strengthening the position of the vegan restaurant souls

Roskilde University Business studies, Autumn 2016

Universitetsvej 1 Strengthening the position of the vegan restaurant Souls

4000 Roskilde Supervised by Lone Samuelsson

Strengthening the position of the vegan restaurant Souls

Number of Characters: 222.829

Supervised by Lone Samuelsson

Written by:

61475 Maria Abben

59691 Anca Andreicut

59600 Daniels Drinkis

60904 Anna Gkioka

53033 Ida Nicole Mølgaard

61470 Tinie D. F. Olsen

54665 Lea Trylcova


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Abstract

The following project contains an investigation of the case study of a vegan restaurant called Souls

located in Copenhagen, focusing on strategies on how to strengthen their position on the Danish

market as well as a possible expansion to the Roskilde municipality.

This investigation includes the analysis of the restaurant’s position using the collection of empirical

data gathered from the owners of the restaurant, existing customers of the restaurant and the poten-

tial customers of the restaurant from the area of Roskilde.

The project is structured into several parts in order to build up the methodology and theoretical

framework first, and then using this knowledge for the analysis of the position of the restaurant in

Copenhagen as well as their potential to enter the market in Roskilde.

Lastly, in the discussion, we argue for both the benefits and drawbacks of this expansion and we list

the suggestion for implementing several strategies on how to expand and strengthen the position of

Souls on the Danish market.

Summary in Slovak

Nasledujuci projekt obsahuje prieskum prípadovej študie vegánskej reštaurácie nazvanej Souls,

ktorá má lokalitu v Kodani, so zameraním na stratégie ako posilniť ich pozíciu na Dánskom trhu a

tiež možnu expanziu do mestskej samosprávy Roskilde.

Tento projekt obsahuje analýzu pozície tejto reštaurácie použitím zbierky empirických dát

zhromaždených od vlastníkov reštaurácie, existujucich zákazníkov reštaurácie a potencionálnych

zákazníkov reštaurácie z okolia Roskilde. Projekt je štrukturovaný v niekoľkých častiach, aby bolo

možné najprv vybudovať metodológiu a teoreticky rámec a potom použitím tejto znalosti spraviť

analýzu pozície reštaurácie v Kodani a taktiež ich potenciál vstupiť na trh v Roskilde.

Nakoniec argumentujeme v diskusii za výhody a nevýhody tejto expanzie a menujeme sugescie na

realizovanie niekoľkých stratégii na tému ako expandovať a posilniť pozíciu Souls na Dánskom

trhu.


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Table of contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5

1.1. Motivation ................................................................................................................................. 5

1.2. Problem Formulation ................................................................................................................. 6

1.3. Background of the Souls restaurant........................................................................................... 6

1.4. Project Structure ........................................................................................................................ 7

2. Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 8

2.1 Philosophy of Science ................................................................................................................ 8

2.2 Mixed Method Approach ......................................................................................................... 10

2.3 Qualitative Research Method - Qualitative Research Interview .............................................. 11

2.4 Quantitative Research Method ................................................................................................. 13

2.4.1. The online survey ............................................................................................................. 13

2.4.2 The Structured Interview ................................................................................................... 16

2.5 Limitations of results ................................................................................................................ 18

2.6 Presentation of the quantitative research results ...................................................................... 20

2.6.1 Results of Quantitative Research Method - The Survey .................................................. 20

2.6.2. Results of Quantitative Research Method - The Structured Interview ........................... 24

3. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................... 28

3.1. Target market .......................................................................................................................... 28

3.2. Competitive strategies: Porter’s 5 forces................................................................................. 30

3.2.1. Customers ......................................................................................................................... 30

3.2.2. Competitors ....................................................................................................................... 34

3.2.3. Substitutes ......................................................................................................................... 36

3.2.4. Suppliers ........................................................................................................................... 36

3.2.5. New entrants ..................................................................................................................... 36

3.3. Business model canvas ............................................................................................................ 37

3.4. SWOT ...................................................................................................................................... 39

3.5. Growth strategies ..................................................................................................................... 40

4. Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 41

4.1. Prospects of growth in the vegan market in Denmark ............................................................ 41

4.2. Souls’ positioning in Copenhagen ........................................................................................... 43

4.2.1. Target Market - Copenhagen ............................................................................................ 43

4.2.2. Souls’ customers in Copenhagen ...................................................................................... 46


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4.2.3. Bargaining power of suppliers .......................................................................................... 59

4.2.5 Substitutes .......................................................................................................................... 72

4.2.6. Threat of New Entrants ..................................................................................................... 74

4.2.7 Sub-conclusion .................................................................................................................. 76

4.3. Souls’ potential of entering the market in Roskilde ................................................................ 77

4.3.1. Target market - Roskilde .................................................................................................. 78

4.3.2. Business model canvas for Souls’ new restaurant in Roskilde ......................................... 80

4.3.3. Competitors ....................................................................................................................... 97

4.3.4. Substitutes ....................................................................................................................... 104

4.3.5. Sub-conclusion ............................................................................................................... 105

5. Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 106

5.1 Expansion in Denmark ........................................................................................................... 107

Strengthening the experience ....................................................................................................... 110

6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 113

7. Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 114


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1. Introduction

This project investigates the case study of a vegan restaurant called Souls, located in Copenhagen.

Our awareness of the topic veganism was initiated by the boom of raw, organic and vegan options

in the stores and restaurants we, as students living in Denmark, noticed in the recent years. In Den-

mark, the average citizen eats 52 kilograms of meat per year, this counts that men consume approx-

imately 64 kilograms of meat yearly, opposed to women, who consume approximately 41 kilograms

of meat per year (DTU Fødevareinstituttet: 2016: 17). However, according to Cph Post Online, the

sales for vegan and vegetarian products in Denmark has raised by 30% from 2014 to 2015, and the

lifestyle is becoming more normal (clearlyveg.com, cphpost.dk). Therefore, we decided to investi-

gate if there is a possibility for success of this kind of a restaurant in the smaller area which does not

accommodate that many international people and tourists as Copenhagen.

This study will focus on the topic of Souls’ current market position and their potential of entering

the market in Roskilde. We will study two different target markets, customer segments in Copenha-

gen and Roskilde, and the main competitors this restaurant currently has and might have, supposing

that they decide to expand into Roskilde. Thus, this project also includes conducting and analysing

the empirical data collected from both of these areas.

At the end, we will discuss the potential of expanding Souls business model in a small municipality

like Roskilde and further discuss the possible strategies to strengthen their position in Denmark.

1.1. Motivation

Our motivation to investigate the case study of a vegan restaurant Souls is based on our interest of

understanding the internal and external situation of this restaurant, how these factors affect the res-

taurant’s growth decision, and whether or not there is a market for plant based restaurants in local

municipalities like Roskilde. This is what we, as a group, want to analyse in order to be able to cre-

ate and discuss possible suggestions for successful strategies for strengthening Souls position.

We study the Souls restaurant, since they are a newly established and apparently successful fully

vegan restaurant. After we contacted them, they agreed on working with us, and therefore, we de-

cided to focus on this particular case study, as we had an opportunity to had the data from the own-

ers.

Our main interest is to examine existing and potential customers of Souls and the way that this res-

taurant can strengthen its position on the market. Therefore, we collect the empirical data from the


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owners of this restaurant, their existing customers and the potential customers they might gain from

expanding to a smaller, local market like Roskilde to be able to suggest sufficient strategies for

strengthening Souls’ position on the Danish market.

1.2. Problem Formulation

Having the abovementioned motivation, we will look at the internal and external situation of the

Souls restaurant and how their present position on the Danish market could be strengthened.

Through both quantitative and qualitative research methods, we will answer the following problem

formulation and research questions:

How can the vegan restaurant ‘Souls’ located in Copenhagen strengthen their posi-

tion in the Danish market?

Research Questions

1. What are the prospects of growth in the vegan market in Denmark?

2. How is Souls positioned in Copenhagen?

3. Is there a potential to enter the Roskilde restaurant industry with Souls’ business model?

1.3. Background of the Souls restaurant

Souls is a vegan restaurant located in Østerbro in Copenhagen, and is co-owned by two Australian

entrepreneurs who are passionate about animal welfare and environmental benefits the vegan diet

creates (soulscph.dk). Souls opened its doors for customers in April of 2016. The restaurant origi-

nally served meat add-ons, however, since July of 2016 implemented fully plant-based, vegan

menu.

Their main focus is on the quality of homemade and organic food and beautifully decorated meals

to the customers, while keeping a trendy “hip” environment in the restaurant (Appendix 2, line 11).

Souls is continuously receiving high rankings on recommendation sites like TripAdvisor, Hap-

pyCow, and Yelp. On TripAdvisor their rankings achieved the second place of 1,837 restaurants in

Copenhagen (tripadvisor.com).


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According to Souls’ website, their philosophy is to “put the soul back into food, not only by offering

locally sourced food of the highest quality but of the footprint it leaves on the environment and our

bodies“ (soulscph.dk). Souls is aiming to change the way people perceive vegan food in general and

show the possibilities of meat-free meals for their customers.

1.4. Project Structure

As the last part of our introduction, we present the structure of the project report in order to clearly

illustrate the arrangement of each chapter.


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2. Methodology

In the following chapter, we describe and reflect on the methods that we used for collecting our em-

pirical data for the further analysis of our case study. Firstly, we focus on Philosophy of science and

Mixed method approach in order to introduce our methodology. Next, we delve into both Qualita-

tive research method (the qualitative semi-structured interview) and Quantitative research method

(the online survey and the structured interview). We list the limitations of the results which we had

to be aware of during our research. Lastly, we present the results of the quantitative research meth-

ods.

2.1 Philosophy of Science

In this project, we study Souls’ position and the relation between agents, structures and mechanisms

driving the positioning structure. The aim is to discuss and evaluate the possibilities and limits with-

in these elements to strengthen Souls position in Denmark.

The approach that we in this study take on reality, frames our research and our relation to our study

object. We take on a critical realist approach to ontology and epistemology, meaning that in our

studies we search for the independent reality determined by fundamental structures, which are inter-

relative socio-cultural forces driving and intertwining the relation between context, events and ob-

jects. However, we also understand that our accessibility to this external reality is limited and our

research is mediated (Bhaskar & Lawson, 1998: 3-6; Bryman, 2012: 29+616; Danermark et al.,

2002:20).

Critical realism was founded by Roy Bhaskar in 1974 and his later work. In his work, Bhaskar em-

phasises that critical realism is neither objectivist nor subjectivist but it is a middle position between

positivism and post-modernist constructivism. Critical realism builds on the positivist approach that

there is a reality that exists externally indifferent of how we study it. Critical realism also builds a

constructivist mindset that our access to reality is mediated and controlled by structures and con-

stantly changing contexts. It is crucial, in critical realism, to see objects and events in relation to the

context (Danermark et al, 2002:4+15-16; Bryman, 2012:29+616). The context interacts with and

influences the generative mechanisms, and is important to study to produce observed knowledge


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about patterns and normalities in the social world. In other words, the objects like people, organisa-

tions, and resources and the relation between them, that you aim to understand are conceptualised

from the words and theories you use to describe them (Clark, 2008). In this project we understand

that reality is dynamic and complex and that the “social world is reproduced and transformed in

daily life” (Bhaskar, 1989: 4).

The critical approach implies that the social world consists of generative mechanisms, which make

up a basis for introducing new mechanisms, which can change the object and the context. These

mechanisms make up “the entities and processes that are constitutive of the phenomenon of inter-

est” (Bryman, 2012: 616). Generative mechanisms are structuring and forming events, which are

outcomes of specific actions driven by objects. The aim of critical realism is to discover and possi-

bly change these mechanisms. Even though the mechanisms are not directly observable, we aim at

assessing them by studying their effects on the context and on the object of research (Danermark et

al., 2002:25; Bhaskar 1998:36-37).

Since we take a critical realist approach to reality and the knowledge we produce, our research im-

plies that theoretical descriptions are not sufficient to analyse the research object. We need both a

theoretically founded and practical, empirically founded approach to identify social structures, rela-

tions and outcomes. In this project, we study fundamental factors that constitute the contexts as well

as the research object by observing the events, experiences and effects of these relations in the ac-

count to theory. Our research procedure is abductive, where we continuously make estimations and

then research the object and the structures and contexts determining and changing it. Estimations

and hypotheses help us to understand which factors are hindering and which are improving the con-

ditions for the object of study (Danermark et al, 2002:23; Bhaskar 1998: 36-37). By reductive rea-

soning, we make logical and common-sense conclusions about the causal connections, which makes

a basis for the similarities and patterns observed and analysed (Bryman, 2012:29).

According to Bhasker’s (1978) division of domains, we, as researchers, aim to access knowledge

about the real domain, which consists of the generative mechanisms influencing events and the

structures that underlie and determine them. You can do this by observing events and how they

happen in the actual domain, by describing them based on experiences and social perceptions in the

empirical domain (Danermark et al. 2002:20-21).

Summing up, we aim at identifying structures and contexts that drive generative mechanisms affect-

ing events and objects in order to study possibilities of changing the social world in terms of objects

and events.


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2.2 Mixed Method Approach

We used the exploratory sequential mixed methods design for our research which means that we

begin with the qualitative research method and analysis and builds up to a second quantitative phase

(Creswell, 2014: 276). Firstly, we conducted the qualitative research method, the qualitative inter-

view with the owners of the Souls, and after the analysis of their answers, we build up the second

collection of data through two quantitative research methods, the structured interview and online

survey. 1

This mixed method approach is combining the interview with the survey and structured interviews

(Ibid: 276). The purpose of combining these methods is to understand and explain correlations and

patterns in Souls’ business model in terms of how the owners and how the customers perceive it,

and then to analyse how Souls’ business model matches the preferences of potential customers.

1 http://www.slideshare.net/PelangiSuria/mixed-method-28436220 , the source of the image of the exploratory sequen-

tial mixed method design

http://www.slideshare.net/PelangiSuria/mixed-method-28436220


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In this study, we mix methods to have greater validity, by having different sources, similar research

questions and different methods to study the same object. Furthermore, mixing methods gives us a

wider research and the possibility to have more comprehensive results by giving a diversity of per-

spectives of the restaurant. Our research process is illustrated in the following figure:

Firstly, we present the methodology we used for conducting the qualitative research interview.

2.3 Qualitative Research Method - Qualitative Research Interview

In order to get an understanding of Souls’ business model, we had to conduct the interview with the

owners. We used the acquired knowledge as a tool for our further analysis. Initially, we wanted to

interview the owners individually, however, the owners did not agree to be interviewed separately.

Therefore, we had to agree to interview them both at the same time. We conducted a semi-

structured interview, in which the purpose was to obtain descriptions of the perspectives of the in-

terviewees (Kvale, 2007: 9). In a typical semi-structured interview, the researcher has a list of


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questions or series of topics they want to cover in the interview, an interview guide but there is flex-

ibility in how and when the questions are put and how the interviewee can respond (Edwards &

Holland, 2013: 29). We wanted to get their perspective on their business, what their goals are and

how they perceive Souls as the ones who created it. The interview was conducted in order to be

provided with a unique access to the perspectives of the subjects, who in their own words describe

their activities, experiences and opinions (Kvale, 2007: 10). This method is close to an everyday

conversation, but as a professional interview, it has a specific purpose and it involves a particular

approach and technique (Ibid: 10).

Interviewing does not follow explicit strict rules and the flow and direction of the conversation de-

pend on the interviewer. According to Kvale and Brinkmann, even though the main feature of a

qualitative interview is its openness, there are seven stages for conducting the interview which we

got inspired from (the ‘Seven Stages of an Interview Inquiry’ in Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009: 102).

The stages are 1. thematising, 2. designing, 3. interviewing, 4. transcribing, 5. analysing, 6. verify-

ing and 7. reporting. We followed these steps in order to keep the interview conducting structured

and organised.

