1.

PROBLEM DEFINITION
a. PROBLEM STATEMENT In IM T new canteen project, the marketing research problem is to understand the expectations of students of IM T from new canteen, vis--vis existing canteens in the campus, with respect to the factors that influence the food preference. Specifically, research should provide information on the following questions.

a) What criteria do students use while selecting canteen? b) How will students evaluate upcoming new canteen and existing canteens in terms of choice criteria identified in question a? c) Which canteen is preferred for specific food type? d) What is the preference pattern of students for the new canteen? e) Whether the preferences change with the gender?

2. APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM

2.1 VERBAL MODEL A student first becomes aware of the food outlets then he evaluates the food in terms of the factors comprising the choice criteria. Based on the evaluation, the student forms a degree of preference for the canteen.

2.2 GRAPHICAL MODEL

Awareness Evaluation Preference

3. RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1 TYPE OF RESEARCH DESIGN We have used a Descriptive Research formulation involving a quantitative survey with the primary purpose of understanding the preferences. Descriptive methodology of design comprises of 2 methods of surveying design 1) Cross-sectional design (Single or multiple) Collection of data from a given sample of population elements only once 2) Longitudinal design Collection of data from a fixed sample of population elements measuredly repeatedly A single cross-sectional design was formulated with the aid of a questionnaire survey which ensured data collection from the given sample of a population. We preferred cross-sectional design as we were just interested in knowing about their preferences at the current moment and were not bothered in traversing the changing consumer behavioural patterns over time. a. INFORMATION REQUIRED

Component 1 This component involves the criteria the students use to select a canteen. We identified the following factors as part of the choice criteria: taste, variety, hygiene, nutrition value, accessibility and affordability. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of each of the factor as it influences their canteen selection.

Component2 This component is concerned with comparison. We identified five food outlets in the campus for comparison of attributes influencing preference.

Component3

Specific food types are the focus of the component. We asked respondents to rate the food types on the scale of 1 to 5. The five different food types are Chinese, North Indian, South Indian, fast food and juice.

Component 4 No additional information needs to be obtained from the respondents.

Component 5 We noted gender and age group while taking the survey.

4. SURVEY AND QUESTIONNAIRE

We have used itemized rating scale in order to measure the satisfaction level of students of that attribute which students emphasize on before deciding on a canteen. This technique helped in elucidating precisely what it is that consumers look for in a canteen. In an itemized rating scale the respondents are provided with the scale that has a number or brief description associated with each category. The categories are ordered in terms of scale position, and the respondents are required to select the specified categories that best describe the object being rated. Among itemized rating scales we have chose the Likert scale which indicates degree of agreement or disagreement with each of the series of statements about the stimulus objects. Typically each scale item has five response categories ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. We have used structured questions for our project. Structured questions specify the set of response alternatives and the response format. A questionnaire was administered to 60 survey respondents. The target respondents were students of IMT. The questionnaire is available in the Appendix section.

4.1 QUESTIONNAIRE PRE-TESTING We executed a questionnaire pre-testing round involving 10 IMT students to verify the lucidity of the questions and the ease with which respondents could answer. After this initial pre-testing round of data collection, only on receiving sufficient feedback and being satisfied with it, we decided to take it to the data collection phase. The feedback and response received made us frame a few more questions for the better understanding. After modification, we decided to implement the survey among the IMT students. 4.2 DATA COLLECTION Data collection was carried out through asking the students to respond to the questionnaire. We divided the samples on the basis of hostels (Opal D and Beryl) and apportioned the work between each of us. We collected the data personally from each of the respondents to assist the respondent. 4.3 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE We used convenience sampling. Convenience sampling attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements. The selection of sampling units is left primarily to the interviewer. Often, respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right place at the right time. For example in case of our project we chose a sample of first year PGP students of IMT, as the canteen is to be opened in IMT and the second year students are soon to pass out from college. Convenience sampling is the least expensive and least time-consuming of all sampling techniques. The sampling units are accessible, easy to measure and co-operative. As our survey is not a very large one, we chose to use convenience sampling.

