BPMM1013 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

SECOND SEMESTER SESSION 2017/2018 (A172)

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Submitted to:
Dr. Jamal Mohammed Esmail Alekam
Prepared by:

Matric No. Name

1 252 980 Yong Kah Chun
2 253 368 Law Pei Yin
3 253 993 Gon Li Zhuen
4 254 189 Ng Jia Wei
5 254 223 Florencia Goh Ming Wey
6 254 543 Ng Whai Keen
7 254 587 Chiang Shun Long
8 254 945 Wee Poh Yee

1
2
3
TABLE OF CONTENT

A. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................5

B. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION............................................................................................7

C. PRICE STRATEGY.......................................................................................................12

D. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY......................................................................................14

E. PROMOTION STRATEGIES......................................................................................18

F. COMPETITORS ANALYSIS.......................................................................................21

G. PROBLEM AND SOLUTION......................................................................................23

H. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................25

REFERENCE.........................................................................................................................26

APPENDIX.............................................................................................................................29

4
A. INTRODUCTION

i. What

The Chicken Rice Shop Restaurants Sdn. Bhd. is a company incorporated in

Malaysia, which was established in June 2000. The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) is a
chicken rice fast-food restaurant and Halal family restaurant chain in Malaysia. It was
in some tough competition when it opened its first outlet in 2000 with chicken rice
being almost a national meal in Malaysia. 13 years later, the chain is still around and
growing, and enjoying the benefits of a brand that has become familiar with chicken
rice-crazy Malaysians.1

ii. Who

It was started by Wong Kah Lin and her mother Gaik Wong, a former executive at
KFC Malaysia. Gaik Wong decided that hainanese chicken rice was something that it
can be developed into a chain store to cater for all Malaysians.2

iii. Why

Wong Kah Lin had already planned to open chicken business like her mother. After
class she will be holding note pad like want to take down some order from her
lecturers and students. This is because she has the determination to continue her
mother’s spirit in doing chicken business after all.

iv. Where

The Chicken Rice Shop serves what it calls "grandmother's traditional Hainanese
secret recipe chicken rice" and local Malaysian dishes. With more than 80 outlets in
South East Asia, TCRS is currently the largest chicken rice restaurant chain in the
world.

v. When

With the successful growth of TCRS in domestic markets, they plan to spread the
culture of the Malaysian way of life into the Indonesia market in 2007, followed by
Australia, Singapore and other Asian countries. Their slogan is ‘Bukan Sekadar Nasi
Ayam’, that means ‘Not just Chicken Rice’ in Malay and "Chicken Rice and More" in
English.3

5
vi. How

The Chicken Rice Shop serves traditionally prepared steamed, roasted, honey
barbecued and soy sauce chicken as its signature products. These signature dishes are
served with fluffy chicken flavored rice cooked to perfection from a recipe passed
down through the generations, originating from Hainan Island. This fit to taste of
Malaysian that likes to eat chicken rice especially for those Hainanese.

The Chicken Rice Shop Research and Development team has continuously over the
years introduced innovative dishes to give customers a wide selection of delectable
local dishes and to ensure customer enjoy a memorable dining experience at The
Chicken Rice Shop every time. Innovative products for special festive occasions such
as Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas are also introduced
to celebrate the respective Malaysian festivities.1

vii. Whose

Gaik Wong said the company is still on the expansion trail even as the global
economics crisis persists, and she believes that the restaurant business is recession-
resilient, especially among food-loving Malaysians. They plan to set up more outlets
including expanding their business overseas in Singapore. On overseas expansions,
she says they have received enquiries from China, Thailand, Australia and the Middle
East but is not in a hurry to expand into new markets.4

6
B. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

i. Brand name
The Chicken Rice Shop

ii. Product Category

The Chicken Rice Shop" is a quick service restaurant that provides chicken rice to the
customer. To dine with The Chicken Rice Shop is to rediscover the wholesome taste
of Hainanese and Malaysian cuisines.1

iii. Core Benefit of the product

TCRS use only the most delicious, freshest and halal ingredients, and their restaurants
are the perfect venue for a hearty family meal.1

iv. When the product was launched

The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) launch their products in years 2000 as the chicken
fast-food restaurant that operated by TCRS Restaurant Sdn Bhd was established in the
same years.4

v. Warranty
TCRS take pride in being truly made in Malaysia with their chain of HALAL family
restaurants that serve guests throughout the region. 1

vi. Ingredients
TCRS serves traditionally prepared steamed, roasted, honey barbecued and soy sauce
chicken as its signature products. These signature dishes are served with fluffy
chicken flavoured rice cooked to perfection from a recipe passed down through the
generations, originating from Hainan Island. Yet, staying true to our promise of
'Chicken Rice...and More', TCRS’s menu also features more than 25 other local
favourites such as our Hainanese Curry Chicken, Special Penang Chai Boay (Spicy
Mixed Vegetables), Famous Stuffed Fish Balls and Penang Rojak just to mention a
few.1

