A Famous South Indian Restaurant In The Uk Marketing Essay

Mirch Masala, a famous south Indian restaurant in the UK started in the year 1995 in Norbury, establishing branches in Tooting in the year 2001, Southall branch in April 2004, Croydon and East London branch in 2005 and Ilford branch being the latest in February 2009, under the watchful gaze of its owner and founder, Mr. Riaz Hassan Sabir, 49. It bears the name of most basic ingredient of Indian cuisine. The specialties are karahi and barbecue dishes. All food is prepared fresh on the premises, which may explain the massive popularity, as it tastes so fantastic. Mirch Masala has a string of awards to its credit. The Norbury branch won a highly commended in the Croydon Guardian’s Restaurant of the Year awards and the Tooting branch won its region in the Tiffin Cup and has gone on to the national finals. Mirch Masala has been the winner of a number of UK restaurant awards, the latest being TOP 100 RESTAURANTS OF UK voted by EVENING STANDARD (AUG 2003).

Business portfolio

The entire business is build upon a horizontal integration, dealing only with restaurant business. Expanding its wings in the South London with a total of 6 branches, all branches approved by Halal Monitoring committee, UK. Having the same menu and same style of preparing the food in all branches is unique in Mirch Masala.

Mission Statement

“To provide customers the authentic taste of Indian cuisine and be the best in the Industry on a consistent level”

Overview of Business

Mirch masala started with the first branch in Norbury and succeeded over a period of time, developing further with 5 more branches to its profile. Having over six branches, Mr. Riaz Hassan Sabir enjoys reaping a good profit and delivers excellent services with good quality of food equally over all branches even though the branches are decentralized. Employees come from the same Asian background that has enough idea about Indian cuisine. The business comprises of over 60 employees in all the branches with seating capacity of 170 in Croydon branch, 320 in Ilford, 130 in Tooting, 160 in Norbury, 140 in Southall and 120 in East Croydon.

Branches

Norbury Restaurant

1416 London Road, Norbury

London SW16 4BZ

Tel: 0208 679 1828, 0200 765 1070

Email: norbury@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

Tooting Restaurant

213 Upper Tooting Road

London SW17 7TG

Tel: 0208 672 7500, 0208 767 8638

Email: tooting@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

Southall Restaurant

171-173 The Broadway

Southall, Middlesex UB1 1LX

Tel: 0208 867 9222

Email: southall@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

East London Restaurant

111-113 Commercial Road

London E1 1RD

Tel: 0207 377 0155

Email: eastlondon@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

Croydon Restaurant

40-42 Southend Road

Croydon CR0 1DP

Tel: 0208 680 3322, 0208-6809898

Email: croydon@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

Ilford Restaurant

7-13 Goodmayes Road, Goodmayes

Ilford, IG3 9UH

Email: ilford@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify internal factors such as strengths, weakness of a business and external factors such as opportunities and threats which should be addressed on the right time in order to be successful over a period of time. SWOT analysis of Mirch Masala Restaurant is identified and specified as follows.

Strengths

The exterior and interior of the restaurant is clean and tidy

The quality and service of the restaurant has created a good brand image over a period of time

Gaining of awards covers more customers and provides confidence to the business

The restaurant has take away options and also provide outdoor catering service

They provide buffet services which creates attention in the minds of the customer, a chance for more people to get the taste

Customers of Mirch masala enjoy the bring-your-own liquor policy without any extra cost

Dishes are freshly prepared on the premises and the quality is good

Higher level of transparency makes the customers feel comfortable about the food they order and about the service they get

The restaurant is Halal Meat certified, which covers religious aspects as well

Having a own meat shop reduces the expense of purchasing meat which are Halal

Free home delivery up to 2 Mile radius for orders over £15.00

Weaknesses

Dishes not being highly priced is a disadvantage, as the quality provided deserves to be priced a bit higher compared to other restaurants

Employees from Asian background may affect the kind of service the native people of UK expect

Not enough advertisement of the restaurant is given as Marketing plays a vital role

The restaurant does not have kebab dishes as people expect a restaurant like this to have kebab dishes since the quality they provide is good and up to the standards

Opportunities

Expand their business by opening new branches outside London and also in Central London

Include kebabs and grill dishes in the menu to attract more customers

Main competitors are running slow due to recession, this is a good time to develop with good marketing

Threats

The competitors are lowering their prices as succeed over Mirch Masala as they offer dishes with low price

Recession has affected their business enormously as the business is running slow due to this reason

New competitors are opening up businesses in their region which affects business

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is another important tool in management planning process. In order to succeed in a business, one must keenly watch his competitors. Competitor analysis has several important roles in management planning. To help management understand their competitive advantages and disadvantages, generate understanding of competitors past, present, and future strategies and develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in future.