5. DATA ANALYSIS
The survey had data that described the behavior of students with respect to the canteen, their food preferences, time of visit, expenditure, favorite canteen and so on. The initial observation gave us the following data: The students preferred Bakery and Juice Shop (33%) over the other canteens in the campus.

Preferred Canteen
23% 32% Bakery & Juice Buhari 17% 25% 3% Meenakshi Snacky Vasantham

1. The general time of visiting the canteens is during the period from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Time of Visiting the Canteen

12% 18%

12pm-4pm 4pm-8pm 8pm-12am 70%

2. Most of the respondents were not satisfied with the previous canteen as per the rating given by them. More than half of them were not satisfied with the previous canteen at IIM.

Rating of Previous IIM Canteen

8% 34% Good Bad 58% Avg

3. The general notion is that the response time (time to wait for the food) should be low, but the response showed that the students are ready to wait. This could be because they generally visit the canteen, in groups and spend the time chatting.

Response Time Preference

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Low High Response Time Preference

5. Majority of the students prefer canteen over mess (62 %).

Preference for Canteen

38% Canteen 62% Mess

6. OBSERVATION METHODS
6.1 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW OF EXPERT An in-depth interview was conducted with the Karthik Malaiappan, who operated the canteen previously inside the campus. This gave a detailed idea on the difficulties in operations, constraints and bottlenecks. It also gave suggestions to consider when a new canteen is planned in IIM. Initial Ideas: The idea of a canteen occurred due to the canteen which was previously operating exclusively to IIM students. The previous canteen was catering items such as tea/coffee, biscuits, chips and other snacks The initial plans were made after having a research with the fellow mates of IIM what they expect the canteen to serve and also by getting the views and suggestions from the previous canteen owner The pricing strategy was after the consideration of the pricing by the previous canteen Bakery and juice was considered to be the only competitor. As the customers of the other canteens were not prime customers for the night canteen and the other canteens were

looked to be in different sector having different target customers, they were not competitors for the night canteen The primary focus for the day canteen at college were first year students while at the night canteen at hostel, all students were targeted No idea of expansion and the idea was to play safe

Initial Steps: The first step was to get permission from college authorities, which was little tricky and the college authorities were convinced to get the basic infra facilities The cook to run the canteen was found after a search and with the help of the previous canteen owner. The cook could not make the chat items and north indian food items. The wholesaler who was supplying the NIT campus was contacted to provide the packed items like snacks and cool drinks Refrigerator and induction cooker was purchased A room for the cook to stay and a room for the inventories to store were arranged in hostel with the permission from the college authority Operations: The revenue obtained on a average daily basis were around 2-3 thousand The profit margin was quite low for packed food stuffs like biscuits, cool drinks and snacks and it was high for cooked items like maggie, sandwiches, egg dishes and tea/coffee The wage for the cook was 400 per day, 200 for the one at canteen and 200 for the one at college The operations at night canteen were dependent on the food served at the mess. If the food at mess was too bad, the operations were low as the people preferred to have complete meal in other canteens. The operations were at maximum when the food was average at the mess. So, the use of mess influenced the use of night canteen The operations at the college canteen were dependent on the class timings. When there were two classes in the morning, students had time constraints to visit the bakery and other canteens. While if there were intervals more than 30 mins in between the classes, students preferred to visit other canteens and bakery to the college canteen

The time of operations were during the break of 10 am to 10:15am and then from 11:45am to 12noon.The food items were prepared for 10-15 people along with the packed food items. Then at the Beryl hostel the canteen was operated from around 6pm to 2 am and there the food was cooked as per the need and in prior.

