me to see the comparison between the Marinara restaurant and an average level of knowledge and helpfulness of customer service personnel in Prague.
Staff was knowledgeable and helpful

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree Nuber of People
Figure 2: Staff was knowledgeable and helpful
This graph displays the knowledge and helpfulness of staff. To be more specific, the graph was made to convert text onto illustration and make it easier to view and compare data. On the left side of the graph, you can find the number of people who did this question and at the bottom, you can see the rating scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. As you can see on
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the graph, zero number of people strongly agreed that customer service personnel in Prague are knowledgeable and helpful. Moreover, majority of people thought that the knowledge and helpfulness of staff is in average level. Furthermore, 2 people strongly disagreed that staff is knowledgeable and helpful.
Question 3: Were you discriminated due to language issues? In Czech Republic, majority of foreigners say that they were discriminated at least once, and you can see that on my chart below. Therefore, this type of question was very important for me to add, to view the present situation and compare it with Marinara.
Were you discriminated due to language issues

8 Number of People 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 3: Were you discriminated due to language issues
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On the graph itself, you can find two sections, the number of people who did the question on the left and the rating scale on the bottom. As you can see, the majority of people chose an average rate for the discrimination in Prague, meaning that they were discriminated at least once. The other 3 people strongly disagreed with this, therefore they have never been discriminated. However, since I have questioned many Czech people as well, I can clearly see that they were the only people who were never discriminated. Question 4: One of the most important ability for any customer service personnel is to be friendly and cheerful. This is because these abilities help to build a strong relationship between staff and their clients. Since this plays such a large role in the customer service, this question would show me an overall level of customer service in Prague. Moreover, knowing the level of customer service in Prague would help me to identify what level of service people would like to receive more.
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Staff is always friendly and cheerful

7 6 Number of People 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 4: Staff is always friendly and cheerful

People who answered this question had to choose between the rate scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree and you can find it at the bottom of the graph. On the left you can find the number of people who answered this question. The majority of people disagreed that customer service in Prague is always friendly and cheerful. Therefore, I had to view the current situation in Marinara, in regards to this question, and make a possible solution. Question 5: In overall, do you like customer service in Prague? The purpose of this question was to understand the overall situation with customer service in Prague and to cover the parts that I have not included in my questionnaire. This graph below displays the information that I have
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gathered from people.
In overall, do you like customer service in Prague?

7 Number of People 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 5: In overall, do you like customer service in Prague?
This graph was constructed to display data as clearly as possible. Therefore, there are only two sections in this graph, the number of people on the left and the rating scale at the bottom. As you can see on the graph, the majority of people think that the level of customer service in Prague is at average. However, this also shows that there is a huge potential to improve and it will be much easier for a new restaurant to work more effectively as the expectations of a good customer service is not that high.
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Questionnaire 2 Customer Service in Marinara (Data gathered in Marinara) Question 1: Service Received in Timely Manners This question has helped me to identify the speed of staff working in Marinara. Furthermore, all the data from this question that was collected through the questionnaire is displayed on the graph below. Therefore, you can visually see how fast the staff of Marinara is working.
Service received in timely manners

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 6: Service Received in Timely Manners
As it is visible on the graph, the majority of people strongly agreed that all the services were received in timely manners. At the meantime, zero number of people disagreed that the services they received were in timely manners. From this graph it is possible for me to see that the staff of Marinara is working fast enough and at the moment there is no need to change anything in this direction.
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Question 2: Knowledge and Helpfulness of Staff This question is crucial for me as these two abilities are very important. The graph below shows all the information that is required to know whether the staff is knowledgeable or not.
Knowledge and Helpfulness of Staff

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Strongly Agree Agree Average Rating Scale Disagree Strongly Disagree Number of People
Figure 7: Knowledge and Helpfulness of Staff
The idea and structure of graph is similar to the previous ones. It is divided onto two sections, number of people on the left and rating scale at the bottom. As you can see on the graph, the majority of people strongly agreed that the knowledge and helpfulness of staff is at a high level. Therefore, I can clearly see that the staff is not required to learn more about their services. However, it is always better to improve and staff might need some techniques to learn, about customer service in the restaurants. Additionally, all clients who did this questionnaire ranked most of these questions at a high level
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because this restaurant fits them. On the other hand, no one ranked any of these questions low because people who do not like this place do not visit it. Therefore, it is better to improve in order to attract more customers. Question 3: Staff was friendly and cheerful throughout The graph below was built to display the data in regards to friendliness and cheerfulness of staff. On the graph you will be able to find the highest and lowest rates that people gave for this question. Furthermore, I must mention that many people find friendliness and cheerfulness very attractive. Therefore, I had to add this question onto my questionnaire in order to see what people think about the staff of Marinara. Moreover, you will be able to find all statistics in regards to this question on an illustrated graph below.
Friendliness and Cheerfulness of Staff

Figure 8: Friendliness and Cheerfulness of Staff
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On the left side of the graph you will find the number of people who answered this question. At the bottom, you will see the rating scale which is from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. As you can see on the graph, the majority of people who answered this question think that the staff of Marinara is very friendly and cheerful. Therefore, I did not focus on it a lot. Question 4: Staff answered your questions In order not to make clients of Marinara feel disappointed or ignored, I had to check whether the staff of Marinara answers questions or not. On the graph below you will be able to find the number of people who thought that the customer service in Marinara is either good or bad.
Staff answered your questions

Figure 9: Staff answered your questions
The structure of this graph is very similar to the one above it. This graph has the same layout and rates that people gave as the previous chart. However, it
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differs from any other graphs as it is dedicated to display the data that was gathered from the question in regards to staff answering questions of their clients. Furthermore, the graph has two sections, number of people on the right side and rating scale at the bottom. Additionally, you can see that the majority of people strongly agreed that the staff of Marinara answers questions of their clients at all times. The graph tells that there were over 18 people and to be exact 19 people who strongly agreed on this question. Question 5: Overall, how would you rate our service? This question is very important for this report as it asks for an overall rate of Marinara. Therefore, it was compulsory for me to add it. Furthermore, the data for this question was displayed on a pie chart which you can find below, in order to create the best possible view.
Marinara service in overall

1
10 11
Excelent Good Average
Figure 10: Marinara Service in Overall
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On the pie chart above, you can find a legend on the right. However, it only contains three different varieties of rating, excellent, good and average. This is because in this question, there was no rate that was lower than average. Moreover, I only included three colours in the chart in order to make it easier for the viewer and not to get confused. As you can see on the graph, the majority of people thought that the service was good and on the other hand it was excellent. Because the chart clearly shows that 10 people thought that the service in overall was good and other 11 think that it was excellent. Moreover, only 1 person thought that the service was average. Question 6: Will you come again and call your family/friends? This question was created with the purpose of asking people whether they would like to come again and bring their friends or family. Therefore, after collecting this information I was able to summarise it and think whether people liked the service and would want to come back again or not. The information that was gathered from this question is displayed on the pie chart below.
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Will you come again and call your family/friends?

