Question 5: One night after the restaurant had closed, Frank Rainsford sat down

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Question 5: One night after the restaurant had closed, Frank Rainsford sat down with his son, Robert. Frank had finished reading his son’s business plan for a third time. Robert sensed that his father had some sort of reservations. “What’s the matter, Dad? Didn’t you like the plan?” Frank paused and said, “Bobby, from a technical standpoint I think you have done a very, very credible job, but you are right. I do have some concerns.” Disappointed, Robert asked his father to lay out his concerns. Frank told him that opening another restaurant was a huge and expensive undertaking. He knew that Robert understood the financial risks, but he was not sure that his son understood the problems associated with getting people to come to a new restaurant. Frank was straightforward and told his son, “I have been at this for thirty-plus years. It took me years to build up my client base. I really know my customers and what they like. Up until this year the only marketing I did was flyers and a few ads in the local paper and the church bulletin. How are we going to understand our customers at the new location? We are going to have to fill it up quickly if we are to pay the bills. I know I’ve had some good success with selling the sauces during the last few years, but remember that I’m selling them from Harry’s grocery store. His customers already know me and my product. Your plans for ramping up sauce sales are great, but again, how are we going to get people to know who we are and interested enough to by a six dollar bottle of barbecue sauce?” Frank went on to tell his son that he knew that Robert was extremely knowledgeable about marketing and the use of the Internet. He reminded Robert that he had given him a greatly enlarged marketing budget in 2010. If you were Robert, how would you go about alleviating your father’s concerns? (You may want to consult Chapter 16 "Appendix: A Sample Business Plan" and review Robert’s business plan for a new restaurant.) Answer the question from a marketing perspective.

Explanation / Answer

To invest in one company is good to invest in multiple companies. As we know that a person has a limited time period throughout his life. So he must utilize his time to the optimum. Frank has devoted half of his life in establishing his own restaurant. He has 30+years of experience in this field. He knows his customers better. Opening a new restaurant means new market research, new investment which costs a lot and also there is high risk of financial loss.

If I were Robert, instead of thinking of a new restaurant i will go with my father's one. I will not like to waste my time in advertising and market research. Rather i will put my skills in my father's business to give it a new look and feel as per the market trend. I will study our existing customers well & will take initiatives to expand our business from the same restaurant. It's common that customers' taste change as per the new inventions in the market. So with my father, i will take initiatives to continuously update our business to retain our old customers and also attract new customers. In addition to our existing products i will try to add some new products which will add more revenues to our fund giving a new perpective to our business. I will conduct a research of our competitors' product and price in order to label our product the best. Finally, a business will be successful if it is done in collaboration with family members. I will utilize my marketing skills level best to make my father's restaurant a successful business, after all my father's support will always be there to make me successful in my career. In this way, i can lessen my father's concern.

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