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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Noor Al Mandi Restaurant is located in the Middle eastern in Dubai, India. The full address is at Burj Al Noor2 Tower, Amman Street, Al Nahda 2, Dubai. It is a halal restaurant that serves lunch and dinner food. In this Noor Al Mandi Restaurant, customers can take away their food, also have a delivery serving, and also can sit at this restaurant to enjoy their food. The concept of this restaurant is based on Islam and they make decoration by woods and decorate it with traditional look. They also make the view and the environment of the restaurant also like a mosque. Maybe they want to apply the Islamic values at their restaurant even if it is just an ordinary restaurant. To us, it is a quite special and it is so attractive because their way used to attract people especially for Muslim is very nice and unique.

The name Al Mandi is based on the Arabic word. That word brings a meaning of the traditional dish in Yemen native to Hadhramaut Province Yemen and many other Yemeni Cities known as Haneeth also. It is now very popular in the rest of the Arabian Peninsula and in many other Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Mandi is usually made from meat whether it is lamb or chicken, basmati rice and a mixture of spices. The meat used is usually a young and small sized lamb to enhance the taste further. The main thing which differentiates mandi is that the meat is cooked in the tandoor which is a special kind of oven. Tandaoor is usually a hole dug in the ground and covered inside a clay. To cook mandi, dry wood is placed in the tandoor and burned to generate a lot of heat turning into charcoal. The meat is suspended inside the tandoor without touching the charcoal. After that, the whole tandoor is closed without letting any smoke go outside. Raisins and pine nuts can be added to the rice as per one’s taste.

Last but not least, this Noor Al Mandi Restaurant goal is to deliver the best taste of Mandi as well as authentic Yemeni cuisine coupled with a nice and cosy atmosphere and good service. They also really hope that all of their customers will enjoy the dining and the food that they served.

2.0 BACKGROUND OF THE TOPIC OR ISSUE.

In this report, we will see value chain analysis and competitive advantages from what we have learned in our class and how it used and worked for this Noor Al Mandi Restaurant. In this report, we will see value chain analysis and competitive advantages from what we have learned in our class and how it used and worked for this Noor Al Mandi Restaurant. Value chain analysis is the process of looking at the activities that go into changing the inputs for a product or service into an output that is valued by the customer. The primary activities of Michael Porter's value chain are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. The goal of the five sets of activities is to create value that exceeds the cost of conducting that activity, therefore generating a higher profit. A value chain is a business term describing the full range of iterative activities a company uses to create a product or a service. The purpose of value chain analysis is to increase production efficiency so that a company can deliver maximum value for the least possible cost. There are two main categories in a value chain analysis which are Primary value activities and support value activities. There are also two objectives of this value chain analysis which are to identify where value to customers can be increased or costs reduced and to better understand the firm’s linkage with suppliers, customers and other firms in the industry. Value chain analysis also has two organizational activities which are structural activities and Executional activities. Structural activities: activities that determine the underlying economic structure of the organization. Executional activities: activities that define the processes and capabilities of an organization and thus are directly related to the ability of an organization to execute successfully.

3.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

There are several objectives that we can achieve from that study. The objectives are:

a) To identify the competitive advantages of the potential company, whether their strength is able to help them to keep survival in the market during a pandemic.

b) To identify the value chain of the potential company, assess the differences of their value chain before and during the pandemic.

c) Identify the role of IT in the potential company’ value chain.

d) To evaluate how each activity in the value chain contributes to the potential company’ competitive advantages.

e) Identify factors that might bring impact on a company's competitive advantages.

f) To identify the cost reduction strategy for sustainability during this pandemic.

Based on the above objectives, it is hoped that this study can increase our understanding and mastery in understanding in more depth about the topic that has been selected, namely value chain analysis and competitive advantages through our study and interview results with Noor Al Mandi Restaurant. In addition, based on the stated objectives, we can also find out some important information such as the constraints and strengths of Noor Al Mandi Restaurant in facing the Covid-19 pandemic that is happening now.

4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 5.0 METHODOLOGY

6.0 FINDINGS

6.1 Competitive Advantages

6.2 Value Chain

This part discussed the value chain or business activities of NOOR AL MANDI Restaurant based on the information gathered through an interview with the owner of the restaurant. We separate the discussion of business activities of the restaurant to primary activities and support activities. Primary activities consist of inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales, and customer services. Meanwhile support activities consist of procurement, human resource management and infrastructure.

a) Primary Activities

During the interview with the owner of the restaurant, Mr Sadam Ali ,we noticed that the restaurant has purchased their raw vegetables and other raw materials from its fixed, pre-defined suppliers. The manager explained that their decision on staying on fixed suppliers is with the aim to reduce the cost since they already have a good relationship with their suppliers for many years and the most important thing is to maintain the quality of the raw materials purchased. Since it is a restaurant, they emphasize on the hygiene, freshness, and delivery of the food purchased as this will directly impact the reputation of the restaurant.

