hospitality and tourism operations research event · 2018. 3. 1. · logan vickroy, liz leech,...

Logan Vickroy, Liz Leech, & Nick Robbins February 8, 2016

HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM OPERATIONS RESEARCH EVENT

Indianola DECA Chapter

Indianola High School

1304 E. First Avenue

Indianola, IA 50125

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Executive Summary ..................................................................... 1

II. Introduction ............................................................................. 2-6

a. Description of business .................................................................... 2

b. Description of the community ......................................................... 3

c. Overview of current promotional tactics ......................................... 6

III. Research Methods ................................................................. 7-12

a. Description and rationale of research methodologies .................... 7

b. Process of conducting selected research methods ........................ 10

IV. Findings and Conclusions of the Study ..................................12-17

a. Findings of the research study ....................................................... 12

b. Conclusions based of the findings .................................................. 15

V. Proposed Strategic Plan ........................................................17-24

a. Objectives and rationale of strategic plan ...................................... 17

b. Proposed activities and timelines .................................................. 18

c. Proposed metrics and key performance indicators to measure plan

effectiveness .................................................................................. 23

VI. Proposed Budget ........................................................................ 25

VII. Bibliography ........................................................................... 26

VIII. Appendix ..........................................................................27-28

Robbins, Vickroy & Leech Page | 1

I. Executive Summary

Business Overview: Brickhouse Tavern is a restaurant located in Indianola, Iowa. The business is

primarily known for its pizza and special event room on the second level. The goal of this

restaurant is simply to make their customers happy and cater to their needs when it comes to

dining.

Research Methods: Research over the restaurant included interviews with several members of

the community, as well as Brickhouse employees and the co-owners. A survey and various

secondary sources were also included in our research process.

Findings and Conclusions: obtained through research

Pros Cons

High quality food Poor social media presence Affordable Lack of informative material for customers

Centrally located within community Lack of marketing within community Free banquet room Lack of younger clientele

Objectives:

o Re-vamp social media in order to attract customers and give people access to

information

o Broaden exposure within the community in order to expand target market

o Reach customers where they are while providing special deals and incentives

Proposed Plan:

Enhance Brickhouse’s current website, Facebook, and Twitter pages Increase advertising and event sponsoring within the community Utilize “Remind” application Implement Pizza Punch Promotion card

Proposed Budget: We created our plan with activities allowing the overall cost to remain low.

The complete breakdown of our budget can be found in the following report.


II. Introduction

A. Description of the Business

The Brickhouse Tavern is located in Indianola, Iowa and is an Italian inspired, rustic-style

restaurant. Established in 2009, the vision of The Brickhouse Tavern originated with JR and

Heather Sheffer. The couple wanted an eatery with a

menu and an atmosphere that carried on a tradition of

hospitality, quality and value that is only found among

the finest small town restaurants in the Midwest. The

Sheffers found a watering hole that was for sale in

Indianola. The Indianola community provided the

Sheffers with a place where they felt welcome, which encouraged the couple to raise a family

and lay the groundwork for The Brickhouse Tavern. On January 1, 2012, Joe and Amanda

Ripperger bought The Brickhouse Tavern from the original owners, JR and Heather Sheffer. In

earlier years, Joe and Amanda both worked for JR and Heather as waiters and managers. Being

exceptional servers, managers and overall workers, they believed they could take on the roles

of being business owners.

The Brickhouse is a key fixture located on the west side of the historic town square in

Indianola for over 10 years. Serving the best Italian food in the local area, The Brickhouse

Tavern creates a big city vibe that meets small town America. The Brickhouse is a great place to

go for a quick, affordable meal with family and friends, or a large group meal in the banquet

room. The overall target market of the Brickhouse includes people between the ages of 25 to


45. The Brickhouse’s casual old style atmosphere makes it an amazingly cozy place for dining

with family, friends or clients and business associates. All of the workers are pleasant and

welcoming, and make every Brickhouse experience superior for their guests.

