The assignment is a analysis of an organisation how they can gain the competitive edge over the competitors . There is a brief introduction of the organisation then using the SWOT analysis the direct comparison is done, as a outcome the areas of improvement are highlighted and then using benchmarking as a toll for improving the areas of weakness.
The concept – Gordon Ramsey plane food
The Gordon Ramsey holdings restaurant plane food is with an ambition to provide quality cuisine to a diverse community of travellers at Heathrow Terminal 5
Plane food is one of the Gordon’s 10th restaurants in Gordon Ramsey’s holdings in London . Restaurant is design keeping in mind the mordent air travellers for a clam and peaceful atmosphere to dine in. The restaurant has capacity of 180 cover which includes 13 covers at the bar top which provides a view to a live kitchen.
The restaurant opens at 5. 30am and close at 9. 30pm serving all three meals of the day. The signature dish by the chefs is the unique selling point. The average spending per cover is £18for two courses with a glass of wine . The average spending are not too high or too low since the menu prices are kept competitive.
The restaurant has cuisine from international to full English food. The menu is planed keeping in mind the fast turnover of guest. The service of the restaurant is efficient but not hurried . There is a choice for every one for someone who has 15 minutes can be sever pasta in 3 minutes or a quick salad or a antipasti and if you have time to kill go for a stack or a cod, there is a wide range of meat from game to lamb, beef or fish. There is a wide range of cocktails to taste and good French and Italian wine to compliment with the food.
http://www. gordonramsay. com/planefood/
Brand leader
The restaurant is situated inside the airport so the clients are only the travellers at the airside. Gordon Ramsey’s plane food is the brand leader amongst the other restaurants in the airport. The competitor are wagamama, Huxley’s and Carlucci’s but wagamama is the main competitor which is next door.
Gordon Ramsey gains its competitive edge due to the certain prospects like the brand name which comes from a celebrity chef also the brand standards maintained with food and service, and the value for money to the clients. The signature dish from the chef acts has a unique selling point for the restaurant all these aspects helps it to gain the competitive edge over other restaurants like wagamama and Huxley’s
To maintain the competitive edge Gordon Ramey focuses on the SOP (standard operating procedure) which helps in retaining the consistent quality performance. The restaurant has a distinctive feature like take away in a box called has a picnic bag which also attracts guest this bag also acts has a promotion.
Skilled staff with efficient menu knowledge and good customer care skills ensures the maintenance of the competitive edge over their competitors. The competitors are restaurant like wagamama who competes for being the brand leader
John Radford (2009) Yes chef magazine issue 9 spring 2009 pp 57-58
Swot analysis:
Swot analysis is a tool to measure the overall strategic and current position of a business and its environment.
SWOT is an abbreviation for strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats
Swot can be applied to a functioning of a restaurant to measure the efficiency and to find out the areas of improvement to gain or to maintain the leader ship in its sector
Thus using the swot analysis the competitiveness of the Gordon Ramsey plane food and wagamama both theses restaurants’ are situated inside the airport.
Food and beverage management by Bernard Davis, Andrew Lockwood, Sally Stone Contributor Andrew Lockwood, Sally Stone
Edition: 3, Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998 pp62-63
Swot analysis
I
N
T
E
R
N
A
L
Strengths
# Leading brand
# Product quality
# Unique selling point
# Skilled staff
# Customer loyalty
# Management
Weakness
# Location
# Costing
# Marketing
# Word of mouth
# Low staffing
E
X
T
E
R
N
A
L
Opportunities
# Increasing product range
# Competitive prices
# Change in government policies
# Efficiently update with the trends
Threats
# Competitive atmosphere
# Economic changes
# Lack of capital
#Change in customer changes
Considering the swot analysis done a comparison to both the
Organisations can be done and has a result their strengths and weakness for the internal environment and the opportunities and threats could be found out.