Besides, Mr Sadam explained to us that they always provide regular training to their staff, especially kitchen staff, to ensure that all the meals are prepared in a clean and hygienic environment. The preparation of food and beverage will take up to three hours before the restaurant opens due to the Yemeni cuisine the restaurant serves. Mr Sadam explained to us that some meals they serve will be prepared early instead of after the customer ordered because of sophisticated procedures that are unavoidable . One of the examples that Mr Sadam gave is the preparation of Yemeni rice food. It starts with washing the rice and soaking it in water for 30 minutes, then cutting and cleaning the meat and chicken, adding the spices and ingredients, sealing it and putting it in the refrigerator to absorb the spices, and finally removing the meat and chicken. Both foiling it and heating it in special steam ovens for up to two hours. After washing the rice, kitchen staff will fill the pot with water, set it to boil, and after twenty minutes, add a small amount of spices, then separate the water from the rice and add another amount of spices, then a layer of rice, and finally a layer of special spices, and leave the rice for half an hour.

However, we notice that those pre-prepared meals will be kept in a ready-made food heater to ensure that the food is hot,clean and maintains its taste.

Moreover, the restaurant also provides food delivery to its customers. Mr Sadam said the restaurant has six bikes and two vans which are solely for the delivery services. Motorcycles are used to transport small and immediate orders, while cars are used to deliver big orders. They do have agreement with online food ordering, but orders placed by these apps are delivered by the companies themselves.

Regarding the marketing and customer service, we noticed that the Google page of NOOR AL MANDI restaurant is the only channel for them to make advertisements and engage with their customers. During the interview sessions, Mr Sadam clarified that the restaurant's Google page is regarded as the most significant medium or artery for advertising and getting consumer responses and reviews on the service. The management of the restaurant encourages the placement of exclusive deals and coupons on this website, and often pays Google to run ad campaigns. In the form of booking purposes, customers need to call the toll-free number to reserve a seat, order home meals or any inquire about the restaurant services.

b) Support Activities

During the interview sessions, Mr Sadam explained that the restaurant did assign a procurement officer in handling the procurement procedures. Before making a decision to negotiate with a supply company, the procurement officer will compares pricing and quality; even after signing, he returns to the market on a regular basis to check prices.

Furthermore, when it comes to recruitment of new staff, the restaurant does not have many requirements for employment, but there are certain requirements for each profession, for example, hiring a motorbike driver must have a driving license in Dubai. Second, staff are required to have experience in the region for a period of two years and be a good English speaker. To ensure the quality and profession of their staff, the management conducts a suitable training course for each department annually. Mr Sadam claimed that the restaurant has a low turnover rate due to the incentives and pensions provided that meet the employee needs. Majority of employees have been with the restaurant for ten years or more.

Besides, the restaurant uses an automated system on a regular basis to log orders, store client data, and generate accounting data. Mr Sadam said they recently acquired an IPOS system which helps them to keep track of how many orders each individual delivers using this method, as well as monitor the shop and gather the necessary reports. Lastly, Mr Sadam emphasize that systems are an important part of a company's development.

6.3 Information Technology

Based on our interview, Mr Sadam Alin explained to us that Noor Al Mandi Restaurant uses Information Technology (IT) integration in their business. One of the IT systems in their restaurant is the POS system. The POS system is essential where it refers to the place where the customer can make the payment for the goods or services they purchase. This POS system provides the efficient control over the business operations such as to identify what product is exactly sold on a monthly basis, to track how many products are in the store and how much profit earned monthly. He mentioned that Noor Al Mandi Restaurant uses the POS system in order to handle orders, track payments and cash flow, manage inventory, and provide robust reporting to help them to make decisions in time. Usually this restaurant uses a POS system in order to come out with the sales reports which are based on the product, total cost of items sold, total restaurant amount, net profit, profit percentage or gross margin. This enables the Noor Al Mandi Restaurant to analyse the sale chart about the restaurant sales performance and to forecast the future trend or requirement to improve the restaurant performance in order to increase the

profit.