2
For Sure Most Likely Maybe 15
Figure 11: Will you come again and call your family/friends?
As the previous pie chart, this one only has a rate scale of three varieties. Moreover, you can find these varieties and colours on the legend that is placed on the right. The pie chart has three different rating options, therefore it also has three different colours that divide the chart. These colours are blue, red and green. The majority of people thought that they would come again and bring their family/friends for sure. You can see that coloured blue on the chart and about 15 people attempted this option. Following with most likely option that is coloured green and about 6 people attempted this option. Afterwards, the least number of people thought that they maybe will come again with their family/friends. This option is coloured green on the pie chart and about 2 picked this option. Interview Customer Service in Prague/Food made in Prague Restaurants/Best quality restaurants in Prague
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The answers from the audio interview was converted onto the text and placed below. This was placed as my findings from a verbal communication with a person who visits restaurants in Prague and has some valuable experience. Section 1: Customer Service in Prague Question 1: Were you always welcomed? Answer: No, no really. I mean there are some restaurants I know where they were really really rude. And you say, you know, excuse me can I have some food please. And they would just go thfu, like that. Not always, sometimes yes but not always, no.
Question 2: Was staff always knowledgeable of their goods and services?
Answer: Was staff always knowledgeable? No, not really. In fact I think, some of them were very very unknowledgeable. And if there is a problem, they refuse to sub take ownership of the problem. And they would rather no be bothered and I wished they would go away.
Question 3: Was staff every willing to help?
Answer: Not really, no. Some of them of course yes were. But I think compare to lets say Britain where I come from or America. The customer service, the sophism of been willing to help was much much less; they see it as a problem more.
Question 4: Were you discriminated due to language issues?
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Answer: I should think I probably was discriminated against. I remember once in a post office when they just wouldnt even send the letter that I had. Because I couldnt it was very obvious that I was trying to do. I was asking what the price for stamp was to send it to London. But they just couldnt be bothered with me, so at the end they just said no no no, no no. Possibly other times I have been discriminated against but my knowledge of Czech is so bad I wouldnt really realize that I was discriminated against.
Question 5: In overall do you like Customer Service in Prague?
Answer: I think its very very behind the times. I think because of communism and because people were forced to do a job. The way that Czechs rebelled, and in fact the way they rebelled generally. Is not by being, not by sort of getting on the streets like they do in Kirgizstan or whatever. But its by, what you call passive resistance. They just make things very very difficult for you. They always do absolute minimum, they never understand you properly, and they do understand you but they just dont want to do anything. And its probably because they have been invaded by so many people and then they had jobs forced on them by the communists. And their idea was just going to work and to do to live, what I can. And you know, its a thing to be endured rather than being to do to achieve anything. I think the attitude of the younger Czech people, is the service is generally better. Because I think they got the idea, that it is something that could be a career and it is worthwhile. But you know that, it is people really from your generation.
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Section 2: Food and Pizza in Prague Question 1: Do you eat Czech national food? (e.g. Czech knedliky, pork knee)
Answer: Ahh, sometimes it has swechcoba and things like these. I have to say it doesnt do my stomach a lot of goods. Czechs, I mean some does. But its not because something is wrong with the food. There is no bacterium in the food. Its just there something about Czech food that makes me want to vomit in the toilet. I dont know what it is, whether its oil or some.. I dont know what it is. But it is Czech food, because I have tried Greed food, am happy with that. I have tried Italian food, and am happy with that. I dont know what it is, but there is something about Czech food.
Question 2: In average, do you like the quality of food served in Prague, whether it is French restaurant or Italian?
Answer: Ehm, I know some czech restaurants that are very good, but I also know a lot that are very average. I mean, there is a really good indian restaurant not far from here, and thats excelent. But there is a couple of restaurants that are very very average, they got smageny syr, swechcoba. There is one particular restaurant where they go highlighters on the menu , and you say I ll have this one and they say neny, off, or I ll have this one, off. Or can I have that one, neny, off. So what can I have? Is that one, and its like a smageny syr or something.
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Question 3: Do you like pizza served in Prague? Many people say that it is very thin. How could it be improved?
Answer: I think it depends where you go, they dont really do deep ones. But no I found them alright, the ones I had I found alright. Yeah.
Section 3: Most favourite restaurant why?
Answer: I visit the restaurant in the hotel Embassidor quite a lot. Because its on my way between work and I have never had a bad stomach, there at all. Its quite expensive but they do quite a cheap bar menu, and they have cnn on tv. And its just between, because I work in Calobanian Mesidan in the morning, just between them and here. Great place, to get a lunch or read-up on my economist, thinkabout ecconomic issues and have some food. And its quite nice there, I actually met my wife there a few years ago. Be very careful when you eat hot dogs from the hot dog vending. Because I ate one 10 years ago and I ended up with an awful food poisoning. And I through up everywhere in my house. I through up in my storage heater, I through up everywhere. So be very careful.
Ok I hope you find that useful, ok then. Alright.
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External Analysis
PEST Analysis
Political Restaurants in the Czech Republic experienced a crucial change in 2004, since Czech Republic has joined the EU. There were many legal factors and hygiene rules implemented for the restaurants. The standards of hygiene became stricter, and presently restaurants are not allowed to go under the permitted limit. As being a relatively new country in the EU, restaurants have still not got used to the concept and strict laws of the EU. Many restaurants have not updated their equipment for a very long time. Therefore, they do not meet the standards of the EU. Furthermore, these restaurants received many fines because of these hygiene legal factors. Moreover, many of these restaurants had to close. Economical Prague, in comparison to any other capitals in the world, is relatively a cheap city in regards to food and drinks. The taxes and tariffs set by the Czech government are relatively lower than in other countries, and favourable for attracting foreign investors to open restaurants. On the other hand, the Czech Republic with its climate and inaccessibility to the sea, causes lack of many kinds of food. Many restaurant owners will have to face troubles with pricing on sea food, exotic vegetables or fruits if they have opened and exotic restaurant.
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Inflation is a very important factor that influences profits of the restaurants. It produces higher wages and higher prices on food. The cost of materials, storage or services used in production of the final product or service, may make it more expensive. Social In the Czech Republic there is evidence that customers are incredibly price sensitive. This is the reason why owners of Marinara should think carefully when they determine the prices of food. With growing competition between the restaurants, Marinara should focus on the customer wants and needs. Every day, the standards of living in the Czech Republic approach the standards of Western Europe. This fact changes the eating habits of Czech people a lot. People expect better services, tastier food, and cleaner venues since they are willing to pay for this comfort. Due to modern tendency towards healthy food and rejection to fast food, Czech tend to eat healthy food as well. With increasing number of working women, home cooking is decreasing. This is because people do not have time to cook at home, so they prefer to go to restaurants instead. Technological The rapid increase of internet usage allows people to buy food online without putting an effort to go to the restaurant, this also reduces the time they have to spend. Customers can order food through the internet
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or their mobile phone, without needing to go to the restaurants. It is crucial for the restaurant to improve their website and make it more user friendly and attractive for customers.
Porters Five Forces The threat of substitute products or services