7
vii. Size
TCRS have been prepared many types of cuisines and its provide regular size or large
size for customers to choose. TCRS also provide healthy meal, triple feast, family
meals and so on for families get together and dine out. Those size of meals is enough
for 2 until 5 people to dine in.4

viii. After sales service provided for the products

The Chicken Ricce Shop is a quick service restaurant that provide the customer a
comfortable environment to dine in as well as convenient take away services for those
on the go.1

ix. Research & Development

Their R&D team has continuously over the years introduced innovative dishes to give
our guests a wide selection of delectable local dishes and to ensure that they enjoy a
memorable dining experience at The Chicken Rice Shop every time. Innovative
products for special festive occasions such as Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year,
Deepavali and Christmas are also introduced to celebrate the respective Malaysian
festivities.1

8
SWOT

Strength Weakness
- concept - menu's are limited
- strategy location - limited space
- Good marketing - visibility
- efficient management - low Research& development
- product SWOT
Threats
Opporturnity - New infrastructure
- Growing Food industry - Strong competition
- Government collaboration - Increased price
- Peak season only during public& school
holiday

Strength

 Concept
Portray a concept of family dining that appeal to families to dine at TCRS. This
concept is much more profitable as it targets a larger group of individuals.5

 Strategy Location
Located in the big shopping outlets that contributes good traffic to TCRS as people
come to shopping mall to buy their groceries and essential needs.5

 Good Marketing
Established brand name due to good marketing. The marketing team of TCRS did a
good job over the year in branding their business. When people think of chicken rice,
they will definitely remember the TCRS.5

 Efficient Management
Employees are adequately trained. As informed by the assistant manager for Kelana
Jaya’s outlets, the staff are all-rounders. This means that staff are able to multitask
and able to complete their responsibilities efficiency and may even substitute other
staff when there is not enough manpower.5

9
  Products
The recipe is kept confidential, as the ingredient comes in the premix formulation.
This prevents the staff to leak the recipe to competitors.5

Weakness

 Menus are limited

Since the business are offering chicken-based products, it limits the menu items
variants. Therefore, food items that is made from other ingredients has no way to be
forwarded and introduced into the menu.5

 Visibility
The visibility of TCRS in some shopping mall is not really obvious as some
customers do not notice TCRS from the outside. Until they enter the building.5

 Low Research & development

No new product development. The products remain similar for the past few years.
Any seasonal promotion does not differ much from the usual.5

Opportunities

 Growing Food Industry

Growing Food Industry in Malaysia offers vast opportunities to TCRS to expand as a
business entity. It may provide more business opportunities, collaboration,
improvement in terms of product and even the procurements of materials.5

 Government Collaboration
Students with Kad Siswa 1 Malaysia are entitled for a discounted students meal set.
This will encourage more students to dine in TCRS. TCRS does not suffer any loss by
offering this discounted meal set. The discounted values will be reimbursed by the
government.5

10
Threats

 New Infrastructures
Since the opening of many new shopping mall, the choices of food and beverages
outlets also increase thus giving customers more options in dining out. This factor
affects the sales of TCRS in brand outlets.5

 Strong Competition
For a food services establishment that offers the products that is “chicken-based”.
TCRS have compete with other food and beverages services establishments that co-
exist in the same buildings. As customer’s option expands. TCRS are bound to lose
their market shares.5

 Offer Better Facilities

Currently, KFC is undergoing a renovation to better improve their outlets. There are
possibilities that TCRS may lose their market shares to KFC due to better
environment that KFC are going to offer.5

 Increased Price
The recent price hike affects the price of chickens. As the price of chickens increase,
TCRS must bear the loss as they cannot simply change the price in their menu as the
customers will notice it right away. They might not suffer big loss, but it will
definitely minimize their profits. 5

 Peak season only during public& school holiday

The sales only increase tremendously in the peak season which only happen during
the public and school holidays. These factors affect TCRS as the main concepts of
TCRS is family oriented and only during public and school holidays families get
together and dine out.5

11
C. PRICE STRATEGY

Price strategy refers to the method companies use to set an approach price for their
products or services to make a profit and fulfill the customer’s need and satisfaction.

i. Price Approach Used by The Company: Customer Value-Based Pricing

The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) company is a company that sell high quality
chicken to improve the society health level. They are very concern about the quality
of their products in order to fulfill their customers’ satisfactions. Therefore, TCRS
has chosen the Customer Value-Based Pricing as their main reference to design the
price strategy.4 Customer Value-Based Pricing use the perceptions of customers
value to set the price of the chicken rice. This concept has been processing by
assessing the customer needs and value perceptions of customer. The observation
shows that majority customer very concern about the quality of chicken rice. Thus,
The Chicken Rice Shop has use a higher price for the higher quality of chicken rice
to serve the customers. The customers will attract by the quality of a product not by
the pricing.

ii. Price Compare to Competitors

TCRS’s Chicken Rice has a higher price compare to the competitors around Alor
Setar6. This is because TCRS are using “More and More” strategy when to set the
price of their product. As people know, the chicken rice of TCRS is very delicious,
high quality, and health. This is the main reason why the TCRS have the guts to set
up and sell a higher price of chicken rice compare to the restaurants in same
industry. Therefore, this price strategy forces this company to sell the chicken rice
with the price that is higher than their competitors in Malaysia. Although the price is
high, TCRS still able to keep survive in the food industry until today. This is
because they had meet the customer satisfaction. The customer become more loyalty
or “true friend” of TCRS7. This kind of relationship has successful create and build
the “customer evangelists”. The customer will help TRCS to promote the chicken
rice. This will increase the TCRS’s brand value and profit in the future.

12
iii. Discount offer by TCRS

The business macroenvironment always change from time to time. The Chicken Rice
Shop try to maintain the customer loyalty by offering attractive discounts during
economics crisis. This is because economics crisis will affect the customers’ buying
powers. Some of them may be facing financial problems to purchase the original price of
The Chicken Rice Shop’s chicken rice. Therefore, a special price promotion: RM1.80 for
one ¼ of chicken set is provided to this kind of customers. 8 This is an amazing offer that
have made by TCRS. Thus, the amount of chicken rice sale is increase rapidly. The
increase of sale enables TCRS to cover all the costs in product the chicken rice. This
prove that this company had put the customers in the first place when they are running
their business. The Chicken Rice Shop decided to use this promotion to maintain the
customer equity and customer values that brings long term benefits to the company.
Promotion also plays a main role to at least maintain the profit of the company in the
worst economics condition. This proven that The Chicken Rice Shop price strategy is
flexible and able to adapt to the changes of the macro environment. TCRS also use the
promotion to increase the sales of chicken rice in order to get more profit during the bad
situation. The profit is the most important element to maintain the operating cost of the
company when crisis economics happen. The efficiently and effectively in managing the
price strategy will increase the competitive advantages of The Chicken Rice Shop to face
all the competitors in the market.

iv. Specific Pricing Strategies Utilized by The Company: Psychological Pricing

Strategies

The Chicken Rice Shop also using the refence price concept in psychological pricing as a
more specific and concentrated to plan the price strategy.7 Psychological pricing
strategies help this company to observe the price that preferred in consumer’s mind and
refer when purchase the product. The marketing department in TCRS had did some
research and survey on the customer about the customer satisfaction and favorable price.
This step is very important to ensure TCRS can set a suitable and favorable price that can
beat the competitors and meet the demand of consumers for chicken rice price. Thus, The
Chicken Rice Shop had use customer value-based pricing and psychological pricing as
their main reference to design and build their own price strategy. The efficiently and

13
 effectively of price strategy helps TCRS to gain the maximum profits and customers’
satisfaction.

D. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

In 2000, the Chicken Rice Shop was opened its first shop, but it was faced some tough
competition. It is due to chicken rice being almost a national meal in Malaysia. The chain
of Chicken Rice Shop is still around and growing at the same time this brand has become
more familiar among the Malaysians, although this company have organized about 18
years. Although the global economic crisis persists until now, the company is still on the
expansion trail because the restaurant business is recession-resilient, especially to the
Malaysians.9

1. Type of Intermediaries

The Chicken Rice Shop distribute its product by using direct channel. This
distribution describes a situation in which the Chicken Rice Shop sells the product
directly to customers without the help of intermediaries.7

