Red Lobster Case Study : Company History

As for our market segmentation the concentration will be on teens, young adults, and parents. Since teens don’t typically cook a lot we believe that there should be a chance for success in this area because we are offering quality products at a cheap price. The same could be said about the young adults as they could be new into the work force and looking to get the most food for the price and this is something that we will be able to provide for them. With all of this being said our main focus will still be with parents and families. This is because we want to gain customers at a young age and hope to maintain these customers for the period of their entire lives. If our business is able to obtain life-long customers it is sure to be a success and this is what we are looking for with our business.

Olive Garden was founded in 1982 owned and operated by Darden Restaurants. Darden Restaurants is the nations largest most successful restaurant chain. Darden Restaurants also own and operates The Red Lobster chain. Olive garden offers a family home style dining with inspiring recipes from Tuscany, Italy. Their Culinary school was founded in 1999 in Tuscany, Italy. Where they train their chefs and create menus for the restaurant. With a remarkable wine selection and great home cook Italian meal and a affordable menu price I have always enjoyed my stay at the Olive Garden. Olive Garden has received many award throughout their history. Recent awards came from the Nation's Restaurant News which presented Olive Garden with the "Menu Masters" award

The SWOT analysis is a great way for companies or organizations to determine their brand and product’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In order to more effectively determine these areas, separation of internal and external issues within the company or association is crucial.

New England Seafood Company is a leader in the northeastern United States in harvesting and processing seafood. The company’s senior executives believe that there must be a change in the corporate strategy to maintain their competitive advantage, as foreign producers are affecting their current yields. Currently, New England Seafood Company operates in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico dealing exclusively in saltwater fish. Management feels that a move into the freshwater fish sector will provide the company with a new directive and future stability.

We all love dining out for good food and laughter with our family, friends or significant other. Whether it’s a birthday, an anniversary or a casual night on the town, eating at the right restaurant, that offer good food, great price and a fine dining experience is dependent on the restaurant you choose. That’s what made Red lobster my favorite. it is not just a night of eating out, it is an experience. Not only do they have some of the most succulent crab legs there is, or because they have the best appetizer which is their signature Cheddar Bay biscuits, but because of the ambience that you are greeted with when you approached to dine in a Red Lobster restaurant.

If long lines deter you, and fresh quality seafood doesn’t seem to peek your interest, then this place isn’t for you. But if you can muster up the strength to manage that, then Red Lobster is definitely the place to be. By the time the doors open, customers are ready to enjoy great seafood and even better customer since 1968. I made my way up to my local Red Lobster recently to blissfully indulge myself with their endless shrimp dinner for only $16.99. For top of the line quality with a decently low price, this place really seems to harbor in seafood-lovers

Given the changes in Red Lobster’s strategy over the past few years and the surprising ability to attract new, “experiential” customers, it our recommendation that they modify their strategy to focus on pursuing this type of clientele. We will go into further detail momentarily; however, the reason for focusing on the experiential customer group is that Red Lobster has the opportunity to increase revenue and net operating income at each restaurant by 20% or more. Granted, these are enormous gains and it will take a few years to realize their full potential, but for the reasons laid out below, we believe these gains are a realistic possibility.

Strengths:-High brand awareness within the marketing world.-Extensive distribution of product throughout United States-A.1.Steak is sponsored by largest food company in U.S.-Product quality/longevity helped to perpetuate company name|Opportunities:-Can test piloted promotional rates for future pricing-Can assess manager’s ability to generate “on-the-fly” marketing strategies-Opportunity to test new steak sauce flavors in the market-Consumers continue to be satisfied with quality of old A.1. taste|

Darden Restaurants owns a number of specialty brands that are located throughout the United States and Canada. These include: the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, the Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Eddie V's Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille. The company has 2 thousand locations and they employ 135 thousand people. Their primary markets are middle class to affluent families. ("Our Company," 2012)

A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is currently struggling with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. A combination of new coastline regulations and an investment in new fishing vessel technology and freezer trawlers has increased their average catch size while demand in the current segment has not grown as quickly. The Neptune management team is faced with a decision of how to clear out its excess inventory that is not moving fast enough under its Neptune Gold branding. My recommendation is to launch a mass-market product under a different product line in order to monetize excess inventory and position Neptune to capture more of the North American seafood market share. Going forward

The Boiling Crab is considered to be a restaurant business; therefore, the main focus of the business is to increase new customers and sustain the existing customers. The restaurant is also considered to be in the service business, so many customers expect a good service and food from this kind of business. Moreover, referring to table 1, the main focus of the business is in California because twelve locations have already opened, but the other four locations will be opened soon. Referring to IBIS World, the business location percentage for the seafood in California is 14.4% which is the highest percent in U.S. Therefore, the company focuses on the right location for the seafood restaurant.

Currently, Red Lobster is the largest full-service restaurant chain and the largest seafood company in North America. The company’s 680 units are company owned and operated. Of those 680 units, 646 are spread throughout every state (including the District of Columbia) but Alaska, and 34 are operated in Canada. Sales for fiscal year 1998 totaled nearly $2 billion. The Olive Garden currently operates 459 units in the United States, and 5 units in Canada. Gross sales for The Olive Garden totaled over $1 billion. Gross sales for all divisions of Darden Restaurants exceeded 3.2 billion dollars! Darden 's net earnings in fiscal year 1998 were just over 101 million dollars, with shareholders receiving an eight-cent dividend.

Neptune Gourmet Seafood Company is the third largest seafood producer of North America. It is the most upmarket player in the $20 billion in sales industry. In order to live up to the tagline “The Best Seafood on the Water Planet”, Neptune had invested heavily in the high-end business and had earned a reputation for producing the best seafood during the past 40 years. Neptune generated its revenue through various channels (See Appendix D). Even though Neptune has built a good reputation in high-end seafood market, it still dogged by global competitors, especially from China, Peru, Chile and Japan. Competition in the high-end market depends on providing high-quality products that meet customers’ needs. Products provided to the high-end market normally has higher margin but lower volume. Another problem of the high-end seafood industry is the price is usually higher. Therefore, the possibility of having excess inventory is higher in high-end segment. On the other hand, competition in the mass-market seafood industry is also competitive, as profits must come from volume, so the price usually set as low as possible. Moreover, Some grocery stores already have own private label products, which generally targeted at mass-market.

With the current drop in lobster prices, the recent occurrence of the lobster shell disease, and the 2012 Asian shrimp early death syndrome , it is apparent that there is a lot at stake for Atlantic restaurateurs when choosing which seafood to buy. Who, what, where, and when have been important questions that should and have been running through the minds of all involved the seafood industry.

The United States is nation dependent on restaurant industry, over the past 60 years the allocation of the family food dollar toward restaurants has grown from 25% in 1955 to 47% in 2012. Bubba Gump, a young restaurant company (founded in 1996), leveraged a brand based on the Forrest Gump movie (1994). Scott Barnett, President and CEO knew his brand would gain immediate recognition. In the highly competitive hospitality industry all restaurants are looking for the competitive advantage, capturing as much of the food dollar expense. In 2001, Mr. Barnett fully understood that most new brands must differentiate themselves from similar concepts by quality food, excellent customer service and consistency