Buyer propensity yo substitute they can cook something at home rather than going to the restaurants. Relative price performance of substitute The food cooked at home is relatively cheaper than in restaurants as people will only have to pay for the products, and on the other hand the quality of food will be similar. Number of substitute products available in the market As Marinara is the only restaurant in the area, there is no threat of substitute products provided by other possible competitors. Except the fact that people can eat something cheaper at home, or they can phone a pizza delivery firm that will deliver them a hot pizza or food. There is also a small fast-food shop nearby Marinara, that provides sandwiches at a lower price. The main reasons for substitute products are possible, because of the quality of products/customer service or the price in Marinara.
The threat of the entry of new competitors
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This market is very profitable due to the population of 10,000 inhabitants and with only on restaurant in that area; the threat of new competitors is very high. New competitors with new or better products at a lower price may enter this market.
The intensity of competitive rivalry

There is only one competitor in the area, which is not providing the same product as Marinara. This competitor is similar to a fast-food shop, selling low quality goods (junk food). This can be a threat in the sense of substitute product, cheaper and the restaurant has a very pleasant environment. Another threat could be a pizza-taxi that is nearby the restaurant, which can deliver pizzas home.
The bargaining power of customers

Presently, the bargaining power of customers is low, because Marinara is a unique restaurant in that area. There is not much of available products. Therefore people have to buy the existing ones. However, as the threat of new competitors is very high, the bargaining power of customers might change rapidly.
The bargaining power of suppliers

There are many suppliers that are available in that area. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is at a very low level.
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Barriers to entry
Advertising Putting large posters that could make it obvious for the clients to recognize the restaurant so that it can give priority compared to others. Network Effect By establishing delivery and the offering of extra pizzas when you purchase more, will enable to produce a significant user base. Additionally, effective usage of the companies nearby will built better relations and loyalty. Variety in the menu, quality according to the customer preferences and hospitality offered to the customer makes it difficult for other competitors to get into the market and will increase the loyalty of Marinara customers. Knowing the area will help the restaurant to make the difference for the cultures living in there. For example, avoiding language barriers by using the menu in different languages according to nationality of the customer
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Internal Analysis
Similar to the external analysis, which helps us understand the surroundings of Marinara, and to determine which problems or advantages we might encounter in that particular area. It is necessary to analyse the business to identify weaknesses that can be turned into strengths.
Capability
Marinara is the only restaurant located in an area of 10,000 inhabitants in , Prague 10, Doupovska, in the area of Hostivar. The nearest restaurants are in Park Hostivar, a shopping mall that is located 15 minutes aways by bus and about five minute drive by car. The restaurant has capability of delivering food to its customers faster than any other restaurants due to its strategic location. The restaurant is not just a pizza restaurant but it offers Italian food in a comfortable environment within its elegant interiors. Marinara is not only a nice place to go for a dinner or lunch, it also has a small playground for children offering a family environment for locals. Customers have the privilege to choose between the smoking and non-smoking areas which are located apart. At the pizzeria there are also alcoholic drinks that may be served at the bar for clients who wish to be on their own.
Competitive Advantages:
The only restaurant located in an area of ten thousand inhabitants, Smoking and non-smoking sections,
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Elegant interiors, Childrens playground, Bar for individuals who want to be on their own Delivery service for the locals.
Position Audit
Resources Material inputs: Ingredients for all the different dishes, plus drinks. Suppliers should be analysed. The new owners do not have much knowledge of the acquisition process. Therefore, they have decided to keep the old staff members to learn from them. After this learning stage, the owners should investigate further on the topic. Human Resources: Marinara has three employees who receive a salary of 10,000 kc each but they do not have anything to motivate them to do a better job. The staff did not receive a customer service training as well. Therefore, the service they provide may be lacking of professionalism and knowledge. Employees could be motivated by being offered better working benefits such as meal vouchers. Management: The restaurant is lacking a well organised and professional management. Since owner is in charge of the restaurant and has three different businesses to administrate. Therefore, the owner has the duties of a manager in the restaurant. In the future, owners plan to be in the business at
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fulltime. Therefore, there may be a huge change that might affect the working environment and may add a value to the customers. Fixed Assets: This is everything that involves furniture, chairs and table, that are important for the customers, plus kitchen tools. At the moment, equipment of the restaurant is in good conditions. However, the exterior does not match it. Painting the entrance would give the restaurant a better presentation. Finance: The restaurant should think about increasing the prices so that the sales would help recover the invested capital in the restaurant, as the new card that was purchased by owner for deliveries. Intangible Assets: The restaurant should train its staff in customer service. Customer service personnel of Marinara are not prepared to serve the customer the way they deserve it. Organisational Structure The new owners of the restaurant have already started to ask for an advice from their employees. This gives them more advantage and helps to motivate their employees. Communication between staff is not working well. Since owners of Marinara do not speak Czech well, and this brings a disadvantage to the restaurant. Operation Systems: The new owners operate at the same level as staff, give Marinara additional advantages.
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Product: A well-cooked Italian food is offered at the restaurant. Presently Pizza in Marinara has reached a very high level. However, a month ago there was a complaint that the pizza was raw. Solution: The owners should educate their staff in customer service, one raw pizza can mean one less customer, who can transmit the information to the locals who live around the restaurant. Brand Name: Marinara is a very strong named because the name is associated with Italy. On the other hand, this was also the fist pizza ever made and there is a unique recipe of pizza in the restaurant named Marinara. Market: The restaurant is all focused on the area where it is located. The idea is to attract people who do not want to cook and people who want to eat out. Families are also a part of the target audience and employees of local companies.
Value Chain Analysis - primary