Firstly, we created an interview guide which included the introductory part of “Setting the stage”

before the interview. The introductory part was done in order to make interviewees feel comfortable

before the actual interview and give them space to ask us questions they might have before the be-

ginning. We selected main themes we mainly wanted to focus on, and formulated open questions

because through open questions the interview focuses on the topic of research (Kvale, 2007: 15).

The open questions give a possibility to interviewees to emphasise the dimensions they find most

important or interesting. We selected one member of the group as the interviewer, so the interview-

ees focus on only one person and do not get confused about who the interviewer actually is. We de-

cided that seven people should not be all present during the interview, as the interviewees might get

uncomfortable to be observed by the whole group. Therefore, we appointed three members of the

group to conduct the interview, while only one member will be the interviewer, one will be taking

care of the audio recorder and making sure that it works properly and the third one will be observ-

ing the flow of the conversation, making sure the conversation is on the right track and helping out

in case the main interviewer gets confused or loses the track of the questions.

At the end of the interview, we asked the owners to fill up the strategy canvas for us from their per-

spective as a part of ‘cooling down’ and finishing up the interview.

Next, we describe the quantitative research methods we used for collecting our empirical data - the

online survey and structured interview.


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2.4 Quantitative Research Method

The quantitative research method was conducted in two ways. We decided to use the online survey

as well as the structured interviews in order to get data from different target groups and gain a

knowledge of the overall situation regarding our problem area. The online survey was meant for the

existing customers of the Souls restaurant while the structured interview conducted in Roskilde was

directed towards potential customers the restaurant could gain in the future. Firstly, we take a closer

look at the online survey.

2.4.1. The online survey

Survey research involves soliciting self-reported information from people about themselves (Parker

& Rea, 2012: 30). Our main aim behind conducting the online survey was to acquire a general

knowledge about why the customers choose to visit, dine and return to the Souls restaurant. This

was done in order to find out Souls’ strengths and weaknesses from the customer’s point of view.

Surveys typically collect three types of data: descriptive, behavioural and attitudinal (Ibid: 33). In

our survey, we were surely interested in the descriptive information about our respondents (age,

gender, city they live in), however, our main interest was in the behaviour of the customers and

their attitude towards the Souls restaurant, as we seek to be also future-oriented in our further analy-

sis.

A survey is a system for collecting information to describe, compare, or explain knowledge, atti-

tudes, and behaviour (Fink, 1995: 1). We mostly wanted to find out what the main drivers of Souls’

success are according to their customers and how these drivers can be used in our analysis. Addi-

tionally, we hoped that certain topics, that can be further used in our analysis, may also arise from

the respondents’ answers.

We decided for the online survey since this method seemed the most advantageous from what we

could choose from. We were considering the idea of conducting the survey in person, however, we

did not want to disturb the customers while they are dining in the restaurant. Therefore, the online

survey was the cost-effective, convenient and confidential choice for us.


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2.4.1.1. Formulation and Structure of Questions

The hallmark of our survey is the public opinion poll, which seeks opinions and preferences regard-

ing issues of social relevance of this project (Parker & Rea, 2005: 6). The first step for us was to

research the methods used for creating the survey. According to Parker and Rea (2005), there are

several tasks which should be considered by researchers when creating the survey.

There are two fundamental steps to consider at the very beginning of the survey creation. First, the

goals and objectives of the study should be elaborated and refined, and second, the researcher

should identify the specific format for collecting the data (Parker & Rea, 2012: 64). The goals and

objectives of our survey were discussed among the group and we reached the decision: Our main

objective, while forming and structuring the questions of the survey, was to be oriented towards the

information we needed for our analysis, thus we needed to ask our respondents the right questions

in order to get the appropriate answers which could be further used. Moreover, the online survey

was the quickest way of reaching out our objectives and gain the knowledge about attitudes of exist-

ing customers towards Souls.

The survey questions were designed carefully as they must be unbiased and well-structured (Ibid:

68). The development of the questions was time-consuming, as we wanted to be detailed and, at the

same time, not leading the respondents towards the answers we hoped for. Additionally, we tried to

construct the questions in clear and comprehensible way.

Judging from our experience as well as from the literature, we knew that the longer surveys tend to

lead to lower response rates (Ibid: 68). Therefore, the survey consisted of only ten questions.

We started with the introduction, since it is important to inform the potential respondents about who

we are, the purpose of our study and the fact that their answers are anonymous and confidential

(Ibid: 78). The sequence of questions was thought through and organised. Most questions of the

survey had the closed-ended response choice either with the single answer option or the multiple

answers option.

The main purpose of the early questions is to stimulate the interest, therefore the first questions

were related to the subject matter and easy to answer to lead the respondents into the topic (Ibid:

83). The first questions were mainly related to the eating habits of our respondents, their visits to

the Souls restaurant and how they first found out about the Souls restaurant. These were easy ques-

tions, however, it gave us an overview of the main customer segment of Souls, how loyal they are

to the restaurant as well as which of the media channels have the biggest impact on the customers.


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The questions which followed were then directly related to the opinion and attitude towards the

Souls restaurant as well as their competitors on the market. The structure of these questions was a

scale response mechanism in which the respondents graded their attitude towards several character-

istics of the Souls restaurant in particular as well as other vegan restaurants in Copenhagen. The

scale spectrum was from zero to ten and placed horizontally to allow respondents to perceive the

continuum (Ibid: 138).

The last three questions were of socioeconomic character asking the respondents of their gender,

age and the city of residence.

After creating the survey, we decided to pre-test it in our group of seven members and a number of

students found in the library in order to fine-tune the unclear questions (Ibid: 68). Obviously, we

could not pre-test the survey with the actual target group of the existing customer of Souls, howev-

er, this pilot test still helped us to rewrite the unclear questions and refine the overall design. After

the pilot testing, we opened the survey for the respondents.

2.4.1.2. Releasing the Survey

The foremost advantage of the survey technique is the ability to generalise about an entire group of

customers by drawing inferences based on data drawn from a small portion of that group (Parker &

Rea, 2012: 34). Since our online survey, in particular, was only focused on existing customers of

the Souls restaurant, we were aware of the limitations of the data collecting. We have contemplated

the idea to get a help from the owners of the Souls restaurant, however since our survey included

the sensitive questions regarding their competitors as well, we decided that to ask them to distribute

it for us would be inappropriate in this situation. Therefore, we decided to distribute it ourselves

among the vegan community on Facebook. Our goal was to reach between thirty to fifty responses,

as we were limited by time as well as ways of how to reach the actual customers of the Souls restau-

rant. Taking the time constraints under the consideration, we set a week for collecting the data.

The main distribution channel was Facebook, as it is the most used social media at the present time2

(statista.com). Two members of the group distributed the survey link on the various Danish vegan

groups on Facebook, the Facebook page of the Souls restaurant and on Instagram under the most

liked pictures of Souls Instagram account. We decided that all seven members should not interfere

with the distribution as it might confuse the respondents, seeing the same survey under various

names.

2 1,712 million active users as of September 2016


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The responses were flowing in slower than we expected but we realised that it is a difficult task to

find the existing customers of one particular restaurant on the social media. The final number of re-

sponses to our survey was thirty-eight. We reached the minimum bar we initially set for ourselves,

even though we were very limited in the ways of how to get to the responses.

Together with the online survey, we used the second type of quantitative research method which

was the structured interview.

2.4.2 The Structured Interview

The structured interview entails the administration of an interview schedule by an interviewer and

the aim is for all interviewees to be given the exactly same context of questioning (Bryman, 2012:

210). The purpose of studying potential customers’ values and restaurant preferences is to under-

stand to which extent the Souls’ restaurant concept has a potential for growth in the Roskilde area.

The population of this research is based on two factors:

1. The respondent is a Roskilde citizen or travels to the Roskilde area.

2. The respondent eats at restaurants, cafes or gets takeaway at least once per month.

It is important to state the frequency of eating out because we focus on the customers, who are al-

ready motivated to go out to eat.

To enable us to access this market segment and to secure quality in answers, we conducted the

questionnaire as a structured interview. Doing a structured interview in Roskilde city centre, we had

the possibility of meeting people who go out in Roskilde.

2.4.2.1. Formulation and Structure of Questions

Questions of structured interviews are usually very specific and very often offer the interviewee a

fixed range of answers (Ibid: 210). Our questionnaire contains fourteen questions which are mostly

closed with one or multiple possible answers. The questions are formulated similar to the online

survey questions for the existing customers, to base the comparison on the same parameters.

The interview starts off by asking whether the respondent eats at restaurants, cafes or gets takeaway

more or less than once per month. Thus, the first action based questions concern how often the re-

spondents go out, which type of cuisine they prefer, and where they get inspired to go out.

This is followed by perceptual questions concerning their attitude towards different criteria that

Souls’ concept builds on. These questions are indicated on a Likert scale with indicators from zero

to ten. By this multi-indicator matrix, we are able to measure the dimensions of the attitudes with


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the dimensions of each criterion. These measures give us the possibility to study consistency in an-

swers, which gives reliability. Following, we had an open-ended question to which the respondent

could tell which criteria were most important and also include criteria that we did not consider when

constructing the questionnaire.

We follow some more specific and factual questions about the respondents’ habits of eating meat,

and why they will or will not go to a plant-based restaurant. By having these questions later on in

the interview, we minimise framing and associative thinking in the perceptual questions (Ibid: 175).

2.4.2.2. Conducting the interviews

We ensured that the members of the group who are conducting the interviews know their way

around the schedule in order to prevent the errors which can occur when there is interviewer varia-

bility (Ibid: 217). We interviewed forty-two different respondents, however, one of the respondents

completed the interview only partially, therefore, we are working with forty-one responses. The in-

terviews took place in the central pedestrian streets in Roskilde city centre and at Roskilde station

on a Friday and Saturday midday and afternoon. By varying the day and the place of the interviews,

we aimed for a bit more variation in people and responses.

The interviewers were four members of this project group to reduce the risk of bias by social ap-

pearance and self-selection. To decrease inter-interviewer validity in the interviewer technique

(Ibid: 211), every interviewer where to read out the questions exactly as they were formulated. The

interviewers added in the answers on paper or directly in the questionnaire formula. By conducting

structured personal face-to-face interviewing, we reduce non-response and in return have more

completed answers, because the respondent has to pay attention in the social situation (Bush &

Hair, 1985: 164-166).

Each structured interview started with the introductory statement in order to present who we are,

what the project is about and how their answers will be analysed (Bryman, 2012: 218). If the re-

spondents needed clarification, the interviewer explained the questions. When the interview was

done, we had in mind the common courtesies, for instance thanking respondents for giving up their

time for our research (Ibid: 225).

While conducting both qualitative and quantitative research methods, we were aware of the possible

errors and limitations which can occur during the process of collecting the empirical data. We delve

into these in the next part of our methodology.


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2.5 Limitations of results

We use a mixed method approach to take advantage of the fact that the strengths and weaknesses of

the qualitative and the quantitative will compensate for each other and give the study credibility.

Firstly, the possible limitations of the qualitative research method are biased, leading questions and

a lack of reliability and validity (Kvale, 2007: 120-126). We ensured that these limitations of the

qualitative research were minimised. To begin with, we prepared the questions in the interview

guide which were free from bias in order to be objective (Ibid: 120). Our qualitative interview has

dialogical intersubjectivity, which is an agreement through a rational discourse between those inter-

preting a phenomenon, between researchers and subjects (Ibid: 121). Objectivity is then produced

by negotiation between the interviewer and interviewees.

In order to ensure reliability, we divided the transcription and analysis of the answers and then

compared our findings. After the analysis, we could observe that the subjects did not change their

answers during the interview and our transcriptions and analyses were similar after we compared

them. In addition, validity in this type of research method refers to the truth and the strength of the

statement and in the social sciences pertains to the issue of whether a method investigates what it is

supposed to investigate (Ibid: 122). Therefore, during the preparation of the interview guide, we

rewrote and refined the questions and discussed the purpose of each question. This was done in or-

der to make certain that the questions are in the same direction and all point towards answering our

problem formulation.

When it comes to the online survey, we kept the respondents anonymous, therefore we are not able

to ensure the validity of their answers. We cannot measure whether the respondents know us or the

owners of the Souls restaurant personally which would make their answers biased. According to the

survey design guide in The Survey Handbook (Fink, 1995: 38), the self-selection of respondents can

be seen as another limitation as it can lead to a smaller amount of responses. The link to our survey

was shared on the Danish vegan groups as well as the Facebook and Instagram page of Souls, which

means that it was difficult for us to reach the tourists who visited Souls, customers without Face-

book or Instagram accounts or customers who are not comfortable with the English language.

Moreover, customers who do not like to participate in online surveys, in general, might decide to

ignore our survey.

Parker and Rea (2005) suggest a lack of interviewer involvement may also harm the final results of

the survey. Even though we tried to make the survey questions as clear as possible, misunderstand-


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ings could occur, which would lead to miscommunication between us and the respondents, and thus

invalid answers.

In the structured interview, there are several possible errors which can occur. These include “mis-

understanding on the part of the interviewee, the way the information is recorded by the interview-

er” and “the way the information is processed” (Bryman, 2012: 210). Even though the questions

were carefully prepared, there can be miscommunication or misunderstanding on the part of the re-

spondents in case they interpret the questions differently that we initially intended. The sample is

also small and random, and therefore we cannot generalise the data. Furthermore, the variety of re-

spondents is limited by situational factors: time, week and place because of the time limits. This

method also has some sampling bias in self-selection and non-probability sampling (Ibid: 211). For

example, we did not choose every person we saw, but instead we approached the persons looking

like we had a shot at interviewing them. Also, we had in mind approaching various age groups.

Therefore, when we already had a lot of younger interviewees, we tried to target other age groups.

There are also the limitations that the respondents deliver socially desirable answers, which may

give low replicability (Ibid: 227). The respondents may lie to us in order to justify their behaviour

regarding their eating habits. The interviews were conducted in two ways, the respondents could fill

the answers by themselves in the phone or they could answer to the interviewers, which was done

with the paper and pen. In the second case, the conducting of the interview was quicker, as two in-

terviewees could answer at the same time, however, there was a risk of receiving biased answers, as

they could see or hear what the other person is answering. Moreover, since there were four inter-

viewers conducting these interviews, there may be inter-interviewer variability, whereby interview-

ers are not consistent with each other in the ways they ask questions and/or record answers (Ibid:

211). Therefore, the validity of the results can be harmed, if not recorded properly.

In addition, as we collected our complementing data through the social media and review websites

such as TripAdvisor and HappyCow, we are aware of the possible bias they may contain, as the re-

views can be paid for by the owners or written by their friends or family.

After we collected our empirical data through these three research methods, we analysed each of

them separately and observed the main findings which we present in the next section.


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2.6 Presentation of the quantitative research results

2.6.1 Results of Quantitative Research Method - The Survey

2.6.1.1. Socioeconomic results

After a week time period, we closed the survey for the respondents and proceeded with the analysis

of the results. Firstly, we would like to present the socioeconomic results.

The final number of the respondents’ answers was thirty-eight. Since we set our range from thirty to

fifty answers, we were satisfied with the results representing the existing customers of the Souls res-

taurant.

Both genders participated in the survey, however, the participation of females dominated with thir-

ty-one answers over seven answers delivered by males. This can be caused by several factors. Ac-

cording to Huffington post (2014), more females tend to be vegans or vegetarians rather than men,

thus resulting in more females visiting vegan restaurants (huffingtonpost.com). Moreover, there

might be more females joining the vegan groups on the social media or the fact that females have

bigger tendency than men to answer to the online surveys, however, these are just suggestion, there

is no evidence supporting these statements. Survey samples are not meaningful in themselves, their

importance lies in the accuracy with which they represent or mirror the target population (Fink,

1995: 48).