B. Description of the Community

Economic: Indianola is a mid-sized town located closely to the state’s capital, Des Moines. The

estimated median income in Indianola is $53,172. In comparison to the national estimated

median of $51,759, Indianola residents hit right above the average medium income. The

average household size in Indianola is 2.39 persons, in contrast to the National average

household that consists of 2.54 people. The percentage of people in poverty in Indianola stands

at 10%. In general, the economic condition in Indianola is positive. New businesses are

frequently being drawn into the town, allowing its economy to grow. New developments

continue to be constructed throughout the town, which also

contributes to the growth of the town’s economy. The sales tax

in Indianola is currently set at 7%.

Geographic: Brickhouse Tavern is located in Indianola, Iowa.

Brickhouse is a branch of Sportspage, another restaurant

located in Indianola. Various Sports Page restaurants are located in Pella, Winterset and

Ankeny. Each of these towns are in central Iowa and conveniently located near the state’s

capital of Des Moines. The Indianola Brickhouse location is approximately 18 miles South of Des

Moines. Indianola has a total area of 11.25 square miles, all of it land. The population estimate

in 2014 was 15,305, or 1,361 people per square mile.


Brickhouse can be found on the Indianola town square,

which is centrally located within Indianola and filled with

various local businesses and restaurants. Indianola is

located in Warren County, and is the county seat. The

county is one of 99 various counties within Iowa and was

established in 1849. The county has a total area of 573.5

square miles, of which 570 square miles is land and 3.5 square miles is water.

Demographic: According to city-data.com, in 2014, the population of Indianola was estimated

to be 15,305, which is a 17.7% increase from the 2000 census. 53.8% of the population are

female and 46.2% are male. The median age of 33.2 years for Indianola residents was

noticeably lower than the median age for the entire state of Iowa, which is 38 years. The

population of Indianola is mostly Caucasian with 94.2% of citizens reporting that they are white.

Hispanic, mixed, and African-American are the next most common races at 2.3%, 1.4%, and

0.6%, respectively.

Races of Indianola Community School District

Caucasian 94.2% 14,165 Hispanic 2.3% 347

More Than One Race 1.4% 217

African-American 0.6% 92

Asian (Not White) 0.4% 60 Native Hawaiian/Pacific

Islander 0.2% 34

American Indian 0.1% 16 Other 0.8% 122


Socioeconomic:

According to neighborhoodscout.com, Indianola is safer than approximately 24% of the

cities in the nation. It is reported that Indianola annually averages 431 crimes (both violent and

property crimes). Residents have a 2.8% chance

of having a crime committed against them.

Indianola is home to the Indianola

Community School District (ICSD). There are six

schools that make up the district: Whittier,

Wilder, Emerson and Irving Elementary Schools.

Indianola Middle school, and Indianola High School may also be added to the list. There are

sixteen students per classroom in the district, slightly above the Iowa ratio of 14 students per

one teacher. The total student enrollment is 3,519. The district is proficient in both reading and

math, and ranks slightly above the state average in

both areas.

Simpson College is also located in

Indianola. Adding about 1,400 persons to the city,

Simpson is a small, private, liberal-arts college. The

school identifies with the United Methodist Church, participates in many sport, and offers 80

majors and pre-professional programs. It has also been recently expanding to begin offering

certain graduate programs.


C. Overview of the Current Promotional Tactics

The Brickhouse Tavern currently utilizes many forms of promotional strategies and

practices. The establishment uses social media such as a Facebook page and a twitter account

to help boost business and get the word out about the restaurant. The Facebook page includes

frequent posts about the various specials they provide and information about upcoming bands

that will perform at the restaurant. The twitter account doesn’t provide nearly as much

information as the Facebook page does, but does

mention an occasional update or special deal. The

Brickhouse Facebook page currently has 1,146 “likes”

and the twitter account currently has 109 followers.

These numbers are relatively low compared to

Indianola’s population of 15,305. This tells us that the

social and mobile promotional tactics of Brickhouse are doing okay, but have room for

improvement. Brickhouse works with its sister restaurant, The Sports Page, to help support

other local businesses by sponsoring them. By also sponsoring various events within the

community, such as the National Balloon Classic, Brickhouse is able to utilize what is available

locally to assist with the promoting of the business. The local promotional tactics are what bring

the most business to Brickhouse.


