A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in
Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics.
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MARKETING PLAN FOR BOOK-A-COOK
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Elisa Maria Bolm #1774
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A Project carried out on the Management course, under the supervision of: Prof. Victor Centeno
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Index
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Abstract 3
Executive Summary 4
Research Methodology 5
Situational Analysis 5
External Audit 5
Context 5
Customers 7
Competitors 8
Internal Audit 10
Company 10
Collaborators & Complementers 11
SWOT Analysis 12
The Opportunity 12
Marketing Strategy 13
Segmentation 13
Targeting 14
Positioning 14
Objectives 14
Issues 16
Marketing Mix 17
Product/Service 17
Price 18
Promotion 19
Place 22
Budget 22
Controls 23
Conclusion & Recommendations 24
Bibliography 25
I.
Abstract
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This thesis studies the marketing plan for the new brand Book-a-Cook. Book-a-Cook is an online platform connecting well-to-do urban Germans with professional chefs that prepare meals at consumer's homes. By analyzing the external and internal audit, it was possible to develop an appropriate strategy to launch the service in Germany. The main goals are stimulating demand and creating a strong brand in order to establish a successful business model. A quantitative research was made to identify potential customers, their needs and how Book-a-Cook can satisfy them.
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Keywords: Marketing Plan, Germany, Restaurant Industry
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II. Executive Summary
The goal of this work is to create a strategic marketing plan for the implementation of the new online service platform “Book-a-Cook“ in Germany. Book-a-Cook is an online dinner platform connecting well-to-do Germans with professional chefs that prepare, cook and serve a dinner at the consumer’s home. The platform is user-friendly and transparent with an appealing design and secure payment options.
The €22.9 billion restaurant market lacks a personalised service satisfying individual consumer needs. The concept of high quality and fully customised meals cooked by professional cooks in the personal atmosphere of one’s own home represents a huge opportunity. Combined with the fact that chefs are generally dissatisfied with their normal work compensation, a tremendous opportunity for a private chef rental service is given for the supply side as well.
The goal is to capture €700k in revenues in the first year, €2.5 million in the second year and over €4 million in the third year. The main objective is to create a strong brand that is directly recognised as a professional home cooking service. Since our service is offered over an online platform, our marketing activities take place mainly online as well. In order to create brand awareness and to educate consumers, we focus on content marketing and social media advertising campaigns.
III. Research Methodology
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A quantitative research was conducted in the form of an online survey with structured questions (multiple choice, scales) with the purpose of identifying potential customers, their needs and how Book-a-Cook could satisfy them (Complementary Appendix). The survey was answered by 59 participants. Furthermore, a quantitative research for chefs was conducted in order to assess their willingness to participate in such a project. The survey was created online with structured questions (multiple choice, scales) and was answered by 17 chefs (Complementary Appendix). Complementary, a representative study by WSI-Lohnspiegel with 1079 chefs was accessed. 1
IV. Situational Analysis
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A. External Audit
Context
There are several trends influencing Book-a-Cook. Increasing internet usage
A constant increase in internet usage can be observed over the last years. In 2001, 37% of the german population used the internet on a regularly basis. This number has increased to 76,5% in 2013. 2
The restaurant market is a billion € market and constantly increasing
In 2012, there were 75.240 restaurants with a combined annual revenue of over €22.9 billion.
This number constantly increased over 10 years, starting with €18.5 billion in
3
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http://www.lohnspiegel.de/dateien/Koeche.pdf
1
"
http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/13070/umfrage/entwicklung-der-internetnutzung-in-2
deutschland-seit-2001/
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http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/275544/umfrage/umsatz-der-steuerpflichtigen-restaurants-in-3
2002 assuming a further increase in the future. The restaurant market can be categorised into regular meals (lunch etc.), with the purpose of satisfying one’s hunger, and social meals, which next to satisfying hunger have social function, e.g. to spend time with friends or family. The market growth can be ascribed mainly to the increase of ‚social’ restaurant visits, enabled by an stable economy.
Personalisation of products
There is a recent trend towards the personalisation of products. Consumers are looking for fully customised products in order to satisfy their individual needs.
„Consumers
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today don’t want run-of-the mill products, they want something that is unique and
reflects their personality.“
Customisation adds additional value for customers and
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enables businesses to claim a higher price.
Chefs receive low salary while exercising an exhausting occupation
In 2013, the professional group of chefs in Germany counted 443.296 members. 6 On
average a chef earns €2.047 per month.