Mirch masala as a restaurant serving authentic Indian food has many competitors in market as there is a huge pool of Asian population available in the area. The main strategy of Mirch masala is to run business where there is an availability of Asian population, but they need to change their way of thinking and apply some new strategies as competitors are spreading everywhere across. Mirch masala have less competition in the areas where they have established. When they expand their business they need to address geographic issues. Their main competitors are Lahore Kebab, Masala World and other local restaurants.

Masala Zone – Masala World Group

A quick glance at the business

Masala zone restaurants display the passion to give real Indian cuisines, friendly service, good value and strong design. The creators are Ranjit Mathrani, his wife Namita Panjabi, and Camellia Panjabi – Namita’s sister, after success with the acclaimed Indian restaurants – Chutney Mary and Veeraswamy. They are ground-breaking, casually stylish and fun Indian restaurants. They combine contemporary design with Indian popular art.

The first masala zone restaurant – in Soho – opened in 2001 and rapidly became one of the most popular Indian restaurants in the UK. The food has the traditional Indian emphasis on healthy eating, balanced meals, fresh food and exciting dashes of spice

Strengths:

Quick and friendly customer service

Clean and tidy environment

Exotic Indian ambience in different branches to enlighten customers with the traditional Indian art

Quality food, good service and value for money

A bit highly priced, targeting niche market

Specialties from many diverse regional cuisines of India

Chefs are recruited directly from different regions of India, saving cost of training and who are best in their field creating their own specialties

Different techniques of cooking to get that unique taste according to the dish

Weaknesses:

Different branches with different kind of environment may put customers in dilemma about their expectations of the restaurants environment

Lower line of transparency

Absent of Buffet service

Different branches under different name

Target Customers:

Masala Zone is with no doubt providing exquisite and traditional Indian food focusing mainly to spread its essence to every person in London. This particular restaurant is for all who envy Indian food. Customer base is not filtered, as they concentrate much on the quality, taste of the food and service which is their core strength.

Geographic spread:

Having branches in Bayswater, Camden town, Covent Garden, Earl’s court, Fulham, Islington and Soho, their motive is to keep show cast their restaurant according to different locations. They are not widely spread as they have a established their business in London.

Lahore Kebab

A quick glance at the business

Lahore Kebab House is one of the very few restaurants in London which offer real authentic Pakistani cuisine. The sensational aroma of our sultry meals is guaranteed to entice your taste buds. Our visibly open kitchen allows you to witness the high standards of hygiene and quality that we are committed on maintain. The spacious premises of the Lahore Kebab house provided a relaxed environment for you to comfortably enjoy our food. With a history of serving excellence for over 40 years, the Lahore Kebab House can confidently claim to be one of the best Asian restaurants in London. The level of spices can be maintained according to the desire of our customers upon request.

Strengths:

Strong brand image over a period of time attracts more customers

Providing hygienic and good quality food

Higher line of transparency

Highly priced

Weaknesses:

Not in attractive place

Unavailability of drinks such as Wines and beers

Lack of promotional activities

No proper marketing strategy is used, as in poor website is maintained

Marketing Strategies

Every marketing strategy is unique, but if we abstract from the individualizing details, each can be reduced into a generic marketing strategy. There are a number of ways of categorizing these generic strategies. But when comparing Mirch Masala with its competitors we suggest the following strategies on a timely basis to cover the market and become more successful.

Growth strategies:

Product development

The restaurant needs to include various dishes like kebabs and other Indian varieties, so they can cover the existing market and build their own brand in order to defend themselves from new entrants. The restaurants can start selling drinks and spirits on their own premises as to increase profit and lessen the burden of customers to bring their own liquor.

Market penetration

Mirch masala needs to penetrate the existing market by implementing promotional activities such as advertising, door to door distribution of leaflets.

Market development

The business is despite of being successful, still faces a fierce competition with its local players. The restaurant needs to open up new branches in other areas of London and few branches in Central London as they are financially strong.

Market differentiation

After development of their market, Mirch Masala needs to target on Niche market by increasing the price a bit higher as Masala Zone. The reason behind this is the quality and taste of the food they provide, which needs to be addressed strongly. People tend to think that the cheaper the price the worse the quality.

Gant Chart

Figure 1: Illustration of Time bound recommended strategies for Mirch Masala

Recommendation

Despite of being successful in the market, Mirch Masala needs to implement the recommended strategies in order to enter new markets with product development and making it target the niche market. To increase the customer base, build a stronger brand image and be successful.

References