III. Research Methods Used in the Study

A. Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct the research

study

Research Goals

As the purpose of this project is to conduct market research in order to determine the

effectiveness of Brickhouse’s current Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies and seek

to improve them, we employed several methodologies to conduct appropriate research.

Exploratory primary and secondary research were used to gather more information about

Brickhouse Tavern, and to gain a better understanding about current trends in Social, Local and

Mobile promotional strategies.

Secondary Research

Websites Social Media Brickhouse-

(www.thesportspagegrill.com/indexbrickhouse.html)

Competitors- (www.winnspizzaandsteakhouse.com)

Brickhouse Twitter Account

Brickhouse Facebook Account

Magazines Online Articles

Food Network Magazine

“25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas: Tips & Strategies to win in the Food Business”

Megan Marrs “What is SoLoMo and why is it important to

marketers?” C. Ketterman

http://www.thesportspagegrill.com/indexbrickhouse.html

http://www.thesportspagegrill.com/indexbrickhouse.html

http://www.winnspizzaandsteakhouse.com/


As we began our secondary research, we had a goal to diversify our sources by visiting

various websites, social media platforms and by reading multiple articles. This process was able

to provide us with a broad idea of how successful restaurants in our area employ SoLoMo

strategies into their marketing techniques. Our research also provided us with an idea of how

well the Brickhouse Tavern is doing with their current marketing and what methods they could

possibly employ in order to improve the business and surpass their competition. It is important

that we did not limit ourselves to one type of secondary source because our information could

have been biased or misrepresented by marketing themes in that specific source. We hoped to

find lots of information on why the SoLoMo strategies relate to and work with one another in

the ways that they do.

Primary Research Amanda and Joe Ripperger Co-owners of Brickhouse Tavern

Kate Leech Waitress at Brickhouse

Elijah Clutter College Student at Simpson

Trina Toigo Indianola High School Student

Janet Robbins Adult living in Indianola

Over the course of 2.5 months, various forms of primary research were conducted in

order to gather detailed and analytical data regarding our mission of gathering basic

information about Brickhouse Tavern. In the process of conducting our studies, we chose to

utilize primary research in the form of multiple interviews and a survey. We chose these

methods because we believed they would provide us with the most comprehensive look at

what is going well for Brickhouse’s current Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies and

what aspects of them could use improvement.


Joe and Amanda Ripperger:

We became personally acquainted with the owners of

the business, Joe and Amanda Ripperger in order to gather data

on the internal operations of Brickhouse Tavern. They gave us

very helpful feedback about what they have done to improve

their SoLoMo marketing already and what has seemed most

successful.

Kate Leech:

We interviewed Kate Leech, a waitress at the Brickhouse via

FaceTime to gather her opinions on how well she feels the Brickhouse’s

SoLoMo strategies are from a waitress’ viewpoint. Kate gave us great

feedback stating that the business could definitely do some work with

improving their social media marketing.

Janet Robbins:

We interviewed Janet Robbins, a representative of the typical adult residing in

Indianola. This interview gave us more insight as to what a person from her generation, people

aged 45 to 55, think of the Brickhouse. Janet had very helpful answers regarding how she feels

about the Brickhouse’s marketing and what she believes could use improvement when it comes

to marketing.


College Student:

Personally interviewing Elijah Clutter, a student at Simpson College, helped us to gain a

better understanding of how college students in Indianola may view The Brickhouse Tavern.

Elijah gave us feedback involving how he views the Brickhouse, and his opinions on The

Brickhouse’s current SoLoMo strategies.

Trina Toigo:

In order to gather more information about how a high school student attending

Indianola High School and living in Indianola may view the Brickhouse Tavern’s Social, Local and

Mobile marketing strategies, we sat down with Trina and asked her various questions about

Brickhouse and asked for some of her opinions regarding the restaurant.

B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods

Personal Interview

Questions asked during the interview processes: What is your name?

Do you currently live in Indianola?

How often do you visit Brickhouse Tavern?

Where do you find updates & info about Brickhouse?

How strong do you feel the Brickhouse’s social media presence is?

What determines which restaurant you choose to attend?

On a typical Friday night what comes to mind when choosing a restaurant?

How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in Indianola?

How would you describe a dining experience at Brickhouse Tavern?

How often do you use sites such as Yelp or Foursquare?