A study of the WSI-Lohnspiegel
with 1079
7 8
respondents showed that the average satisfaction level regarding the salary is 2,3 on a scale from 1-5. The study also reveals that the prospect for promotion and salary rises are limited: Chefs with working experience >20 years earn on average €2.306 monthly, only 20,04% more than young workers with working experience <5 years (€1.921
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/baininsights/2013/11/05/having-it-their-way-the-big-opportunity-in-4
personalized-products/
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http://www.businessinsider.com/trends-that-will-shape-retail-in-2014-2013-12?IR=T#ixzz3NTxzussn
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http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/243044/umfrage/anzahl-der-beschaeftigten-koeche-in-6
deutschland/
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http://www.lohnspiegel.de/dateien/Koeche.pdf
7
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http://www.lohnspiegel.de/dateien/Koeche.pdf
monthly). Furthermore, fewer than 50% of the respondents receive additional payments. The study also shows that the average stress level of a chef is 3,8 (scale from 1-5). Professionals can exercise a secondary job as freelancer
By german law professionals can exercise a secondary job on a freelance basis without additional health insurance obligations, as long as the secondary job does not exceed the working hours or salary of the main job. They can work as freelancer with the use of an income tax card.
Customers
Restaurant visitors can be divided into two types: people who eat out simply to fulfil their bodily need (regular meals) and those who aim for a social purpose as well, such as meeting with friends or family (social meals). We consider this second group as our target customers, thus excluding people who visit restaurants for regular meals.
The survey conducted revealed that 74,6% perceive the impersonal atmosphere as a disturbing factor when visiting a restaurant. Another 47,5% indicated the feeling of pressure from other people waiting for a free table as disturbing. The main reasons for organising a dinner at one’s own place is the personal atmosphere (79,7%) and the opportunity of sitting together until late at night (67,8%). Drawbacks include the pressure for the dinner to be perfect (61%), lack of time for the preparation (50,8%), a dislike of cleaning up afterwards (44,1%), feelings of stress and responsibility (39%) or that one does not like to cook for a large number of people (30,5%).
Book-a-Cook targets people that are looking for a fully personalised dinner service in an intimate atmosphere at home. Instead of cooking themselves, either due to lack of skills, time or feeling not comfortable of cooking for many people, they are looking for a solution to arrange a dinner-party without cooking, preparing and cleaning themselves. They look for an alternative to a stressful and impersonal restaurant visit in order to socialise with friends and family on their own environment, with extraordinary food and service. The following table illustrates the demographic/psychographic profile of our customers.
Table 1: Demographic/psychographic profile of customers
Competitors
There are several competitors Book-a-Cook has to deal with (Appendix 1).
Restaurants: We consider upscale restaurants as our main competitor. We compete with these types of restaurants with an average price of 25-50€ per main dish (Appendix 2) since these are restaurants our target group would choose to have dinner with their friends to celebrate a special occasion. High-end, exclusive Michelin-star restaurants are not considered as competition. People go there for the overall experience
Characteristics Target Group
Gender Men and women
Income Annual salary of >40.000€
Age Between 30 and 60
Occupation Professionals
Education Higher education
Family status All family status
Geographic region Urban area in Germany
Lifestyle • Looking for personalization
• Affinity for exclusive food and service (food lovers) • Socializing (being with friends)
• Internet affine
(atmosphere, service, food). Regarding upscale restaurants, Book-a-Cook positions itself as a premium product with a higher price. The point of difference is that the chef comes to our customer’s home and prepares a highly customised dinner in the customer’s personal kitchen.
kitchensurfing.com: Kitchensurfingis a platform that connects chefs with people looking for a private dinner party. Kitchensurfing was founded in 2012 and operates in several cities in the United States. In Germany their service is offered only in Berlin. The company does not focus on the german market and only possesses limited resources in Germany: The german website is not entirely translated and also the german customer service lacks people and specialism. Book-a-Cook could have a strong advantage with a strategic marketing plan focused on creating a strong brand in the german market. Furthermore, Book-a-Cook has a multi-step selection process of chefs, an appealing website design(professional photos of chefs and menus) and offers an exclusive insurance for every dinner. An multichannel customer service via Live-Chat, Telephone and Email is offered to our customers. For our chefs, we offer specialised support, ongoing training and equipment (cook’s jacket, crockery).
People that cook themselves: Since our target group mainly consists of people that do not know how to cook or do not feel comfortable when cooking for a large number of people, people that enjoy cooking for friends/family are not considered as direct competitors.
Chefs with own websites: There are few chefs in Germany who have their own website through which they offer dinner services at their clients’ home. We consider these chefs as potential collaborators working for Book-a-Cook rather than as competitors. We aim to convince them to work for us, providing professional marketing, customer service, fair cancellation policies, a free personal liability insurance, training and equipment.
B. Internal Audit
Company
Book-a-Cook is a new company to be founded in January 2015 in Berlin, Germany. The CEO, Elisa Bolm, is completing her Master’s degree in Management at Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon. She is responsible for the general management and marketing activities. Furthermore, in the first year the team will consist of a human resource manager, a marketing intern, a professional chef, two customer support agents and a photographer.