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In the majority, the age of our respondents ranged mainly from less than 21 years old to 34 years

old. The remaining 21% of respondents were in between 35 to 55 years old and older age group.

The last question of socioeconomic character regarding the city of residence revealed to us that the

majority of respondents live in Copenhagen and the close suburbs of Copenhagen. Thirty-one of

respondents stated their city of residence as Copenhagen, Frederiksberg follows with the two re-

spondents and Hellerup, Greve, Lyngby, Valby and Roskilde were all mentioned once.


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2.6.1.2. Main findings of the topic research

The main findings of the survey include the main customer segment of the Souls restaurant, the in-

formation for creating the strategy canvas from the customer’s point of view as well as the main

competitors of the Souls (for the whole result sheet, see Appendix 3). The first question of the sur-

vey “How often do you eat meat?” revealed to us the main customer segment of Souls as well as the

eating habits of their existing customers. Vegan respondents dominated with 68%.

Secondly, we asked customers to rate these ten following characteristics of the Souls restaurant on

the scale from zero to ten: Taste of meals, Variety of menu offer, Cosy atmosphere, Formal dining,

Price, Variety of drinks, Quality of food, Location, Service and Aesthetic presentation of food. This

was done in order for us to be able to make a strategy canvas from the average customer’s point of

view. Generally, the results were positive and showed a high customer satisfaction. In average, the

characteristics which scored the highest were Taste of meals with 9.8 average, Quality of food with

9.6 average and Aesthetic presentation of food with 9.5 average which also corresponds with the

answers we received from the owners of Souls during the interview. Variety of menu offer, Cosy

atmosphere, Location and Service received satisfying scores of the scale ranging from 8.1 to 8.9

average. The characteristics which scored the lowest were Variety of drinks with 7.4 average, Price

with 7.2 average and Formal dining with the lowest rating of 6.2 average.

When it comes to the competitors of the Souls restaurant, we asked the existing customers which

other vegan restaurants do they visit with a possibility to choose multiple answers as well as how

would they rate them together with the Souls restaurant in regards to their overall satisfaction on the


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horizontal scale from zero to ten. During the interview with Souls owners, we have received names

of three restaurants they have considered as their main competitors: simpleRaw3, 42Raw4 and Haf-

nia Bar5. We included The Organic Boho6 and Urten7 into the list, since after our research of fully

vegan restaurants in Copenhagen and its suburbs, we found out that these two restaurants are also

popular choices for people to consider. By conducting the survey, we found out about other compet-

itors Souls’ owners are not aware of.

simpleRaw and 42Raw ended up being the biggest competitors of Souls, while only two respond-

ents stated that Souls is the only vegan restaurant they visit. The section Other revealed that the re-

spondents also mainly visit Cafe N, VideoVideo and The Organic LAB (which were mentioned al-

most in every answer) as well as Ambrosia, Kaf, Astrid och Apornas Spiseri, GreenBurger and

Harpo Bar.

Lastly, we were interested in the comparison of Souls with their competitors based on their satisfac-

tion. We asked our respondents to rate the restaurants from the previous question together with

3 simpleRaw is a vegan restaurant located in Inner Vesterbro, Copenhagen 4 42Raw is a vegan restaurant and coffee shop located in Copenhagen K 5 Hafnia Bar is a vegan bar located in Copenhagen K 6 The Organic Boho is a vegan restaurant located in Copenhagen K 7 Urten is a vegan restaurant located in Copenhagen K


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Souls on a horizontal scale from zero to ten (zero representing no satisfaction, ten representing high

satisfaction). According to the results, we were able to rule out Urten restaurant as Souls’ competi-

tor, since 95% of the respondents stated they have never visited this restaurant. The Organic Boho

and Hafnia Bar have never been visited by 72% of respondents in the case of The Organic Boho

and 75% of respondents in the case of Hafnia Bar, therefore we found out that the main competitors

out of the listed ones are simpleRaw and 42Raw. According to average ratings, simpleRaw received

the highest score with 9.8 average, Souls received 9.4 average and 42Raw ended up with 8.8 aver-

age.

These results were beneficial for the further analysis of the competitors (See “4.2.4. Competitors”).

2.6.2. Results of Quantitative Research Method - The Structured Interview

2.6.2.1. Socioeconomic results

The structured interviews were conducted in Roskilde by four members of the group during two

days and different times of these days in order to interview all age groups and reach out to different

types of potential Souls customers. The final number of our respondents in this research was forty-

one, even though some of the questions in the Appendix 4 show the final result as forty-two. As

mentioned above, this is because one of the respondents completed the structured interview just par-

tially, and therefore his answer is not valid for us.

The number of females is almost twice as high as males, thus females’ opinions also dominated this

research. This can be caused by the fact that females are more keen to stop and participate in this

kind of research. The age group ranged mainly from 16 to 34 years old, one respondent was under


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16 years old and remaining 14% of respondents were 35 years old or older.

In this case, the city of residence was in majority of our respondents Roskilde or small cities close

to Roskilde municipality which was very beneficial for our research, as we searched for opinions

from citizens living in or close to Roskilde. Copenhagen was mentioned several times as well and

small cities close to Roskilde were Holbæk, Slagelse, Jyllinge, Borup, Viby, Ringsted, Kalundborg,

Hvalsø and Næstved.


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2.6.2.2. Main findings of the topic research

The main findings of the structured interviews consist of the most important criteria of potential

customers regarding dining in restaurants, the reasons why they would choose to eat in a vegan res-

taurant and the reasons why they would not. The questions also included the list of vegan restau-

rants from the online survey they could have rated, however, the majority of the respondents were

unaware of these restaurants as they were mostly non-vegans (for the whole result sheet, see Ap-

pendix 4).

We asked our respondents to choose three most important criteria for dining out in the restaurant.

The criteria included these fourteen options: Taste of meals, Different varieties of food, Cosy at-

mosphere, Formal atmosphere, Low prices, Homemade drinks, Organic drinks, Homemade food,

Organic food, Fresh produce, Central location, Table service, Aesthetic presentation of food and

Good reputation. From the final results, we could see that the three most important criteria in aver-

age were Tasty food and Fresh produce with 9.7 average, and Homemade food with 9.1 average.

Our respondents gave the least of an importance to Formal dining, Homemade or Organic drinks or

Central location. These results are satisfying to us, as all three most important criteria ended up be-

ing very high in our case study of the Souls restaurant, according to their existing customers.

The question regarding vegan restaurants consisted of reasons for and against eating at a vegan res-

taurant and why the respondent would or would not choose the vegan dining out. Thirty-four re-


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spondents out of forty-one answered that they would visit a fully vegan restaurant. Firstly, we will

present the reasoning of our respondents for eating at a vegan restaurant.

In general, respondents mostly relate to the good experience while eating animal-free food. Eating

healthy is also a popular reasoning behind eating vegetable and fruit-based food. From these results,

we can see that even respondents who eat meat almost every day would choose a vegan restaurant

in order to have a good feeling of themselves by enjoying a healthy meal. Seven respondents re-

sponded negatively towards eating in a vegan restaurant, therefore the reasoning against dining out

in a vegan restaurant differed less than reasons for.


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By conducting the structured interviews in Roskilde, we were presented with the criteria potential

customers find the most important and able to match them with the highly rated characteristics of

the Souls restaurant. Furthermore, we can see now that, in the majority, even non-vegans would

choose a vegan restaurant, especially for the experience and healthy meal.

In summary, after conducting the qualitative and quantitative research methods and the presentation

of the main findings, we acquired the needed data for the further analysis.

Next, we would like to delve into the theoretical framework and begin with the clear definition of

our target market.

3. Theoretical framework

To structure and analyse the possibilities of strengthening Souls’ position, we choose to incorporate

theoretical frameworks for the internal situation of a business and the external micro, meso- and

macro environment.

3.1. Target market

To help us define our perception of the competitive industry of the Souls’ restaurant, we study the

target market. In this project, we draw on Lehmann and Winer’s perception of defining competition:

“the definition of the competitive set ultimately affects what strategy is pursued, and the definition

can be too narrow or too broad for existing market conditions.” (Lehmann & Winer, 2008: 33)

We define competition from the customers’ perspective, and perceive a business that targets a simi-

lar customer base as being a competitor, even though not necessarily with the same products. Based

on the customers’ issues and needs, they will identify and decide alternatives. Put in another way,

since the customers make the decisions of where they can fulfil their needs, it is the customers, who

determine the business’ competitors. Furthermore, we perceive competition as a scale of a degree of

competitiveness. In this project, we study the complexity of the competition based on the criteria,

which the customers express as important in their decision making (Ibid: 30).


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We evaluate and analyse Souls in relation to their competitors on a scale of how close the competi-

tors are to the business, defined in the following four proximity categories. This is illustrated by cir-

cles moving out from the centre which is the business of study (Ibid: 33).

The businesses which are nearest to the centre, and also the most obvious competitors are those,

who competes on product form. Since their products are similar in form, they appeal to the same

customer segments. The competing products are defined by the features that the product contain or

do not contain and the value of the different features (Further elaboration in “3.2.2.1. Strategy Can-

vas”). However, this narrow perception of competitors as only competing on providing the same

product form does not last in the long run (Lehmann & Winer, 2008: 35). Examples of competitors

on product form for Souls are the other vegan restaurants such as simpleRaw and The Organic

Boho.

Secondly, the competition can be seen as existing on the level of the industry, namely the product

category. This incorporate the narrower forms of business as well as all businesses in the industry

having similar features (Ibid: 35). An example of the category for Souls is the restaurant industry.

Thirdly, the businesses compete on need fulfilling services and products, seen from the customers’

perspectives, in the level of generic competition (Ibid: 36). An example of needs which can drive

the competition of Souls is the “food-satisfaction” market or the “experience” market.

Lastly, at the broadest level of the competitors and alternatives are the businesses that compete for

the same money from the same customer segments, this level is called budget competition (Ibid:

38). In relation to Souls, the budget competition could be experience like going to the movies.


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We will define the competition within one of these levels, and since abstraction goes outwards, the

substitutes (see more in “3.2.3. Substitutes”) will be defined in the levels that go further out than the

chosen competitor category.

Implications for this strategic view of competitors is that the business has to make different strategic

plans according to the chosen competitive level. Additionally, it gets more difficult and complex,

the broader the business defines its target market (Lehmann & Winer, 2008: 40).

3.2. Competitive strategies: Porter’s 5 forces

To analyse and evaluate Souls’ position in Denmark, we will study the forces which drives the

competition and which determine the positioning of a business. We will utilise management profes-

sor Michael Porter’s definition of five competitive forces in the industry which the business oper-

ates: buyers, suppliers, competitors, substitutes, and new entrants. We will apply Porter’s theory as

a framework for analysing Souls’ strategic position in Copenhagen (Johnson et al., 2013: 55; Hol-

lensen, 2010: 74). We will furthermore determine the strength of each force in Souls’ industry.

3.2.1. Customers

Firstly, we analyse Souls’ customer segments and their buying behaviour to determine their level of

bargaining power of Souls. Defining the customer’s bargaining power gives the business an under-

standing of their customers’ influence on the demand for better prices, product or services (Johnson

et al., 2013: 58; Hollensen, 2010:73). Furthermore, we study Souls’ customer segment and their

buyer behaviour to get a better understanding of the customers (Tanner & Raymond, 2012: 95).

Subsequently, we conduct a customer analysis of Souls’ potential customers in Roskilde.

3.2.1.1. Segmentation

We apply segmentation by dividing the different current and potential customers into segments to

get an understanding of the customers’ behaviour, demographics, attitudes and lifestyles. It is even

more crucial for us to determine how these factors are connected and what drives the decisions for

each customer segment. We utilise the segmentation by dividing the market into different segments


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of customers having similar characteristics, in order to identify who are the customers that might be

interested in the restaurant Souls (Ibid: 93).

When stepping into a new segment or market, we will apply the following criteria in order for the

segmentation to be successful and effective (Hollensen, 2010: 286-287):

1. There have to be enough customers, who would buy Souls’ product to such an extent that it

will cover the business’ cost and give profits.

2. Information about the potential customers’ buying behaviour is needed.

We segment the market using four customer characteristics: behaviour, demographics, geography

and psychographics (Tanner & Raymond, 2012: 97-98).

When segmenting the customer markets by behaviour, groups of customers are formed based on the

reasons why customers want to purchase a products or service and what are the benefits which they

expect to receive. Additionally, also on the basis of how often they would use it, in which situation,

and their degree of loyalty towards the product. In terms of behaviour, we choose to focus on the

benefits, which the customers seek in the product or equal products sold by the business. Further-

more, we determine the usage frequency and degree of loyalty towards the product, and finally, the

usage situation, assuming that going out is performed as a social event and experience (Ibid: 97-98).

Within demographic segmentation, we refer to groups of customers which have the same character-

istics. When segmenting the market for the Souls restaurant, we will only focus on the customers’

age and gender, thus age also depicts the customer’s income to a certain degree. Furthermore, we

narrow down the customer segments by geographic location respectively in the Copenhagen and in

the Roskilde area, because the customers’ geographic placement is essential for an immobile busi-

ness like a restaurant (Ibid: 97-98).

Finally, we determine the segments psychographic elements in terms of values, opinions, and life-

style, which influence the customers in deciding their purchases. In the case of Souls, we will de-

fine segments of customers which have a similar lifestyle, values and attitudes towards healthy and

vegan food consumption (Ibid: 97-98).

3.2.1.2. Targeting

When the segments are defined, we select the segments of focus for Souls’ strategic planning. Ac-

cording to Hollensen, the following three marketing strategies are the most commonly used for

businesses: The undifferentiated marketing communicating simple messages to mass audiences, the


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differentiating marketing focusing on every different customer’s needs, and concentrated- and niche

marketing, which is Souls’ strategic focus (Hollensen, 2010: 300-301).

Concentrated marketing involves selecting one or more segments of customers who are interested in

the specific values, which the business offers for consuming their products. Moreover, the segments

in concentrated marketing are not very large and are extensively defined in terms of values and be-

haviour. The purpose of this strategy is “to avoid direct competition with larger firms that are pur-

suing the bigger segments” (Ibid: 303).

Niche marketing refers to targeting a small segment of customers, which other companies do not

focus on. Put in other words, a niche market is only a niche, if the competition is low. There are no

or only a few other companies targeting the exact same segment with the same product form and

category. Niche marketing is used effectively when targeting a narrow customer segment and when

the business provides products and services according to the specific needs and values of this small

segment (Hollensen, 2010: 303). This type of specified marketing will only be a success if the busi-

ness knows the customer’s buying behaviour.

3.2.1.3. Buying behaviour

To be able to understand and target the customers and potential customers of Souls, we have to ana-

lyse the customers’ buying behaviour in terms of their needs, preferences, and opinions, and how

these factors are assumed to influence the customers’ attitude towards and use of Souls.

To analyse the buyer behaviour of the customers and potential customers, we apply the SOR-model.

Firstly, the customers are influenced by certain marketing stimuli such as the business’ product,

promotion, place, and price. Furthermore, the customers are affected by the external environment,

including political factors, the economy and the business’ competitors. Secondly, we will describe

the organism: the personal and socio-cultural dynamics related customer and their decision-making

process. Thirdly, the customer will have a certain response and behaviour when they receive the

stimuli according to their personal and socio-cultural relations. These factors constitute the custom-

ers’ behaviour and needs when presented for the business (Andersen et al., 2004: 124).

