Marketing plan for Big Mabel's Chicken & Waffles food truck

Marketing Plan

Name, Location, Nature

The business will be a food truck specializing in chicken and waffles. It will be called Big Mabel's Chicken & Waffles, the namesake being a fictional grandmother who, according to the marketing myth, developed the recipes. The food truck will have a number of different locations, which is normal in the business. The city will license out specific spaces and times for the truck, generally when those areas have high traffic. The business model is especially suited for areas where traffic is high only during a few hours of the day, so lunch time near construction sites, by the stadium on game night, or in a bar district on weekend evenings. The kitchen is tiny, so the choice of food will be limited to chicken and waffles, which is a classic American dish.

Customer Analysis

There are a number of potential customers. These will differ by location, naturally, but they will all have common themes that attract them specifically to a food truck selling chicken & waffles. These customers will appreciate the convenience of the food truck business model. They will be looking for a quick and cheap meal, so probably are not interested in a restaurant so much as they are interested in getting food quickly. If they are interested in chicken & waffles instead of more ordinary fast food offerings, they probably have good taste, or have experienced chicken & waffles before in places where it is especially popular, like the South or LA. The general demographic for food trucks skews younger, under 40 usually, but with a fair bit of disposable income. Customers are likely to be interested in good food in general, and are hip enough to be into the food truck scene that is exploding across America.

While the psychographics are expected to be relative consistent, the geographic demographics will be quite different. For example, in a downtown location, the customer will be more business-oriented, educated and professional. In an entertainment district, the customer is likely to skew younger, and probably more inebriated as well, which will influence customer decision-making. More families might be patrons when outside a stadium, though that will change depending on the event. Because of this wide range of customer, we have chosen a product that has broad-based appeal to most segments of America's demographics. Who doesn't love chicken & waffles?

There are two ways to analyze the size of the potential market. The first is to assume that the potential market is location and time specific. Because the city helps determine when and where the truck can be set up, it is important to gather specific data on traffic for those times and places. This information can be used to estimate specific demand conditions for each location and time, data that can be used for example in purchasing as well as forecasting. However, the company can also help itself out by marketing aggressively and building a name for itself, such that customers are willing to travel and seek out the truck when and where it is situated. This is another type of demand, one that is more loyal and reliable once cultivated, one that relies on branding and product rather than walk-by traffic. The size of this market can be estimated in broader terms -- if we are serving the entire city, this market might be 1-2% of the population of the city, and worth two visits per month at an average ticket of $10 (the cost of two pieces of chicken and a waffle, with soda). If walk-ups are expected to be in 10- 30 customer per hour range depending on time and location, that information can be built into the demand projections as well.

Marketing Environment

Political factors are important to the marketing strategy, because the city licenses food trucks and sets locations and times for them. Good relations with city hall are essential to getting access to the best locations and times; also for keeping the number of licenses limited thus limiting direct competitors. Economic factors should not be significant. Our customer base has sufficient disposal income and with higher education will have better than average economic outcomes. With good marketing, we should be recession-proof as a quick service outlet. Social factors are strong. We can leverage both the popularity of food trucks in general and the trend towards social media marketing. Our changing locations in particular creates opportunities to interact on social media with our customers frequently -- to update on locations in particular. We can use our skills in new media to outmarket the fast food joints in social media. Legal and governmental factors are the same as political factors -- who controls government if not the politicians? These are important factors because of food service cleanliness standards and government control of market access to our niche.

Works Referenced:

Christ, Paul (2011). Principles of Marketing. KnowThis.com. Available December 3, 2012, at http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/

Marketing Power Dictionary (2011). American Marketing Association.. Available December 3, 2012 at http://www.marketingpower.com/_la

Marketing Made Simple. (n.d.). Available December 3, 2012 at.

http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/