Strategic Plan Part III

El Parish Lounge

Sytoria Maldonado

BUS/475

Mark Romejko

March 14, 2018

El Parish Lounge: SWOT Analysis Table

Forces and Trends Considerations

The EL Parish Lounge strategy stems from a need to align itself with its identified segment and adequately address the needs of its target market. However, for the business to actualize this objective, it will be necessary to consider the forces and trends forming the business environment. This is in light with how El Parish will adapt to these changes and forces.

El Parish Lounge is aware of the industry changes affecting the restaurant division. There is an apparent shift in American culture toward health and healthy activities (Mowbray, 2013). Therefore, for the business to thrive in light of this industry changes, the lounge will have to include healthy and nutritious foods in its menu. As much as the lounge seeks to include provision of alcoholic beverages, El Parish will also include healthy beverages in its array of products. To this end, the lounge may have to acquire the services of a nutritionist – at least on a consultative or temporary basis - to create a menu of healthy drinks and foods.

Technological advances such as the emergence of Virtual Reality is bound to heighten the entertainment experience for El Parish’s clientele (Zyda, 2005). This is especially in consideration of the fact that the lounge seeks to include video game services in its efforts to acquire a competitive advantage over its competition. As it stands, the established sports bars such as Hooters do not offer video game services and concentrate on offering food, alcohol, music and the ability to watch sporting events. El Franco has the closest similarity to El Parish but El Franco does not offer alcoholic beverages or healthy drinks. It only offers soft drinks and coffee. It is El Parish’s vision that its efforts to align itself to these industrial changes will not only give the business a crucial competitive advantage but also allow the business to enjoy profitability and revenue.

As it relates to legal and regulatory forces, El Parish will have to acquire a liquor license because it will be serving alcohol. El Parish will conduct further research to ascertain the laws and licensing process as per the state in which the venture will be located. In addition, El Parish will have to acquire a food establishment license from the local public health authority, because the venture will be serving food (Walker, 2013). Other licenses and/or tax requirements may include zoning permits, occupancy permits, sales tax permits and a general business license. Ideally, the business ownership of El Parish would be a sole proprietorship. However, considering the economic climate and the fact that the business is capital intensive due to the need for acquisition of equipment, El Parish will need outside investment. Therefore, El Parish will be a partnership owned by three people who will contribute resources to the business and own the business on an equity basis.

Leverage Core Competencies and Resources

El Parish seeks to leverage its core competencies and resources to create a comfortable and relaxing environment tailored to match the needs of its target market. In addition, El Parish seeks to customize its products to create a niche that could fulfill similar needs in other potential markets. In addition, El Parish views developing a pricing strategy as a significant core competency for the lounge. Creating an environment that is a ‘home-away-from-home’ complemented by an attractive pricing strategy as well as customized services and products will generate a ‘buzz’ that is essential to driving El Parish’s marketing strategy and generating customer loyalty (Aaker, 2008). El Parish will create an environment that encourages clients to stay longer and spend more. Therefore, it will be necessary to make sure that all menu items and ticket prices are reasonably priced. Ticket prices for important ‘game days’ will be considerably higher to take advantage of the increased demand.

Internal Organizational Considerations

El Parish will feature ‘team leaders’ in its organizational structure. The team leaders will be in charge of oversight of the various service departments such as video games and food and beverages. There will also be an individual in charge of maintenance of equipment. These team leaders will answer to the El Parish Operations Manager. In addition, El Parish seeks to include a Sales/Marketing Director in charge of overseeing efforts toward supporting brand development and presence of El Parish. The lounge will also hire a full-time accountant to oversee the accounting operations of the business. The accountant, Operations Manager and the Sales/Marketing Director will answer to El Parish’s partners. Future organizational structure, in the event of expansion, will include a Director of Operations. The director will play a supervisory role for the El Parish operations level and will have the responsibility of implementing El Parish’s vision and mission as will reporting to the partners.

Major Issues and Opportunities

In order to foster a relaxing and comfortable environment, El Parish will need to make investments in including distinctive interior design features. To this end, the lounge will focus on creating sports-based themes that have a mass appeal. In addition, El Parish will have to acquire big-screen, high-definition televisions, which are necessary for creating a ‘sports bar’ feel (Eastman & Land 1997). Inclusion of virtual reality features may be expensive but are significantly beneficial to the long-term sustainability and profitability of the business. In addition – and as is necessary to adapting to industrial changes – El Parish will need to conduct regular and comprehensive training schedules of its personnel. El Parish seeks to combine entertainment and health as a strategy toward fostering its USP and a significant competitive advantage. Therefore, it will offer quality, healthy foods that will be freshly prepared and served. Finally, El Parish is faced with a social responsibility issue. To this end, the lounge may restrict alcohol sales to specific time schedules and as per legal age requirements. In addition, El Parish may include regular ‘Brain Challenges’ to create the perception that the lounge is a place one can have fun and learn.

References

Aaker, D. A. (2008). Strategic market management. John Wiley & Sons.

Eastman, S. T., & Land, A. M. (1997). The best of both worlds: Sports fans find good seats at the

bar. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 21(2), 156-178.

Mowbray, S. (2013). The Rise of the New Food Culture. HuffPost. Retrieved from: