Because our concept is unique to this area, we do not have any direct competition. However, we do have indirect competition which may attract the same demographics. These restaurants are listed below.

? Drive-in Burger Restaurant – Pet owners frequent this drive-in restaurant because there is outdoor seating available which means their pets can be with them as they eat. However, the quality of the food is only average, and the customer service is very limited. No food choices are available for the dog.

? Take-Out Fast Food Restaurants – After activities with pets, many owners simply go through a drive-thru in order to purchase food since they can not leave the dog alone in the vehicle to go inside and dine or to pick up an order. Again, the quality of the food is usually poor and no real customer service is available. No food choices are available for the dog.

3 – Marketing Strategy

People and Their Pets Outdoor Cafe has a limited start-up budget for advertising. As a result, we must keep our campaigns simple and must make sure to get the most from our investments. Staying within the constraints of our budget will also be important.

3a – Market Positioning

We plan to position ourselves in the market as a one-of-a-kind dining experience for pet lovers while emphasizing the quality of our food for people and for pets, as well our customer service.

3b – Marketing Channels

Our marketing campaigns will utilize the following channels:

? Joint marketing with local pet stores
? Direct mailings to surrounding residential areas
? Flyers posted in animal-related environments
? A radio spot during afternoon commuting
? Pres releases to local newspapers and regional trade related magazines

3c – Marketing Goals

Our goals for these campaigns will be as follows:

? Establish a solid base of customers within the first two months of operation
? Increase number of customers by 10% each month for the remaining eight months of the year
? Increase revenue by at least $2000 per month for the first year

4 – Marketing Budget

As stated previously, our marketing budget is limited. Below is a list of campaigns we plan to conduct in the first year of operation, and the budget we have set aside for each campaign.

Campaign 1 – Joint Venture Partnership with Pet Stores – For this campaign, a local pet store will be giving coupons to its customers for our restaurant. In return, we will give 40% of the profits from sales made to those customers back to the pet store. – We will have no expenses related to this campaign.

Campaign 2 – Direct Mailings – For this campaign, we will put together a promotional postcard that will also be a coupon. We will mail 1,000 of this postcards to residential neighbors within 25 miles of our restaurant – Our budget for this campaign is $2,000.

Campaign 3 – Flyers – For this campaign, we will create one page flyers advertising our restaurant. These flyers will be posted at a variety of animal-related locations, including humane societies and pet shops – Our budget for this campaign is $500.

Campaign 4 – Radio Spot – For this campaign, we are going to produce a 30-second radio spot that will run on the radio station during the hours of 3 pm to 7 pm daily, as well as the mornings on the weekends. – Our budget for this campaign is $700.

That brings us to the end of our sample marketing plan. Hopefully, this will give you an idea of what information you should include. Remember you may want to add in more details and graphics. In the end though the most important thing is to make your marketing plan a tool that will help your restaurant succeed.

Elements of a restaurant marketing plan, part 1 and part 2 are available here.

People & Their Pets Outdoor Cafe will provide a unique dining experience for consumers. By allowing diners to bring their pets to the restaurant and by serving both human and pet food options, the restaurant will be catering to a growing number of pet lovers who do not want to leave home without their beloved companions.
(Note: If this was your marketing plan, you might spend some additional time talking about any restaurant experience you have had or about the success of similar restaurants in your area or similar areas in other parts of the country).

2. Situation Analysis

The pet care industry has been booming in recent years because people are spending more money on their pets than ever. This rise in spending has also seen an increased interest in pet-friendly hotels and pet-welcoming retail stores. Based on the research, people seem to want to spend as much time as possible with their pets.

Because of this trend, this seems to be a good time to open a restaurant that not only permits customers to bring their pets but also provides food and beverages for both.

2a. Market Summary

People & Their Pets Outdoor Cafe’s target market is going to be pet owners in general. However within that group, we are going to be targeting a certain segment which tends to pamper their pets more than others.

That segment consists primarily of individuals or couples who have no children but who have middle and upper middle class incomes. Most of these people will have active lifestyles and are concerned more about quality and experience than about price.

Our secondary market is going to be families from the same income levels. Small families – parents, one or two children, and their pets – may also enjoy the experience because they are able to eat outdoors (which is attractive to children) and can bring their pets along for the outing. The children may also enjoy being around the other pets.

2a-1. Market Demographics

Our target market will be

? Male and Female
? Professionals
? Between the ages of 25 and 50
? Earning $40,000 or more per year
? Pet owners
? Concerned about pet-related issues
? Interested in pet activities

2a-2. Market Needs

Our target market has the following needs:

? A restaurant where they can comfortably bring their pet
? Casual, high-quality food
? Nutritional, tasty food for pets
? Customer service geared towards meeting the needs of the customer and their pets

2a-3. Market Trends

As competition in the restaurant market continues to grow, restaurants are meeting the needs of niche markets or are providing unusual dining experiences.

Additionally, pet owners are more focused on engaging in activities with their pets, instead of boarding them and/or leaving them alone at home. Even tourists are beginning to make their travel decisions based on pet-friendly attractions.

2b. SWOT Analysis

Below is an outline of People and Their Pets Outdoor Cafe’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

2b-1. Strengths

? Great location – a short walk from the city’s most popular dog park and two miles from a highly trafficked pet store which permits dogs
? Trained staff – our staff has been hand-selected to provide superior service to customers and to their pets
? Quality food – our custom menu provides a mix of healthy and delicious casual options for customers and their pets

2b-2. Weaknesses

? Lack of restaurant experience – None of the primary figures in the venture has significant restaurant experience. This may cause us to have a sharper learning curve as we start the business.
? Weather Issues – Because the restaurant is an outdoor cafe, weather may interfere with our ability to serve consumers. We may be forced to close during the winter months and need to develop an alternative for rainy days.