Besides that, Mr Sadam Alin explained that POS systems enable Noor Al Mandi Restaurant in inventory management such as to keep track of all the products in store in order for them to make the reorder from the supplier in time. This helps to save time and cost because they can record the product information during checkout and make orders when they reach the reorder point in order to avoid keeping too much inventory in the store. Therefore, a POS helps them to operate smartly and keep costs in check, which is why choosing the right system is essential for our business. He also state that IT will be able to help in adding value to the Noor Al Mandi Restaurant such as keeping customer information from phone numbers, addresses and details of previous requests, which makes it easier for them to choose the right offer for the right person and facilitate the launch of advertising campaigns on the WhatsApp Business. This allows them to have a more significant impact on customer satisfaction and focus on the target customer or deliver the promotion information to those customers targeted.

6.4 Competitive Strategy

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic arising, there are huge challenges related to the sustainability or going concern issues for Noor Al Mandi Restaurant. Going concern principle is very important for all the businesses nowaday during the pandemic period because they need to make sure that the business will stay in operation for the foreseeable future. Therefore, in order to attract more customers and survive the restaurant, they come out with several proactive actions or methods that have more competitive advantages compared to other competitors. Even though Noor Al Mandi Restaurant is practicing a successful strategy to negotiate with many major suppliers by making a supply contract with them in order to lower the material cost at a reasonable price. However, the most important thing is Noor Al Mandi Restaurant will ensure that the material purchase meets the quality target that their restaurant set. Thus, Mr Sadam Alin told us that Noor Al Mandi Restaurant is doing what is necessary to reduce costs and ensure product quality at the

same time in order to survive in this pandemic period.

There are internal and external factors that affect the Noor Al Mandi Restaurant competitive advantages. For the internal factor, Mr Sadam Alin explained that a high level of cleanliness and sanitation is an essential component for Noor Al Mandi Restaurant success and a requirement for all society's well-being. A clean restaurant environment will be able to make a good first impression on customers and help to boost customer loyalty. This is because the customers will not be worried about food safety problems and making them feel comfortable. During the pandemic period, hygiene is important for all of us. Therefore, Noor Al Mandi Restaurant has made the strict rule to ensure the restaurant is clean and has a practicing social distance as well as ensure their employee is not infected by Covid-19 that does not bring the risk to the customers. Besides that, he also mentioned that the food taste is the secondary consideration in the competitive advantages. The restaurant's demise is the result of a difference in the taste or quality of the dishes. In their restaurant menu, there are several food categories such as they provide the most popular food order by customers, salads, breads, Non Veg Dishes, meat, sheep, dessert and beverages, fresh juices, soft beverages. In each food and beverage category, there are several tastes that allow the customers to have more choices. Although the service provided can succeed in the first two stages, it may fall short in the third, which is how to satisfy the client in a manner that attracts and retains them. For instance, Mr Sadam Alin told us that Noor Al Mandi

Restaurant provides the delivery services to the customer through the online

during the

pandemic, or in particular during the lockdown so that it is easy for the customers to reduce going outside and avoid risk of being infected by covid-19. While for the external factors there is a significant range of restaurants serving the same dishes at affordable prices. It is impossible for Noor Al Mandi Restaurant to lift prices while keeping them cheaper than our competitors. This enabled Noor Al Mandi Restaurant to generate more profits by generating more sales of food.

Thus they get a high rating at 4 out of 5 rate from the customers for the food and service that

restaurant provides.

Lastly, he mentioned that Noor Al Mandi Restaurant applied a sustainable cost reduction program during the pandemic period. They mostly focus on the home delivery of food and their priority has also been to reduce the amount of food wasted every day. They prepare their food menu in advance and wait for the orders from the customers in order to avoid wasting a large amount to reduce costs. Due to the Noor Al Mandi Restaurant being limited to food delivery during the pandemic period, they made a decision to give two months leave to half of the staff because they were unable to afford additional expenses during these difficult times. This will reduce the high cost from the employee salary that needs to be paid and it is unnecessary for the restaurant to recruit the original amount of employees before. For their restaurant long term planning, their plans previously have needed to be changed and modified because they are no longer possible as a result of the Corona pandemic.Mr Sadam Alin said that they will try to actively develop more robust and adaptable crisis response strategies in order to sustain in the market.

7.0 LIMITATION

8.0 RECOMMENDATION

9.0 CONCLUSION

10.0 REFERENCES APPENDIX

1. Approval letter from U-Assist

2. Interview Questions

3. Confirmation Letter from NOOR AL MANDI Restaurant