Chicken Rice Shop used face-to-face sales of direct chain to sell their product without
any form of distributor, retailers or wholesalers. Chicken Rice Shop should focus
upon communicating directly with its customers. There are many direct marketing
media such as customer care lines, coupons, catalogues, inserts in newspapers and
magazines and most importantly is the internet and new media.10

2. Number of Marketing Intermediaries

A strategy in which the Chicken Rice Shop stock their products or raw materials in as
many outlets as possible which is intensive distribution. These products and raw
materials should be available by the convenience of customers while the customers
want them whatever, wherever and whenever.7

14
3. Segmentation

There are many methods for Chicken Rice Shop to expansion by segment the market.
Buyers in any market differ in their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and
buying practices. Through this way that can be reached more efficiently and effectively
with products and services that match their unique needs. The segmentation that can be
use are: geographic segmentation, demographic segmentation, psychographic
segmentation and behavioral segmentation.7

a) Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation divides the market into different geographical units, such
as nations, regions, states, counties, cities, or even neighborhood. The Chicken Rice
Shop can localization their products, advertising, promotion, and sales efforts to fit
the needs of individual regions, cities, and localities.7
For an example to explain this segmentation is location. In case of Malaysia, it can
be divided to the Northern, Southern and the mid Malaysia. In the Northern
Malaysia, for example state of Pulau Penang, the facilities are quite modern,
especially in some new high building or centre mall compare to the Kedah and
Kelantan. In addition, the population in Pulau Penang are higher compare to
Terrengganu. There have many entertainment and cultural centres also are built in
this region. This place is really potential market because of the high tourists’ flow.
Due to this situation, Chicken Rice Shop will have the maximum number of
customers come in when operating business in Pulau Penang market.

15
b) Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation divides the market into segments based on variables
such as age, life-cycle stage, gender, income, occupation, ethnicity, and generation.
This type of segmentation is the most popular segmenting customers groups. The
variable that include in this segmenting often vary closely with demographic
variables by the customer’s needs, wants, and usage rates. The Chicken Rice Shop
must know a segment’s demographic characteristics to assess the size of the target
market and reach it efficiently, meanwhile demographic variables are easier to
measure than other types of variables.7
The Chicken Rice Shop can be divided the customers into 3 groups, which
correspond with different needs and wants. The 3 groups are Children, Teenager and
Adult with the age are under 12 years old, under 21 years old and over 21 years old
respectively.
The customers who are children and teenagers seem to be the potential customers
because the company do not need to spend more money and time to attract their
attention and did not need to do the advertise. The customers among this range
easily attracted by appearance of some new product or sometimes only attracted by
the brand of company like Adidas and Gucci. For example, the company can
develop their products by colour, decoration of the food, flavor even building up a
mascot to attract them.
For the other group which is under 20 years old, in this range of age, they can
manage and independent about their money. Most of them have a job and maybe
have family therefore they do not spend their money ineffective. The duty of
Chicken Rice Shop is getting more satisfaction of this group of people to spend their
money in the products that company sale.

c) Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation divides buyers into different segments based on
lifestyle or personality characteristics. Chicken Rice Shop can divide Malaysia into
two main markets according to life style criteria: liberal life market and simple life
market. Thus, customers approach of the two customers are different. The company
should handle this issue to maximize the revenue and gain the high satisfaction of all
the customers based on the products and services that had provide.7

16
d) Behavioural Segmentation
Behavioural segmentation divides buyers into segments based on their knowledge,
attitudes, uses, or responses to a product. Many marketers believe that behaviour
variables are the best starting point for building market segments.7
For an example, the attitude and responses of clients to products.
Malaysian people will think that the meal which is home cooked meals can let the
family members gather together and they are more preferer to have a meal at home
compare to have a meal at outside. Within the years recently, fast food is becoming
more popular and familiar among the Malaysian. Nowadays, the action people prefer
to go to fast food restaurants rather than cooking meals at home already be normal in
the life of Malaysian. Moreover, Chicken Rice Shop need to be alert more about the
taste of the food it is due to Malaysian clients are always like to enjoy the gourmet
which has family-flavour.
The company should to evaluate the various segments and decide how many and
which segments it can serve best. Chicken Rice Shop should focus on limited
markets to manage the lack of resources by the true way and more specialized in
some specific products.