Does a poor rating on a restaurant dictate whether or not you are willing to dine there?


In order to learn more about Brickhouse Tavern, many personal interviews were

conducted. We became personally acquainted with the owners of the business, Joe and

Amanda Ripperger in order to gather data on the internal operations of Brickhouse Tavern.

Next, we conducted more face-to-face interviews with a waitress at Brickhouse named

Kate Leech, an adult living and working in the Indianola community named Janet Robbins, a

student at Indianola High School named Trina Toigo, a Simpson College student named Elijah

Clutter. Before we followed through with the interviews, we put together a list (see above) of

questions for each person.

These personal conversations allowed us to better understand how various Indianola

community members feel about Brickhouse, and what their opinions are regarding the

restaurant’s current Social, Local, and Mobile promotional strategies.

Online Survey

We decided to provide the Indianola community with an online Google survey because

the process was quick and easy, yet became a reliable and accurate source of information that

directly reflected the opinions of various focus groups within the Indianola Community.

Although surveys are an excellent source of information, they can very easily be biased and/or

inaccurate. In order to create a valid survey, we used elementary diction and sentence

structure in an effort to not confuse any of the survey takers as to the meaning of our

questions. We also opted for questions that were answered with short-answer responses and

ratings. This reduced the potential for sample and responder bias. After drafting our survey, it


was approved by the co-owners of Brickhouse Tavern and shared via Twitter, Facebook and e-

mail. After one month we were able to analyze 71 of these surveys.

The results provided extremely beneficial data regarding the satisfaction of Brickhouse’s

customers along with how they view the restaurant’s Social, Local and Mobile presence. The

three main questions featured in the survey that we chose to focus on were (see appendix for

entire survey):

1) Where do you typically find updates and information about Brickhouse Tavern?

2) How user-friendly would you rate the Brickhouse’s Social Media presence?

3) How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in the Indianola Community?

IV. Findings and Conclusions of the Study

A. Findings of the research study

Personal Interviews: From our personal interviews, we discovered that Brickhouse’s

current Social, Local, and Mobile, promotional strategies are steadily providing the restaurant

with business and customers, but these areas could use improvement. Trina Toigo and Kate

Leech believe that Brickhouse’s social media usage is subpar when compared to other

restaurants and businesses in the community. This issue may be caused by the fact that

Brickhouse does not currently employ a media marketing specialist to manage their online

marketing endeavors. The co-owners, Joe and Amanda Ripperger prefer to keep Brickhouse’s

family-oriented atmosphere and fear that too much social media presence may interfere with

their goal.


However, today marketing and promotional tactics must expand further than face to

face conversation and the occasional advertisement out in public. The world today thrives on

technology and social media, and the owners of Brickhouse are willing to change up their

current pages on Facebook and Twitter in order to possibly gain a more diverse target market

and more customers.

From a local standpoint, Elijah Clutter informed us that most college students living in

Indianola are aware that Brickhouse is a very popular restaurant within the community, but

could become “huge,” meaning they could earn more popularity and business. Sponsoring

events and donating to organizations are both extremely effective ways of promoting oneself

within a small community such as Indianola.

Most people interviewed informed us that they

typically utilize apps that rate and rank

Restaurants. That being said, it is crucial for Brickhouse to ensure they are given good ratings

on apps such as Yelp or Foursquare, especially so that people coming from outside of the

community will be willing to give Brickhouse Tavern a try. Better ratings will also lead to the

retention of current customers.

Surveys: A portion of the Indianola Community was provided with our Google Survey via

Facebook and Twitter, therefore it did not reach many people but was successful in providing

us with a better perspective of how various customers of Brickhouse are informed about the

restaurant and how they personally view it from Social, Local and Mobile standpoints. We

discovered that a vast majority of customers and/or community members do not currently find


any updates about Brickhouse Tavern at all, meaning they are most likely unaware of the

restaurant's social media accounts, activity within the community and online reviews.

The surveys made it very clear to us that various people view the popularity of

Brickhouse within the Indianola Community differently, some believing the establishment is

very popular, others viewing the restaurant as not frequently visited. We learned through our

initial research that it is a common trend in smaller communities that if a good amount of

people view a restaurant as commonly visited, the establishment will attract curious customers.