2b-3. Opportunities

? Unique concept – No other restaurant caters to pet owners in this way so we have limited competition.
? Merchandising – Within a month of opening the restaurant, we are going to start selling shop-related merchandise, including pre-packaged versions of some of the pet foods.

2b-4. Threats

? Trend changes – If trends related to pet owners and their pets change, then our business may suffer.
? Economic changes – While our target market currently has the disposable income available to frequent our establishment, a change in the economy may change that.

So far we’ve covered a portion of the marketing plan. In Part 2, you’ll see a sample of how to put together information about your competition and your marketing strategy.

Marketing Strategy
The next big thing that needs to be included is your marketing strategy. While some of the other elements could be a little vague, you really want to be specific here about how you’re going to sell your business to customers and what channels you think will work best in reaching those customers.
Let’s say your restaurant sells gourmet pizzas. How are you going to sell yourself to customers so they’ll give you a try when they can already get pretty good pizza from chains and local mom and pop pizza places? You might focus on the large amount of topping choices, including some exotic options like squid. You might focus on the upscale ambiance of your restaurant or the level of customer service your customers will receive. Whatever you would choose to do needs to be included in the marketing plan.

How to Promote
The channels you choose for conveying your marketing messages are also important. If you target families with children, then how do you most likely reach those families? Would a television commercial be more effective than a radio spot? Would a newspaper ad get more attention than mailed coupons? Those are the types of questions you need to answer for your marketing plan – and once you have opened make sure that you track which of your marketing activities is generating customers for you.

Goals/ Objectives
Additionally, you’ll need to develop some goals for your marketing. The bottom line is that if you don’t know what you want then you’ll never know if you achieved it. That might work for some people in some parts of life but if you’re serious about making it as a restaurant owner then you need to start setting some goals.

Your goals shouldn’t be vague either. “I want to increase my restaurant’s revenue” is not a real goal. You need to be specific: how much do you want to increase your restaurant’s revenue and over the course of how much time?

Finally, you have to address the financial aspects of your marketing. It’s wonderful to be able to plan to do a television campaign to market your new restaurant but if you can’t afford that type of promotion you need to know it now.

While you could get very detailed with your financial information and you could include charts and graphs to illustrate your spending on different campaigns to attract different audiences, this isn’t really necessary. A simple list of the campaigns you plan to do over the first six months or a year, along with your budget for each campaign and your anticipated results is sufficient if your marketing plan is for your eyes only.

Of course, if your marketing plan needs to be reviewed by a lending institution, a franchise operation, or potential investors, you might want to add in a few more bells and whistles. If the marketing plan is simply going to be a tool that will help you prepare for your restaurant’s future, then it needs to be practical and easy to put together not aesthetically pleasing.

One last thing about your marketing plan – it needs to be written out. Some business owners claim that their marketing plan is all up in their head and they think that’s enough. It’s not. For one, you’re not going to remember your entire plan or your research months down the road, especially not if you’re trying to juggle all of the aspects of running a business. You also need it in writing so it’s concrete and unchangeable. It’s easy to change our minds about what we hope to accomplish or how much of a budget we can spend, but if it’s written down those changes take a lot more effort.

The main idea of a marketing plan is to help you figure out who your market is going to be. Without this information, you’re not going to know how to position your business, how to advertise effectively, even where to send marketing materials. You could end up wasting a lot of time and money with poorly planned marketing campaigns, and you stand a much better chance of being one of the millions of restaurants that goes under in its first year.
With that said, let’s talk a little about what a marketing plan includes.

Situational Analysis
One aspect of your marketing plan is going to be the Situation Analysis. In this section, you’ll be given some background about your restaurant, about its potential for growth, and about its actual target audience. Putting this material together makes you take a long look at who is going to be buying your product so you’ll be better prepared to meet their needs.

Understand Your Market
Although you can do a fairly simple marketing plan, it’s a good idea to include some demographic information about your target audience, as well as a list of some of their needs and the trends in the market right now. For example, if you recognize a trend toward customers choosing healthier food options then that might give you a good marketing angle for some of your menu items.

SWOT Analysis
Your marketing plan should also include a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You need to take a long, hard look at what your business has to offer and what might stand in its way of success. Only by being honest about these elements can you maximize or combat them.

For example, if one of your strengths is the quality of your food, then you’ll want to emphasize this in your marketing. You might want to pass out free samples at a local event or invite customers in for a sandwich – you want to do anything that will get your food to tingle their taste buds because that’s what going to bring back the business.

Competition
Another important section of your marketing plan is a look at your competition. Who might steal your potential business? Why might you lose that business? These are the questions you need to be asking here. Make sure to be thorough when you are thinking about your competition. Remember that many customers aren’t choosing between two Italian restaurants or two Mexican restaurants – they are actually choosing between all of the restaurants in the same price category. Maybe you specialize in sub sandwiches – that doesn’t mean McDonald’s won’t possibly steal away some of your customers.

When you’re analyzing your competition, you should make sure to watch for weaknesses. If a competitor consistently delivers poor service, then that’s something you can emphasize at your establishment to lure away his business. If a competitor is expensive, then your selling point might be that you offer high quality food at reasonable prices. Hopefully, you get the idea.

So far we’ve only covered a portion of what you need to include in your marketing plan. Read The Elements of a Good Restaurant Marketing Plan Part 2 to find out what else you need to include.