The second phase will involve the delivery of high quality breakfast meals to the students visiting the cafeteria in an exquisite fashion. The aim of this phase is to supersede the expectations of the teens and provide them with a high variety of healthy and affordable foods (Parker & Thorson, 2009). The members of staff should serve the students politely and follow up on the customer’s level of satisfaction by making enquiries. The aim of this phase is to ensure acceptance of the healthy meal plan and minimize rejection for students with varying food preferences.
The marketing plan will be executed over a period of one month, which will involve feasibility tests and constant interactions with the students. A feedback channel such as a suggestion box will be required in the cafeteria for weekly evaluation of the student’s perception about the food (Parker & Thorson, 2009). One of the tools that will be vital in this first month is a sample of available foods for inquisitive students to taste and have a feel of what the program has to offer. The sampling marketing strategy is expensive and can only be conducted on every Monday for the four weeks when the program will be launched. Moreover, the cafeteria staff will collect student’s feedbacks every Friday and recommendations will be considered for implementation in the next week.
Two of the potential barriers that may affect the implementation process include the pricing structure of the foods and the individual preference of teen customers. Pricing is a potential barrier because the cost of food determines what most people consume since it is a reflection of their income (Kennedy et al., 2014). Middle school teens rely on their parents for revenue to purchase the items they require on a daily basis. Food accounts for most of the expenditure of school-going teens and price is a crucial determinant of what type of food they consume.
On the other hand, school-going teens display a high inclination towards snacks, soft drinks and other processed foods that attract their taste experience. Most snacks are high on processed sugars, which improve their taste and create an extraordinary craving among school-going teens. Take for instance, pizza one of the most widely consumed foods among teens in middle school. The exceptional taste of pizza makes it very attractive to school-going children, and they prefer a slice of pizza over a slice of bread or any other healthy grained foods.
The cafeteria has to overcome these two potential barriers for the health program to be successful in the long run. Although it is difficult to alter individual preference for snacks and processed foods, the pricing strategy is within the administration’s control. Healthy foods are slightly more expensive than processed foods due to the costly path taken to acquire them fresh from the producers and the additional preservation cost (Hillestad & Berkowitz, 2012). However, the cafeteria should not seek to make profits from this program by setting up high mark up prices for the sake of introducing the program into the market.
Instead, the pricing strategy should meet the break-even level so that the program does not operate on a loss and it remains sustainable in the long run. To address the pricing barrier, the prices of foods should be set at an affordable level. Additionally, the program will design a combination of breakfast offers that lower the prices significantly while maximizing the sales level.
The first month of the program should provide a clear image of how the suggested meal plan will perform in the long run after several months of implementation. Communication with the students and promotional talks advocating for this healthy meal will be used to influence their perception about healthy food (Kennedy et al., 2014). Recommendations made in the suggestion box will be evaluated on a weekly basis and the most feasible ones implemented in the following week. For instance, students may provide feedback on the quality of services received and the environment we provide for consumption of their breakfast. The members of staff at the cafeteria could look into this suggestion by having several members undergo service training while the layout of the cafeteria could be remodeled to improve convenience. The implementation plan will achieve success by reflecting on the weekly performance and initiating the necessary modifications to drive up the sales.
References
Hillestad, S. G., & Berkowitz, E. N. (2012). Health care market strategy: From planning to action (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Kennedy, A., Rogers, A. Chew-Graham, C., Blakeman, T., Bowen, R.,Gardner, C., … Protheroe, J. (2014). Implementation of a self-management support approach (WISE) across a health system: A process evaluation explaining what did and did not work for organizations, clinicians, and patients. Implementation Science, 9(1), 1–28. Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.
Parker, J. C., & Thorson, E. (Eds.). (2009). Health communication in the new media landscape. New York, NY: Springer.