Who Is Red Lobster's Biggest Competitor?

Food and service quality standards are falling as are in particular of the East Chem bistro has been in the bottom 10% with

Neptune Gourmet Seafood is facing two major issues – an excess inventory problem and shrinking

My chosen firm is Odoba Mexican Grill and it produces quality meals that aggressive prices. In other words, the aim of the restaurant is to offer wide variety of competitively priced meal choices. Price and quality are two important factors in the success of any food business. If prices go up too much or quality decreased significantly, the demand will go down. But another very important factor is income. With changes in income, demand can see a negative change. If income comes down for regular customers, they will cut down the quantity demanded. This means that regular customers who were frequently going for meals at the restaurant might choose to go less often or order smaller meals or low priced alternatives.

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.

The ROE of Boston Chicken from 1993 to 1994 shows the improvements from 1.7% to 6.2%, which is due to the improvements of Net Income. The increase in the number of stores from which Boston Chicken is the factor contributing to the improvements. The revenue shows the leap from $8.282 million in 1992 to $42.53 million in 1993 to $96.15 million in 1994.The new stores leading to an increase in royalty and franchise fees which is the reason of the increased revenue. NOPAT margin and EBITDA margin shows improvement in proportion to Net Income margin that indicates there is no change in interest. Profit margins indicate that the company’s performance has improved markedly in 1994.The stock value for Boston Chicken for 1994 was about $7 and the actual stock price was about $16 at the end of 1994. This indicates that Boston Chicken has been overvalued due to the optimistic view of market because of the present revenue growth rate and the inclusion of royalties and initial

Nevertheless, the majority of customers are very satisfied with the amount of serving along with the quality of their meal as well as the price paid. The strategy of being a low priced high value added has seen problems due to lack of customers which is affecting the bottom line drastically. This inevitable circumstance has put a hold on operations and started an investigation upon various neighboring competitors and their own strategies.

The significance of strengthening and developing each individual store is huge, because this is crucial for the company as a whole and it derive its future.

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.

Weaknesses:-Recent declining rates in marinade sales-Failure of poultry sauces…may show signs of weak product diversification-Arrogance as to think

The response by others is critical to the current issue and the decision that management is most focused on. Depending on the actions of Neptune, there will definitely be a reaction from their competitors to include the U.S. Association of Seafood Processors and Distributors (ASPD). If Neptune were to lower prices, it most likely would cause other competitors to lower their prices as well and potentially could cause a price war that none of the businesses could afford in the long run. Neptune especially could not afford this based on their cost structure (Kesner & Walters, 2005, p. 18). It could also potentially cause a backlash with customers if they feel they had been overcharged in the past.

This is because, when the condition of the current market is not doing well, some strategy in considering the increase in the foods price, introducing a new dish should be limited due to the less or limited spending of the customers. The best option to secure and have a constant business growth during these time is to have more promotions and value set meal to attract the customers.

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

M&M’s biggest competitor is Hershey’s brand like M&M candies. The competition is fierce among the chocolate industry. Hershey and Mars are rivals and want the opportunity to gain more of the market share. In 1954, Hershey-ettes were introduced to compete against the similar M&M’s. However, they were not successful and are generally only available for consumers around the Holiday season. By the millennium, Hershey extended the popular Hershey Kisses brand in creating the Kissables. Hershey intended for direct competition to M&M small candy coated round tablet of chocolate in multitude of colors. The candy factories started in standard size packs and by the 70’s moved into standard size candy boxes. In the current year and season, you will find M&M’s in candy canes to small snack sizes and inside ornamental objects. The chocolate world becomes difficult to present as it becomes difficult to come up with new ideas in the candy business. As more companies release products similar to the M&M’s, it will become increasingly difficult for Mars to continue to command the level of market share in the chocolate candy industry and the product has a potential to get lost in the supermarket aisle.

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.

Economic environment – Because the United States is still recovering from the recent recession, more and more consumers are price sensitive. Consumers are saving more and have less disposable income to spend on dining out. This is one of the major threats to Masamoto's. They need to be able to convince consumers that they are receiving an excellent meal at a good value by eating at their establishment. Masamoto's must also be smart in their pricing strategy because high prices can drive away consumers, but prices too low can result in little or no profit.