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Restaurant SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis is not a complicated thing to have to do, yet it is a very worthwhile and useful task to take on if you are to decide the best marketing strategies for your restaurant.
If you are going to go to a bank for funding then they will insist that you complete a SWOT Analysis for your restaurant or your restaurant concept. In effect, what a SWOT Analysis does is show you how your restaurant is, or will be, placed in the current market, and how well you will be able to compete in that market. It breaks down the good and bad points of your restaurant or concept against those of your competitors. This gives you an opportunity to amend or strengthen certain operating practices or promotions you may be running to gain an advantage in the marketplace you are trading in. Don't be put off by the technical sounding name, SWOT Analysis is simple and straightforward, let us start by telling you what SWOT stands for:

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities andThreats.

Strengths.
The strong points of your restaurant.
Examples are: Your restaurant exterior is clean and tidy. Your prices are cheaper than your competitors. Your service style is new to the area. You offer a product no other business offers. You have a take-away option for your customers. You have a branded image. You have a good choice of items available on your menu. You employ well-trained staff.

Weaknesses.
The weak points of your restaurant.
Examples are: Your restaurant is new and not established. You restaurant has poor disabled facilities. You have limited funds available. You offer a product which is already available on the market. You don't advertise your restaurant. Customers have to travel further to get to your restaurant.

Opportunities.
Benefits for your restaurant.
Examples are: A new office complex is opening nearby. A new housing development is being built nearby. A main competitor has closed down. The building next door has become available so expansion may be an option.

When doing your own SWOT Analysis you can add as many points as you want for your restaurant.

SWOT Analysis.
What you should do is complete on of these for your own business, stating each and every relevant example for the main sections of SWOT Analysis, in order to get an idea of where your business stands in the current market and how competitive your business actually is. Don't worry about whether you think something is not important enough to include on your SWOT Analysis as often when you compare all the points for each section you will find that when grouped together you can spot certain opportunities or threats and deal with them so much more easily. The same applies to favouring the positive points over the negative ones to make your restaurant look better, all you are doing is putting yourself at a disadvantage, you must create a realistic 'look and feel' for where your restaurant stands in the market otherwise you won't be able to devise a plan to counter the negative points and build on the positive ones.

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SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

The SWOT analysis is a key factor in the overall success of an organizations strategic plan. It identifies the strengths and weakness of the business entity as well as the opportunities and threats. The SWOT analysis is a key factor in the overall success of an organizations strategic plan. It identifies the strengths and weakness of the business entity as well as the opportunities and threats. The strengths of a business can be defined as those actions, activities or characteristics that elevate the business entity above its competition. Strengths include but are not limited to: Convenience, Customer Service, Effectiveness, Location, Pricing, Quality, Reliability, Reputation, Respect, Responsiveness, Speed, Thoroughness, Variety Many of these strengths are generally considered intangible in that they are only measurable through the opinion of the customer. Some of these strengths appear obvious, but often as business entities mature, they can lose sight of some of the fundamental strengths that aided them in their success. Entities that recognize, enhance and appreciate their strengths generally experience longterm success. Entities that ignore what some consider their core basis for success and venture forward without regard to past success lose focus and quickly fail. Whether the business entity is profit based or not for profit, such as a Faith Based Organization, these fundamental principles are applicable; i.e. a church whose strength in attracting congregants is the fellowship and the local community oriented activities changes their focus toward primarily missionary functions and outreach activities that involve only a small portion of the population. The result is that the congregants may feel ignored or worse taken for granted, as the fellowship that attracted them is ignored or left unattended. Another example; a pizzeria known for the tastiness of their dishes because the dough was made fresh daily attracts and maintains a steady volume of customers although their prices are higher than those of the typical chain restaurants that serve pizza. When they change to ready-made dough the strength of their attraction will be impacted and the quality of the pizza, now comparable to the large pizza chain businesses, no longer warrant the cost to the customer, and the business decreases. While these examples are not absolutes, they are accurate. The similarity in both instances is that the strength of the business entity was either ignored or overshadowed by other forces. In many instances, business entities seeking to change the direction of the organization can successfully do so over time. Virtually any goal can be achieved when a strategic plan is meticulously outlined and followed, and typically any effort not thoroughly considered will fail. For each strength business entities have, a similar and sometimes equal weakness exists. The goal is to identify, minimize or neutralize the weaknesses while maintaining the strengths. A short list of strengths versus weaknesses is shown below STRENGTHS Convenience Customer Service Location Pricing WEAKNESSES Time/cost Employee training Limited expansion Competition Note that the factor considered a strength, is reflected as a weakness due to time or cost. In many service oriented industries, the primary consideration that causes consumers to return or not return