The business model is the following: We offer a platform with a portfolio of professional cooks, providing marketing, customer support and insurance. The selected chefs work on a freelance basis and are paid for every dinner they cook. They receive 55% of the total booking amount as salary and an additional 15% for the ingredients. They take care of the shopping, preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning. Book-a-Cooks receives the remaining 29,16% of the booking, assuming an average payment service fee of 0,84% of the booking amount
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Paypal and debit entry are offered as payment methods. Paypal requires a service fee of 1,5% + €0,35 of
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Collaborators & Complementers
Book-a-Cook’s success strongly depends on the service delivered by the chefs. It has to be ensured that the chefs are reliable, professional and responsible. Therefore the recruitment process comprises several steps. The first step is to send a CV, availability per week, criminal record certificate and recommendations of prior employers. After a pre-selection, these chefs are invited for an interview. Selection criteria for the interview are working experience (>5 years), availability (minimum 1x per week, preferable Friday/Saturday/Sunday) and a clean criminal record certificate. The interview is conducted by a service agent and our professional chef, who checks the presence of personal traits required for this job (openness, communication skills, ability to work on one’s own). The last step of the selection process is to check whether the candidate has the required cooking skills. The selected chefs are invited for a sample cooking to demonstrate their skills. Our chef surveils the performance and quality of the meal. Candidates that meet all the requirements are accepted to become part of Book-a-Cook. With each chef, our chef develops two menus to be offered on the website and which can be further adapted to individual customers.
Table 2: Recruitment process of chefs
V. SWOT Analysis
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VI. The Opportunity
We could identify the following opportunity: in these times of online networks and impersonal communication via Whatsapp or Facebook, people like socialising with friends or family in restaurants (social meals). At the same time, a trend for personalisation is emerging. People are looking for fully customised products that satisfy their individual needs. Combining these two trends, we see a large market potential for Book-a-Cook: A personalised premium service where customer needs are central. Where, what and whenever they want. Our service offers an alternative to an impersonal, stressed restaurant dinner, because people prefer socialising with friends in a personal atmosphere (indicated by 61,8% of the survey participants).
These main trends can be combined with the job dissatisfaction of chefs. They exercise an highly exhausting job which they are not compensated in a satisfactory manner. The survey conducted with 17 chefs revealed that 88% would cook for people at their home to earn more money (76%) and to work closer together with guests (82%). The market potential is estimated to be 1.3 billion € per year, assuming that the average price per dinner is 200€ and is purchased on average once per year.
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-Internal Strengths
• First mover advantage • Portfolio of professional chefs
• All-round customer service (Live-Chat, Email, Telephone)
• Insurance for every booking • User-friendly and secure website • Strong brand
Weaknesses
• Success depends on service delivered by chefs
• High marketing costs due to education of consumers (scepticism due to trust, safety and legal issues)
• Education of chefs needed -
administrational issues and questions
External Opportunities
• Trend for personalization
• Restaurant market (social meals) is constantly increasing
• Current job dissatisfaction of chefs • Trend towards online services
Threats
Table 3: Market potential (Germany) 10
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VII.Marketing Strategy
A. Segmentation
With the survey conducted, we could identify the following segments:
Segment A (Food Lovers) are people that don't know how to cook, but value good food and service and enjoy going to restaurants with friends or family. They are looking for a way to organise a dinner party at their own place, in a personal atmosphere, with great food.
Segment B (Overstressed) are people that like to cook in general, but are too busy to prepare and cook for people themselves. Either they have a busy job or they have small children. They don't have time to organise a dinner party, but would like to invite friends at home.
Segment C (Epicures) are people that enjoy cooking, but feel uncomfortable and stressed when cooking for a large number of people. They are looking for a way to enjoy the evening with friends instead of being in the kitchen.
Total German Population 1) 80.770.000
Living in urban areas 2) 78,30 %
30-60 years 3) 43,09 %
Income >40.000€4) 30,00 %
Would book such a service 5) 78,57 %
Target Group 6.423.420
Average # of purchases per year 1
Average Price per purchase (4 persons à 50€) 200 €
Total Market Volume 1.284.684.081 €
" 1) http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2861/umfrage/entwicklung-der-gesamtbevoelkerung-10
deutschlands/
2)
http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/152879/umfrage/in-staedten-lebende-bevoelkerung-in-deutschland-und-weltweit/
Segment D (Cooking Enthusiasts) are people that enjoy cooking for other people. They are passionate about cooking and inviting friends or family for dinner in order to deliver a great experience. They would book a professional cook in order to have an inspiration for their own cooking style.
B. Targeting
Book-a-Cook targets people from segment A, B and C. Book-a-Cook is a premium product designed for people that enjoy good food and like being with friends, but don't cook themselves due to lack of skills or time. They want to enjoy the evening without the stress of preparing, cooking, serving and cleaning. Book-a-Cook targets these people since a private cook is an added value for them, allowing for a premium price. We do not target Segment D, because people that enjoy cooking for other people would not book such a service since they prefer to cook for their guests themselves.