17
E. PROMOTION STRATEGIES

The Chicken Rice Shop sell “chicken-based” products and they need to do promotions to
promote their products. There is a total of 24 outlets in the Peninsular Malaysia and 1
each in Sabah and Sarawak. They are still working hard to extend their market within
Malaysia and overseas market.2 They like to have promotions or events regularly. Both
customers are easily noticed by the eye-catching product and decoration of the restaurant
space. Therefore, TCRS may not need to spend a lot of money but they can still attract a
large amount of customer loyalty. In contrast, about occupation, working class, especially
office workforces, want a fast food service which are cheap and high quality. 11 They
mostly to the restaurants lunch time, so that they need are time and high quality (meaning
that they have full enough to be able to work). Furthermore, it would be reasonable if a
restaurant express delivery service because it saves time and health for working class. 11
They promote their products by utilizing advertisement, sale promotion, personal selling,
public relation, and also direct marketing.

i. Advertisement

For advertisement, TCRS promote their products like Red pepper chicken (for
Chinese New Year), and other new dishes through their website and also social
media. They do promote on Facebook, Instagram, and also Youtube. 1 They make
advertisement on Facebook and this is quite an effective way of promotion. They also
provide customer service on their Facebook page which we can contact them for
support or any problem relate to TCRS. 1 Currently, Facebook provide boost
advertisement which the advertisement can be reached to every user but with
payment. They also uploaded promotion video onto their Facebook page and make it
as their advertisement post. The information transfer from the seller and buyer will be
better by using video compare to those long articles or detail. Their Facebook page
also receive feedback from customer to improve their product and services.
Advertising would attract customer and increase the revenue of TCRS.1
Personally, TCRS can offer some unique products such as vegetarian dishes (instead
of chicken with chicken sauce) for persons who want to lose weight or want to eat
vegetarian. With children who need nutritional or patients after the sick, TCRS can

18
 sell chicken rice products with high nutritious. However, these are unrealistic ideas
and apply only in a short time so TCRS can be used or not.

ii. Sales Promotion

Next, TCTS run sales promotion for its product. The sales promotion is about the
special package for their food. For example, they offer 2+1 of chicken rice at dinner
time. They also have a ‘Chicken Rice Day’ on every month’s 18 th. It only cost RM1.80
for one ¼ of chicken. 1 So, they could make a lot of profit on 18 th for every month due to
the price of the chicken offered. The third offer is ‘Good Dinner ‘, every weekday from
6pm-10pm.1 This promotion is about every add-ons for dishes only cost RM1.99 per
item. But there are some term and condition for it. For set of one, maximum 2 add-ons,
maximum 4 add-ons for double delight, maximum 6 add-ons for triple feast, 8 for
family delight, 12 for family diesta. 1 TCRS also offer some promotions for breakfast,
lunch, and also dinner. They not only sell main dishes, they have also dessert. The
promotion is Banana Fritters with Vanilla ice cream, which cost RM7.70 set with
coffee/tea or Ala carte (RM6.55).1 This promotion may attract more teenagers come
over to TCRS and earn more revenue.

iii. Personal Selling

TCRS uses personal selling to promote their products. They hire promoters and those
promoters uses his or her interpersonal skills to persuade a customer to eat at TCRS.
Those promoters will promote the new dishes or set meals with TCRS flyers. 4 This is an
effective way to attract more customers. Those promotions for TCRS must be on the
flyers and maybe add limited time offer onto the flyers. They hire part-time promoters
on weekends because weekends are day off for those who work. Promoters not only
promote by giving flyers, they also require high skill of communication to persuade the
customer and attract them.4

iv. Public Relation

TCRS also utilize public relation in their business. They build a good relationship with
customer which provide a good feedback towards customer’s problem and needs. With
a good public relation, they could maintain their relationship and build a good image for
customer. It will help them in their business and grow bigger and bigger.4

19
v. Direct Marketing
Lastly, TCRS utilize direct marketing. Direct marketing is a form of advertising where
organizations communicate directly to customers through a variety of media including
cell phone text messaging, email, websites, online adverts, database marketing, fliers,
catalog distribution, promotional letters and targeted television, newspaper and
magazine advertisements as well as outdoor advertising. Among practitioners, it is also
known as direct response. Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because its
positive results can be measured directly.21 For example, if a marketer sends out 1,000
solicitations by mail and 100 responds to the promotion, the marketer can say with
confidence that campaign led directly to 10% direct responses. This metric is known as
the 'response rate,' and it is one of many clearly quantifiable success metrics employed
by direct marketers. In contrast, general advertising uses indirect measurements, such as
awareness or engagement since there is no direct response from a consumer.
Measurement of results is a fundamental element in successful direct marketing.7

One of the other significant benefits of Direct Marketing is, it enables promoting
products or services that might not have a strong brand. Products or service with a
sound value proposition, matched with an attractive offer, supported with effective
communication, delivered through a suitable direct marketing channel and targeting the
relevant customer segment can result in a very effective cost of acquisition albeit the
brand might be relatively unknown. Relative to other channels of distribution (say
retailing) Direct Marketing as a practice principally relies on the proposition, offer,
communication, choice of channel and the target customer and so less dependent on the
brand strength.