to a business revolve around how they perceive they were treated, and how much time was dedicated to them or to their situation. If one considers the restaurant business, many people will generously tip servers who are more attentive, bring extra napkins when needed, correct orders quickly without argument and present an atmosphere of competence. A business that relies on personal service largely links its reputation to the persons interacting with the customer. While a positive service experience will be shared with few people, a negative service experience will be shared with many. The cost to the business in terms of time and training of its employees often is directly reflected as a strength or weakness for the business. Opportunities can be realized when weaknesses are identified. Some weaknesses in a business are generic to the industry and as such provide an opportunity for growth or for a business to elevate itself to a higher level of excellence by minimizing, neutralizing or eliminating the weakness. For example, a pizza business that prepares pizzas when ordered seeking to compete with similar businesses may recognize as an industry weakness the number of checks returned for insufficient funds as the time delay experienced by customers while the cashier validates the check information. One cost effective method of neutralizing this industry weakness is to accept credit card, debit card and other similar transfers in lieu of personal checks. Another method may be to achieve or increase the business presence on the Internet by accepting orders and payment via the Internet. Payment for the product (pizza) is secured prior to the product being provided, thus minimizing liability for the business, while simultaneously attracting business through a previously under used market. This practice is currently employed in several service-oriented businesses. Some correlations between Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities include: STRENGTHS Convenience Customer Service Location WEAKNESSES Time/cost Employee training Limited expansion OPPORTUNITIES Evaluate operations Combine hands on with virtual training Satellite locations, delivery, relocation Opportunities also relate to furthering the success of an organization through a meticulously outlined and implemented strategic plan. For example a restaurant business seeking to increase revenue without relocating, may consider as part of their strategic plan, delivery, catering or hosting special events such as gaming tournaments during non-peak business timeframes; midweek, optional holidays, etc. A business might consider merging their strengths with the strengths of other complementary businesses, such as contracting with a reputable local Internet Service Provider (ISP) and increasing its global presence by through offering special coupons for on-line customers, while prominently displaying the ISP in its table and print advertising. Threats are generally considered those internal and external factors that are most likely to negatively affect a business entity. Examples include the threat of a dynamic change in population due to a shift in a major industry; a significant increase in material costs due to global increase in demand or production cost increases. Threats also come from the activities of the competition including pricing, quality/quantity, technology and market availability. One manner of addressing threats is to contrast the threat against a strength, for example, the threat of a new competitor entering the field brings the possibility of new inventory or increased variety. The strength of the business that is following a strategic plan likely includes partnering with complementary business entities that market the business variety, availability and reputation. These strengths aid in offsetting new competition, which must first be considered established in the industry, before they can expect to grab a share of the market. This is true with the established chain business entities, as well as the independents. Essentially, when a SWOT analysis is completed, part of the strategic plan suggests that Strengths be contrasted with Weaknesses, Weaknesses be contrasted with Opportunities, Opportunities be contrasted with Threats and Threats be contrasted with Strengths. While the strategic plan should

be developed to capitalize on the Strengths with Opportunities, the business entity must maintain visibility on its Weaknesses and Threats. About the author: I have been teaching basic and advanced intelligence analysis and investigation techniques for 15 years. I do freelance work on a part time basis and have published numerous articles from PDA's (Personal Digital Assistants) to poetry, and several points in between. Author: Eugene Matthews