The mobile presence of Brickhouse Tavern was rated very poorly by the survey takers,

proving once again that the social media platforms and ratings on reviews sites regarding

Brickhouse must be improved. The following graphs represent key results from our surveys

distributed to the Indianola Community.


B. Conclusions based on the findings

After analyzing our findings, we can conclude that Brickhouse is an exceptional

restaurant in the Indianola community. The Brickhouse has a good reputation and is well-

known by people of all demographics in Indianola. The Brickhouse Tavern is a key component in

partnering with businesses in Indianola and taking part in events within the community.


Conclusion #1:

After interviewing with the co-owners we drew conclusions upon their current SoLoMo

marketing strategies. Not only does The Brickhouse do a large amount of marketing with the

community, they also partner up with Simpson College. When The Brickhouse sponsors an

event in the community such as bike night and the annual Holiday Extravaganza, their business

gets advertised on the radio, newspapers, brochures, social media, etc.

As far as Simpson College, Brickhouse is able to utilize the school in order to advertise at

their events. The Brickhouse has a visual presence in the form of a large poster in the Cowles

Fieldhouse. As far as advertising their own business, a lot of the marketing is based on sports

with promoting the specials if there is a big sporting event. Because of the small town size of

Indianola, they have many “regular” customers. Amanda Ripperger described the restaurant as

a laid back social atmosphere where the majority of the customers know each other. She also

said that typically the customers personally know the servers.

Conclusion #2:

Based on the conclusions of the interview with the co-owners and the survey results, we

can conclude that the Brickhouse is an Indianola icon that needs major maintenance. After

interviewing with the co-owners of The Brickhouse, we were able to draw conclusions on how

they view their own SoLoMo strategies. Amanda Ripperger confirmed that Facebook is their

best source of marketing their business socially. Also, the owners believe that The Brickhouse

could improve their social media by getting involved and more active on twitter and other

social media platforms. The co-owners along with the results from the survey state that the

Brickhouse’s social media is on the weaker end of the spectrum.


Conclusion #3:

With the connections between some of the survey questions and our personal

interviews, we concluded that the Brickhouse is very successful in their finding and maintaining

of adult clientele. This, however, also lead to the conclusion that the lack of marketing to the

younger generation clearly correlates to the lack of younger clientele. The lack of mobile

promotion and presence on social media all make it difficult to change this, along with the fact

that a lot of the events they sponsor are also for the older generation.

V. Proposed Strategic Plan

A. Objectives and rationale of the proposed strategic plan

After analyzing the evidence we uncovered in our research, we concluded that

Brickhouse must improve their social media marketing in order to retain current customers and

gain new. Broadening the restaurant’s current status in the community through more

sponsoring and local physical advertisement. Along with social media advertising, Brickhouse

would greatly benefit from the use of an application that may provide customers with special

offers, motivating them to eat at Brickhouse more often.


1) Enhance Brickhouse Tavern’s current website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

Rationale: By improving the business’ current website, Facebook and Twitter

pages, the restaurant will seem more appealing and information will be accessible to a

technology-driven society.

2) Do more advertising and event sponsoring within the community.

Rationale: Further exposure within the community will expand the target

market, and broaden the customer base.

3) Utilize the “Remind” application.

Rationale: By using this app, the restaurant will be able to reach customers from

wherever they are, while also providing exclusive deals and incentives.

4) Pizza Punch Promotion

Rationale: A card that provides a free single-topping medium pizza once the

required amount of card punches is met.

B. Proposed activities and timelines

1) Overhaul of Current Social Media Sites:

A major trend in marketing across industry sectors is an increased emphasis on socially

connecting with customers through the use of social media. The large majority of potential

customers looking for a place to eat will search online for in-depth information about the


restaurant. Although Brickhouse posts on Facebook, it is not consistently done and the

content could be of an enhanced quality. Younger generations are constantly connecting

with other people online, therefore, our goal is to gain an improved web presence for The

Brickhouse Tavern. We plan to achieve this goal by:

A. Frequently updating with more pictures and posts

B. Post specials, promotions and deals for the week

C. Keep customers updated on upcoming events at the Brickhouse

After changes are made and The Brickhouse Facebook page is enhanced, The Brickhouse

will need to regularly maintain the changes by posting frequently. By implementing this simple

and completely free idea, The Brick House will be able to connect with an endless amount of

people.