Description: Inbound logistics: All those activities concerned with receiving and storing externally sourced materials. For Marinara all external sourced materials such as beverage food and boxes for home delivery are stored in their own storage which is on the ground floor, below the restaurant. This means that there is no need for a warehouse.
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Operations: There is only one cook at a time, who prepares meals for clients. The barmen is responsible for serving drinks and also food before asking the clients for any orders or collecting money. There is also one person responsible for delivering the food outside the restaurant. Furthermore, there is one cleaner that does not appear in the area where clients are allowed during the day time. That cleaner is responsible for cleaning dishes and the working area. Outbound logistics: All those activities associated with getting finished goods and services by buyers. For Marinara, the barmen takes the role of waiter and is responsible for bringing the orders to the right clients by communicating with the kitchen. He/she is the middleman between the clients and the cook as well as the bar. The home deliverer is responsible for answering phone calls and providing customer service, and even taking orders before delivering and informing clients about the processing time. Marketing and sales while serving the clients: the barman/waiter is also responsible for informing clients about products and any other services. For example, he or she can let the clients know that the restaurant is delivering their products home or any nearest companies. He/she can also let the clients know about special offers or anything else that the clients do not
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necessary see or know. The barman is basically responsible for providing customer service and public relations. After Service: After clients are finished with their meal, the bartender should ask the clients if they desire a desert, furthermore the bartender or the owner can provide a better customer service by asking clients if they would like a tea or a coffee. Afterwards, they may ask the opinions of their clients about the restaurant and overall service, this also shows that the restaurant is caring about its clients.
Secondary Value Chain Analysis

Procurement the function of developing the loyalty of employees within the restaurant Technology Development: modern technology for supporting the communication and working conditions Human Resource Management: the activities of how to treat employees the right way Firm Infrastructure: Activities such as finance, legal, quality management etc. Secondary activities would be project management; Human Resources Keeping the team motivated and paying attention to their working conditions. The employees have been working approximately in the restaurant for a couple of years, they are not very interested in their
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work as the customer level is not high enough. The new owner is planning to keep the same employees as they are already experienced and they know how everything works efficient and effective. Marinara must keep the wages of employees with the norms so they do not leave the restaurant and go to the competitors. Some small money bonuses at the end of the year could be given to show the gratitude to employees. This might make them feel as an important part of the business. Procurement i.e. making sure that the team had the necessary resources to complete the project efficiently The employees have a contract which provides them health insurance and a pension plan. However waitress and cooks might not be satisfied with this contract because they do not have incentives. Financial i.e. making sure that the team had an adequate budget to complete the project. The employees have basic salary but they do not have compensation package, and they are allowed 4 free drinks and one meal per day. Technology Development Web page, a car for delivery and a phone. If all the previously mentioned activities were implemented, it would increase the motivation of employees of Marinara to work harder. Moreover, this would add value to the customers of Marinara.
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SWOT Analysis
Strength Brand name Marinara Experienced in the field of restaurant business Experienced cook Low competition
Weaknesses The personal is not customer oriented The name of the restaurant is not matching with the name that is on the bus poster The menu is only in one language provided
Opportunities Companies that are located nearby and can use the delivery systm (Marinara makes free deliveries) Being the only restaurant/pizzeria, strategically located in the area (provide best quality for the best price and service) Threats Threat of new entrance (another similar restaurant can open close by) Threat of substitute products, choosing fast food instead of the pizza or people might want to prepare their own food at home as it is cheaper
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Threat of competition (Delivery food home by competition from in a close area)
High bargaining power of suppliers
Converting Weaknesses to Strength It is recommended to train the existent personnel as it is cheaper and more efficient but new ones can be hired aswell Match both the restaurant name and the poster to have the same name The menu should be written in Russian, as there are many Russian speakers living within that area. Additionally, it could be an advantage to have an English or maybe Vietnamese menu aswell. Converting Threats onto Opportunities If the restaurant improves its customer service personnel and quality of the product at a fair price, it will lead to higher switching cost The delivery service will be free only for people living nearby, which prevents any other competition to get in the market, but also if it is further it will cost free, depending on the amount ordered. If the restaurant buys more TVs, it can attract more sport fans to come to the restaurant
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Conclusions
The conclusions section of my report was divided onto 4 different sections; Customer Service Personnel Of Marinara Visual Aspects of the Restaurant Possible Advertising Strategies Delivering services Summarised information strategies of increasing sales Every part will be summarised, explained and divided onto smaller parts that will best describe the situation.
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Customer Service Personnel of Marinara: Introduction