The peak hours at the college canteen were at the breaks, while at the night canteen the peak hours were 7:30pm - 9:30pm dependent of how students like the mess food that day and at midnight from 12am - 2 pm irrespective of the mess food

The food items were procured on a weekly basis. Perishables were stored in refrigerators while the non-perishables were stored in the inventory room Based on the students reluctance to carry money and also to keep better track of the cash flows, the credit system was introduced The sales almost doubled after the credit system was introduced in practice. As there was no other canteens providing credit facility, it was a differentiating factor over the other canteens

After the credit system was cancelled to overcome poor cash flow, the sales went down

Constraints and Bottlenecks: Finding the cook for the requirement was difficult. As the night canteen required the cook to stay still 2am from 6pm, a place to stay inside the campus was needed and also for which more money was demanded. And also finding a south indian cook was easier but the money demanded by south indian cook was more. While a north indian cook could be employed only in groups of atleast 2-3 which was not feasible An affordable local cook was found who was not an expert but who demanded less money. The cook was not that customer friendly and approachable, but it was expected that the people would keep visiting the canteen irrespective of the character of the person as the canteen was more accessible for them than the rest of the canteens in the campus. The college day canteen targeted only the first year students as their class timings were perfectly feasible for the canteen operation timings. While the second year students had electives throughout the day and the strength of second year students present in college at a given time was so less comparatively and it was not feasible to run the canteen at college throughout the day

As the owner had other commitments he could not track all the operations of the canteen. The cook was the only person in the canteen and he is free to fake the sales. Credit system was introduced to overcome this problem.

The cash flow was so poor after the credit system introduced. Enough cash flow was not available to run the business The canteen was closed as there were a number of reasons like infra constraints and the limited scope within the IIM students, which hampered the expansion plans to make the canteen available to NIT students as well. Another reason was the constant policy changes by the college authorities. The support they gave initially was tremendous and it reduced drastically in due course of time. There were other issues like the profitability never improved with the limited scope in place and my attempts in finding a better staff was in vain. The stagnant cash flow also had its say in the shut down

Suggestion for New Canteen: For a student to run the canteen, it will be tough for him/her to make it profitable, with limited funds and inability to overlook the proceedings at the canteen. If it is a third party vendor, then the funds and the managing part wont be an issue at all. In addition to the other constraints, the limited scope of IIM student community will always be a constraint which has to be dealt with. 6.2 LOST CUSTOMER INTERVIEW Introduction This is a research method used to determine the reasons an individual customer or a class of customers has withdrawn its business, whether by switching to a competing firm or by ceasing to use a given product or service entirely. Such analysis usually includes surveys of the lost customers or interview with a lost customer, and is used to improve performance by identifying and neutralizing sources of potential or actual customer dissatisfaction. Report A customer was selected at random from the sample and asked few questions. Based on his/her response to the question "Were you satisfied with the canteen? the lost customer was found. He

was asked a set of questions on his expectations on canteen and experience in canteen and also what he would we be expecting from a new canteen that is to be started. The insights obtained from the lost customer interview are as follows. Initial Perception The canteen started, amidst all constraints by a second year student was felt as a good initiative. The option of canteen at the doorstep provided excitement. Expectations The response time was felt important to overcome the 2-3 hrs wasted to visit the other canteens in the nights. Varieties were not expected to be wide, but the quality of food available was anticipated to be good. The very necessity at the canteen was to have some filler apart from meal items in between at breaks. So it was looked for availability of snacks, cool drinks and puffs, sandwiches etc., primarily bakery items. Accessibility was important, be at the hostel or in the college Waiting time at night is critical factor and preference for a quick response time is important Credit payment system in practice The expectations were after considering the infra structure constraints, the limitations and restrictions imposed and less support provided by college administration Comparison with alternate options The existing canteens were viewed as impractical to visit in day in between the classes during breaks due to the time constraint and at late evenings and nights due to the distance, crowd and waiting time. The product items were different in this canteen when compared to other canteens, and items like Maggie was not served at other places. The customer who targeted for such items can find it easily in this canteen rather than the other canteens.

In specific at nights the usual items in demand or required are coffee/tea, packed food items like biscuits, chips and Maggie are not available in the only other night servicing canteen 'Meenakshi'.

The use of kettle personally to make coffee and the home delivery facility available at one of the canteen within campus and a outside restaurant. At day time, in between class at internal breaks there was no other alternate options The credit service system was available for some period in the night canteen and no other canteen provided such services.