It is a process one of the key critical success factors is an effective Strategic Planning Process. It is a complex process that entails many data analysis in the external as well as internal environment, assumptions, scenarios and risk factors. This TQM article addresses what is SWOT analysis can be part of the overall Strategic Planning Process. There are many ways how a SWOT analysis is used. It is not my intention to compare what are the differences but to share how I used it in my Strategic Planning workshops. What is SWOT Analysis? It is an abbreviation for Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats. It is a tool widely used as an integral part of Strategic Planning Process. Strength This is an internal factor deals with the strength in the operation. It is internal because it takes into considerations of the level of competence for their internal capability. They are many factors in an operation that can be considered as strength. It is normally highlighted during brainstorming among management members. When the list of factors for Strength is too many, then it should be grouped using Stratification method. Then reduce it further to three to five items using appropriate tools such as , multi-voting, Selection grids etc. Once it is done, rank these items by comparing own company with better competitors. Force ranking is sometime used an alternative to multivoting. Weaknesses Similar to the above, it is an internal factor deals with the weaknesses of the operation considering the level of competence as compared to their better competitors. With weaknesses identified by way of brainstorming, the factors might be too many. When the list of factors for weaknesses is too many, then it should be grouped using Stratification method. Then reduce it further to three to five items using appropriate tools such as , multi-voting, Selection grids etc. Once it is done, rank these items by comparing own company with better competitors. Force ranking is sometime used an alternative to multi-voting. Opportunities This is an important factor to identify opportunity as a result of external influence. It is often leads to more business or investment as well as opportunity for innovation of products and services. Due to the fact it is external, many assumptions is used. However, given the constraints, one should try to quantify the assumptions so that the conclusion of this factor is real. In real life application, there are cases where opportunities derived from operation are park in this section. Rightfully, it can be rephrased such that it became a Strength instead. Threats This is another important and critical factor to deal with. It has great influence to the success or failure of an organization if not dealt with appropriately. This section look for factors that can put an organization in a loss-loss situation where example may either reduce the market share or its profitability. Once again, since it is an external factor, its reality is assumed. However, in many cases, they can be verified by announcement, publications etc. On the other hand, if organizations act on these factors, it may not always mitigate the threat because the threat is not real. One example is the Y2K issue. By all means interpret the way you wanted and agreed by your fellow team members. This articles is written based on my experience how I use it

http://www.mplans.com/pasta_restaurant_marketing_plan/situation_a nalysis_fc.php#SWOT_Analysis SWOT Analysis

The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company, and describes the opportunities and threats facing Sigmund's Gourmet Pasta.
Strengths

Strong relationships with vendors that offer high-quality ingredients and fast/frequent delivery schedules. Excellent staff who are highly trained and very customer attentive. Great retail space that is bright, hip, clean, and located in an upscale mall, suburban neighborhood, or urban retail district. High customer loyalty among repeat customers. High-quality food offerings that exceed competitors offerings in quality, presentation, and price.

Weaknesses

Sigmund's name lacks brand equity. A limited marketing budget to develop brand awareness. The struggle to continually appear to be cutting edge.

Opportunities

Growing market with a significant percentage of the target market still not aware that Sigmund's Gourmet Pasta exists. Increasing sales opportunities in take out business. The ability to spread overhead over multiple revenue centers. Sigmund's will be able to spread the management overhead costs among the multiple stores, decreasing the fixed costs per store.

Threats

Competition from local restaurants that respond to Sigmund's Gourmet Pasta's superior offerings. Gourmet pasta restaurant chains found in other markets coming to Eugene. A slump in the economy reducing customer's disposable income spent on eating out.