2) Increase Local Advertisement

Brickhouse is located on the Indianola

town square. This is a lively atmosphere with

many other local businesses around. However,

because of the square’s location within the

town, many residents do not pass through it on their daily routes. If these same people don’t

have a reason to go to the square, they may not view the Brickhouse as a dining option.

Therefore, we must increase Brickhouse’s advertising within Indianola in order to attract

customers that wouldn’t normally choose Brickhouse to dine at.


On Highway 65/69, leading into Indianola from the major city of Des Moines, there are

noticeable billboards right as you enter town. We researched just how much these forms of

advertisements cost and concluded that it costs around $500 dollars to utilize a billboard for

four weeks. The busiest time of year for the Indianola community is the summertime. From the

beginning of June through the end of July, there are several events that take place and attract

various people from all over Iowa. Examples of these events include, Bike Nights on the square,

the Warren County Fair and the National Balloon Classic.

If Brickhouse creates an advertisement and posts in on a billboard near Indianola, the

promotion would reach almost everyone who enters Indianola daily, or as they arrive in

Indianola to attend the larger events the city holds.

3) Utilize “Remind”

The Remind app is an application that allows users to

communicate and gain information about dates, times, etc. The app

would allow the Brickhouse owners to create an account with a

username, such as “IndyBrickhouse.” From there, the owners

would need to inform the public about their latest form of

promotion. The best ways to do this would be to physically show

people how to join, share a link leading directly to the application

or adding customers directly. The user-friendly application does a

wonderful job of walking the “class” creator through each step. After the account is created it is

then the owner’s responsibility to send out messages to those signed up to receive them. In


order to utilize this app as a customer, you would simply text “IndyBr” to 81010, and then

instantly begin receiving messages from Brickhouse!

We have reached a major conclusion that Brickhouse needs to improve upon their

mobile marketing strategies. Therefore, the usage of the Remind app in order to reach out to

customers where they are, verses only advertising in limited places around the community, will

motivate more and more people to eat at Brickhouse. The messages sent directly to customers

will update them about an innumerable amount of various deals, coupons and much more.

This activity may be implemented immediately, and be carried out for however long the

Brickhouse owners wish to utilize the application. Brickhouse doesn’t currently practice any

unique forms of advertising, which is why the Remind app is capable of providing the restaurant

with a feature that may catch potential customers’ attention.

4) Introduce the New Pizza Punch Promotion Card

Brickhouse is famous for their pizza, and this brings in a major portion of their total

sales. Our “Pizza Punch Card” is similar to the common haircut card; if a customer buys ten

medium pizzas, the eleventh medium pizza is free. This program encourages customers to make

several trips to Brickhouse because there is an incentive. This promotional tactic may be

endorsed on the restaurant’s newly upgraded social media pages, and within the restaurant.

Our goal is to target young people (21-30 years of age). The card will be promoted especially

from Thursdays through Saturdays, as those are the primary dining nights within Indianola.

Using the website vistaprint.com, the owners of brickhouse may create an account and

design their own punch cards. The process is incredibly simple and user-friendly. If Brickhouse


were to start out with around 500 cards printed, this would be a good starting point and would

provide a decent amount of customers with punch cards. Pizza Punch Cards would be given to

customers for free, after they purchased a medium pizza. The Pizza Punch Cards promotional

tactic may be implemented as soon as the cards are designed and shipped to the co-owners,

and last for however long it benefits Brickhouse.

Due to the fact that we have concluded that Brickhouse suffers from a lack of younger

clientele, the implementation of the Pizza Punch Card will motivate this younger target market

to purchase pizzas and receive a free one. Brickhouse has never utilized any type of punch card

in previous years, so this new strategy will potentially be a great form of promotion.


Below is a sample version of the Pizza Punch Card.

C. Proposed metrics or key performance indicators to measure plan effectiveness

In order to analyze whether or not various aspects of our strategic plan are successful in

meeting our objectives, we will simply measure the increase in customers, increase in overall

social media following and collective usage of Brickhouse’s Remind “class” and Pizza Punch

Cards. Because 2016 is coming to an end as we design this strategic plan, we will evaluate all of

our implementations at the end of the year 2017.

