Paper Example - Cracker Barrel Marketing Plan: Enhancing Dining Experience with Home-Style Dinner Dishes

Introduction

Cracker Barrel is an American-based company founded in 1969, comprising a chain of restaurants and gift stores. The main products offered include homemade foods, including meatloaf, chicken n' dumplings, and signature biscuits (Taylor 2020). The paper aims to create a marketing plan for Cracker Barrel's home-style dinner dishes consisting of country-fried pork chops, maple bacon grilled chicken, and barrel-cut sugar ham.

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Financial feasibility

We anticipate that promoting the dishes will positively impact the revenue of the company if successfully implemented. In this case, the current sales of dinner dishes account for a fair amount of the company's revenue. Cracker Barrel's financial standing currently is $3.07 billion (Taylor 2020). If marketing is not successful, the company may undergo losses that may significantly impact its revenue. The return on investment may decrease and may force the company to change its products' pricing to compensate for the losses.

Mission/Vision

The mission of this market plan is to show our customers that they are the essential stakeholders in our business by providing them with simplified menus that contain home-style cooked dishes. We want our customers to be informed of what we have to offer and provide them with quality meals that exceed their expectations. Our vision is to target customers craving for comfort while satisfying their taste buds with our dishes.

Objectives

1. To increase awareness of Cracker Barrel home-style dinner dishes, which contain various delicacies at affordable prices.
2. To increase the sales of the dinner dishes by 20% in the first six months of implementing the marketing plan.
3. To maximize the use of digital technology as an effective promotional strategy through web networking and advertisement that will help promote the competitive edge of Cracker Barrel as a company and improve customer experience through content sharing.

Competitive environment

Cracker Barrel operates in an environment that is full of competitors who offer similar or different products. The main competitors for Cracker Barrel include McDonald's, Ruby Tuesday, Inc., Dine Brands Global Inc., and Denny's Corporation. Companies like McDonald's and Ruby Tuesday are already developed, which threatens the capacity of Cracker Barrel to attract the market it wants fully. These companies have developed their footprint in society based on the dishes and menus they offer to customers. They have stores strategically located in most parts of the country. Besides, a company like McDonald's has a larger market share and provides various products to its consumers, making them a more significant threat to Cracker Barrel. The marketing strategies employed by these competitors are all-inclusive, which makes them leverage a larger market share.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Cracker Barrel has a unique and robust brand image that is family-focused and provides a rich homely experience to customers. It has been in existence since 1969, which means that the brand is developed and people are aware of it.

Cracker Barrel has the capital and human resources. Cracker Barrel has over 660 restaurants across the country, with more than 73,000 employees and a $3.07 billion revenue (Taylor 2020). It shows that the company can promote the dinner dishes and serve a broad market.

Cracker Barrel has a broader product portfolio ranging from breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes. Its diverse menu makes it easy to attract customers.

Weaknesses

The company has a limited presence in the USA. Cracker Barrel has no global reach, limiting its potential to compete with globalized brands (Team 2020).

Cracker Barrel has no online ordering facility for the restaurant. Customers have to go directly to the shop to get their meals.

Opportunities

The development of online shopping is an opportunity that will allow the company to reach more customers.

The expansion of its menu to include dishes from the northern part of the country to increase its market share

There is an emerging market for people who enjoy home-style cooked dishes and healthy meals with their families (Team 2020).

Threats

There is Stiff competition from other developed brands like Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, and McDonald's.

There is a consistent change in policies governing the food industry, which may threaten the company's credibility.

Target market

This marketing plan's target market includes families because the main agenda of the brand is to target people with families who enjoy sharing a meal around a dining table. Travelers are also the target market for those who want to make a quick stop at a restaurant and enjoy a healthy cooked meal and enjoy old-fashioned settings (Taylor 2020). Millennials and young adults are also the target market, especially those interested in having real meals prepared freshly.

Product strategy

The product strategy that will be used is differential techniques, where we will focus on the unique aspects of the dinner dishes (Sharma 2017). We want to become a market leader; thus, we will focus on how the meals have been prepared by disclosing the ingredients so that either vegetarian or diabetic customers get the meals they deserve. We will focus on how casual the restaurant is and how old-school the meals are prepared and served. Our products are also customer-centered because we will provide meals to customers based on their satisfaction.

Price strategy.

The method that we intend to use is high-cost, low turnover because we want to retain the company's profit margins while selling goods as per the demand. In this case, we will use a premium pricing strategy because the meals are of high quality and will surpass customer expectations. Premium pricing guarantees the brand's profit margins, and customers trust the brand such that they will pay more for the dishes. For instance, a plate of country-fried pork chops will cost $7.99 to customers, and the manufacturing cost is $4.99, which leaves the profit margin at $3.00 per plate. This allows the restaurant to maintain its premium pricing while generating profits (Sharma 2017).

Promotion strategy

The dinner dishes will be positioned as quality, healthy, and old-fashioned meals for customers. A communication mix will be used where digital media and traditional channels will promote the products. We will utilize sales promotions where there will be discounts for customers who spend more than $25. There will be television and radio ads that will be used to promote the products. In digital media, people will be encouraged to post videos and images that showcase the unique experiences provided at the restaurants. The message that will be communicated in all channels is how unique, old-fashioned, and healthy our dishes are and how amazing the experience is for interested customers.

Services

Our waiters, waitresses, and chefs are responsive because they adequately respond to customers' questions and needs. Our staff is very courteous in how they communicate and attend to customers. Our restaurants are secure in that our clients can trust us to keep them safe. We tailor our service towards customer needs by being responsive and sensitive to their need adding value to our products.

References

Sharma, S. (2017). The Efficacy of Product Strategy in the Formulation of Marketing Strategy in Small Scale Industries. IUP Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 14(2).

Solomon, M. R. (2009). Marketing: Real people, real decisions. Pearson Education.

The team, M. (2020). Cracker Barrel Old Country Store SWOT Analysis | Top Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Competitors, STP & USP | Detailed SWOT Analysis of Brands | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share. Retrieved 6 December 2020, from https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/food-and-beverages/10403-cracker-barrel-old-country-store.html

Taylor, K. (2020). This old-fashioned chain just won the title of the best family restaurant in America. Retrieved 6 December 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/cracker-barrel-is-no-1-in-family-dining-2016-4?IR=T