Rusty Moose Industry Analysis

Industry Analysis
Trends
One of the more critical choices diners make when selecting a restaurant is whether to choose a chain or an independent venue. Chain restaurants offer consistency in their menus and the level of quality and service offered. However, as chains grow, the level of quality often becomes more variable and priorities could shift from pleasing patrons to serving the needs of stockholders. Independent restaurants tend to have a personal touch that cannot often be replicated by chain hotels. This effectively means that they can be able to tailor their approach to the specific and unique needs of individual customers. Customers value this level of intimacy as it makes them feel valued and taken good care of. Thanks to technology, today’s society has become increasingly connected – effectively meaning that customers are more likely to share their dining experiences with friends and make comparisons as they seek venues where their needs can be best addressed. This is a trend that players in the hospitality industry ought to be aware of. Only entities that are able to make a personal connection with clients are likely to do well going forward. Independent restaurants and venues appear best placed to pass this test. Rusty Moose is an independent restaurant that provides a unique dining experience to new and loyal customers.
Competitors
In essence, Rusty Moose faces stiff competition from both independent entities and chain restaurants. Its most formidable challenges, however, is chain restaurants. Two of the key advantages of chain restaurants are brand recognition and financial muscle. When it comes to brand recognition, the familiarity customers have with a certain brand could give them a sense of ‘safety’ resulting from the perceived ‘tested’ brand. Financial muscle, on the other hand, means that a single chain restaurant can sustain its activities for a longer time, than an independent entity can, before breaking even.
Some of the more pronounced weaknesses that come from being an independently-owned restaurant include the costs of marketing and the challenges of building and sustaining a loyal customer base. In that regard, therefore, the immediacy and trust that customers develop over time with a restaurant becomes an integral part of its brand and must be continually reinforced for the restaurant to grow – and neutralize some the inherent advantages chain restaurants have.
One advantage independent restaurants have in this space have is the ability to create unique food and entrees. This is an advantage that current independent restaurants in the area have not fully embraced. Rusty Moose is cognizant of this fact. Towards this end, the restaurant intends to keep the dining experience new and exciting for all customers.
Customer profile
A very young demographic in the area (mostly students) prefers fast foods to suit their hectic lifestyle. There is also a significant demographic group of older persons in the locality. Rusty Moose is trying to suit the palate of a diverse demographic of diners, which can be one of the most difficult aspects of running a chain restaurant. The restaurant, however, is cognizant of the fact that too many older patrons could mean that the restaurant will not have a sustained customer base. Greater focus, therefore, will be apportioned to winning over the younger demographic. Towards this end, Rusty Moose has been doing a great job of keeping up with ways to advertise their new menu and enticing foods to the target customer base. The restaurant is located near a busy road where it could attract passersby, particularly via the purchase of a digital sign to advertise the specials of the day to people passing by. The younger demographic group is also known to be tech savvy. Efforts will be made to keep up with technology that allows customers to place their own orders from their table without a waiter. This will keep the customer in control of the selection and ordering process. Rusty Moose could also start making use of an app for mobile phones. This will give adventure-seeking customers access to specials from wherever they may be, and info on special happenings/events.