C. Positioning
Book-a-Cook is an online platform for dinner services (Frame of reference) that
connects well-to-do urban Germans (Target Group) with professional chefs. It stands
out from its competition by offering personalised restaurant quality experience in the
comfort of one’s own home (Point of Difference) because the dinner is prepared and
served by a professional chef at the clients residence (Reason Why).
D. Objectives
conversion rate
of 1%. Furthermore, we estimate to collect 10k Facebook likes and 5k
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Twitter followers.
In the second year, the service will be launched in Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, assuming a penetration rate of 1% (2% in Berlin). We predict our revenues to exceed €2 million, serving around 11k dinners delivered by more than 200 chefs. In year 3, we launch Book-a-Cook also in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt a.M., Dortmund, Stuttgart and Essen, assuming a penetration rate of 1% (3% in Berlin, 2% in Hamburg, Munich and Cologne). We estimate our revenues to exceed €4 million by serving 20k dinners.
The main long-term objective is to establish a well-known brand that stands for great service, professionalism and exclusivity. We want to create a brand that is directly associated with chef home cooking. At the end of year 5, we aim to offer the service in every German city with >100k habitants (Appendix 9). We pursue to establish a loyal user base with returning customers. In terms of revenues we aim to exceed €12 million in year 5, serving around 63k bookings delivered by more than 1.2k chefs. We assume to improve our conversion rate to 1,5% in year 4 and 5, resulting in more than 4 million website visitors in year 5. Moreover, we estimate to have 200k Facebook Likes and 120k Twitter Followers. Furthermore, we want to decrease the CAC of €8 in year 1 to €4 in year 5, profiting from our brand image and strategic inbound marketing.
KPI Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Revenue 685.625 € 2.213.641 € 4.354.789 € 7.798.974 € 12.751.508 €
Penetration Rate 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 %
Number of Bookings 3.428 11.068 21.774 38.995 63.758
Number of chefs 66 213 419 750 1.226
KPI
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Conversion rate is „the percentage of visitors who take a desired action. The desired action can take
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Table 4: Objectives for Year 1-5
E. Issues
The following table illustrates several issues Book-a-Cook has to deal with, their impact and the probability that they occur, as well as an appropriate strategy to solve them.
Conversion Rate 1 % 1 % 1 % 1,5 % 1,5 %
Number of Website Visitors 342.800 1.106.800 2.177.400 2.599.667 4.250.533
Number of Facebook Likes 10.000 30.000 60.000 120.000 200.000
Number of Twitter Follower 5.000 15.000 30.000 60.000 120.000
Number of Newsletter subscribers 857 2.767 5.444 9.749 15.940
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 7,82 € 7,18 € 6,10 € 4,85 € 3,99 €
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
KPI
Issue Likelihood
to Occur
Impact Solution
Skepticism of Consumers (safety, trust and ease of use concerns)
Low/ Medium
High • Marketing focus: education of consumers
• Build user-friendly website (uniform listings, easy booking process, secure payment)
• TÜV security seal
• Customer Support via Live-Chat, Telephone, Email • Well-selected chefs (background check)
• Insurance for every booking
Bad Quality of Meals
Low High • Ensure that service offered by the chefs meets high quality standards
• Multistep selection process of chefs • Only chefs with good reviews are retained • Ongoing Training & surveillance of chefs
Chefs
undertake the business on their own
Medium High • Create added value for both chefs and consumers Consumers:
• Customer service • Insurance
• Well-selected chefs • Cancellation policies Chefs:
• Free personal liability insurance
• More reviews=better ranking=more bookings
• Utilities (personalized cook’s jacket, dishes are provided) • Ongoing training (workshops, skills seminar)
• Be part of Book-a-Cook network (exchange with other cooks)
Table 5: Potential issues and solutions
VIII.Marketing Mix
A. Product/Service
Book-a-Cook is a platform providing professional chefs that cook at our customer’s home. The philosophy is not only to provide a high class dinner cooked by a professional in a personal atmosphere, but also to deliver an extraordinary and unforgettable social experience. We want to merge the intimate atmosphere of a home dinner party with the ease of walking into and food quality of a restaurant.
The name „Book-a-Cook“ was chosen due to its easy understanding of the concept. The fact that it rhymes makes it catchy and memorable. An english expression was chosen with the future internationalisation strategy in mind. The logo has an appealing design showing a chef’s hat, a knife and a fork. (Appendix 3)
The website is designed as followed: On the first site, customers can search for a suitable chef for their individual purpose. They select the city, date, number of persons, type of food and price per person. A list of all suitable and available cooks ranked by number of reviews and overall customer satisfaction appears. Each chef has a profile presenting himself, his cooking style, specialities and sample meals. Moreover, customers can review the chefs after the dinner. These reviews become part of the
Not enough registrations of chefs
Low Medium • Identify reasons for low registration rate (skepticism of new concept, lack of time or payoff issues)
• Customer service LiveChat, Telephone and Email to support chefs with their issues
• Establish a „Refer a cook program“ - for each cook that is recommended = bonus
• Work close together with Association of Chefs in Germany
• Improve communication of benefits for chefs
New competitor
High Low • Establish strong brand and loyal customer base • Retain chefs by offering incentives (free insurance, fair
bonus, support)
Issue Likelihood
to Occur
profile. When booking a cook, consumers are asked to complete a checklist for the kitchen facilities so that the chef knows exactly what he has to bring with him to the cooking event. It is also possible to chat with the chef before booking in order to clarify doubts or request modifications of the menus. The booking is completed by a secure payment via Paypal or debit entry.