Buyer characteristics and influencing relations

To describe the customers’ socio-cultural characteristics, we analyse their background including

cultural-, social-, personal- and psychological conditions. The cultural conditions are the patterns


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of norms and values shared with other people belonging to the same culture, subculture, or social

class (Ibid: 125-127). Secondly, the social relations with family and friends and other people to

which they have a close and direct relation with and who has an influence on the customers’ behav-

iour and opinions. Furthermore, the social aspect contains opinion leaders, which are argued to de-

termine the customers’ perception of the business and their products (Ibid: 127-129). Thirdly, we

incorporate the customers’ personal conditions involving the customers’ age and lifestyle, and fur-

thermore how these factors are intertwined with family life and income, hence their view on neces-

sity and pleasure in purchasing dinner versus experience (Ibid: 129-133). Lastly, we will describe

the customers’ psychological conditions such as their needs, motives and attitudes, which are influ-

encing the buying process (Ibid: 133-135).

In the decision process, there are usually more than one person or actor involved. The participants

in the buying decision process typically start at the initiator who first suggests considering the pur-

chase of the specific product. Next the influent as an actor or media, whose opinions and advice are

important when influencing the decision maker’s final decision of the purchase. Then the buyer

completes the purchase of the product, and the consumer uses the product (Ibid: 138-139).

Buyer decision process

The customers’ decisions are crucial to a business’ success. We analyse five stages the customer

goes through before making the decision to buy. This process gets more extensive, the more com-

plex or expensive the product is. Likewise, sometimes for smaller purchases, the buyer goes

through fewer stages (Andersen et al., 2004:145). The first stage is the problem recognition, occur-

ring when the consumer realise that they desire a change. This change can be categorised as re-

placement of a product they already possess, figuring out that they can have better options, or a new

need occurs (Ibid: 146). The second stage is information search which starts when the consumer has

realised a need for change. Information search can be in internal memory in terms of knowledge

and experience, or externally by influencing actors or media. In broad terms, the information search

is made up on the customers’ degree of interest, brand differentiation, experienced risk, a benefit of

additional information, and the cost of information search (Ibid: 147-148).

In the third stage, when the consumer has finished the information search, the question becomes

which evaluation of alternatives to choose. The consumer will make an evaluation of the different

products based on their selection criterions, which can derive from socio-psychological factors

(Ibid: 150-153).

In the fourth stage, the purchase decision takes place, and the consumer will choose to buy when

the benefits exceed the costs of the purchase. The decision will include a choice of brand, quantity,


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payment, store and shopping time. The consumer will not choose to buy if the purchase is estimated

to not deliver a satisfying solution to the problem. (Ibid: 153)

In the fifth stage, when the consumer has purchased the product or service, the consumer seeks for

confirmation in a post purchase evaluation. Whether or not the consumer will be satisfied with the

product or service depends on the level of expectations and the presentation of the product (Ibid:

153).

The customers’ buying decision, behaviour, and attitudes are crucial for the business because they

also decide the competitors and evaluate other alternatives of getting the desired product or service.

3.2.2. Competitors

Drawing on Porter’s Five Forces, the competitive forces is a matter of the intensity of a rivalry be-

tween Souls and its competitors. The rivalry is analysed by comparing the competitors’ products

and services offered to their customers with the business of interest, which, in this case, is Souls.

This allows us to have a better understanding of how and to which extent that Souls differs from its

competitors. Furthermore, it allows us to evaluate, which strategic initiatives are beneficial for

strengthening Souls’ position (Johnson et al., 2013: 59-60; Hollensen, 2010: 72). We analyse and

compare competitors drawing on the blue ocean theory and conducting a strategy canvas for Souls.

3.2.2.1. Strategy canvas and entering uncontested market space

To analyse Souls’ position in Denmark, we define their competitors as other vegan restaurants in

Copenhagen and compare their values in a strategy canvas.

Drawing on the Blue Ocean theory, we define the concept of Souls’ restaurant, compare to other

restaurants offering similar concept, and discuss new opportunities for entering uncontested market

space.

In theory, a blue ocean is the strategic, partly utopian goal of making competition irrelevant and

creating or capturing new demands. In contrast, the red ocean represents the existing market space,

where competitor rivalry is high and there are fixed limits and rules (Chan & Mauborgne, 2005: 4).

Chan and Mauborgne (2005) argue that businesses can move from the contested red ocean to an un-

contested, unlimited market space in the blue ocean to benefit from a new profit and growth oppor-

tunities (Ibid: 5; Harvard business review, 2004: 2). Instead of beating competition, the blue ocean

is created based on value innovation; the combination of lifting buyer value offering new features or

products, and lowering costs reducing the competitive elements in the industry (Chan &


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Mauborgne, 2005: 13; Harvard, 2004: 6).

Strategy canvas

Facilitating the analysis of Souls current position compared to their perceived competitors, we use

the Strategy Canvas tool. The strategy canvas analyses Souls and their competitors in relation to the

features and value of the features which they share. Additionally, the strategy canvas facilitates the

evaluation of Souls’ strategic options for strengthening their position in Denmark. The canvas cap-

tures the current conditions in the market and illustrates the tendencies in the industry in a value

curve.

The purpose of the strategy canvas is to frame the diagnostic elements in the value curve and to en-

courage action. The canvas illustrates how customers perceive the existing situation of the market,

moreover, it highlights the main values of the business in relation to the other competitors (Chan &

Mauborgne, 2005: 25). The strategy canvas consists of a graph depicting the value curve of the

company (Ibid: 26). The horizontal axis illustrates features on which the companies compete, and

the vertical axis illustrates the values that each competitor’s performance in each feature from the

customer’s perspective (Ibid: 27). The canvas helps the company to focus on alternative solutions

reducing risk to minimum to construct a unique selling proposition to the customers (Ibid: 28).

Creating uncontested market space

To define Souls strategy and future strategic options, we draw on Chan and Mauborgne’s four ac-

tion framework (2005), which is used to reconstruct the buyer’s value elements defining the busi-

ness’ future value curve. The four actions are either eliminating, reducing, raising, or creating the

features on the horizontal axis.

The business asks which features should be eliminated, which features to reduce beneath the value

curve of the industry, which features the business will raise above the industry level, and with

which features the company will create and extend their value curve.

The aim of these actions is to create a new value curve, renew the business’ strategy, and reduce

rivalry (Chan & Mauborgne, 2005: 29).

When creating uncontested market space, the business must minimise the risk, which in practice

applies successfully in six principles (Ibid: 21-23). Firstly, the business must minimise search risk

by reconstructing the borders of the industry. Secondly, focusing on the entire perspective, the

company reduces planning risk. Thirdly, reducing scale risk is done by reaching beyond the existing

supply and demand. Fourthly, the business reduces business model risk by the blue ocean approach


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to the strategic design. These four principles are driven by strategy formulation, and the latter are

reducing risk in the execution. Fifthly, to reduce organisational risk by overcoming problems in the

organisational management, and lastly to reduce management risk by incorporating guidelines for

execution in the strategy (Ibid: 147).

3.2.3. Substitutes

When we analyse Porter’s third force substitutes, we determine the availability and likelihood of the

customers choosing substitutes for the product, in terms of the target market levels of generic and

budget competition (Johnson et al., 2013:57; Hollensen, 2010: 73). We define the substitutes for

Souls’ products and how the customers’ choices and preferences are and will be influencing Souls.

3.2.4. Suppliers

In order to plan the business strategy, according to Porter, it is important to determine the power of

suppliers in terms of negotiating prices (Johnson et al., 2013: 58-59; Hollensen, 2010: 72). We do

not consider this force as relevant for the process of defining Souls position. As a result, we will

only briefly describe Souls’ relationship to their suppliers.

3.2.5. New entrants

According to Porter, it is important for the business to know how easy or difficult it is for new busi-

nesses to develop and enter the same market. Porter define this force as the entrance barriers which

conflicts new entrants (Johnson et al., 2013:56; Hollensen, 2010: 73-74). Since Souls has been in

the industry for almost a year, we will look into the difficulties for potential restaurants to enter the

industry. This force will be briefly approached, since we are looking at the current competitive situ-

ation.

As a tool for analysing the customer, their perceived value of Souls, and Souls’ strategic initiatives

employed to strengthen their position towards the customers, we will study Souls using the business

model canvas.


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3.3. Business model canvas

To analyse the internal factors of Souls accordingly to entering a new market in Roskilde, we ana-

lyse Souls’ business strategy according to the Business Model Canvas. Our main focus is on the

customer area such as Value proposition, customers, channels, customer relationship and revenue

streams. The building blocks key activities and key resources will be described/analysed superfi-

cially. Key partners and cost structure will not be included.

The Business Model Canvas explains a business’ strategy of gaining profits based on 9 elements as

building blocks which are strongly related to each other: customer segments, value proposition,

channels, customer relations, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and

cost structure (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2009: 15-16).

Customer segments refer to defining the groups of people which is served by a company. (Ibid: 20).

Here we analyse who are the customers of Souls in Roskilde.

Then, we study the value proposition in terms of needs, wants and fears that drives to benefits and

features which the customers will get from the product. We analyse which of the Souls restaurants’

products and/or services bring value to the customers. Moreover, we look into whether the current

value proposition of the restaurant need to be adjusted according to the new market in Roskilde

(Ibid: 22-23).

Subsequently, we analyse through which channels the company is communicating its Value Propo-

sition to the customers. There are two types of channels: direct and indirect channels. The direct

channels are sales force, web sales and own store, and the indirect ones are wholesaler and partner

owned stores or websites. Either direct or indirect channels, or a combination of them can be used

in order to communicate the Value proposition of a company to its customers through five different

phases: Awareness, evaluation, purchase, delivery, and after sales (Ibid: 26-27). Moreover, the pur-

pose of using these channels is it to bring the highest revenues possible (Ibid: 26-27).

We use this element of the Business Model Canvas in order to see how the Souls restaurant is using

both direct and indirect channels throughout the first four channels described before. But also, if the

current strategies of reaching their customers’ needs to be adjusted according to the market in Ros-

kilde. There is no need to after sales support in case of Souls. Their products need no maintenance,

as they are perishable products.


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Furthermore, we define the customer relationship, building on the type of relationship a company

creates with each customer segment: personal assistance given by the staff to each customer, per-

sonal assistance given by a certain staff member to a certain customer, self-service, automated ser-

vices such as online profile, online user communities or co-creation relationships where companies

and their customers create value together. One example of this last type of relationship is TripAdvi-

sor, where people write reviews thus creating value for the rest of TripAdvisor customers (Ibid: 28-

29). We use this block of the Business Model Canvas in order to define the customer relationships

Souls needs to create with their potential customers in Roskilde.

It is through the revenue streams that the company gets its money from customers. There are two

types of revenue streams: one-time customer payments or ongoing payments. There are different

ways of creating revenue streams, they might have a fixed price or a price which varies depending

on the market conditions (Ibid: 32-33). We are aware of the fact that in order for the Souls restau-

rant in Roskilde to be sustainable, they need to have enough customers. As a result, we research

whether or not there are enough customers visiting the Souls restaurant in Roskilde.

Furthermore, Key resources and Key activities help a company to create and communicate Value

proposition, create relationships with their customers and gain profits. There are four types of key

resources: financial resources, intellectual resources as, for example, brands or copyrights, human

resources referring to skilled staff, and physical resources such as buildings or distribution networks

(Ibid: 34-37).

Key partnerships refer to the relationships which company creates with suppliers and/or partners.

There can be four types of key partnerships: between non-competitors, competitors creating strate-

gic partnerships, joint ventures in order to create new businesses, and relationships between a com-

pany and its suppliers (Ibid: 38-39).

Cost structure element refers to all the costs a company needs to support in order to operate. Prima-

ry data will be helpful in determining which are the most important costs for the Souls restaurant

(Ibid: 40-41).

In the business model canvas of the possible expansion in Roskilde, this project focuses on the cus-

tomer and value side of the canvas.


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3.4. SWOT

To conclude the internal and external analysis of Souls, we identify key strategies for planning to

strengthen Souls’ position in the future.

We will identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) for the positioning

of Souls (Hollensen, 2010: 238).

The SWOT analysis covers both the internal and external environments of the organisation.

When considering the internal environment, the framework addresses the firm’s strengths and

weaknesses on key aspects such as financial performance, human resources, production facilities

and capacity, customer perceptions of product quality and price (Ibid: 238).

When assessing the external environment, the analysis addresses the opportunities and threats by

considering the following factors: the market (customers and competition), economic conditions,

social trends, technology and government regulation (Ibid: 238).

After the SWOT is conducted, we gain the ability to extend the use of the analysis, to think in detail

about the strategic options open to the firm and to get a better understanding of the strategic choices

the organization faces (Weihrich, 2001:9).

In order to present and prioritise ideas for future planning, we look at how Souls can minimise their

internal weaknesses and avoiding external threats, how Souls can use its external opportunities to

overcome the experienced internal weaknesses, how Souls can take advantage of the internal

strengths to avoid real and potential external threats, and how Souls can use its internal strengths to

take advantage of the external opportunities (Weihrich, 2001). We study their strategic options and

for developing tactics and actions, which are necessary for the implementation of the strategies

(Weihrich, 2001:11).

The limitation of the SWOT analysis is that it does not cover complex issues. We use the SWOT

analysis to highlight central arguments from the previous in-depth analysis of Souls’ internal and

external situation. We perform this analysis regarding Souls’ market position to identify strategic

advantages that can be potentially exploited in the firm’s strategy.


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3.5. Growth strategies

When we investigate which strategy is best and less risky for Souls based on their needs and possi-

bilities of growth. We draw on Ansoff’s growth matrix, categorising the growth strategies and ana-

lysing the risk of the possible strategies in order to decide which strategy to follow. Ansoff concep-

tualises growths as consisting of two major factors: market and product. Each of these factors is di-

vided into existing and new, this creates a matrix with four categories: market penetration, market

development, product development and diversification (Andersen, 2004:78-90 & mindtools.com).

The risk increases if the company chooses new product or market, and subsequently, the risk is

highest when both product and market are new (Ibid: 78-90). The lowest risk for the company is

when choosing market penetration as a growth strategy because the business is selling their current

products to their current markets. This strategy incorporates increasing market share, consumption

or getting more people in the segment to use the product (tutor2u.net)

The risk increases if the company chooses to enter a new market with their current products. By this

market development, the company seeks to increase the sales by expanding the market e.g. to new

segments or geographic location.

The company can instead choose the product development strategy and sell improved products or

new products to the same market segment. Like market development, the strategy of product devel-

opment induces a medium risk. The company will experience the highest risk if choosing the diver-

sification strategy to create growth by developing new or different products to new markets, and

possibly entering a new industry. It can be done by concentrically or conglomerate diversification.

(free-management-ebooks.com)


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The limitations of this model are that it is only useful when supported by other models and theories.

It shows an outline of alternative methods when the company wants to achieve growth. (getrevis-

ing.co.uk) We use the growth matrix to get an idea of which strategy will be most suitable for

Soul’s to use in order for them to strengthen their position on the Danish market.

The presented theoretical frameworks are used to analyse our research data in the next chapter

Analysis.

4. Analysis

In the analysis, we will start off briefly discussing whether or not the lifestyle of veganism might be

increasing in Denmark. This is followed by an analysis of Souls and their customers and competi-

tors in Copenhagen in order to enable us to determine Souls’ current position and evaluate possible

strategies for strengthening their position on the Danish market. Our analysis leads to strategic con-

siderations and suggestions for expanding Souls to a provincial town like Roskilde.

4.1. Prospects of growth in the vegan market in Denmark

In today's globalized society, the ease of access to the internet and the availability of various

sources lead to faster spreading of information. This revolution of information sharing is having an

imprint on imperative topics for human current ways of life. According to de Boo, an idealistic

movement, which was born in 1944 and was comprised of mere thirty volunteers have become an

increasingly popular lifestyle that is collecting adherents around the world at unprecedented rates

(de Boo, 2014).

