Company Name: Red Lobster

Three strategies arising from this:

1. Push a new advertising campaign, preferably with a celebrity, which will allow Red Lobster to either put a mark in pop-culture or to push the healthy aspect of the food there.

2. Reinvent the stale feel of Red Lobster. Restaurants that are successful right now usually have something that is unique about them, such as Texas Roadhouse’s servers do a line dancing routine occasionally. Do something unique that makes the customer feel that they are getting an authentic seafood experience.

3. MITs (managers-in-training) go to Florida for a week as part of their training program, but the experience is more like a vacation with a couple of required seminars rather than a training program. A lot of employees in the company are disappointed in management at the field level, which leads to worse customer service. Properly training your managers to run a team would be a huge step forward for the company.

Strengths:

1. Strong brand recognition (definitely the nation’s leader in seafood)

2. Great advertising campaign (always seen on TV and several magazines)

3. Several great promotions (Lobsterfest, Endless Shrimp, Grand Seafood Festival, etc.)

4. Low employee turnover (employees stay usually between 2-5 years which is great in the restaurant business, up to over 15 years)

Weaknesses:

1. High priced meals tend to deter potential customers

2. Somewhat of a stale concept in a dining experience.

3. Limited menu for products other than seafood (steak and chicken are about the only other non-seafood menu options).

4. Managers are extensively trained on company functions, but not extensively trained on how to actually manage a team.

Opportunities:1. Recently began expanding into international

markets; keep pushing.2. Sales recently surged 33% after Beyonce

mentioned she took a man to Red Lobster after sex.

3. Seafood is generally healthy for you, and with a lot of people trying to eat better, push the healthy aspect of the restaurant.

4. Now a stand-alone chain of restaurants after being sold by Darden.

Threats:

1. Economic state tends to determine success of chains, especially in low-income areas.

2. Recently taken under new ownership (2014), and the direction that this company is taking with the restaurant is still somewhat unclear.

3. Other specialty restaurants are fast growing, hurting the performance of Red Lobster.

4. Customers continue to be from lower income households, making high-priced meals and promotions hard to be successful.

Key Strategy Action Plans

1. Push a new advertising campaign, preferably with a celebrity given the success of Beyonce, to allow the company to put a mark in pop-culture and to push the healthy aspects of seafood.

A. Organizing Determine what our new campaign will be

centered around. Decide which networks we will air our

advertisements on. Determine which celebrities would be a good

spokesperson, as the company doesn’t have any real affiliations yet.

Decide what key menu items will be featured if it’s not a promotional season.

B. Leading Communicate to employees to ensure proper

production of food so that it lives up to advertised health standards.

Communicate to servers what we’re advertising on our promotion so they’re pushing what we’re advertising to our guests.

Have managers sponsor local events or participate in local events, such as softball teams, 5k runs, and other community events.

C. Control Measure whether or not a new ad campaign is

resulting in sales increases Set quarterly sales increase goals to measure

the success of the new campaign. Set goals for views on select advertisements

through social mediums, such as YouTube and Tumblr, as that is a good measure of gaining awareness for our brand.

2. Reinvent the stale feel of Red Lobster. Give the guests an authentic seafood experience, not just sitting down for a meal.

A. Organizing Change the lighting in all our restaurants to

brighten the place up a little bit as the dim lighting can be depressing at times.

Implementing new decorations around some of our restaurants, as a lot of places have the feeling of an old war ship.

Hire a team of designers that can change the feel of our restaurants into a more modern feel on a reasonable budget.

Make any needed renovations quick and efficient to avoid losing any money from closing branches.

Alter employee uniforms to give guests a more authentic oceanfront feel as opposed to a stuffy diner.

Leading Properly training your service team to not only

give great service, but to feel like they’re actually at sea.

Get employees excited about the change of atmosphere so guests will be excited when they walk in the door too.

Push floor team to get guest feedback. Push surveys and offer incentives to both guests and team members.

B. Control Set goals of 85% positive feedback or higher.

Also, set goals of 60% or higher for amount of surveys taken. Guest feedback is crucial to knowing if the changes are effective or not.

An uptick in guest count for a short time is a sign that people are interested in the new design; sustainable increase is a sign that the project is a success.

May be more successful in some areas than others; some market research for each individual store is needed to ensure the right changes and a unique experience for our guests.

3. Improving management at the field level.

A. Organizing Have a strict list of qualifications for

management Don’t be afraid to hire outside of the company.

A lot of people in the company are just considered “on-deck,” and when a position opens up they are promoted to management.

Allow student work programs in order to get some college educated employees working for the company.

Make the training program more interactive; team-building exercises and real night simulations would be much better than seminars.

B. Leading As a district manager, set clear standards for

what you expect of your store. As with reinventing the company would attract

a new crowd of guests, it could also attract a new crowd of employees. Use the new feel of the restaurant to go out and attract a new, youthful group of managers.

Reassure your current employees that their

work still matters and that they do still have a chance to move up in the company.

C. Control Follow ups with managers are good from the

upper management. District managers are very on top of what happens in their restaurants.

The company could benefit from a 360 appraisal system and a peer review system.

Review periods for both employees and floor managers usually only take place once every six months. Employees and managers alike could benefit from shorter review periods.