The Internet has made it easier for marketing managers to measure the results of a
campaign. This is often achieved by using a specific website landing page directly
relating to the promotional material. A call to action will ask the customer to visit the
landing page, and the effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by taking the
number of promotional messages distributed and dividing it into the number of
responses. Another way to measure the results is to compare the projected sales or
generated leads for a given term with the actual sales or leads after a direct advertising
campaign.

20
F. COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd) was established in June 2000.2 The
Chicken Rice Shop is a chain restaurant, a well-known Halal certified chicken rice fast-
food restaurant in Malaysia. The main dish is the Hainanese chicken rice, which is known
as ‘grandmother's traditional Hainanese secret recipe chicken rice’ a famous local
Malaysia dishes.12 The owner of TCRS, Gaik Wong is planning to spread the business
into China, Thailand, Australia and the Middle East markets based on the enquires
received.13 But, competitors are always the biggest and toughest barriers against
expansion and growth of a business. There are a few strong competitors in the same
industry such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Kenny Rogers and Texas Chicken.

The Chicken Rice Shop competitors:

i. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

The KFC Malaysia was established in 1973, which is a well-known franchise
restaurant that provides a variety of choices from snacks to chicken buckets. Until
now, there are currently over 600 KFC restaurants serving Malaysians nationwide for
365 days a year.14 KFC is a tough competitor to The Chicken Rice Shop as it is a
leading QSR brand (an investment holding company) operating a chain of fast food
restaurants in Malaysia.14 The price of a Single Portion of Chicken with Rice and
15
Soup of the Day offers by The Chicken Rice Shop is RM10.90 while KFC is
offering 1 Piece Chicken Rice Combo with beverages and a small coleslaw at
RM10.80.16 Even the prices are not much differences, but consumers always prefer to
pay less and get more. Yet, KFC had a strong history which is established for 45
years and consumers tend to choose it over other brands. So, KFC is the ideal choice.

ii. Kenny Rogers ROASTERS

Kenny Rogers Roasters started its business in April 2008, where Berjaya Corp Bhd
(BCorp) wholly owned subsidiary of ROASTERS Asia Pacific and master franchise

21
 for Kenny Rogers ROASTERS.17 The dishes offered by Kenny Rogers ROASTERS
are well-known as a healthier choice, less cholesterol and less fattening which is one
of the strongest strengths to compete with competitors. The price of Kenny’s Classic
Choice Meal is RM13.90 includes Rotisserie-roasted 1/4 chicken with Coleslaw and
Aromatic Rice.18 As u can see The Chicken Rice Shop beats Kenny Rogers
ROASTERS in pricing. But consumers nowadays prefer healthy lifestyles and they
would go for Kenny Rogers ROASTERS.

iii. OldTown White Coffee

OldTown White Coffee is the one of the largest kopi tiam restaurant chain in
Malaysia which established since 1999. In 2013, OldTown has 200 stores
domestically and 70 stores widely in Singapura, China, Indonesia and Australia. 19
OldTown mainly focusing in their special brew coffee but their in-house recipes of
rice are popular with its uniqueness. OldTown offers a variety of choices from
famous local cuisine Nasi Lemak with Ayam Rendang, Ayam Masak Merah, Sambal
Sotong to secret recipes of rice dishes such as Mushroom and Chicken Steamed Rice
and Supreme BBQ Chicken Rice.20 The price for the famous Hainanese Chicken
Chop Rice is RM16.80 21 which is slightly expensive compare to the price of a Single
Portion of Chicken with Rice and Soup of the Day offers by The Chicken Rice Shop
that is RM10.90. Even though it is expensive than the price offered by TCRS, but the
uniqueness of the dishes is the strongest strength to compete with competitors.

iv. Ayam Penyet-AP

Ayam Penyet-AP is a restaurant with Ayam Penyet as their main specialty, which are
prepared with fresh and specially marinated with various spices and herbs. Ayam
Penyet is a common cuisine in Indonesia. 22 The price for their main dish, Ayam
Penyet Ap served with a huge fried spices chicken, cucumber, sambal, fried tofu and
tempeh is RM10.50.23 The price is slightly cheaper than the price of a Single Portion
of Chicken with Rice and Soup of the Day offers by The Chicken Rice Shop that is
RM10.90. As mentioned above, consumers aimed to maximize their satisfactions
while paying lower prices especially in meals that have a wide range of choices and
substitutions. Several consumers will choose Ayam Penyet-AP because of the big
portion of meal with side dishes and a cheaper price.