Our mission is to deliver a unique and unforgettable experience, both on social and culinary level. We want to create a strong brand that consumers directly associate to home cooking service. The brand wheel is illustrated in Appendix 4.
B. Price
To develop an appropriate pricing strategy, we estimated our costs, compared competitor prices and studied the customer’s willingness to pay.
The estimated costs per dinner include costs for ingredients, labor costs for the chef and payment service fees. In a traditional restaurant, food and labor costs are both around 25% 12 of the total price (Appendix 5). A main dish in a competitive upscale
restaurant is priced on average at 40€, meaning that food and labor costs are both around 10€.
Our strategy is to offer comparable menus, but with a premium price. Book-a-Cook delivers added value to the customer. Since the chefs come to the customer’s house to cook exclusively for him, the price should clearly be higher than a comparable restaurant dinner. In the survey, the 42 participants (already filtered by our target group) were willing to pay on average 65,15% more than for a normal restaurant dinner. Therefore we consider to charge around €70 for a comparable meal priced at €40 in an upscale restaurant. This price appears reasonable for the service delivered, since the
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http://smallbusiness.chron.com/food-service-industry-labor-cost-standards-13911.html
chef needs to buy the ingredients, prepare the dinner and travels to the client’s home. The price for dinners on weekends and holidays is considered to be higher than for dinners during the week. Book-a-Cook dinners start at minimum price of 160€ for 2 people. The price can go up unlimited, depending on the number of people, level of exclusivity and customisation of the menus (Table 7). We assume an average price of 200€ for a three-course dinner for 4 people (50€ per person).
Table 7: Price list
C. Promotion
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Due to the introduction phase of the service, education of consumers and stimulation of demand are key. The aim is to create a strong brand that is immediately associated to a home cooking service. Since Book-a-Cook is an online service, we focus on online marketing. Appendix 6 illustrates milestones of promotion activities.
Online Marketing
We consider Content Marketing as our main strategy. „Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent
content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience - with the objective of driving
profitable customer action.“
Since Book-a-Cook is a new type of service we have to 13
create interesting content designed for our target group in order to attract website visitors and convert them into customers. The blog topics include food trends, recipes,
< 2 Persons
< 4 Persons
< 8 Persons
< 12 Persons
< 15 Persons
> 20 Persons
Minimum Price p.Person 80,00 € 40,00 € 30,00 € 25,00 € 20,00 € 15,00 €
Average Price p.Person 100,00 € 50,00 € 40,00 € 35,00 € 30,00 € 25,00 €
Maximum Price Person unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited
"
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/
restaurants and indoor design. By publishing our blog articles on social media channels (FB, Twitter, google+, Instagram), we can reach our target group since 73,5% of it is active on social media
. Moreover, we establish partnerships with influential food and
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design blogs in Germany. By doing so, we can publish our articles for free on their blogs and reach a high number of people. In return, we publish free and valuable articles written by our partners on our own blog.
Furthermore, the goal is to build an effective search engine optimisation program (SEO) in order to achieve a high ranking in search engine queries. SEO is the process of improving the traffic to a website from search engines via organic (unpaid) search results.
A good ranking is crucial, because „[…] the earlier a site is presented in
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the search results, the more searchers will visit that site.“
To get organic search results
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and thus a higher ranking on search engines, we develop an appropriate strategy. One part of the SEO strategy is the content creation on our blog. The other part are linkings, back-links etc., that have to be supervised and renewed on a regular basis by a developer. Focusing on Inbound Marketing, we can effectively lower our CAC. 17
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a type of online marketing that seeks to promote websites in order to increase their visibility in search engines through the bidding on paid search listings. The two most relevant SEM types are Google Adwords and Facebook Advertisements. Through Google Adwords we can reach potential customers that are looking specifically for keywords like “Mietkoch“ (eng. rent cook),
"
http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/social-media/social-media-use-by-age-group/
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http://www.dealerspan.com/themes/corp/tpl/content/services/SEO_Learning_Center.pdf
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http://www.dealerspan.com/themes/corp/tpl/content/services/SEO_Learning_Center.pdf
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http://trackmaven.com/marketing-dictionary/customer-acquisition-cost/
“Koch zuhause“ (eng. cook at home), “privater Koch“ (eng. private chef). Since these keywords have only a limited number of searches at the moment, which is due to the unfamiliarity with this type of service, in the first year we focus mainly on Content Marketing. However, to reach all the customers that look for these keywords, we set a relatively small budget for the first year, increasing it annually due to the renown of the service and potential competitors. Advertising on Facebook is effective since one can exactly specify the target audience. Facebook offers specific advertisement target groups, selecting the gender, age, education level, interests and geographic location of people we want to reach.