Strengths:-strengths are the positive aspects of a organisation which contribute to their success
Comparison of strengths of Gordon Ramsey and wagamama
Strengths of Gordon’s plane food
Strengths for wagamama’s
#Brand name
Gordon ramsey is a bigger brand name coming from a celebrity chef which act has positive point for them
# Brand name
Wagamama is a smaller brand has compared to Gordon Ramsey so it is not a strength for them
# product quality
Gordon Ramsey is known for its high quality of food and natural and healthy recipes
# product quality
Wagamama is also known for its good quality food but cannot be compared with the dish’s of Gordon Ramsey
# unique selling point
The signature dish’s form the acts has a unique selling point for Gordon’s plane food
# unique selling point
Wagamamas don’t have a specific selling point which would attract the customers
# Skilled staff
The staff is selected from good hospitality back ground has providing a professional an efficient service
# Skilled staff
Not all the staff have a hospitality base has the patern service is casual
Weakness: weakness are consider has a negative areas of the organisation which needs to be improvised
Comparison of strengths of Gordon Ramsey and wagamama
#weakness of Gordons plane food
#weakness for wagamama
#Location
The restaurant is place at one corner of the airport so some people tent to find hard to find
#Location
they are place in the centre of the air port so it’s not much of a negative point for them
#Costing
The menu price a slightly higher has compare to wagamama which deflects some of the customers
# Costing
the menu price is lower compare to Gordon which attract some more customer considering the period of rescission
# word of mouth
Being a celebrity chefs restaurant the negative word of mouth affects more then the positive and affect the customers point of view
# word of mouth
It does not affect on that large scale has compared to Gordon
Opportunities: it can be a opportunity to excel in their filled of expertise where a organisation can prosper using these opportunities in the market
Opportunities for Gordon Ramsey
Opportunities for wagamama
#Increasing product range
Increasing the range of choices in the menu provide a set menu at a competitive prices
#Increasing product range
Wagamama on other hand can also increase on their variety by providing innovate their cuisine
# competitive prices
To cope up with the rescission period one has to be competitive with the price to give value for money services
# competitive prices
Even though they are competitive with price if they prices they can be even more innovative with their price
Threats: threats are the external environment factors that affects the growth of your organisation
Threats for Gordon ramsey
Threats for wagamama
# Competitive atmosphere
The threat of losing the leader ship in this competitive atmosphere
# Competitive atmosphere
To become the brand leader and competed with Gordon ramsey
Based on the swot analysis and their comparison following can be the areas for improvement
These areas need to improvement are
1] Costing
2] Word of mouth
3] Marketing
4] Update with current trends
5] Staffing
All these weakness acts has strength for the competitor
Benchmarking can be use has management toll to recommend overcoming their weakness
‘ Benchmarking is a point for reference where you want to be and measure by questions about the product or services as a result one can set new goals and adapt the best practices for organisation’
Improving through benchmarking Richard y. Chang
P. keith Kelly chapter 2 page 5
Benchmarking has certain step involved such as
Identify what has to be benchmark, to determine what is to measure collect data any analysis the gaps then set the plane of action
http://tutor2u. net/business/strategy/benchmarking. htm
costing: One of the areas of improvement can be costing it has to be competitive to gain that edge over the competitors and to retain the brand leader ship
Eg:- Getting a set menu at a reasonable price , using the 99p philosophy , promoting dishes has special at different price form one in the menu, introducing a recession special menu.
Marketing can always be an area for improvement for any organisation better you promote and market your products
Eg: Using the brand name for promotion the restaurant, start a venture with a bank’s to promote trough discount if you use particular credit card
Word of mouth : A positive word of mouth can be a get tool to promote an organisation but a negative word of mouth in media can act against a organisation getting so a good word of mouth trough the media and the suppliers
Eg : the recent article on Gordon Ramsey that it uses readymade meals has created a negative word of mouth
http://www. news. com. au/entertainment/story/0, 28383, 25354152-5013560, 00. html
Updating with the current trends: To retain the competitive edge the organisation has to be updated with the current market trend and use the technology acquire the current tread and plane the menu, service accordingly
Using a questionnaire and ask the customers to fill so has to getting comments that the organisation is keeping up with the current trends
Eg : Altering the menu according to the season and the healthy eating habits of the customer
After these areas are identified and benchmarked it has to be measure and monitored so that we can track the change need to be made
Thus using benchmarking one could address the areas of improvement