The movement was named Vegan Society and their definition of veganism is following:

‘’A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as is possible and practicable – all

forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by ex-

tension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of human, an-

imals and the environment. In dietary terms, it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products

derived wholly or partly from animals.” (J. Cross, 1979)

Veganism is spanning from preceding form of lifestyle, which is vegetarianism. Just like veganism,

vegetarianism abstains from eating meat, fish or poultry, however, vegetarian lifestyle still indulges


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milk, other dairy products, eggs, honey, wool, silk or leather (VRG, 2016). Moreover, according to

Shani and B. DiPietro (2007), these two groups are broken down to even more segmented typology.

There are certain groups that consume meat but view themselves as vegetarians to a certain extent.

Typology will be described in “refined” manner, that is with lesser food types involved in the diet.

Occasional-Vegetarians eat all kinds of animal products, while attempt to maintain a balanced diet;

occasionally following a vegetarian diet. Semi-Vegetarians consume milk, other dairy products,

eggs, fish and poultry, but don’t consume red meat. Pesco-Vegetarians consume milk, other dairy

products, eggs and fish, but do not consume other animal products. These three preceding typolo-

gies are also commonly known as flexitarians in a more general sense which indulges meat and fish

product consumption to some extent in their diet. Lacto-Ovo vegetarians consume milk, other dairy

products and eggs, but avoid all other animal products. Lacto-Vegetarians consume only milk and

other dairy products but bypass all animal meat products. Vegans neither eat nor consume any type

of animal products. Raw Foodists are vegans who do not heat or cook food and consume food only

in its raw state. Fruitarians are consuming only fresh fruits (Shani and B. DiPietro, 2007).

According to a survey conducted in 2011 by Coop, it is estimated that there is approximately four

percent of vegetarians and vegans in Denmark. Out of the four percent it is approximated that there

is one percent of vegans in Denmark. According to the survey done by Coop in Denmark, 3.3 per-

cent of customers describe themselves as vegetarians, vegans or pescatarians, while 4.1 percent de-

scribe themselves as flexitarians (COOP, 2011).

According to the Coop’s survey, there is a trend in reduction in the purchase of meat products.

“Coop’s sale of meat has hit a standstill after five consecutive years of increases. The survey

showed that only 6 percent of Coop’s customers are eating more meat and that it is especially peo-

ple under 30 and over 70 who are reducing their consumption.’’ (Tees, 2015). Moreover, “when we

look at the sales of meat replacement products, we see an increase of 25-30 percent in the period

from 2014-2015, and this year won’t be any different’’ (LenaT, 2016). Driving argument for shift-

ing towards greener options is health according to Coop’s survey, with 55-74 age group leading in

the opinion of regards to health argument (COOP, 2011).

The UK and the US are witnessing a rapid increase of veganism due to diversity and perceived

health benefits of vegan diet. The UK, for instance, have witnessed a number of vegans increase by

360% in last 10 years (Quinn, 2016). Italy, Turkey and Lebanon have a significant vegan and vege-

tarian cuisine which is attributed to historical and cultural developments (Dimond, 2016).

According to Coop, Danes object to a possible tax on red meat (COOP, 2016). This attitude can be

seen as a result of the Danish meal structures, which is inherent in the Danes’ perception of “proper


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food”. As studied by Jensen (2012), in the Danish traditional food culture, meat was ranked as be-

ing the most important element in a proper meal. Most Danes organise a meal starting with the

meat. In other words, the Danish meal structure is centred around meat. Jensen points out, that the

meal structures have changed, meaning that vegetables and spices can have the equal ranking as

meat in a meal (Jensen, 2012: 145-154).

Currently, awareness about veganism is increasing in bigger cities of Denmark. In Aarhus, Aalborg

and especially in Copenhagen, there are several shops and restaurants emerging, which target the

non-meat eating customers (HappyCow, 2016).

Next, we delve into the first part of the analysis which is focused on Souls’ positioning in Copenha-

gen, starting with the target market in Copenhagen.

4.2. Souls’ positioning in Copenhagen

4.2.1. Target Market - Copenhagen

Copenhagen offers one of the largest and most differentiated variations of experiences and ways of

eating in Denmark (TripAdvisor, 2016).

In this chapter, we analyse the market, which we perceive as competition and what we perceive as

substitutes for Souls in Copenhagen, drawing on the target market’s four levels of competition.

We define Souls’ competitors and alternatives in a target market, which includes a narrow defini-

tion of the industry and vegan and vegetarian customers, and a broad definition of the alternative

experiences, which the customers consider when deciding how to spend their money. In this case,

we restrict the base of competition geographically and of benefits sought by the customers. We fo-

cus on the area of Copenhagen and the benefits of satisfying hunger and getting entertained.

Danes’ habits of eating out have changed throughout the latest years. As the result of the studies by

HORESTA and Gallup, Danes go out fewer times but spend more money in 2012 compared to

2007. The study shows that in Copenhagen, compared to other areas of Denmark, the restaurants

had the highest amount of guests. Furthermore, the restaurants’ turnover per guest is significantly

higher than other areas and the average. However, the study also shows, that Copenhagen has the

highest number of restaurants, which can mean that the competition is stronger than in other areas

(HORESTA, 2013:8).


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In Copenhagen, Souls’ competition in product form are the businesses of cosy, vegan/vegetarian,

and healthy eateries, as expressed by the owners: “... we are competing on the quality of food, the

environment...” (Appendix 2:30). The customer segment of these restaurants and cafés is the one

most equal to Souls. This level incorporates simpleRaw, 42Raw, The Organic Boho, The Organic

Lab, Café N and Kaf.

Taking a broader perspective of the restaurant industry in Copenhagen, Souls’ compete with the

places to eat and drink which still offer vegan/vegetarian/healthy options. Product category compe-

tition includes fast food places such as Green Burger, Max Burger, falafel places, cafés and restau-

rants in general, which serves options for Souls’ customer segment as well as other segments.

From the generic competition level, we assume two needs that Souls and other businesses in the in-

dustry satisfy: hunger and experience. To satisfy the need of hunger, customers could choose con-

venience stores, supermarkets or bakeries. For getting an experience, customers could choose cock-

tails bars, ice-cream shops or fine dining restaurants. To be on beforehand with opportunities and

threats, the owners must not overlook the generic level in competition.

Finally, Souls compete with the businesses, which the customers consider spending money on to the

same extent as Souls. Again, this is roughly divided into food/beverage economy and experience

economy. Examples of competing experiences are museums, theatres, cinema, and going out party-

ing. The mentioned categories are concluded from our own experiences since neither the interview

nor survey covered this topic.


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The target is illustrated in following figure 4.2.1.1.

From the interview, it is evident that the owners of Souls perceive their competition within the first

product form category. Furthermore, they do not perceive themselves as having many competitors:

“... our main feature is vegan and there are not so many places yet, so it doesn’t affect us that much.

But it is gonna happen [...] 42Raw, they are the only ones that are similar to us [...] But they are so

far away from us, that it is not a competition...” (Appendix 2, l. 124).

However, this type of focus on day-to-day competition may not be suitable for their long-term strat-

egy.

We define Souls’ main competitors in Copenhagen as the product form competition, and, to some

extent, in the next level of a product category. The reason for this definition is that there is a large

amount of businesses in the product form competition of vegan/vegetarian and healthy restaurants.

Having the foregoing analysis of the target market in Copenhagen, we proceed to the next section of

the analysis, Souls’ customers in Copenhagen.


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4.2.2. Souls’ customers in Copenhagen

Firstly, we take a closer look at segmentation and targeting, using the data we got from the online

survey and the qualitative interview. The segmentation of the customers is done to determine what

kind of customers Souls currently has. After performing the segmentation, we select the segments

which is Souls currently targeting.

4.2.2.1 Segmentation and targeting

Segmentation

In this study, our focus is on Souls’ customers within the consumer market, as we do not take into

consideration Souls’ future catering activities within the business to business market.

Segmentation for current customers of Souls will be done based on behavioural, demographic, geo-

graphic and psychographic characteristics.

The information for the segmentation of Souls’ customer segments is based on the data regarding

customers from the interview with the restaurant’s owners and on the results of the survey.

Demographics

According to one of Souls’ owners, most of their customers are between 21 and 34 years old and

are represented mostly by women: “I would say 21-34, are main guests, that I would say are like 80

%. Mostly women.”. However, the same owner told us that the number of male customers has start-

ed to increase “But then there are actually more guys starting to come in”. (Appendix 2, line 97)

Geography

The segments will be represented by people living in Copenhagen. Moreover, according to one of

the owners of Souls a small percentage of the customers is represented by tourists coming to Co-

penhagen: “I think from TripAdvisor we get a lot of people, but I think it’s like 5 to 10% that we get

from there, it’s not actually a lot.” (Appendix 2: 107). As a result, another customer segment taken

into consideration as part of the segmentation is represented by tourists coming to Copenhagen.

Psychographics

Souls customers are represented by vegans, but also by non-vegans such as vegetarians or people

who eat meat. This is supported by the fact that among the respondents of the online survey directed

at Souls’ current customers there were both vegans, vegetarians and people eating meat. (Appendix

2: 2).


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Behaviour

Benefits which are sought by vegans or vegetarians are organic, vegan food and drinks. Whereas for

the customers who eat meat, the benefit is eating healthy food. While interviewing Souls owners,

we found out that one of the ways customers find out about the restaurant is through Google, by

“searching different stuff like gluten free, healthy food, vegan food”. Moreover, most of these cus-

tomers are tourists “On Google, it is more tourists, who want vegan food, healthy food…” (Ap-

pendix 2: 136).

When segmenting Souls’ customers, we take into consideration regular users, who eat at this restau-

rant at least on a monthly basis.

Segmentation categories

Behaviour Demographics Geography Psychographics

Benefits:

Organic;

Vegan food;

Vegan drinks;

Usage:

Monthly.

Loyalty:

Regular users.

Age:

21-34

Gender:

Women;

Men.

Copenhagen

(we refer not only to the

people living in Copenhagen

but also to the tourists com-

ing to Copenhagen)

Values:

Vegan or vegetarian

lifestyle;

Animal welfare;

Environment.

Benefits:

Health.

Usage:

Monthly.

Loyalty:

Regular users.

Age:

21-34

Gender:

Women;

Men.

Copenhagen

(we refer not only to the

people living in Copenhagen

but also to the tourists com-

ing to Copenhagen)

Values:

Non-vegans;

Eating healthy


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Targeting

According to Souls’ owners, they are currently not focusing their marketing on any segment in par-

ticular, as they have not analysed the market. They plan to hire an agency which will help them to

“target different people” and “get new customers” (Appendix 2: 114 -117). We suggest the above

segmentation as their market focus.

Souls’ strategy of targeting the abovementioned customer segments is concentrated marketing. We

consider that the market represented by vegans, and other people who are interested in eating

healthy food is not a niche market, as there are other competitors targeting these people in a certain

extent as well. First of all, in Copenhagen, there are plenty vegan competitors and alternatives for

vegan food (happycow.com). Moreover, there are also a couple of organic restaurants in Copenha-

gen (visitcopenhagen.com).

Once the segmentation and targeting of the main customer segments of Souls in Copenhagen are

done, we move on to the analysis of their buying behaviour.

4.2.2.2. Buying behaviour

We look into buying behaviour in order to scrutinise both preceding customer segments. This ena-

bles us to observe the buyer characteristics as well as the buyer decision process. To begin with, we

examine the first segment, vegans and vegetarians.

Segment 1: Vegans and vegetarians

Buyer characteristics

The respondents who do not eat meat are categorised as vegans and vegetarians. 68 % of the re-

spondents are vegans, and 11% vegetarians, which means a total of thirty out of thirty-eight people

who have answered our questionnaire. Most of these respondents have ages between 25 and 34

years old. Moreover, there are more women who completed the questionnaire than men. The major-

ity of respondents live in Copenhagen.

Vegan/vegetarian respondents rated Souls as performing high on the following criteria: taste of

food, cosy atmosphere, quality of food, service and the aesthetic presentation of the food (Appendix

5:1, 3, 7, 9, 10). As a result, these factors might be important reasons why vegan/vegetarian re-

spondents choose to eat at a restaurant like Souls.


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The buying decision process begins with the recognition of the need (Hollensen, 2010: 113), which

in the case of vegetarians and vegans, is finding a place that meets their dietary requirements.

Friends, family and social media are the main source of information for this segment of Souls cus-

tomers.

Social media influences the most of the respondents. Out of thirty-eight answers for the question

asking about how respondents first found out about Souls, twenty-five responses indicated Face-

book, and four responses were for Instagram. Moreover, most of the respondents follow Souls on

social media, Facebook being the most popular one. There is a number of ten respondents who do

not follow Souls on any social media, but seven of these have still found out the first time about

Souls from Facebook. Family and friends are also a big source of influence (see Appendix 3, q. 3 &

4).

When it comes to who participates in the decision process, either individual customers or their

friends, or families can be the ones initiating the idea of eating out at the Souls restaurant. Moreo-

ver, they can all be the ones taking the decision of going there. And they can ultimately all be buy-

ers and consumers.

According to the results of our survey, there are different vegan restaurants respondents go and eat

at when evaluating alternatives. Out of the restaurants given as a choice of answer in the survey, the

most popular one is simpleRaw, closely followed by 42Raw. Eight respondents visit The Organic

Boho, and the rest visits Hafnia bar and Urten. A bit more than half of the respondents mentioned

that they go to other vegan restaurants, the most popular ones being Cafe N, the organic Lab, Vide-

oVideo, Green Burger and Kaf (see Appendix 3, q. 6).

When it comes to the evaluation of some of these alternatives, according to our survey, in the ma-

jority, respondents are satisfied with Souls. 33% out of twenty-nine respondents, who rated their

satisfaction with Souls on a scale from zero to ten, chose the highest number of satisfaction, number

ten. The only restaurants, with which are respondents very satisfied, are 42Raw and simpleRaw,

however, they represented only 3% out of twenty-nine respondents who ranked their satisfaction

with each of these two restaurants. (see Appendix 3)

Based on their evaluation, the majority of respondents (twenty) decide to eat at Souls at least two

times a year. Eight respondents visit Souls once per month, four go there at least two to three times

per month and only one respondent eats at Souls two or three times per week. (see Appendix 3)


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After the purchase and visit at Souls restaurant, more than half of the vegans and vegetarians visit

Souls two to three times a year, whereas only six of the respondents visit it once per month. Only

one of the respondents goes there at least two times a week. (see Appendix 3) Given the results, we

can conclude that guests have a positive post-purchase evaluation of the restaurant. This argument

is also backed by the fact that they have mostly positive reviews on TripAdvisor, Facebook, and

Happy Cow. They are ranked as the second best restaurant in Copenhagen on TripAdvi-

sor(tripadvisor.com, restaurant review of Souls), and out of the hundred and sixty-five reviews on

their Facebook page, hundred and sixty-three have rated Souls the highest ranking of five stars (fa-

cebook.com, soulscph reviews).

Next, we continue with the buyer characteristics and the buyer decision process of the second seg-

ment, non-vegans.

Segment 2: Non-vegans


The respondents who are neither vegan or vegetarian are categorised as “non-vegans”.

The customers’ social relation highly influences their decision on whether to go out or not and

which restaurant to choose. In the process of deciding to go to the Souls restaurant, the survey

shows that either the customer themselves choose to go to the restaurant or they are initiated by

their friends or family. (see Appendix 3)

The survey shows that most of the respondents are influenced by their family and/or friends. This

states that Souls have a good reputation, since the respondents, who have already been at Souls,

went there because of recommendations from family or friends. Likewise, the results show that five

out of eight respondents heard about Souls on social media like Facebook and Instagram. And three

out of these five respondents found out about Souls on social media, even though they do not follow

Souls on Instagram nor Facebook. Furthermore, some of the respondents were also introduced to

Souls by recommendation sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp. (see Appendix 3) This adds to the state-

ment that Souls have a favourable reputation. In their decision process, the decision maker, buyer

and consumer are either the customer or likewise the customer’s friends or family.

