Marketing Plan for Chick-fil-A Essay

Introduction Establishing a marketing plan to introduce a new service to an organization requires extensive analysis and reviews of its competitors. An organization needs to review the pros and the cons of any new service, especially when the organization is currently growing nationally. In this paper, Team A will provide a basic overview of Chick-Fil-A. Team A will introduce a delivery service for Chick-fil-A, including a SWOTT analysis, the importance of Marketing, and the marketing approach it should take to execute service. Chick-fil-A Overview Chick-fil-A is a company that was founded by S. Truett Cathy in 1946, which is privately held and family owned. The company services 39 states, 1,500 locations, including their headquarters stationed in Atlanta, GA (Chick-fil-A, 2012). Chick-fil-A mission statement is simple but strong; â€Å"To be Americas best swift-service food establishment at captivating and maintaining patrons (Chick-fil-A, 2012). Chick-fil-A has a huge variety of specialty chicken based products such as, a variety of chicken sandwiches, wraps, nuggets, salads, desserts, and now breakfast. Chick-fil-A has a few signature products that include their famous chicken sandwich, signature lemonade, as well as products with their different logos and characters for personal use such as clothing, cold and hot beverage mugs, books, and home and office supplies. Description of New Product Chick-fil-A is more than a restaurant, it has become a cultural following similar to the Starbucks and Chipotle franchises’, which focuses on a healthier fast food options and boasts family friendly environments, it would be beneficial to offer a delivery service that focuses on families and organizations. Chick-fil-A’s new product offering should be a family sized meal which can include various selections of our current options. This new family meal approach opens up the types of services provided and places the company in another category when it comes to being fast food restaurant competitor. Not only would Chick-fil-A continue to show the importance of family but it represents a strong tie to the organizations values and opens up the competitive market for the culture based following that has been established. SWOTT Analysis Strengths Chick-fil-A size and strengths gave the company an opportunity to offer customers a expedited option to patronize the business in the workplace and busy sites. Chick-fil-A is family orientated and kid friendly restaurant. For fast service and delivery, Chick-fil-A offers online order and catering delivery service to their customers. In 2010, Chick-fil-A system sales reached a $3.5 billion. The company’s product statement offers a variety of delicious products that can fit a balanced and healthy diet. Weaknesses Chick-fil-A Incorporation had to voluntary removal 1.5 million of the â€Å"Planet Discovery† Kid’s Meal premium from its restaurants in 2011. The kid’s meal had the planet toy attached to bottom of the suction cup which a small child could easily remove the toy and put it their mouths and swollen casing injury, (â€Å"Chick-fil-A Recalls Kid’s Meal Premium,† 2012). The cause of the recall caused the corporation money, however, it earned consumers respect because it the safety of their family was put first. Chick-fil-A redesigned the product to be kid friendly by making the pieces larger and keeping within the same theme. Opportunities The opportunity for other restaurants to capitalize on the food industry is with introducing new products, like McDonald’s with the McRib and Wendy’s with the Spicy Chicken Salad. However, Chick-fil-A has stayed a head of the game with launching new products such as the new spicy Chick-fil- A sandwich and introducing the healthiest kids meal, the Grilled Chicken Nuggets. Threats The fast food chains such as McDonalds, Burger King, or Wendy’s are a major threat to Chick-fil-A. Many of these chains are currently introducing healthier menu options which can potentially cause Chick-fil-A the inability to grow in certain areas. Although, there are differences between Chick-fil-A and these fast food chains, there are other restaurants service consumers’ healthy meal options such as â€Å"Veggie Grill†. Even if Trends America’s current trend of a healthy eating lifestyle will allow introduce a fast-food franchise that offers delivery service for consumers with minimal time. Chick-Fil-A will devote more ways to position assets to improve the majority of their restaurants with the intentions to improve patron’s satisfaction and present a complete service that always will produce an abundance of revenue. The Importance of Marketing Marketing plays an important role in Chick-fil-A overall success as it affects the positioning of business strategy of the products to the consumers. While managers may have an eye on the existing products and sales, profits, and market share and how well Chick-fil-A growth it continues to meet the company’s goal and expectation by; developing the products that customers want, making products readily available to the consumers, and promoting products and service that will outlast its competitors. Marketing Research Approach Chick-fil-A already counts with a great number of customers nationwide. The purpose of the new service that will be offer by the company is to retain and attract even more customers to our restaurants. The positive results of the project will help the company to expand to more cities within the U.S. to reach more customers. Considering the already existing customers, that already like the food and service that is offered at Chic-fil-A, they eventually would want to see a change that takes that food and that service to a different level of quality. Those changes in product and operations make things more convenient and accessible for consumers. At Chick-fil-A, we want to let the public know the new delivery service that will facilitate customers to eat food from Chick-fil-A without having to go to the restaurant. The group of consumers that the organization will target is those that usually are in need of fast food or that their busy schedules do not really have the time to go pick their lunch. Most working professionals are groups that are likely to have their food deliver to their work place or office, especially in places like Los Angeles and other big cities where heavy traffic, busy streets, and congested freeways is an issue. Also, for those who do not have the time to cook, like walking, or driving at night, a delivery service is a solution to their problem. In smaller cities delivery service is an attractive service for customers, specially, if shopping centers or restaurants are far away from the populated areas. In comparison to most fast food restaurants, which do not offer a delivery service, Chick-fil-A will be taking a step forward from its direct competitors. Finally, we will complete a competitor analysis. We will research the kinds of services our competitor offer and whether or not they charge for their delivery services. We will explore their online ordering and time frames between the orders being placed and delivered and will the order be free if it is not delivered within a specified time frame. Conclusion As a staple in the fast food industry for years now, we strongly believe in the marketing techniques and branding that Chick-fil-A has been known for; however, the company is not against change and recognize room for growth. The choice, as outlined above, to establish a delivery service should prove to be profitable and increase customers in all our markets. Our marketing plan provides complete coverage on how we plan to execute and introduce the change to all of our stores. We are confident that the delivery service will yield the expected results for Chick-fil-A for years to come. Reference Chick-fil-A. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Company/Highlights-Fact-Sheets Chick-fil-A Recalls Kid’s Meal Premium. (2012, February). QSR Magazine . Retrieved from http://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/chick-fil-recalls-kids-meal-premium