22
G. PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

i. Two Problems Faced by the Company

Although a company has its strength during the period of operating, but it also
confronts problems. The first problem is related with labour condition. 4 Due to
problem of increasing restaurant server cost, The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) will
prefer to hire foreign workers to serve customers and take their menu to attain purpose
of lowering labour cost. It was easy to get a job during robust economic times. People
need the job just show up themselves and fill up application form at the working place
and can be hired on the spot.24 However, in times of economic recessions, TCRS also
take advantage to recruit high quality staff which require for higher position.
Prerequisites set by company, such as “must have at least two years of service” for a
higher position job.24 There is a fact that the labour force at Vietnam’s TCRS is very
plentiful. However, the quality of labour source is not very high. Thus, Vietnamese
labour force usually cheaper than other countries in Southeast Asian area. This
situation causes TCRS need to spend money to train their employee (for the
professional staff) for short term and Vietnamese Government responsible for
investing more money to improve the quality of labour force.11
The second problem faced by TCRS is decline of business when economic downturn. 4
Customers reduce purchases in restaurants when economic conditions not that good
such as inflation for a period that can cause general level price of product to rise
highly at TCRS. As inflation rises, every dollar the consumer owns can only spend
smaller percentage on the food at TCRS.25 The value of dollar decreases so customers
have poor purchasing power in the end. Customers may make decision to cook at
home or visit to the other shop which prices of food is cheaper when compare to
TCRS. Profit gain of company become lesser and can affect company’s purchase
decision if inflation happen for a long-term period.

23
ii. Solutions for the Problems
There is solution to overcome the problem related with increasing restaurant server
cost of TCRS.4 Employer need to evaluate schedule of restaurant server regularly. 26
For instance, in a slow mid-afternoon hour, arrange only a few number of restaurant
servers to provide services to customers.26 This is very effective to cut unnecessary
cost because the worker’s hour has been reduced. During the peak hours like lunch
time or dinner time, more restaurant server is needed to ensure every customer can be
served. In addition, employer must think of either to recruit full time or part time
restaurant server.26 Full-time employees will require costly benefits, but they may be
more committed to restaurant and saving the cost of replacement. 26 Part-time
employees won’t need benefits, but they’ll be more likely to move on and need to be
replaced.26 Most restaurants need a blend of both types of staffers. 26 In other words,
employer is responsible to weight the cost differences for restaurant and its needs,
looking for the most economical solution.26
The way of TCRS can do if there is inflation is offer more promotion to their
customers.4 Offering price may seem not sensical in a climate of rising costs, but it is
better to use promotions as a tool to maintain menu prices for food sales. For
example, promotion can be done by giving discounts or a voucher to customer who
purchase above RM50 in a meal. Promotion not only attract existing customers, it also
helps TCRS to acquire new customers. Besides that, free items can be given to
customers such as if they purchase a specific set of chicken rice, then they can get a
free drink.27 Giving away free item is a way to promote TCRS and it also let
customers feel excited to receive the free drink. If TCRS wants to increase the price of
menu, put prices up gradually but not suddenly put up the prices. 28 In an environment
of inflation which causes increasing costs, it is much easier for customers to swallow
if done in small increments over time, first focusing on non-sensitive items.28

24
H. CONCLUSION

i. Growth

The key drivers for growth are to be innovative in product offerings, marketing
activities and making sure we fulfill the needs of the entire customer segments. On the
strategy to improve its restaurant services, TCRS needs to continue in investing in
information technology (IT) by placing more advertisements to let the market to know
and recognize their products. TCRS has to remain competitive by continuing to
deliver value-for-money meals to its customers, especially in times of rising inflation.

ii. Strategies

In addition, TCRS needs marketing strategies built on values and transparency. They
need to be agile enough to adjust to changing customer demands and ever-evolving
channels of engagement. Brands needs to be delicious in the mindset of the customer
and healthy in terms of social responsibility and operational practices.