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http://www.analysisexample.com/swot-analysis-example.html
What is SWOT Analysis? SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method. More precisely, it is a powerful and gigantic tool extremely valuable for evaluating and analyzing different businesses or project situations through Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats. The word SWOT is basically acronym of these four situations ofbusiness venture. SWOT analysisprovides a remarkable framework to evaluate business or product strategies, position and/ordirection. It is quite easy to conduct and very functional in brainstorming meetings where business management need to deeply judge the requirements of the business or project. It is SWOT analysis that provides the accurate yet perfect way to do so. For what purpose SWOT analysis can be used? Conducting Business planning Focusing Strategic planning Competitor evaluation Marketing Strategy Business/product development Research reports Base on significance of SWOT analysis; we deliberately can call it as a Most perfect way to identify internal and external factors that may be favorable or unfavorable for the business venue. SWOT analysis can be used in team building projects as well. Define SWOT Analysis Format? After this short introduction of SWOT analysis, here we give you a standard format ofSWOT analysis for your convenience. From this information you can learn the method of successfully conducting SWOT analysis. Lets review the standard method ofSWOT analysis. SWOT Analysis Method Strengths capabilities competitive advantages resources, assets and people experience, knowledge and data financial reserves, returns marketing, reach financials reputation, presence and reach timescales, deadlines and pressures Weaknesses lack of capabilities gap in competitive strengths

distribution, awareness innovative aspects location, geographical price, value and quality processes, systems, IT, communications advantages of proposition Opportunities market developments industry or life style trends innovation and technology development

cash flow, cash drain continuity, supply chain effects on core activities reliability of data, plan and project management cover and succession

Threats Political and economical effects legislative effects environmental effects IT, communication developments

global influences Competitive intentions market dimensions, horizontal, vertical target markets geographical import, export major contracts, tactics and surprises business/product development research work and information partnerships, agencies and distributions Economic condition home, abroad volumes, productions and Market demand Innovation in technologies, services and ideas New contracts and partners Sustaining internal capabilities Loss of resources Obstacles to be faced Poor management strategies

economies multi influences seasonal, fashion

Seasonal and other influences

Main point of SWOT analysis is controversy of its components for example weaknesses oppose strengths and opportunities oppose threats of businessventure. This is standard format and method of conducting SWOT analysis for the project or business that can better determine all the business needs to accomplish. What are SWOT Analysis Limitations? Although SWOT analysis is best for identifying different situations of business in more manageable way yet some limitations are also involved with this analysis. Main point of this analysis is that it oversimplifies the process to identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a business venue. It may not always fit to each business needs assessment process. For example a particular company culture can be strength or weakness at the same time and technology innovation can be threat or opportunity in the same way. Then how a company management can consider it accurately what they should evaluate for their business development and long-term growth? Define SWOT Analysis Test Scenario? If you are going to start a new restaurant business, very first step should to conductSWOT analysis of restaurant business to determine the needs and goals of yourbusiness. SWOT analysis will guide you how the business you are going to start is and will survive in current market. It also tells you how well you will be to compete with others in this market. Ultimate need of SWOT analysis for each business is to bring the bad and good points in the mind to work with the project. Give us SWOT Analysis Template/Example? This SWOT analysis is about restaurant business and lets sees how strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a restaurant business can be determined to follow the things and avoid for successful business establishment. Strengths of restaurant business include:

Restaurant exterior is clean and tidy You charge less cost than your competitors You are serving the customers in an innovative style

Your business has branded image Your choice of menu items is good than others You have well-trained staff to serve the customers

In the same way we can determine the weaknesses of a newly opened restaurantbusiness that are:

You have a new restaurant business not established Your funds are limited to groom your business You are offering same items already available in the market You are not advertising your business In-appropriate Location of your business

Opportunities to groom the restaurant business can be: New office complex is about to build nearby your restaurant

them

Housing colony is going to be developed nearby A new emerging or developing market, new place and less competition One of main competitors has been closed its restaurant business Grant from local council is available for regeneration

Things that can harm (threats) your restaurant business include: A new and highly reputed brand is moving into the market

A main competitor has started price war with your and has lessen the price of its services Your operating costs have been increased Rent for your restaurant building will increase soon A well branded restaurant has lessen the price of services and you cannot match with

What is Conclusion of SWOT Analysis? From strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of newly opened restaurantbusiness, you can better understand the position of your business in the current market. All this information will let you make a wise decision about starting your newrestaurant business. You can also change the contents of SWOT analysis template according to your needs.