Furthermore, a Refer-a-Friend program will be established. Customers that invite their friends to use Book-a-Cook get a free Prosecco aperitif for their next dinner. We project that 10% of all new customers are invited by a friend.
In order to generate more Facebook attention and likes, we establish several Facebook Contests. Every 3 months, we give away a dinner for 5 people. Participants have to like our Facebook page, share the photo and comment why they should win. The one with the most creative reasoning receives the dinner. By commenting and sharing the photo, we can attract attention and make our service go viral.
Offline Marketing
PR promotion is needed in order to attract broad attention. This can be achieved by inviting blogger and magazine representatives (food, lifestyle, design) for a Book-a-Cook dinner. They write an article about their experience and present our service to their readers. By inviting local press representatives, we can specifically create attention in the cities where we launch our service and make Book-a-Cook go viral.
In order to reach a wide range of potential customers, we consider to establish parcel advertising in year 2. With paketplus.de it is possible to select online shops by consumer profile (interests, income, age, region) that distribute our flyers in their parcels. Creating a specific flyer with a QR-Code that can be scanned by a mobile device (smartphone/tablet) leads people directly to our website. We plan to establish parcel advertising in the second year firstly after the launch of the App. Furthermore, in year 2 we can reach a larger target group and reduce flyer production and distribution costs (minimum 200.000 flyers).
D. Place
Book-a-Cook is a service that can be booked online through our website book-a-cook.de. Additionally, a mobile application will be launched for iPhone, iPad and Android Advices in year 2. The application will be available for free on the AppStore.
IX. Budget
The following P&L was created under several assumptions (Appendix 10). Marketing expenses are listed and specified in Appendix 7, salaries in Appendix 8.
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Total operating revenues
685.625 € 2.213.641 € 4.354.789 € 7.798.974 € 12.751.508 €
Table 8: P&L Year 1-5
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X. Controls
To control the effectiveness of our marketing strategy, we establish several measures.
Food 102.844 € 332.046 € 653.218 € 1.169.846 € 1.912.726 €
Chefs 377.094 € 1.217.503 € 2.395.134 € 4.289.436 € 7.013.330 €
Payment Transaction Fee
5.742 € 18.539 € 36.471 € 65.316 € 106.794 €
Total COGS 485.680 € 1.568.088 € 3.084.823 € 5.524.598 € 9.032.850 €
Gross Margin 29,16 % 29,16 % 29,16 % 29,16 % 29,16 %
Investment Costs
Investment Chefs 5.940 € 19.170 € 37.710 € 67.500 € 110.340 €
Website & App Creation
32.500 € 0 0 0 0
Fixed Costs
Office Expenses 6.000 € 14.400 € 14.400 € 24.000 € 24.000 €
Legal & Account 4.800 € 7.200 € 9.600 € 12.000 € 14.400 €
Salaries 155.400 € 274.200 € 333.600 € 393.000 € 452.400 €
Marketing 26.814 € 79.482 € 132.829 € 189.194 € 254.610 €
Server 1.200 € 2.400 € 2.400 € 3.600 € 3.600 €
Website Maintenance 0 € 10.000 € 10.000 € 10.000 € 10.000 €
Software 500 € 500 € 500 € 500 € 500 €
Insurance Chefs 5.940 € 19.170 € 37.710 € 67.500 € 110.340 €
Total Expenses 724.774 € 1.994.610 € 3.663.572 € 6.291.892 € 10.013.040 €
Net Income Before Taxes (EBIT)
-39.148 € 219.031 € 691.216 € 1.507.082 € 2.738.469 €
Income Taxes 0 65.337 € 206.190 € 449.562 € 816.885 €
Net Income -39.148 € 153.694 € 485.026 € 1.057.519 € 1.921.583 €
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
KPI Issue Solution
Revenues Too Low • Identify reasons for low website traffic • Publish more blog articles per week • Adapt blog content to consumers need • Increase SEM budget
Number of Bookings Too Few • Identify reasons for few bookings
• Analyze customer feedback via Live-Chat, Telephone & Email
• Increase marketing budget
Number of chefs Too Few • Identify reasons for low registration rate • Increase communication of benefits for cooks • Establish „Refer a cook“ program
Table 9: Controls and Contingency Plan
!
We constantly analyse our customer feedback to identify weaknesses of our service and improve/adapt our strategy. By integrating Live-Chat into our website, we can constantly be close to our consumers and communicate with them.
