The 21st century has brought people various new possibilities in marketing and sales. Nowadays, opening a new place, whether it is an expensive restaurant or a small coffee shop, has become more accessible than ever before. On the other hand, however, the constant expansion of the market makes it complicated to keep the visitors attached to a particular brand. In order to meet today’s market requirements, business owners should pay much attention to the overall situation in the sphere and develop their brands, respectively.
Situational analysis, which was created for this purpose, has become an extremely beneficial marketing tool over the past years. The purpose of this paper is to examine an American pizza brand “&pizza,” using situational analysis and define its overall state and potential strengths and weaknesses.
Situational analysis as a methodological strategy for research became very popular with marketing a few years ago. Researchers note that with the beginning of the digital era, where competence has become a crucial indicator of success, people felt the need for a tool that could justifiably compare correlated concepts (Clarke et al. 13). Besides the comparison itself, situational analysis is also able to define the strengths, weaknesses, and potential risks of a particular project. If people who want to run a new business do not examine their concept with the help of the situational analysis from the earliest preparation stages, their chance to succeed is quite low.
Speaking of the service sector, the number of popular American food chains is enormous, and it is rising with bewildering speed. It is especially true for brands that deal with fast food and pizza. One such brand is called “&pizza,” and it was created in 2012 in Washington, D.C. (“&pizza”). Since then, the chain has expanded across the East Coast with 35 more places. In order to stay in demand, the owners came up with an extraordinary concept to decorate each place with the paintings of local artists. Hence, while promoting art, they attract more visitors, especially young ones.
When it comes to financial success, in 2018, American online magazine “Restaurant Business” added the chain to the list of the most promising facilities of the year. The pizza brand took the 30th position with approximately 39 million dollars of systemwide sales (“Future 50: &pizza”). Two years earlier, in 2016, “&pizza” was on such a list too. However, the systemwide sales constituted approximately 26 million dollars with the 12th position in the chart (“Future 50: &pizza”).
It could be noticed that even when the sense of chain novelty was withered, the incomes continued to rise steadily, and it shows that the owners have chosen the right marketing strategy, and they are also aware of the current consumers’ needs. A conceptual approach to a restaurant might not seem as appealing to the general public as essential fast-food chains. However, “&pizza” has an outstanding benefit of creating the community of faithful visitors who would not forget about its existence after the opening of new, more affordable places.
To sum everything up, on the example of the “&pizza” food chain, one may realize how important it is to do some field research to stay afloat and remain profitable. While analyzing the development of this network over the last few years, it is apparent that it has good potential if it continued to be managed wisely. When it comes to the potential risks, they can be easily avoided on the condition that the situational analysis is made regularly.
Works Cited
Clarke, Adele E., et al. Situational Analysis in Practice. Routledge, 2016.
“&pizza.” Wikipedia. 2019. Web.
“Future 50: &pizza.” Restaurant Business. 2018. Web.