Experience Canteen primarily provided packed food products like biscuits, chocolates and other similar snacks, Maggie noodles, sandwich, egg dishes, tea and coffee. The regular purchase items were coffee, Maggie and some snacks like Lays. The frequency of visits were around 3-4 times during day and almost daily at late evenings and at nights Initial few days, out of excitement the satisfaction was more despite normal quality items prepared. Later over the days passed the quality was felt to be below standard and the visit to canteen almost stopped then. The important reasons behind the dissatisfaction are poor quality of cooked food(taste of tea/coffee and maggie), lack of food variety and no consistency of operations. The shops were closed at some days with no prior notification making it unreliable. After dissatisfaction the use of kettle for coffee and use of home delivery system of the other canteen stopped the customer to visit back the canteen. The customer friendly service was absent at the hostel night canteen. The customer felt that he was not important for the canteen. While at the college, the scenario was better. The customer service was better and the customer was made to be felt important to the canteen. The owner/proprietor was seen rarely at the hostel canteen and never at the college canteen.

The owner initially collected feedback on the services and tried to cater the needs. The credit system was well received and it was very useful, but it was existing for a short period and the normal cash system was brought back to practice. The reason for closure of the canteen was guessed to be the lack of healthy cash flow, infrastructure constraints and time constraint for the owner to maintain the business.

Expectation towards a new canteen Food quality is crucial and it is the most expected factor. The availability of some other easily cooked items like burger, dosas, chat items and samosa would be well received Variety is not so important, but if it is also provided it would be much appreciated Infrastructural ambience is not expected. The service should be customer friendly and availability of credit system would be better.

6.3 MYSTERY SHOPPING Introduction This form of research is unique to the services sector. Here the research organisations send people to the service establishments and experience the services as if they were the real customers. They deliver the objective assessments about the service performance by completing questionnaires with respect to the services standards or have open ended questions that give a qualitative feel. It gives a measure of the quality of service or compliance to regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services. The identity of mystery consumer is generally not known by the establishment being evaluated. Mystery shoppers perform specific tasks such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way, and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences. Shoppers are often given instructions or procedures to make the transaction atypical to make the test of the knowledge and service skills of the employees more stringent or specific to a particular service issue. While gathering information, shoppers usually blend in to the store being evaluated as regular shoppers. They may sometimes be required to take photographs or measurements, return

purchases, or count the number of products, seats and people during the visit. After the visit the shopper submits the data collected to the mystery shopping company, which reviews and analyzes the information, completing quantitative or qualitative analysis reports on the data for the client company. This allows for a comparison on how the stores or restaurants are doing against previously defined criteria. Report We did mystery shopping at the competitor food joints like Bakery and Juice Shop, Vasantham Canteen, as well as Meenakshi Canteen. The Bakery and Juice Shop was the nearest competitor when it comes to the College Canteen during the forenoon session, and Meenakshi Canteen for the night canteen at Beryl hostel. This was concluded based on the number of students who preferred the above mentioned canteens. The observations which we came across have been summarized below for both the food outlets separately.
BAKERY AND JUICE SHOP

Time of visit: 11:30 am Duration: 45 minutes 1. The students from IIM who visited the Bakery and Juice shop were quite high in the forenoon session of class hours we met approximately 32 students in this time period 2. These customers were mostly coming n groups of 4-5 members 3. The food ordered were: a. Various fresh fruit juices like papaya, musambi, lemon, carrot and grapes b. Cool drinks like Thumbs Up, Coke and Dew c. Puffs veg, egg and chicken d. Cakes, buns and other ready to eat bakery items e. Packed foods like chocolates, lays, biscuits etc f. Customers were taking parcels for consuming at hostel or in campus 4. The prices of bakery items varied from Rs 5 (Veg Puff) to Rs 15 (Chocolate Pastry) 5. Food items like Maggie, sandwich and tea/coffee were not available 6. The spending were ranging from Rs 10 to as high as Rs 220