Customer Service is very crucial to any businesses since customer service has a direct contact with its clients. Therefore, customer service must be effective at all times. During my investigation I have focused my customer service research on 5 factors: How welcoming is the customer service Is customer service knowledgeable and helpful Does customer service personnel discriminate their clients due to religion, language or origin. Is staff friendly and cheerful Customer Service level in Prague, in Overall These factors were found as the key elements that structure the customer service. Therefore, I have focused my research on these key factors and my interviews and questionnaires were also focused on these elements. Furthermore, I have given questionnaires directly to the customers of Marinara in order to receive the information and opinions directly from people who visit the restaurant that I am focused on. Therefore, the information that was gained throughout the project in regards to customer service was successfully gathered. This allowed me to make more accurate results and possible strategies for the restaurants that will improve its performance.
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Strengths of Customer Service

After gathering and analysing my data, and to be specific and questionnaires and interviews, I have found that the restaurant itself is very successful in the area of customer service. The questionnaires and graphs that were added above, show that over 75% of customers that visit Marinara, Strongly agreed on every positive section of my questionnaire. This tells me that people did not experience anything negative in the restaurants. However, this can only mean that throughout these years, the restaurant has gained its target audience, whether it is poor, rich, average, old, young etc. Therefore, the people who visit the restaurant are satisfied or even more than satisfied with the services. From this, I can tell that my attempt with questionnaires in the restaurants was not successful since people that could give any feedback on the restaurant do not visit it anymore. To be more specific about the strength, and by looking at the results of my questionnaires, I can tell the strengths that the customer service of Marinara has: Working speed of staff is very high Staff is very knowledgeable Staff is always willing to help Restaurant personnel is always friendly with their clients Customer Service presonnel is always cheerful and keeps a good entivornment for clients and staff
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Clients are never ignored and always get answered if any question occurs
From the factors above, it is clearly visible that the staff of Marinara have gained a valuable experience throughout their work. Therefore, there are only a few things that could be implemented in order to improve it.
Weaknesses of Customer Service

Unfortunately, I did not receive any bad comment or rate from the clients of Marinara. However, after staying in the restaurant for some time and observing all the working process, I have understood some facts that are not visible just by doing the questionnaires. The restaurant itself existed for many years, even though the owners have changed many times. Because it was working for such a long time, a target audience was also structured throughout these years. This target audience is a bit lower than an average. This is because the past owner did not want to improve, however he even lowered prices in order to attract customers but he only attracted less wealthy people. Therefore, after such huge improvement that was made through these months, by the new owners. Many old clients received a lot more value, a lot more services, better food, more comfortable facilities (chairs, tables, playground for children etc.). This caused the customers of Marinara to be much happier than before, however not many new clients appeared. Therefore, on my questionnaire I have received a lot of positive comments and rates.
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However, if I would look at this situation as a normal customer who entered the restaurant for the first time, I would feel disappointed. Because there are several factors that severely decrease the quality of customer service: It takes a long time for customer service to take an order Customer Service does not want to get in contact and communicate Customer Service is sometimes very rude Staff does not try to hide their anger, even more, they try to fist their anger on clients Customer Service personnel does not try to motivate clients to buy something else (i.e. they do not offer anything else, a cup of tea/coffee or a desert) Members of staff that are responsible for bringin the food, in our case it is waiters and bartenders, are sometimes very slow and food comes cold.
These factors above were taken from my personal observations, and I must admit that my observations played a large role due to the level of customers who filled the questionnaires.
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Possible Improvement
Due to such inconvenience with the staff, the personnel have to be either improved or changed. This process can take place in 3 different directions: Removal of Staff Staff training in customer service Better benefits offered to staff in order to motivate them The removal can be done very easily and bring a lot more benefit to the restaurant, according to Index Mundi there is 9.3% unemployment in the Czech Republic, which is very high. Many highly qualified people that seek to get a job are available to the restaurant. Therefore, it will be easy for the owner to hire new and better trained staff. The staff could also be trained if some staff members are valuable but need more knowledge of customer service. There are several activities that may improve performance of all staff members in regards to customer service. Additionally, staff could be offered vacations, food/drink vouchers and much more, in order to motivate them.
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Visual Aspects of the Restaurant