iii. Hope and Suggestions

Lastly, TCRS may merge social mission objectives with core business operating
principles wield greater influence and appeal in consumer marketplace. This may
create a value chain to customer. And yet, trustworthiness can attract loyal customer
in long run of the business and a higher customer equity in marketing their food to the
public.4

25
REFERENCE
1
About us. (n.d). Retrieved from TRCS main website:
www.thechickenriceshop.com

2
The Chicken Rice Shop. (January 2014). Retrieved from TheSunDaily
http://www.thesundaily.my/node/237056

3
TCRS Restaurant Sdn Bhd. (n.d). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_Rice_Shop

4
Nur Hafizah Binti Kamaruzaman. Manager Restaurant TCRS SDN. BHD. (March 30,
2018). personal interview
5
Ika, Y. (2013, November 15). Hospitality Strategic Management. Retrieved from
https://prezi.com/n6hbft-28mx0/hospitality-strategic-management/

6
The Chicken Rice Shop menu. (N.d). Retrieved from Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/selangor/the-chicken-rice-shop-ss-6/menu#tabtop

7
Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, and Marc Oliver Opresnik (2018). Principles of
Marketing. Pearson Education Limited 2018.

8
Monthly Promotion. (N.d). Retrieved from Lazada:
https://harga.runtuh.com/2017/05/the-chicken-rice-shop-quarter-rm180-monthly-
discount-promo.html

9
Tan Sook Ying (July 18, 2013). The Chicken Rice Shop: Strategy The Chicken Rice Shop.
Retrieved from
http://thechickenriceshop.blogspot.my/2013/07/strategy-chicken-rice-shop_28.html

10
Marketing Teacher Ltd (n.d.). Direct Marketing: What is Direct Marketing? Retrieved from
http://www.marketingteacher.com/direct-marketing/

26
11
Study Moose. (2016, May 6) Retrieved from
https://studymoose.com/the-chicken-rice-shop-essay#
12
Ying, T. S. (1970, January 01). The Chicken Rice Shop. Retrieved from
http://thechickenriceshop.blogspot.my/2013/07/company-overview-history-and-
tagline.html

13
Chicken rice and more. (2014, August 21). Retrieved from
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/chicken-rice-and-more

14
KFC Nilai Square Outlet. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://kfc.com.my/kfc-malaysia

15
The Chicken rice shop. Menu. (n.d.). Retrieved from Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/selangor/the-chicken-rice-shop-seksyen-7/menu#tabtop

16
Exclusive delivery combos | KFC Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://kfc.com.my/delivery/menu/combo

17
Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR). Kenny Chicken’s Story. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.krr.com.my/v3/about-us.php?category=krr-story

18
Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR). Kenny Chicken’s Meal. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.krr.com.my/v3/menu.php?category=kennys-chicken-meals

19
OldTown White Coffee. (2018, April 30). Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OldTown_White_Coffee

20
OLDTOWN Menu. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.oldtownmy.com/a-la-carte-menu/#ricebox

21
Old Town White Coffee. Menu. (n.d.). Retrieved from Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/selangor/old-town-white-coffee-one-city/menu#tabtop

27
22
Ayam Penyet AP – Simply the Best Minang and Indonesian Cuisines. (n.d.). Retrieved
from
http://www.ayampenyet-ap.com/
23
Ayam Penyet AP. (n.d.). Retrieved from Zomato:
https://www.zomato.com/kuala-lumpur/ayam-penyet-ap-wangsa-maju/menu

24
Catherine Capozzi. (2017, September 26). Economic Factors of Restaurant Businesses.
Retrieved from
https://bizfluent.com/list-6142674-economic-factors-restaurant-businesses.html

25
Adam Hayes. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation1.asp

26
Service First. (2015, March 20). Retrieved from
http://blog.harri.com/hospitality/how-to-manage-labor-costs-for-a-restaurant

27
Miranda Morley. (2018). Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/customer-promotion-ideas-21685.html

28
Joe Lutrario (2017, August 15). Retrieved from
https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2017/08/16/10-ways-to-combat-food-cost-
inflation

28
APPENDIX

i. Logo TCRS

29
 ii. TCRS Restaurant Sdn Bhd in Aman Centre, Alor Setar.

iii. TCRS Restaurant Sdn Bhd’s Manager:

Nur Hafizah Binti Kamaruzaman

30
iv. Interview with the TCRS Manager:

v. Menu of TCRS

Hainanese Chicken Rice Meal

31
Healthy Meal

Hainanese Steamed Chicken Crispy Roast Chicken

Soy Sauce Chicken Prime Honey BBQ Chicken

Hainanese Curry Chicken

32
33