XI. Conclusion & Recommendations
With this strategic marketing plan, we are able to successfully launch Book-a-Cook in Germany. Having analysed the opportunity, potential issues and an appropriate contingency plan, we will be able to reach our marketing goals and establish a well-known and profitable brand. In the future, we aim to extent the product line by offering private home cooking classes. Furthermore, we launch a premium line for customers looking for high end meals cooked by an Michelin-starred chef. We intend to internationalise Book-a-Cook by expanding to Switzerland, Austria and France in beginning of year 6.
!
Conversion Rate Too Low • Identify reasons for low conversion rate
• Analyze customer feedback (Live-Chat, Telephone & Email) • Improve communication of benefits for consumers
• Adapt pricing strategy • Improve website structure
Number of Website Visitors
Too Few • Publish more blog articles per week • Add other topics to be covered in articles • Increase advertising budget
Number of Facebook Likes
Too Few • Establish more Facebook contests • Increase Facebook advertisement budget • Publish more blog articles per week
Number of Twitter Follower
Too Few • Establish a twitter contest
• Publish more blog articles per week
Number of Newsletter subscribers
Too Few • Analyze feedback from customers (reason for unsubscribe) • Offer discount for newsletter subscription
Customer Lifetime Value
Too Low • Expand product line
• Offer more seasonal promotions to attract repurchases • Increase email marketing and brand awareness
Cost of Acquisition Too High • Reduce SEM budget
• Focus more Content Marketing and PR (publish more articles)
Solution
XII.Bibliography
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!
Carlson, N. (2013). Five Global Retail Trends That Will Shape 2014. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/trends-that-will-shape-retail-in-2014-2013-12? IR=T#ixzz3NTxzussn (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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Content Marketing Institute, (2015). What Is Content Marketing? [online] Available at: http:// contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
!
Insights, B. (2013). Having It Their Way: The Big Opportunity In Personalized Products. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/baininsights/2013/11/05/having-it-their-way-the-big-opportunity-in-personalized-products/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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Lohnspiegel.de, (2015). Einkommen von Köchen in Deutschland. [online] Available at: http:// www.lohnspiegel.de/main/zusatzinformationen/koechinnen-und-koeche (Accessed 03 January 2015).
!
Marketing Terms, (2015). Conversion Rate. [online] Available at: http://www.marketingterms.com/ dictionary/conversion_rate/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
!
Muller, C. and Woods, R. (1994). An Expanded Restaurant Typology. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 35(3), pp.27-37.
!
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, (2013). Social Media Use by Age Group Over Time. [online] Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/social-media/social-media-use-by-age-group/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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TrackMaven, (2015). Customer Acquisition Cost Definition. [online] Available at: http:// trackmaven.com/marketing-dictionary/customer-acquisition-cost/ (Accessed 03 January 3 2015).
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Dealerspan, (2015). SEO. [online] Available at: http://www.dealerspan.com/themes/corp/tpl/content/ services/SEO_Learning_Center.pdf (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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Small Business - chron.com, (2015). Food Service Industry: Labor Cost Standards. [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/food-service-industry-labor-cost-standards-13911.html (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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Statista, (2015). Internetnutzung in Deutschland (2001-2013). [online] Available at: http:// de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/13070/umfrage/entwicklung-der-internetnutzung-in-deutschland-seit-2001/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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Statista, (2015). Anzahl beschäftigter Köche in Deutschland bis 2013. [online] Available at: http:// de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/243044/umfrage/anzahl-der-beschaeftigten-koeche-in-deutschland/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
!
Statista, (2015). Umsatz steuerpflichtiger Restaurants in Deutschland. [online] Available at: http:// de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/275544/umfrage/umsatz-der-steuerpflichtigen-restaurants-in-deutschland/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
!
Statista, (2015). Entwicklung Gesamtbevölkerung.[online]. Available at: http://de.statista.com/statistik/ daten/studie/2861/umfrage/entwicklung-der-gesamtbevoelkerung-deutschlands/ (Accessed 03 January 2015).
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XIII.Appendix
!
Appendix 2: Restaurant Typology by $
Customer Decision Attributes
Price per main dish
Quick Service
Low price!
Speed and time savings!
Consistency
3-6€
Family/ Midscale
Menu mix and choice!
Value (price and portion size)!
Comfort!
Table and counter service
6-15€
Moderate Upscale
Fashion Statement!
Ambience!
Flexibility of use by key customer groups
15-25€
Upscale Style!
Ambience!
Service!
Dining Experience
25-50€
Michelin Star
Exclusivity !
Experience
>50€
Restaurant Dinner
50 %
25 % 25 %
Book-a-Cook Dinner
0,84 %
29,16 %
55,0 % 15,0 %
Appendix 5: Price Composition Book-a-Cook Dinner vs. Restaurant Dinner Appendix 3: Logo
Appendix 4: Brand Wheel Appendix 1: Competitor Map
Appendix 8: Salaries Year 1-5
Year 1! !
Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Support Chef 36.000 € 54.000 € 72.000 € 90.000 € 108.000 €
HR 18.000 € 54.000 € 54.000 € 54.000 € 54.000 €
Customer Support 54.000 € 90.000 € 126.000 € 162.000 € 198.000 €
Marketing 29.400 € 40.200 € 45.600 € 51.000 € 56.400 €
Photographer 18.000 € 36.000 € 36.000 € 36.000 € 36.000 €
Appendix 7: Marketing Expenses Year 1-5
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Blog 5.400 € 16.200 € 21.600 € 27.000 € 32.400 €
Google Adwords 2.400 € 7.200 € 14.400 € 28.800 € 43.200 €
Facebook Advertising 12.000 € 36.000 € 60.000 € 72.000 € 84.000 €
Partner Blogs 0 € 0 € 0 € 0 € 0 €
Refer a friend 1) 4.114 € 13.282 € 26.129 € 46.794 € 76.510 €
PR 400 € 800 € 1.200 € 1.600 € 2.000 €
FB Contest 2) (4x im Jahr) 2.000 € 2.000 € 2.000 € 2.000 € 2.000 €
Email Marketing 500 € 1.000 € 1.500 € 2.000 € 2.500 €
Parcel Advertising 0 € 3.000 € 6.000 € 9.000 € 12.000 €
Total 26.814 € 79.482 € 132.829 € 189.194 € 254.610 €
CAC 7,82 € 7,18 € 6,10 € 4,85 € 3,99 €
1) Assuming that 10% of all new customers use this promotion. Costs are 1,5€ per person. Average dinner consists of 4 people.
2) Facebook Contests are organised 4x per year Appendix 6: Milestones Year 1-3
Y1 Y2 Y3
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Website Creation
Website Launch
App Creation
App Launch
Recruiting Chefs
Office
Online Marketing Blog
SEO
Google Adwords
Facebook Advertisment
Refer a Friend
FB Contest
Email Marketing
Offline Marketing PR Marketing
Appendix 9: Launch Plan Year 1-5
City Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Population
Berlin 3.375.222
Köln 1.024.373
Hamburg 1.734.272
München 1.388.308
Düsseldorf 593.682
Frankfurt a.M 687.775
Stuttgart 597.939 Dortmund 572.087 Essen 566.862 Bremen 546.451 Dresden 525.105 Leipzig 520.838 Hannover 514.137 Nürnberg 495.121 Duisburg 486.816 Bochum 362.213 Wuppertal 342.885 Bielefeld 342.885 Bonn 309.869 Münster 296.599 Gelsenkirchen 257.607 Mönchengladbach 255.087 Aachen 240.086 Krefeld 222.026 Oberhausen 210.005 Hagen 186.243 Solingen 155.316 Leverkusen 159.926 Mannheim 294.627 Augsburg 272.699 Karlsruhe 296.033 Wiesbaden 272.636 Braunschweig 245.798 Chemnitz 241.210 Kiel 239.866
Halle (Saale) 231.440
Magdeburg 229.924 Freiburg im Breisgau 218.043 Lübeck 211.713 Erfurt 203.485 Rostock 202.887 Mainz 202.756 Kassel 192.874 Saarbrücken 176.996 Hamm 176.440
Mülheim a. d. Ruhr 166.654 Ludwigshafen am Rhein 160.179 Potsdam 159.456 Oldenburg 158.658
City Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Population
Heidelberg 150.335 Darmstadt 147.925 Paderborn 143.575 Regensburg 138.296 Ingolstadt 127.886 Würzburg 124.577 Wolfsburg 121.758 Fürth 118.358 Ulm 117.977 Heilbronn 117.531 Offenbach am Main 116.945 Göttingen 116.945 Bottrop 116.650 Pforzheim 116.425 Recklinghausen 115.385 Reutlingen 110.681 Koblenz 109.779 Remscheid 109.352 Bergisch Gladbach 109.138 Bremerhaven 108.323 Jena 106.915 Trier 106.544 Erlangen 105.412 Moers 103.504
Appendix 10: Financial Assumptions
1. Food Costs are expected to be 15% of the sales 2. Chefs bonus is 55% of the sales
3. Payment fees are projected to be on average 0,84% (Paypal 1,5%+0,35€ of each booking, debit entry 0% assuming that 50% of
consumers pay by Paypal, 50% by debit entry. 4. Each chef is excepted to have 1 dinner per
week
5. For every chef an investment of on average 90€ is made (cook’s jacket with logo, dishes) 6. Corporate Tax Rate is 29.83%
7. Website Creation (20.000€) and App Creation (12.500€) in Year 1
8. Office Expenses are 500€ per month in the first year, 1200€ in the second and third year, 2000€ per month in the 4th and 5th year 9. Penetration rate is 1% in year 1, 2% in year 2,