This is a very important part of any new opened restaurants. Many people say that the restaurant does not have to look good in order to have customers by giving examples of some restaurants that look ugly but always full. I have to disagree with this opinion, since restaurants cannot attract effectively if they are ugly. Furthermore, I have to admit that it is possible to have a full restaurant even though they are not attractive. However, these restaurants have gained a reputation over years by providing good customer service or food. Nevertheless, a newly opened restaurant will get closed before it gains such reputation without having an attractive look. Taking all things into account, I would like make a summary of the current situation with the visual aspect of Marinara. The interiors of Marinara are very attractive and make a very warm environment in the restaurant. However, the exterior is a little lacking in more creativity and look. This fact was also admitted by the owner of the restaurant Medvedev, S. (2010) that the exterior of the restaurant is at a very low level at the moment, and we are going to change it a soon as we get stable with finances. Therefore, the exterior of the restaurant will be changed as soon as the owner will be more stable with finances. This is a very positive fact for the restaurant that the owner acknowledges the fact that the restaurant is repulsive. However, there are still a few things that could be mentioned about the exterior of the restaurant that needs to be changed:
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Walls outside of the restaurant need to be recoloured Doors and windows should be replaced More and better signs have to be placed, outside of the restaurant These are the key elements of change that needs to be done over the next upcoming months in order to attract more customers. Since exterior of the restaurant is a face that everybody see first.
Possible Advertising Strategies

Advertising is a main part of any business. A business would not survive without promotion, whether it is a free word-of-mouth or the most expensive ad placed on the world cup stadium. If the owner wants to work with the nearest area of 10,000 inhabitants, then there are certain types of advertising that would work effectively. First of all, the poster nearby bus stop that represents Pizza di Pepe has to be changed onto Marinara, then following with not less important things: Ad should be placed on a small board nearby road Leaflets could be given to customers and send to houses and appartments using the post office Living advertising could be done (i.e. free to taste ads that gives people an opportunity to try the food for free) Company logo should be placed on pizza boxes and put on the staff uniform Website that will be listed in main search engines and comeup first when users write specific keywords (e.g. pizza, food, etc.)
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Delivery Services
Delivery services could be the main part of business success, including the fact that the restaurant has the best possible strategic location. The restaurant is surrounded by 10,000 inhabitants that have no choice since there are no competitors around. Marinara has a large opportunity to increase its profits through delivery services. This can happen when the restaurant will intensively advertise its services through leaflets. Furthermore, people will not have to pay for transportation as it is free. There is also a possibility of offering delivery services to nearby offices and companies. This will generate extra income.
Summarised Information Strategies of Increasing Sales

From my personal observations and information gathered from the questionnaires, I have to note that the restaurant is on the right track. However, it should move onto the new level of clients. Furthermore, the restaurant will be able to grow if the customers will also change. Therefore, the restaurant should implement as many adequate advertising strategies as possible. Of course, the financial stability is important and it is best to wait for a month and then start making further steps into advertising while being more confident. The following things are best for the restaurant to start doing after gaining financial stability:
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Logos placed on staff uniform and pizza boxes to be more recognised by locals Poster on the bus station should be replaced with the new name of the restaurant Leaflets with possible discounts/contacts/events info, should be given to customers and people living nearby (i.e. with the help of post office) Board Advertising could be placed nearby the nearest road Website can be created and promoted by word-of-mouth or best possible listing in the search engines. Therefore the restaurant website will be found when people type the keywords Field trips can be done to the neartest parks/open areas and free pizzas could be offered to people. This will allow the restaurant to gain reputation and clients will taste the food. The things mentioned above could increase the popularity of the restaurant, therefore more people may visit the restaurant and sales will increase. Continuing after my observations, I have found a few things: The level of customers is lower than average Restaurant is improving but clients are the same happier clients but no profit Customer Service remains similar as before
According to the facts stated above, the customer service of Marinara remains unpleasant. Furthermore, clients are happy with that because the restaurant is improving visually, with food, other facilities etc.
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In order to turn this negative situation into positive, there are a few solutions that are possible to do:
Staff can be changed Staff training can be done Staff can be motivated by getting offered some benefits
These strategies will allow the restaurant to continue improving and customer service play a large role in the future of that business. Moreover, when new clients will be coming to the restaurant as the advertising will start working, customer service will have to be better in order to catch peoples attention.
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Recommendations
This is the last section of my report and it will be divided onto three different parts: Reccomendations for Myself Reccomendations for students/lecturer on a similar subject Reccomendations for the restaurant
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Recommendations for Myself