Looking at their personal data, this segment is placed in the age group between 21-44 years old, and

a half of the respondents are between the age of 25-34. There is a significant prevalence of women

in this group of respondents. All of the respondents live in Copenhagen or the Copenhagen area.

(see Appendix 3)


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The reason why these respondents are motivated to eat at a vegan restaurant, even though they are

not vegan or vegetarian is assumed to rely on their lifestyle and on their social relations.

This segment is assumed to be motivated by the function of the restaurant, hence good quality, and

healthy and tasty food. This segment is also motivated socially to have visited this restaurant, either

to present a new restaurant for friends or family, to get social confirmation, to go there in order to

join friends/family or make it a social maintenance activity.


Concerning the buyer decision process, the need for the customers is to eat good quality food in a

cosy atmosphere, which is also healthy and tastes good.

The respondents express that they get the influencing information from social media, friends and

family, and are also affected by recommendation sites.

According to the survey results, simpleRaw have frequent visits whereto the rating is medium-high.

More than a half also visits 42Raw, which has a lower satisfaction rate in the survey compared to

Souls and simpleRaw. Two respondents have been in Hafnia bar and The Organic Boho and both

places are ranked at a medium-high place on the scale. Furthermore, one respondent commented

that he/she visits Café N and Kaf as alternative vegan restaurants.

Based on the evaluation of alternatives, when then deciding on the purchase, the respondents decide

to visit Souls less than once per month in the average.

For the evaluation of Souls, the respondents ranked their satisfaction with the restaurant as very sat-

isfied, where more than half of the respondents gave the satisfaction rate as eight out of ten, where-

as the rest of the ratings were above eight.

After we investigated buying behaviour of existing customers of Souls, we consider the outside

stimuli which can have a different impact on two contrasting customer segments, using the data we

collected through the online survey.

Outside stimuli

Factors such as a company’s marketing mix (prices, product, place and promotion) have an influ-

ence on consumer’s buying decision. As the survey is targeting existing customers of Souls, we will

further look into their opinions regarding the restaurant. We will closely look at the most important

findings (for the whole results sheet, see Appendix 5).


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Both the respondents who eat meat and the vegan/vegetarian respondents give the taste of Souls’

food a high rate.

Taste of meals, Non-vegans

Taste of meals, Vegan/vegetarians

Both vegan/vegetarian respondents and meat-eating respondents rate that there is a high variation in

Souls’ menu. However, the non-vegan/vegetarian respondents give the menu variation a fairly low-


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er rate. This could be because the non-vegan respondents are used to more varied menus from the

regular restaurants.

Variety of menu, Non-vegans

Variety of menu, Vegan/vegetarians


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Souls’ atmosphere is rated as very cosy by the non-vegans. Except for one respondent who rated it

only three out of ten. The vegans/vegetarians rate the atmosphere as very cosy, however, 40 % of

them rate the cosy atmosphere as medium (see Appendix 5, number 3).

37 % of the non-vegans rate the formality of the restaurant at a medium level and a half of the re-

spondents rate the formal dining atmosphere as low. On the other hand, 33% of the ve-

gans/vegetarians rate the formal dining in Souls as high. The half of the vegan/vegetarian respond-

ents rate the formality of the dining atmosphere at a medium level and less than 17 % rate it as low

(opposed to the non-vegans from which 50 % rate it low).


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Formal dining, Non-vegans

Formal dining, Vegan/vegetarians

All of the respondents rate the price equally, at a medium to high level. However, 35% of non-

vegans/vegetarians rate the price as very high, while 20% the vegans/vegetarians rate it very low.

This can be because the respondents who are also used to pay high prices for meat, find it expensive

to pay the same prices for plant-based food. Nonetheless, the statistical difference is not significant-

ly high.

Price, Non-vegans


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Price, Vegan/vegetarians

The rate of drinks quality does not differ between the two segment groups. The respondents rate the

drinks as of high-medium quality (see Appendix 5, number 6).

Non-vegan’s respondents have a good opinion about the quality of food served at Souls, a half of

them perceiving as very good. Vegans/vegetarians respondents had a larger variety of opinions in

term of the quality of the food, ranking it from medium to very high. Still, 40% of them ranked the

quality of food as very high.

Quality of food, Non-vegans


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Quality of food, Vegan/vegetarians

When it comes to the location of Souls, 46% of the vegan/vegetarian respondents consider that

Souls has a good location and only 24% of the non-vegan respondents share their opinion. Most of

the non-vegan respondents ranked Souls location as six and seven, on a scale from zero to ten (see

Appendix 5, number 8).

Half of the vegan/vegetarian respondents ranked service at Souls high as nine and ten. Whereas the

majority of non-vegans rated it lower. To be more precise, 38% of them ranked the service as being

at a medium level, closely followed by those who ranked it a bit better. This difference of opinion

between the two groups of customers can be explained by the fact that most of vegan places in Co-

penhagen have a minimum level of service, as customers order, pay and get their food at the coun-


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ter. That is opposite to the restaurants serving meat, having a higher level of service due to the pres-

ence of waiters.

Service, Non-vegans

Ser-

vice, Vegan/vegetarians

For both vegans/vegetarians and non-vegans, the way food looks is important, though the propor-

tion of vegans/vegetarians who consider it very important is higher than non-vegans (Appendix 5,

number 10).

After this analysis, we continue with the bargaining power of customers and suppliers.


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4.2.2.3 Bargaining power of customers

This element of the Five forces analysis deals with the influence and demands of customers. There

are a number of external factors that influence the level of bargaining power that the buyers may

have.

According to the respondent customers of Souls, Souls prices are medium to high. In terms of the

analysis of the customer’s buying behaviour, we can say that Souls non-vegan customers might be

more price sensitive than the vegan ones (See chapter 4.2.2.2. Buying behaviour).

It is easy for the customers to change their preferences in terms of which restaurants they choose to

eat at. Moreover, products offered by Souls are undifferentiated. and customers can also choose

from many similar restaurants and alternative products. All this factors lead to high bargaining

power of the customers. However, they do not purchase in large volumes when they eat out.

All above being taken into consideration, customers have a medium force bargaining power.

After the analysis of the customers of Souls, we take a closer look at the bargaining power of sup-

pliers, competitors, substitutes and new entrants. Firstly, we start with the bargaining power of sup-

pliers.

4.2.3. Bargaining power of suppliers

Together with the bargaining power of customers, we also examine the bargaining power of suppli-

ers in the interest of defining the level of force suppliers have on the Souls restaurant.

This element of the Five Forces analysis shows the impact of suppliers which they might have on

Souls, seeing as the cost of raw materials and components can have a major bearing on a firm’s

profitability (Hollensen, 2010: 72). The operational costs increase when the suppliers have higher

bargaining power.

When we consider the supply which Souls needs for its daily operations, we contemplate the vege-

tables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and other ingredients, which the restaurant requires in order to prepare

their homemade dishes and sauces. Further items such as coffee, bottled drinks, vegan cheese, tofu,

soymilk, etc. are considered as essential to the restaurant’s day-to-day operations.

The abovementioned supply is not dominated by only a few companies but is offered by a variety of

supplying firms. There are 564 wholesaler organisations in Denmark which offer fruits and vegeta-

bles (degulesider.dk), subsequently the large population of suppliers weakens the effect of individual

suppliers might have on Souls. The majority of the above-discussed products and raw materials are


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not unique or differentiated. We assume the suppliers do not have any significant built up switching

costs.

Nevertheless, seeing as Souls runs a small-scale operation, as opposed to, for instance, a large res-

taurant chain or a wholesaler, Souls’ ability to bargain on prices or demand discounts is low, due to

the size of their purchase orders.

The above-discussed external factors point to the medium force bargaining power of suppliers.

In the next section, we delve into the analysis of the competitors of Souls using the strategy canvas

model and the data we collected through our research methods.

4.2.4. Competitors

It is crucial to analyse the Souls restaurant together with their competitors to be able to see the posi-

tion they have comparing to the competitors in the same industry. Therefore, according to the data

we have at hand, we create the graphs using the strategy canvas model in order to illustrate the posi-

tioning they received.

4.2.4.1. Strategy canvas of the Souls restaurant owners’ and the Souls restaurant customers’ point of

view

In our case study, we use the strategy canvas in a dual way. On one hand, we analyse the customers’

point of view concerning the Souls restaurant and we compare it with the Souls restaurant’s owner’s

beliefs about their company. They both ranked the Souls restaurant by the same specific characteris-

tics. The comparison is done on the basis of the performance of ten key success criteria. These fac-

tors are the ones which are presented in section 2.6. Presentations of the results in our 2. Methodol-

ogy chapter. These criteria were chosen as the most important by our project group and then ranked

by the respondents of our online survey and structured interviews. As a result, we have a clear illus-

tration of how the owner’s perspective is compared to the perspective of their customers.


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Strategy canvas of the Souls restaurant owners’ and the Souls restaurant customers’ point of view

To begin with, the strategy canvas concerning the Souls owners’ and Souls customers’ ranking of

the ten characteristics, we can easily observe that the owners’ graph shows a great fluctuation. Con-

versely, customers are more stable on their preferences.

Both opinions concur with their rankings and place very high importance to Taste of meals, cosy

atmosphere, Quality of food, Location, Variety of drinks, Price and the Aesthetic presentation of

food.

A small divergence between them is observed when it comes to Variety of menu offer and Service.

These are not very important for the Souls owners, however, they play a major role for their cus-

tomers. They ranked them as a middle to high priority but they are still remarkable factors for them.

In addition, it is worthy of attention that the characteristic of Formal dining divides their opinions to

a great extent. The Souls owners’ mark it as very low almost a zero factor of their restaurant. For

the Souls customers, it is a medium to high level considering Souls performance. The owners per-

ceived this factor as unimportant, therefore the below discrepancy shows that the owners have not

perceived correctly that specific aspect of their restaurant.

All in all, the owners’ and customers’ opinions are in harmony in regards to the six out of ten char-


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acteristics. In the majority, the owners grasped their customers’ preferences and applied them into

practice. Also, their customers enjoy what the Souls restaurant offers them with some small excep-

tions. There is a discrepancy between their opinions on three out of ten characteristics. Although,

due to the transformable character of these three factors, they may be able to satisfy and fulfil even

more of their customers’ expectations in the future.

4.2.4.2. Definition of competitors

Secondly, we compare the same ten characteristics of the Souls restaurant, according to its existing

customers’ point of view and its main competitors’ overall performance. The two main competitors

of Souls are simpleRaw and 42Raw and we also include The Organic Boho and Cafe N into the list,

since we have chosen to refer to their main competitors according to the results of the surveys (see

2.6. Presentation of the results - Quantitative research method - the survey) and our research. Due

to lack of time and resources, we were not able to visit each restaurant and make our own personal

ascertainment.

It is important to mention the fact that the owners and the customers have a different perception

concerning the competitors. One the one hand, the owner mentioned during the interview as their

main competitors 42Raw, Hafnia Bar and simpleRAW (Appendix 2: 180) but the customers who

responded our online survey mentioned that they mainly visit Cafe N, VideoVideo and The Organic

LAB as well as Ambrosia, Kaf, Astrid och Apornas Spiseri, GreenBurger and Harpo Bar (see sec-

tion 2.6.1.2. Main findings of the topic research). The paradox is that Souls owners during the dis-

cussion about the competitors mentioned that actually there is almost no one who competes them as

Souls “It’s trendy, but it still got this surf, Australian, chill approach, that still it is a cool place to

sit, and I think that sets us apart from everyone else”. When they referred, at least, to some potential

competitors they mentioned Cafe N, which they finally commented negatively, saying: “That’s

true… And what was it… Café N, they’re more on the hippie side, or a little more grungy. It feels a

little dirtier in there” (Appendix 2: 17). As a result, even though current customers of Souls have

already a lot of alternative options on their mind, Souls owners are unaware of it.

The information about the restaurants has been taken from our results of the quantitative research

methods, the websites of the restaurants, their Facebook pages and the tourist website of Copenha-

gen called visitcopenhagen.

The first one is simpleRaw. This restaurant offers vegetarian meals and uses exclusively nature’s

own raw materials because, as they say on their webpage, they want to offer to their customers an

honest and simple alternative to all the other good food to be found in Copenhagen (simpleRaw.dk).


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The second one is 42Raw which is the first vegan restaurant in Copenhagen, according to the article

of the official tourist information website for Denmark visitcopenhagen. They do not only focus on

serving raw food but also on the preparation of it. They heat their meals on the maximum of 42 de-

grees in order for the food to retain as many vitamins and enzymes as possible (visitcopenha-

gen.com).

The third one is The Organic Boho, a vegetarian restaurant based on the ‘bohemian’ way of life, as

they mention on their website. They focus on three main ideals which are the reduction of carbon

footprints, environmental sustainability and healthy lifestyle (theorganicboho.com).

The fourth and last one is Cafe N. It is a vegan cafe which offers vegetarian meals as well. It has the

philosophy of a place where the customers could feel like at home and a place affordable for every-

one, according to their website (cafe-n-2200.dk).

4.2.4.3. Competitor’s analysis

Taste of meals

We decided to not take into consideration this factor as it is very subjective and we do not want to

bias our results. Consequently, we will not rate any of the restaurants regarding the taste of their

meals.

Variety of menu

We define the scale from zero to ten, in which zero points represent the five meals offered on the

menu and the ten points represent the fifty different meals, as a result, the middle rating is up to

twenty-five different meals offered.

1. Souls has a low to a middle level of variety of choices on the menu. They offer three choices

for breakfast, two for brunch, six for lunch, six for dinner and two for dessert as we saw

from their web page and count them in total as nineteen items offered (soulscph.dk).

2. simpleRaw has a low to a middle level of variety of meals to offer. It separates its menu on


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more categories and offers some snacks which make the menu more extensive. To be more

specific, it offers two different options for brunch, five for a snack, nine for lunch and five

for desserts. In total, their meals count is twenty-one (simpleraw.dk).

3. 42Raw has a low to a middle level of variety of meals. Their menu is expanded to meals

such as pizza and lasagne. They offer alternative options of adding new components which

make their variety of menu bigger. Concretely, they offer four different choices for break-

fast, three for brunch and eleven for lunch. They do not offer any dessert. In total, their

meals add up to eighteen (42raw.dk).

4. The Organic Boho has a very low level of variety of meals. Their menu is thrifty and is cat-

egorised just to the three basic categories of meals. They offer 3 different options for break-

fast, 3 for both lunch and dinner. They offer 2 options with the heading snacks and cakes,

which we consider as dessert. In total their meals are count to 8 (theorganicboho.dk).

5. Cafe N has a low to a middle level of variety of meals. As a combination of cafe and restau-

rant, they offer some meals but not on a “restaurant level”. They separate them with the

heading “Mad = Food” which include sixteen different options. Also, they offer five options

for dessert. In total, they offer twenty-one meals (cafe-n-2200.dk).

Cosy atmosphere

We define the scale in which zero represents the restaurants with a very simple interior decoration

(e.g. no candles, no pillows, no posters, no colours or paintings on the walls), without comfortable

seats (e.g. no sofas, just plastic chairs). The opposite of the spectrum, ten on the scale, represents

the restaurants with beautiful and welcoming interior design with a lot of decorations together with

comfortable seats or sofas, warm temperature and overall look of the restaurant.

1. Souls ranked at the medium level when it comes to the cosy atmosphere, as they offer some

amenities which make the customers feel comfortable. They have simple wooden tables and

semi-comfortable wooden and leather chairs. The focus is also on wooden decorations on

walls and green plants all over the restaurant while some of them hang from the ceiling too,

creating a combination of illumining and decorative. Above each table, there are also some

small vases with flowers. They offer some blankets for cold days (facebook.com/Souls).