Conclusion The Bakery and Juice Shop is a direct competitor for the IIM Canteen. The food items available were mostly ready to eat ones, which are similar to the food available at IIM Canteen (except for the non availability of Maggie and sandwich). The sales were concentrated on various varieties of puffs and fresh juices. If various juices and puffs are provided at the new IIM Canteen at a competitive price, it would ensure a great business and there by the profitability. VASANTHAM CANTEEN Time of Visit: 11:30 am Duration: 45 minutes 1. Just 4 students from IIM visited the canteen 2. These customers came at around 12 noon and were having an early lunch 3. The food offered are: a. South Indian meals, fried rice, chapathi and other meal items b. Egg dishes were available c. Cool drinks like Coke, Fanta etc d. Vada, chaats etc 4. The prices varied from Rs 5 to Rs 50, as the food items were concentrated on meals 5. Food items like Maggie and sandwich were not available 6. The spending ranged from Rs 20 to Rs 100 Conclusion Vasantham Canteen is not a competitor for the IIM Canteen, as the food items available there were different from the ones available at college. The sales were concentrated on the meals item which was not the area of concentration for IIM Canteen. Hence the canteen need not be modeled based on the customer behavior at Vasantham. MEENAKSHI CANTEEN Time of Visit: 12:30 am Duration: 45 minutes

1. 14 students visited the canteen 2. The customers came in large groups of 6-7 people and were having a late dinner 3. The food offered are: a. Variety of meals and tandoori items b. Cool drinks like Coke, Fanta, Thumbs Up etc c. Variety of egg dishes were available 4. Parcel system was in place as well as the counter was getting order via phone 5. Customers were having take aways as well 6. Food items like Maggie and sandwich were not available 7. Spending ranged from Rs 30 to Rs 320 Conclusion Meenakshi canteen is a competitor for the IIM Canteen as the foot falls of the sudents were high. The customers were ordering meals for a late night dinner, but the food items were totally different from the ones offered by the IIM Canteen. Ones the IIM Canteen is functional, this is bound to reduce drastically as the students wont prefer to go out of hostel late night and lose valuable time. MEENAKSHI CANTEEN Time of Visit: 12:30 am Duration: 45 minutes 8. 14 students visited the canteen 9. The customers came in large groups of 6-7 people and were having a late dinner 10. The food offered are: d. Variety of meals and tandoori items e. Cool drinks like Coke, Fanta, Thumbs Up etc f. Variety of egg dishes were available 11. Parcel system was in place as well as the counter was getting order via phone 12. Customers were having take aways as well 13. Food items like Maggie and sandwich were not available 14. Spending ranged from Rs 30 to Rs 320

6.4 FUTURE EXPECTATIONS RESEARCH Introduction Customer expectations are dynamic and can change very rapidly in markets that are highly competitive and volatile. As competition increases, as taste changes, and as consumers become more and more knowledgeable, the companies must continue to update themselves with such information and new strategies. In dynamic market situations, companies want to understand not just current customer expectations but also the future expectations the services feature desired in the future. Future expectations research includes features research where in we do environmental scanning and querying of customers about desirable features of possible services. Report Using our survey, we did an opinion check to know about the preferences of customers when it comes to their expectations with respect to their favourite canteen in NIT Campus and also their preferences if a new canteen is opened for the IIM. There were several parameters which were to be prioritised by the respondents based on their preferences. These factors were: 1. Affordability 2. Accessibility 3. Taste 4. Variety 5. Response Time For the already existing preferred choice of canteen, the respondents made their choice mainly based on the affordability and also the taste. The details are given in the chart below:

Expectations - Favourite canteen

25 20 15 10 5 0 Expectations Favourite canteen

Expectations - Favourite canteen

8% 10% 33% Affordability Accessibility Taste 32% 17% Variety Response Time

When it comes to the new IIM canteen preferences, a little more than half of the total respondents (fifty two percent) preferred taste as the main factor for the new IIM canteen. The details are given in the charts below:

Customer Expectation - New Canteen

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Tracking of Customer Perception

New Canteen Preferences

7% 13% 13% 15% Affordability Accessibility Taste Variety Response Time 52%

7. REFERENCES
1. Marketing Research An Applied Orientation by Naresh K Malhotra & Satyabhushan Dash 2. Services Marketing - Dwayne Gremler, Mary Jo Bitner, Valarie A.Zeithaml 3. Doing Naturalistic Inquiry A Guide to methods by David A Erlandson 4. www.surveymethods.com 5. www.dmconcepts.com