The evaluation of customer increase may be measured by how much money the

restaurant is bringing in quarterly. An increase in profit correlates with an increase of

customers. Measuring an increase in social media following would be extremely simple. In

order to do this we will record how many Facebook likes, twitter followers, etc., exist at the

beginning of each quarter, and then how many exist at the end of that quarter. This

observation will show us how effective our social media revamp plan was.


Profit

< 2016’s revenue = 2016’s revenue > 2016’s revenue

POOR FAIR GOOD

The remind app allows the class creator to view how many people are currently utilizing

their class and receiving their updates, which leads to an easy evaluation of how effective the

app is for Brickhouse. If the restaurant purchases 500 Pizza Punch Cards, they will then begin

handing them out to various customers. After a customer is finished with a card, meaning they

have received their free single topping medium pizza, they may then hand the card back to the

business. Brickhouse may then calculate how many cards were returned to them after

approximately one or two quarters, and decide whether or not the implementation of the cards

was a success or not.

Pizza Punch Cards Returned and Completed

100 250 400+

POOR FAIR GOOD

All evaluations will be done quarterly, and after approximately one year we will meet

with the co-owners to discuss which Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies we advised

them to implement seem to be increasing profit, and benefitting the company, and which of

these tactics are not. The successful strategies will be maintained and built upon, whereas the

less efficient promotional tactics will be improved or done away with.


VI. Proposed Budget

In order to achieve the elements our proposed plan, we acknowledge that it will come

with a cost.

Pizza Punch Card: The pizza punch card will be given to 500 participants wanting the card.

“Vistaprint.com” states that 500 punch cards will come with a cost of $21.98. Compared to

other competitors selling cards, Vistaprint is the most affordable option.

Billboard: The billboard will have an estimated initial cost of $500, as well as the cost to design

the image posted on the board, which is typically around $500.

Facebook post boosting: The total cost of Facebook boosting will cost $100. The cost of each

boost with vary how many people are striving to reach.

Total Cost: The final cost will be approximately $1,121.98

Pizza Punch Card Billboard Facebook Boosting

$21.98 $500 $100

The budget for our strategic plan is considerably low, and the ideas we plan to implement for

The Brickhouse have the potential to greatly benefit the restaurant from a financial standpoint.


VII. Bibliography

Online Websites

R. Jamie, Tara W., Dave C., Dan B., Josh L., Sopla R., and Angela K. "Brickhouse Tavern -

Indianola, IA." Yelp., 03 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

"Warren County, Iowa." Warren County, Iowa. Warren County Information Technology, 7 Feb.

2017. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

"Welcome to the Brickhouse Tavern!" Brickhouse Tavern. The Brick House Pizza & Pasta Co.,

Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

"SoLoMo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2011. Web.

"Indianola, IA - Official Website | Official Website." City of Indianola. CivicPlus, Web. 08 Feb.

2017.

Personal Interviews

Joe and Amanda Ripperger

Kate Leech Elijah Clutter Trina Toigo

Janet Robbins

Printed Source Consultants

Food Network Magazine

“25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas: Tips & Strategies to win in the Food Business”

Megan Marrs “What is SoLoMo and why is it important to

marketers?” C. Ketterman

Ashley Noethe, business educator

Carol Carr, business educator Jeannette Campbell, business educator

Andy Leech, financial advisor


VIII. Appendix

Appendix A: Survey Questions


Appendix B: Focus group questions (all):

What is your name?

Do you currently live in Indianola?

How often do you visit Brickhouse Tavern?

Where do you find updates & info about Brickhouse?

How strong do you feel the Brickhouse’s social media presence is?

What determines which restaurant you choose to attend?

On a typical Friday night what comes to mind when choosing a restaurant?

How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in Indianola?

How would you describe a dining experience at Brickhouse Tavern?

How often do you use sites such as Yelp or Foursquare?

Does a poor rating on a restaurant dictate whether or not you are willing to dine there?

hospitality and tourism operations research event · 2018. 3. 1. · logan vickroy, liz leech,...

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