2. simpleRaw is ranked at the high level. It gained a cosy atmosphere as they offer a combina-

tion of a simple and “homelike” decoration of their restaurant. The restaurant also has

wooden seats and tables which are not particularly comfortable but, in combination with the


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various small and big pillows, they raised the level of customers’ satisfaction. The small

decorative details such as the low lighting, the candles, plants hanging from the ceiling and

offer of various magazines create an overall cosy atmosphere (facebook.com/simpleRaw).

3. 42Raw has a low to a middle level of cosy atmosphere as the decoration is very attentive

but the seats and the comfort they offer in general are limited. The decoration includes some

motivational quotes on the walls, small decorations such as plants or boxes with fresh fruits,

and a couple of magazines which are available for reading as well. The wooden tables in

combination with the barstools instead of chairs made the eating time uncomfortable, alt-

hough some pillows are offered but their quantity and size are too small (face-

book.com/42Raw).

4. The Organic Boho has a very low level of cosy atmosphere as it is mostly a takeaway res-

taurant with no seats inside and just a small sofa outside the entrance of the restaurant of-

fered for the customers to take a seat. The sofa is small and wooden. There is also a couple

of small stools in order to take a quick seat. The restaurant has a simple decoration with a

plenty of tropical details such as cacti and colourful paintings on the walls (face-

book.com/organicboho).

5. Cafe N has a middle level of cosy atmosphere with an old fashioned internal decoration in-

cluding some small decoration which generate an amount of cosiness and creating a feeling

of being in the village. They have old wooden chairs and tables with candles, boxes with

napkins and vases with colourful flowers above each table. There are some pillows on some

of the chairs as well. The walls have white paint and a few random framed pictures hanging

on it as well as some colourful old fashion curtains (facebook.com/cafen).

Formal dining

On this scale, zero points refer to the dining with no formality. Regarding this rating, we define

formal restaurant as a place with the fancy dress code, expensive decoration including table linen,

candles, laid table with the appropriate plates, glasses and cutlery, and lastly waitresses with special

uniforms (etiquettescholar.com). The restaurants including all the above are rated with ten points.

All the restaurants below are mostly informal, every day and familiar with an aim to offer tasty and

organic food for their customers, according to the pictures and information that we collected

through their websites (Appendix 15). Although some of them differentiate from the others and in-

clude also decorative aspects of formality. Below, we refer on some quotes from the owners that we


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found out on their web pages, concerning their style and approach to the customers.

1. Souls “keeps the Australian approach of being straight forward yet laid back. It is honest

about its produce and wants to offer an alternative for people who want worry-free food on

the go” (soulscph.dk). It is ranked at the middle level of formal dining. Souls is mainly an

informal restaurant with a kind of formality. It has a simple decoration but adding some

formally perceived furniture such as big wooden dining tables with vases above, leather

chairs and pretty lights hanging from the ceiling its simplicity is exceeded.

2. simpleRaw “uses exclusively nature's own raw materials, because it wants to offer to its

guests an honest and simple alternative to all the other good food to be found in Copenha-

gen” (simpleraw.dk). It is ranked at the middle to high level of formal dining. Despite its

aiming to be mostly simple and honest in regards to meals, simpleRaw offers a superior

formality for its customers. It focuses more than its competitors in decoration which in-

cludes big wooden dining tables in a specific order, several candles, formally organised

forks, knives and napkins above each table that create an overall formal perception of the

whole place.

3. 42Raw “... combined the best of architectural design and culinary excellence in a quest to

create a healthy fast casual dining experience that would serve as a testament to the future

of plant-based eating” (facebook.com/42Raw). It is ranked at the low level of formal dining.

It is an almost take away place with very low formal decoration and dining seats. It focuses

mainly on the interior style decoration.

4. The Organic Boho is ranked at the low level of formal dining. It is a takeaway place with no

interior space to seat and dine. The interior design additionally is informal with a lot of wall

paintings (theorganicboho.com).

5. Cafe N “represents the vegan delights and living comfort at prices everyone can afford. We

emphasise that all feel welcome and comfortable in with attentive service with a smile”. It is

ranked at the low level of formal dining. Cafe N focuses mainly in the hospitality of cus-

tomers and affordable prices. They just include simple small dining seats, tables and no for-

mal decoration. (cafe-n-2200.dk).

Price

According to this scale, zero points represent the price of 50 dkk per one meal and ten points repre-

sent the price of 500 dkk per one meal. A middle rating will be 250 dkk.


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1. Souls offers meals from a low to a middle price range. The prices range between 54 and 132

dkk with the average of 93 dkk. To be more specific, the breakfast ranges from 58 to 68 dkk,

the brunch from 88 to 124 dkk, the lunch from 74-88 dkk, the dinner from 108 to 132 dkk

and the dessert from 54 to 88 dkk (soulscph.dk)

2. simpleRaw offers meals on a variety of prices. The prices range between 25 and 140 dkk

with the average of 82,5 dkk. Concretely, the brunch has a standard price of 135 dkk, the

lunch ranges from 60 dkk to 120 dkk, the dessert from 35 to 140 dkk and the snacks from 25

to 65 dkk (simpleraw.dk).

3. 42Raw offers meals on a variety of prices. The prices range between 79 and 129 dkk with

the average of 104 dkk. The brunch has a standard price of 129 dkk and the lunch range

from 79 dkk to 129 dkk (42raw.dk).

4. The Organic Boho also offers meals which are placed on the wider price range. The prices

range between 35 dkk and 125 dkk with the average of 80 dkk. The breakfast has a standard

price of 69 dkk, the lunch range from 79 to 125 dkk and the snacks from 35 to 45 dkk (the-

organicboho.com).

5. Cafe N, similarly to 42Raw and The Organic Boho, has a wider price range. The prices

range between 20 and 109 dkk with the average of 64,5 dkk. The various meals on their

menu range from 20 to 109 dkk and the desserts from 25 to 35 dkk (cafe-n-2200.dk).

Variety of drinks

On this scale, zero points refer to the two different types of drinks offered on the restaurants’ menu

and ten points represent the twenty different types of drinks. As a result, the middle rating is up to

approximately ten types.

1. Souls has a low level of beverage variety as the number of the different drinks offered on the

menu is six. Their menu includes juices, smoothies, lemonades, hot drinks, beer and wine

(soulscph.dk).

2. simpleRaw has a low level of variety of drinks as the number of the different drinks offered

on the menu is nine. Their menu includes juices, smoothies, shakes, shots, lemonades, hot

drinks, water, wine and beer (simpleraw.dk).

3. 42Raw has a middle to a high level of variety of drinks as the number of the different drinks

offered on the menu is eleven. Their menu includes organic coffee, chai latte, matcha latte,


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hot chocolate, milkshake, lemonade, ginger shots, juices, avocado shake, smoothies and

100% organic juice (42raw.com).

4. The Organic Boho has a very low level of variety of drinks as the number of the different

drinks on the menu is just four. Their menu includes juices, smoothies, coffee and tea (the-

organicboho.com)

5. Cafe N has a middle level of variety of drinks as the number of the different drinks on the

menu is ten. Their menu includes coffee, tea, hot chocolate, wine, beer, Danish water, juices,

Fritz-kola, Faxe Kondi and Bornholm Mosteri (cafe-n-2200.dk).

Quality of meals from the perspective of the owners

We define the level of zero points as representing the not organic and packaged meals offered on

the restaurants’ menu and ten points as representing the organic and homemade meals. We do not

take into account the taste of the meals but focus only on the quality and materials they use.

All the restaurants below are mainly vegetarian restaurants and, as a result, they offer on their menu

only raw, organic and mostly vegan food. The very important factor of their food is mentioned and

emphasised on their websites. The quality of meals for all of them is rated as high. In the following

section, we mention some quotes of each restaurant’s owner referring to the quality of their meals.

1. Souls “put the soul back into food by offering locally sourced food of the highest quality for

people that are conscious of not only what they put into their body, but of the footprint it

leaves in order to reach their plate” (soulscph.dk).

2. simpleRaw “only use its own recipes and we use no preservatives, colourings, additives,

sugar, dairy products, yeast or gluten-containing products and exclusively uses nature's

own raw materials” (simpleraw.dk)

3. 42raw “is a contemporary interpretation of plant-based eating with the philosophy that food

must be served in its most natural state. Untouched by refined sugar, dairy products and

preservatives” (facebook.com/42raw).

4. The Organic Boho “is driven by the core values of cleanliness and animal welfare. Its or-

ganic status means that all its products are 100% organic and vegan” (theorgan-

icboho.com).

5. Cafe N “is invited to vegan delights and living comfort at prices everyone can afford. The

food is colourful, healthy, delicious and homemade from scratch” (cafe-n-2200.dk).


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Location

We define the scale of zero points as the distance above five kilometres between Copenhagen Cen-

tral Station and the restaurant. Reversely, we rate with ten points the restaurant which distances

from the Central station is half a kilometre.

1. Souls is located far away from the city centre, so, consequently is rated low. It is located in

København, Østerbro. Its distance from the Central Station is 4.0 km (soulscph.dk).

2. simpleRaw is located close to the city centre which puts its location at a high level. It is lo-

cated in Copenhagen K. Its distance from the Central Station is 1.3 km (simpleraw.dk).

3. 42Raw is located close to the city centre of Copenhagen, similarly to simpleRaw. Its dis-

tance from the Central Station is 1.6 km (42raw.com).

4. The Organic Boho is located close to the city centre, consequently, is rated at a middle level.

It is located in Copenhagen K. Its distance from the Central Station is 2.1 km (theorgan-

icboho.com).

5. Cafe N is located close to the city centre, so, it is rated as a middle to a high level. The loca-

tion is in Copenhagen K, similarly to The Organic Boho and simple Raw. Its distance from

the Central Station is 1.9 km (cafe-n-2200.dk).

Service

In this scale, we define zero points as referring to the total self-service in which the customer does

the service by himself/herself. The customer pays to the cashier, takes the meal and afterwards

cleans his/her table. Ten points refer to the restaurants which offer a full table service. The waitress-

es take the order, serve the meal and clean the table. The middle rating is considered the combina-

tion of both, table and self-service.

The results of the service ratings are a consequence of each restaurant photos observation and re-

views reading through their websites and social media, in order to figure out how they operate on

daily basis.

1. Souls has a middle rated offered service. The restaurant operates by self-service at the order-

ing and payment points, yet the staff serve the meals to the customers as well as check up on

how they enjoy it, subsequently offering partial table-service (facebook.com/Souls).


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2. simpleRaw has a high rated service offered as it offers a table service (face-

book.com/simpleRaw).

3. 42Raw has a low rated service offered as it operates by self-service (facebook.com/42Raw).

4. The Organic Boho has a low rated service since it operates by self-service and it is mainly a

takeaway kind of restaurant (facebook.com/organicboho).

5. Cafe N has a high rated service offered since it offers a table service (facebook.com/Cafen).

Aesthetic presentation of meals online and on social media

When rating the restaurants in regards to this criteria, zero points represent the absence of any

online presence in form of website and any social media profiles. The rating of ten points is given to

restaurants with strong online presence, who have photos of their products on their social media ac-

counts. The aesthetic presentation of the food and the quality of the photographs are taken into ac-

count when rating the restaurant on this criterion.

1. Souls has a website, Instagram and Facebook accounts, where good quality pictures of nice

looking meals and desserts are posted. Souls has a large variety of pictures with their meals

on both their Instagram and Facebook pages. As a result, Souls ranks on high level for this

criteria. In addition, from the survey results, the existing customers ranked this factor high

also.

2. simpleRaw is ranked at a high level as it has its own website, Instagram and Facebook pro-

file, which all feature good quality pictures of meals, smoothies or desserts (facebook.com,

instagram.com).

3. 42Raw is ranked at a high level as it has a website but also Facebook and Instagram profiles.

The pictures posted on all these three online medias are good quality, and the meals is nicely

presented in the pictures.42 Raw is also actively marketing its meals, desserts and drinks on

Instagram and Facebook.

4. The Organic Boho is ranked at a high level as it has its own website, Instagram and Face-

book accounts containing good quality pictures of food, desserts and drinks.

5. Cafe N is ranked at a low level as it has a website and a Facebook profile. Its website has no

pictures of the meals served (cafe-n-2200.dk). Moreover, when it comes to Cafe N’s Face-


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book profile, all the posted pictures are unprofessional and, therefore, have a low quality in

terms of how the meal is being visually advertised (facebook.com/cafen).

Strategy canvas based on the social media and websites of the five restaurants

Totals: Souls: 49/simpleRaw: 63/42Raw: 53/Org.Boho:42/Cafe N:41

4.2.4.4. Conclusion of Competitor’s analysis

In conclusion, we can observe that the Souls restaurant is performing on a middle range in compari-

son with its competitors, according to the data we collected. The two of them, simpleRaw and

42Raw, tend to perform better than Souls on the majority of factors, while two other competitors

The Organic Boho and Cafe N perform on the lower level.

To be specific, simpleRaw shows the highest ranking and dominates on factors such as the cosy at-

mosphere, quality of meals, location, aesthetic presentation of food online and on social media and

service, whereas the other factors scored a low to a middle level of performance.

Second on the ranking follows 42Raw which is dominant in the aesthetic presentation of food

online and quality of meals, however, we are aware of the fact that the quality of meals is from the

perspective of the owners, therefore we expect this factor to be high, given the data we have at

hand. Regarding all the other factors, it performs on a low to a middle level.

Souls is in the third place, as it performs very high regarding the quality of food as the other four


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restaurants, probably due to their vegan style, but also on the aesthetic presentation of food online.

Contrary, Souls performs low on factors such as a variety of menu, formal dining, a variety of

drinks and location.

Regarding the cosy atmosphere and service, Souls’ performance is rated on a middle level. Cafe N

follows Souls in a fourth place, as it performs high on the quality of food and also has a very satisfy-

ing rate on the factor of service. Nevertheless, Cafe N’s performance is low on all the other factors.

According to our results, the fifth place in ranking is occupied by The Organic Boho. This restau-

rant performs very high on the quality of food, however, has a very low rate on the majority of the

remaining factors.

Under those circumstances, Souls might focus on improving the above four low-ranking factors in

order to enhance its performance and compete efficiently with its main competitors. Moreover, the

competitors which perform lower than Souls on the criteria mentioned in the Strategy canvas, might

outperform Soul in the long term. As a result, Soul’s owners could also consider Cafe N and The

Organic Boho as competitors.

The level of an internal rivalry of the competitors in Copenhagen is from medium to high. Their

similarities exceed their differences. All competitors are vegan and consequently, their focus is on

offering organic food, although the level of service offered is one of their minor differences be-

tween them.

Having the preceding analysis of the competitors compared to Souls, we continue with the analysis

of another threat to their business - substitutes.

4.2.5 Substitutes

Substitutes are to be considered a significant concern for the Souls restaurant. This element of the

Five Forces analysis deals with the potential effects that substitutes might have on the firm’s growth

(Hollensen, 2010:73).

As we discussed in the previous chapter on the target market, there are four levels of competition

within the market, and we have defined the inner level or the product form category as the main

competitors of Souls in Copenhagen.


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When we consider the threat of substitution within the Copenhagen market, we look closer at the

outer three levels of competition: the product category, generic and budget competition. These, as

previously mentioned, can be divided into two categories of satisfying needs: 1. Hunger and 2. Ex-

perience.

As we look into and the need of hunger being satisfied, there are over 1829 eateries in the area of

Copenhagen (TripAdvisor 2016, Restaurants in Copenhagen), out of these establishments, seven

have been defined as Souls main Product Form competitors and these are discussed in detail in the

Competitors analysis above.

When discussing the product category competition, the 1822 Copenhagen eateries are to be consid-

ered as substitutes, as these are the places to eat and drink, some of which offer ve-

gan/vegetarian/healthy options and they vary from fast food and cafés to fine dining restaurants.

