Using DoorDash to Promote a Restaurant Brand

Implementing the Market Strategy
Introduction
Just as important as developing the market strategy is the process of implementing the strategy. Implementation has its own set of challenges that have to be addressed, however. These include forming strategic partnerships, managing top-selling products, improving pricing strategies; developing sales Promotion, advertising and sale promotion strategies; developing digital strategies and measuring market performance. This paper will address each of these challenges and offer solutions for implementing the market strategy for OPG.
Strategic Partnerships
Strategic partnerships the company could develop to help promote both companies could be to look for a local brewer who is wanting to expand and partnering with that brewer to brew in the adjacent building owned by OPG. OPG wants to start brewing its own beer, but instead of hiring a brewmeister and investing in the brewing business, it may make more sense to partner with a small existing brewer and expanding that operation into OPG so as to benefit both businesses and get a canning or bottling operation underway.
Another strategic partnership would be to partner with a local event organizer to help promote events and to provide catering for the events. This type of partnership would benefit both companies. It would get the event organizer more attention because OPG gets a ton of traffic, and it would help OPG to break into the catering business by getting its services acknowledged more widely by the public at events.
DoorDash would also be a good partner for OPG, as DoorDash is in the business of delivering local foods to customers. In today’s COVID-19 stricken world, DoorDash can ensure that the pub is getting meals to people who do not want to leave their homes. Both companies can thus benefit from the arrangement, and many restaurants have partnered with DoorDash to make this happen.
Managing the Top-Selling Product
The top-selling product at OPG is the OPG Burger, which has been voted best burger in the city twice in the past. The OPG Burger needs to be managed better, however; it was unable to retain its top spot year over year according to local survey because the meat had changed when the pub switched vendors. By basically changing the burger that helped put the pub on the map, the pub was undercutting its own brand and brand value. The pub should be staying true to course and keeping fans happy by keeping its OPG Burger the same. Change can come with other menu items but customers want consistency and do not like it when a favorite menu item changes all of a sudden. OPG should have taken better care with its famous OPG Burger and not been so cavalier about changing the meat. It needs to return to the meat that made it a town favorite and that will help to restore the burger to its top spot in the city.
Existing Pricing Strategy for Top Three Products
The pricing strategy for the OPG Burger, OPG pint, and OPG steak is to use competitive pricing. The pub has consistently sought to compete with every other pub in town by pricing its food and beer items at prices near to what others are offering and in many cases a little below so as to give the appearance of offering a value menu. This pricing strategy is what most pubs in the area use to promote their product lines, as pub food cannot typically justify having a premium pricing strategy and if priced using the discount strategy it undercuts the actual value and worth of the products and leads people to think it is not as good as it is. So it works out in the pub’s best interests to use competitive pricing strategy.
New Pricing Strategy for One Product
One product that could benefit from a new pricing strategy is OPG pub-brewed beer. This product could be priced with a premium pricing strategy to reflect the value that is in each bottle and pour. This would have to be discussed with the brewer, and what the pub could do is have a line of craft beers brewed at OPG that are competitively priced to compete with other local brewers and then a line of craft beers that are premium priced to reflect their uniqueness and value. Other pubs in the area also use this strategy, with higher alcohol content craft beers receiving a premium pricing strategy as opposed to beers with a typical alcohol content. OPG could use premium pricing with higher alcohol content brews and also give smaller pours to emphasize the premium essence of the product.
Two Ideas for Sales Promotion, Advertising and Sale Promotion Strategies
Two ideas for sales promotion are to have an OPG Burger Night where burgers are $2 off and an OPG half-off all new craft brew pints for the first day that a new craft beer is tapped. The purpose of these sales promotions would be to bring in customers to the pub on a days when they would not ordinarily be inclined to go out. This is a chance to tap into the market of consumers who are not inclined to come out to the pub on the weekends or for sporting events that they want to watch on one of the many pub’s TVs. Instead it aims for consumers who are price-conscious and are driven to come out because there is a good deal that they want to take advantage. These are consumers who like going out but not necessarily during the usual busy times of the week when the prime 21-35 target group is going out. By trying to reach this other target it is a way for OPG to expand its reach and to increase interest in its menu items and beer offerings. This in turn can help OPG to expand its catering mission.
Two ideas for advertising are to have a user generated content contest that invites customers to take photos of themselves having fun at OPG or at events catered by OPG and upload them Twitter with the hashtag #FunTimesWithOPG. This would help to advertise the pub without costing the pub anything in advertiser fees. Another idea for advertising is to promote the pub at events by sponsoring events, such as the local theater productions in the park, the local soccer club, and graduation ceremonies. This would help to get more eyes on OPG and stimulate new customers to come out to try it.
Sale promotion strategies are to have a game trivia night during the week to help promote sales. Game trivia nights are great for bringing new customers into a restaurant or pub as people enjoy trivia and it helps to pack the house (Gibson & Homan, 2004). Young people, the target demographic, especially enjoy trivia nights with friends (Lawson, 2007). Another promotion strategy is to have an annual Flip Cup challenge tournament in the Beer Garden with the intention of targeting new customers and bringing in more clientele.
Marketing with social networks is perfect for companies in the 21st century because the new generation consists entirely of digital natives who turn to social media for information and support. They want to read reviews on Yelp or see pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Social media is essentially where minds are made up and OPG has to take advantage of that playing field to promote itself.
Digital Strategy
The digital strategy that OPG should pursue should include the following steps, recommended by Queensland (2020):
1. Develop more of an online presence
2. Engage in digital marketing
3. Sell products or services online
4. Engage in customer interaction online
5. Ensure online security
6. Engage in supplier interaction online
7. Provide mobile-based solutions for customers
8. Strive for efficiencies through technology
9. Utilize cloud computing
Each of these steps is important for having a legitimate digital strategy and each can enhance the OPG experience for customers.
Developing more of an online presence is helpful in many ways. First, most customers are digital learners today and look for information online before they go about making plans (Gallardo-Echenique, Marqués-Molías, Bullen & Strijbos, 2015). If they can look up a pub’s menu online, see pictures of what the food looks like, read reviews, or engage with customer service in real time to get a sense of what the crowd is like on any given day, customers are more likely to have more interest in the place than not.
Digital marketing is also helpful because it allows the pub to appeal to the tech-heavy digitally-inclined upcoming generation. Using social media influencers to market is one example of this. But so too is the process of selling services online. For example, putting digital ads in emails to customers can help incentivize them to come back to the pub. Selling online can allow customers to order online and have food delivered through DoorDash. DoorDash would also be a great partner to have in this respect as well.
Using social media to stay connected with consumers would also help to get more traffic to the pub, as it is a way to curry favor with customers, address complaints and put out positive vibes by posting supportive comments to locals and others who are doing good things around town.
Online security is going to be important for stakeholders. Anyone ordering online or accessing the cloud at OPG is going to want to do so in a secure manner. Having the necessary security settings in place can help with OPG’s responsibility reputation.
Staying in contact with suppliers, especially local growers, is a good way to stay connected with the community and to ensure that the best foods are getting served at the pub. It also helps suppliers to know when stocks are getting low and to expect new orders.
Customers on the go are going to want to be able to place orders using their cell phones and are likely to be more appreciative of a pub that is mobile friendly on their site. Sites that have not been updated to be mobile friendly are basically a waste of time. This is one example of an efficiency through technology. Another is to bring in iPads for placing orders so that the wait staff does not have to ring up orders individually from one register station. Using pads can speed up the process as the wait staff can send an order straight from the table where the order is being taken straight to the kitchen and it will go straight to the computer for check-out as well. It eliminates several steps and creates a more efficient environment. Cloud computing would come into play here as well, since it would allow data to be collected from people who visit the website and stored in the cloud for processing.
Measuring Market Performance
Measuring market performance can be accomplished by comparing sales year over year and month over month. It can be measured by using Six Sigma as well. Six Sigma focuses on trends and performance and on collecting as much data as possible so as to be able to explain why performance is lacking in some areas (such as food delivery or food preparation) and excelling in other areas (such as customer service). Surveys are important to conduct with customers in order for Six Sigma to work, but surveys are an important part of any measuring process and should be viewed as an industry norm and standard.
Conclusion
Implementing a market strategy depends upon numerous factors, such as forming partnerships with other companies and organizations, like DoorDash and using digital technology to make one’s business more visible to the public. Social media plays a big part in the decision making process of many consumers today so it is essential that OPG leverage social media technology to interact with customers, post pictures, and draw people into its network of friends and followers. Sales promotions should include sponsoring local events and getting people active at the pub through trivia night or Flip Cup contests. Sales strategies can be used to bring in people during the week days when business might otherwise be slow. The strategy for implementing the market strategy is to look at the resources the pub has and leverage them to gain influence with the community of target consumers.
References
Gallardo-Echenique, E. E., Marqués-Molías, L., Bullen, M., & Strijbos, J. W. (2015). Let’s talk about digital learners in the digital era. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(3), 156-187.
Gibson, C., & Homan, S. (2004). Urban redevelopment, live music and public space: Cultural performance and the re?making of Marrickville. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 10(1), 67-84.
Lawson, C. (2007). Victorian Young Planners: News and Views-Pot, Parma and Trivia Night. Planning News, 33(6), 12.
Queensland. (2020). Key components of a digital strategy. Retrieved from https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/it/digital-strategy/key-components