Throughout my life I have never done any similar projects as this one seemed to me very professional and in fact mature. Moreover, it was impossible for me not to make any mistakes during this project as I have no experience with it. This project had a lot of activities and things that were done unsuccessfully and in the future I would do them in a different way. First of all, the most simple thing but on the other hand more useful would be to structure a plan. This plan will contain your full strategy, including your ideas, objectives, possible ways of gathering the information, time table, reasons why these methods are appropriate and what mistakes could occur that maybe be avoided. In the future, I would probably plan my whole project since I have presently made a huge mistake. My mistake was creation of questionnaires for the restaurant without looking at the situation from an adequate point of view. I gave questionnaires in the restaurant that very useless to me after since people who filled these questionnaires were not y target audience. My questionnaires were useless because the clients of Marinara remained to be the same from the past years when the restaurant was aimed for people that are way below average. However the restaurant itself is changing and people that currently visit it are more than just satisfied, therefore these people gave a maximum mark for almost everything in my questionnaire. For the future, I will also need to learn how to give out questionnaire and find new people that I might need to question. This is because during my research
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I have not found many people to answer my questionnaires in Prague College, since I tried to find people during my break times between the lessons. To avoid that in the future, I might need to make my own trip to the location where I will be aimed to gather the data, without any in-connected activities. Furthermore, I will have to think more carefully about my target audience that I would like to question and the target number of people that I will need to question. If I would feel more confident about these numbers then I would gather the data more effectively. In conclusion to this I would like to say that in the future I will have to be more professionally organised and prepare for any activities that I do more effectively.
Recommendations for the Lecturer/Students on a similar subject

For the future I would like to recommend students that are willing to do a similar project, to follow a few things: Make a plan for the entire project Make sure to accomplish all the tasks, all the activities that may help your project Do not be afraid of asking people to fill in your questionnaire or have an interview Try to communicate with the staff or managers of the business that you are focused on
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For more results, I would recommend to place the questionnaires online Keep It Simple Stupid for yourself and others
Recommendations For the Restaurant

From what I have seen and if this was my own business, I would probably change the staff of the restaurant, into more reliable, hard-working, smart & experienced workers. Customer Service plays a large role in any business and when the advertising will start to work and people will visit the restaurant, customer service is the first factor for people to like or dislike. The visual aspect of any restaurant also play a big role, and I would personally try give a warm look to the restaurant and make a family environment since there are many families living nearby. Additionally, I would place a BBQ grill in the garden, where people will be able to enjoy the summer with their family. Even though the competition in Prague between restaurants is very high, I would like to note that it is still very successful. A good management will always lead the restaurant to success and in my opinion this type of business is very profitable and not that hard to manage. For any new opened restaurants I would recommend to read this report as it give an overall image of this business in Prague and shows the possible mistakes or well structured strategies that could help or destroy the business. Additionally, I have to say that any business should always try to get in contact with their clients to understand what they really want. Moreover, if
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there are any complaints than this is a good step into success as people also care about your business, just like you. In conclusion with that I would like to mention that A Complaint is A Gift (Claus Mller, 3 October 1968)
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References
Web pages:
Books/Magazines/Newspapers:
Citations/Quotes:
- Medvedev, S. (2010) Conversation with Vlad Medvedev, 15 April. - Medvedev, S. (2010) Telephone Conversation with Vlad Medvedev, 18 April.
Lecture Notes:
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Appendix
80

Research Project IB - Vlad

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How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened

Research Project for International Business

(+420 608484788) pc@vladmedvedev.com www.vladmedvedev.com

Since, 1 Jan 2010

Due, 25 June 2010

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

MY OBJECTIVES FOR THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................. 13

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

By Vlad Medvedev FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................31

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

By Vlad Medvedev CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................63

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Restaurant Success in the Past

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Aims and Objectives

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

What do Czechs expect from customer service in Prague;

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

You were always welcomed

Figure 1: You were always welcomed

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Staff was knowledgeable and helpful

Figure 2: Staff was knowledgeable and helpful

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Were you discriminated due to language issues

Figure 3: Were you discriminated due to language issues

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Staff is always friendly and cheerful

Figure 4: Staff is always friendly and cheerful

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

gathered from people.

In overall, do you like customer service in Prague?

Figure 5: In overall, do you like customer service in Prague?

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Service received in timely manners

Figure 6: Service Received in Timely Manners

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague

Knowledge and Helpfulness of Staff

Figure 7: Knowledge and Helpfulness of Staff

How to Increase Sales of Newly-Opened Pizzeria/Restaurants in Prague