Taking into account substitution on the generic and budget competition levels there are a number of

substitutes that must be taken into consideration.

Firstly, considering the need of hunger being satisfied, consumers can cook their food at home or

order it online to be delivered from the various existing takeaway websites, such as just-eat.dk,

roomservice.dk, eatonline.dk or hungry.dk.

Moreover, the consumers have the possibility to buy ready-to-eat packed meals at supermarkets,

convenience stores, bakeries or kiosks, e.g. supermarkets as Irma and Netto or kiosks, as e.g. 7

Eleven. The meals include salads, wraps and sandwiches, which may include meat or be vegetari-

an/vegan (7-eleven.dk).

As discussed above the competition levels and subsequently the substitutes, can be divided into two

categories of food/beverage economy and experience economy, satisfying two different needs of the

consumer.

Seeing as Copenhagen is the capital city of Denmark, there exists a large variety of substitutes with-

in the category of experience economy/satisfaction. By this category, we mean activities the con-

sumers might choose to spend their money on instead of eating out.

The activities satisfy the consumers’ needs for experience and in the area of Copenhagen, they in-

clude: 68 museums (Denmark’s Statistik), amusement parks as Tivoli, gallery exhibitions, 24 thea-

tres (Kulturens Venner), circus, cinemas, clubs, cocktail bars as well as various temporary events

and concerts.


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Customers can easily transfer from the Souls’ restaurant to substitutes, which means low switching

costs. In addition, the available substitutes are competitive in terms of taste, cost, quality and con-

sumer satisfaction.

In this element of the Five Forces analysis it can be stated that the threat of substitution can be con-

sidered as a significant concern; nonetheless, the issue can be addressed through for example the

development of strategies that would increase Souls’ customer loyalty

To conclude, in Souls’ case within the Copenhagen market, the following external factors make the

threat of substitution a strong force: high substitute availability, low switching costs and high per-

formance-to-cost ratio.

Having abovementioned concerns when it comes to the Souls restaurant competitors and substi-

tutes, we also consider the threat of new entrants in the next section.

4.2.6. Threat of New Entrants

Seeing as Souls is operating a small business within the restaurant industry, when considering the

barriers to entry we consider the following factors: capital requirements, product differentia-

tion/brand identity and switching costs.

When looking into the capital requirements, it can be stated that the costs connected to opening a

new restaurant, which includes purchasing of the new location, renovation, kitchen equipment, in-

ventory, staff payroll and rent, do not require a significantly high up-front investment.

The product differentiation is difficult to achieve in the restaurant industry, as it is relatively easy to

provide high-quality food with good quality service. Though Souls had initially hired a specialised

vegan chef who created their menu (Appendix 2: 4), which includes several unique recipes which

are kept secret, nothing is stopping the same chef from creating a similar menu for another restau-

rant or even opening a new restaurant herself. Further, because of the low switching costs, consum-

ers are able to easily move from Souls toward a new restaurant.

When considering brand identity, it can be said that it is also difficult to achieve for a newly opened

small restaurant. Nonetheless, it can be argued that Souls puts a significant amount of focus on its

maintenance and management of customer relationships through their online presence and social

media. Moreover, they ensure that all their existing and new employees are well trained and con-


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sistent in regards to their organisation’s values and their focus on personal and friendly service

(Appendix 2: 81), which leads to the development of customer loyalty.

To conclude, the above discussed external factors point towards a strong threat of new entrants and

it can be regarded as a considerable issue for the firm.


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4.2.7 Sub-conclusion

In order to conclude the situational analysis regarding the Souls restaurant and their positioning

within the Copenhagen market, a SWOT analysis is conducted.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Internal Strengths:

1. Quality, homemade, organic meals

2. Taste of meals

3. Healthy, vegan food

4. Aesthetic presentation of meals

5. Social media performance

6. Atmosphere of the restaurant

7. From locals’ perspective: location in Øster-

bro

8. Table service (outgoing friendly staff fo-

cused on customer relationship maintenance)

Weakness:

1. Partial table service, partial self-

service

2. From tourist perspective: location

in Østerbro

3. New business to the area

External Opportunities:

1. Customers are more satisfied with Souls than

some other competitors

2. Social media is one of the main sources of

information for certain groups of vegans and

vegetarians

3. Decrease of meat consumption among Dan-

ish consumers

4. No or few vegan restaurants in other areas of

Denmark

Threats:

1. Large amount of competitors in

Copenhagen

2. Non-vegan customers in Copen-

hagen might be more price sensi-

tive

3. Social media performance of

competitors

4. More vegan and vegetarian res-

taurants had opened after Souls

opening in April

5. Threat of substitution is high

6. Vegan shops are opening in big

cities in Denmark, especially in

Copenhagen


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Souls might focus on retaining its customers in order to minimise the threat of competition and sub-

stitution. Moreover, by expanding in other parts of Denmark than Copenhagen, Souls could maxim-

ise the opportunity offered by the lack of vegan restaurants in those areas, as its concept is a full ve-

gan restaurant. Moreover, this possible strategy will help Souls take advantage of the fact that Dan-

ish consumers have started to eat less meat.

After analysing Souls’ position on the market and the selection of the strengths, weaknesses, oppor-

tunities and threats, we proceed with our proposition of the strategies Souls might consider in order

to strengthen their position on the market.

4.3. Souls’ potential of entering the market in Roskilde

In the second part of the analysis, we investigate the potential of entering the restaurant market with

Souls’ business model.

In order for Souls to strengthen their position on the market, we will suggest for Souls to implement

market development, which means expanding their sales geographically. By using this strategy, they

will be selling the same products, just to a new market. The reason for not considering the Copen-

hagen centre, as a place to expand to for Souls, was mainly because the market competition was

high.

We have chosen the market to be Roskilde since the competition would be lower compared to the

centre of Copenhagen, and we have included other surrounding regions to assure that there will be

enough potential customers. The Roskilde market can be a potential blue ocean, that creates a

chance for Souls to be sustainable on the new market.

Furthermore, we have chosen to use the strategy canvas, according to Souls existing customers, po-

tential customers and the competitors in Roskilde, to create a future canvas curve and find an un-

contested market space in Roskilde and the environs. By using the existing customers, we get an

idea of how the current customers perceive Souls services at the moment, compared to how the

competitors on the new market are perceived and what the potential customers value when going

out to eat. This will give us an idea of which strategies Souls should use in order to be sustainable


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on the new market in Roskilde. To make the competition irrelevant in Roskilde, Souls could raise,

eliminate, create and reduce some of the factors in the strategy canvas in comparison with the in-

dustry.

To be able to analyse this, we first have to define the target market in Roskilde.

4.3.1. Target market - Roskilde

In this section, we analyse and define the competitive market and substitutes for Souls possible ex-

pansion, drawing on the four levels of competition in the target market.

It is necessary to define a different target market than in Copenhagen when analysing the competi-

tors and planning the expansion of Souls to Roskilde.

Looking at Zealand, there are 34 percent fewer restaurants than in Copenhagen (HORESTA

2013:8). In the remaining Zealand, including Roskilde, there are assumed to be a lesser variation of

restaurants, and especially when it comes to restaurants targeting a niche market or trends. Addi-

tionally, there is also 30 percent fewer guests in the remaining Zealand compared to Copenhagen

(HORESTA, 2013:8). However, this does not indicate how many times the guests go out. Further-

more, the age groups of the population in Roskilde is different from Copenhagen. The age groups

between 21-34 are 10-16 times higher in Copenhagen than in Roskilde, opposed to the population

size between 45-60 years, which is only 1,5-4 times higher in Copenhagen (Appendix 13). This

means that the group, which Souls should target in Roskilde would be predominantly older than in

Copenhagen. Customers in the older age group will more likely consume more meat, hence, the tar-

get group would assumingly contain fewer fully vegans or vegetarians (DTU Fødevareinstituttet,

2016:17).

Both in Roskilde and Copenhagen the levels of generic and budget competition are similar. Howev-

er, in product form the target expand the definition to be healthy restaurants that offer vegetarian

food. Equally to the target market definition of Souls in Copenhagen, we define a narrow competi-

tion in the product form and category of restaurants and specified healthy restaurants and restau-

rants with vegetarian options, since there are no fully vegan restaurants in Roskilde, versus broad

competition of alternatives in the experience economy.

In product form, the competitors will compete on cosy atmosphere, healthy dishes and possibility of

vegan dishes, hence, businesses that aim for the similar customer benefits sought that souls want to

target. At this level, the competitors are WabiWabi, Café Fjordglimt, and Insp! Mad.


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At the product category level, Souls competitors are restaurant industry, hence, places where you

can be seated and dine including cafés and fast food, which still offer vegetarian possibilities. In this

category, businesses as SimpleBurger, Café Satchmo and Falafel House are competitors. These

places serve meals for same and other customer segments than Souls.

Likewise, in Copenhagen, the generic and budget competition level is divided into two categories:

food and experiences. We perceive the competition of dining at Souls as a part of the experience

economy opposed to the food economy.

The target is illustrated in following figure 4.3.1.1

We define and analyse the competition in Roskilde from the industry level and to some extent in the

level of generic competition. Given that the competition in Roskilde is more located on the product

category level, than on the product form level, which was our approach when studying Souls in Co-

penhagen.


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4.3.2. Business model canvas for Souls’ new restaurant in Roskilde

In this part of the analysis, we consider the appropriate strategy for Souls’ possible expansion in

Roskilde by using the business model canvas tool.

4.3.2.1. Customers

Firstly, we conduct a customer segmentation and targeting, according to the empirical data we col-

lected from the structured interview in Roskilde. Similarly, to the first part of the analysis regarding

existing customers in Copenhagen, we start with the customer segmentation to be able to target rel-

evant customer segments.

Customer Segmentation

When doing the segmentation of customers for the Souls restaurant in Roskilde, we need to assess

whether or not the number of customers within those segments is enough in order to make the com-

pany profitable. As we have discussed in chapter 4.2.2.1, Souls customers in Copenhagen are main-

ly the ones with ages between 21 and 34 years old. However, the group of people within the age

group 21 to 34 years old, living in Copenhagen is significantly bigger than in Roskilde. There are

more than 10 times people with ages between 21 and 24 years old living in Copenhagen than in

Roskilde (Appendix 13:4)., and 16,02 times more people within the age group 25 to 34 years old

living in Copenhagen than in Roskilde. As a result, Souls should focus on customers within a wider

age group. Moreover, when deciding on the geographical segmentation of Souls customers, not only

people living in Roskilde will be taken into consideration, but also people living in smaller cities

around Roskilde. Small cities which are closer to Copenhagen than to Roskilde will not be taken

into consideration, as we assume that there is a higher probability that these people will travel to

Copenhagen rather than to Roskilde when going out.

In order to decide on the demographical segmentation, statistics from Statistics Denmark’ website

(statbank.dk) were used. We researched the number of people from certain age groups who live in

Roskilde, Holbæk and Lejre. Out of the two latter mentioned cities, only Holbæk was one of the

smaller cities where few of the respondents to the structured interview live in (see 2.6 Presentation

of quantitative research results).

We did not use demographic data from other smaller cities closer to Roskilde mentioned in the re-

sponses to the structured interview, such as Borup, Viby or Hvalsø (Ibid), because we could not


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find this type of information on Statistics Denmark’ website. Therefore, we look instead at another

small city on which demographic data was available, namely Lejre (statbank.dk, n.d.).

The age groups chosen for the segmentation, concretely, from 16 to 60 years old, are inspired from

the results of the structured interview (see Methodology: 2.6 Presentation of quantitative research

results). We wanted to get an overall idea of which age groups are numerous, and we have calculat-

ed how small are the groups of people within the specific age range compared to Copenhagen.

The number of people living in Roskilde, Holbæk and Lejre increased from the year 2015 to the

year 2016. According to the statistics, there are 86,207 people living in Roskilde, 69,972 people in

Holbæk and 27,317 people living in Lejre.

When looking at the numbers of people within the age group from 16 to 60 years old, the results are

as follows:

Roskilde

The number of people with ages between 16 to 20 slightly decreased, whereas the number of people

with ages between 21 and 60 years old has been increasing between the years 2015 and 2016.

The most numerous group of people living in Roskilde is the one represented by people aged from

45 to 54 years old, closely followed by the ones within the age group 35 to 44 years old. The least

numerous age group is the one from 21 to 24 years old, with a total of 4,898 people.

Among the total population living in Roskilde, there are 9,520 families with at least one child and

2,944 single parents who have at least one child.

Overall, there have been more women than men living in Roskilde since 2015. But there are more

men than women with ages between 16 to 34. And more women than men within the age group 35

to 60 years old.

When comparing segments of customers within the above age groups living in Roskilde with the

ones living in Copenhagen, we can see that the smallest difference is for the people with ages be-

tween 45 and 54 years old. There are at least three times more young people with ages between 16

and 20 years old living in Copenhagen than in Roskilde, but also at least 3 times older people aged

from 55 to 60 years old. And there are 7,23 times more people in the age group 35 to 44 years old

living in Copenhagen than in Roskilde (Appendix 13).


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Holbæk

The number of people aged 35 to 44 years old slightly decreased since 2015. Whereas there was an

increase in the number of people aged 16 to 20 years and 45 to 60 years old.

The most numerous age group is represented by the ones with ages from 45 to 54, closely followed

by the age group from 35 to 44 years old.

The least numerous age group is represented by a total of 2,766 people with ages between 21 and 24

years old.

There are more women than men living in Holbæk. But the number of men is higher than the num-

ber of women in the age group 16 to 34 years old. And there is a reverse gender situation in the age

group 35 to 60 years old.

Lejre

The number of people aged 16-20 slightly decreased from 2015 to 2016.

The most numerous age group is represented by people with ages between 45 to 54 years old, close-

ly followed by those being 35 to 44 years old.

The least numerous group is represented by the younger segment of people with ages from 21 to 24

years old.

There are more women than men in the age group from 35 to 44 years old.

The benefits chosen for the behavioural segmentation are the criteria which are the most important

for the respondents of the structured interview when deciding on a restaurant to eat at. Three of

these criteria, in the order of respondents’ priorities, are the cosy atmosphere, food quality, afforda-

ble prices or price in general as both priority one, two and three. As priority three, one more criteria

was mentioned, namely service. Organic food is also important for most of the respondents, who

ranked it at the level eight. When asked to rank the importance of low prices, most respondents con-

sidered low prices neither important nor unimportant. On the other hand, there are more respondents

who ranked low prices as having an importance from six to nine, namely seventeen, than the total

number of respondents which ranked low prices from zero to four. No respondent ranked low prices

as being very important. (see Appendix 4 - General restaurant preference: 5)

As a result, affordable prices could be important to Souls potential customers. Moreover, according

to the results of the structured interview, tasty food, fresh produce and homemade food have been

also ranked as being important (see Methodology: 2.6 Presentation of quantitative research results).


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In regards to psychographic segmentation, we group customers under two segments. The first seg-

ment is represented by vegan people and the second one by non-vegans who are not only interested

into eating healthy but also willing to experience eating plant-based food.

Segmentation categories

Behaviour Demographics Geography Psychographics

Benefits:

Cosy atmosphere;

Food quality, organic

food;

Affordable prices;

Service;

Tasty food;

Fresh produce;

Homemade food.

Usage:

Monthly

Age: 16-20,21-24,25-

34,35- 44,45-54,55-60

Gender:

Women;

Men.

Roskilde;

Small cities close to

Roskilde municipality.

Values:

Vegan lifestyle;

Animal welfare;

Environment.

Benefits:

Cosy atmosphere;

Food quality, organic

food;

Affordable prices;

Service;

Tasty food;

Fresh produce;

Homemade food.

Usage:

monthly

Age: 16-20,21-24,25-

34,35- 44,45-54, 55-60

Gender

Women;

Men.

Roskilde;

Small cities close to

Roskilde municipality.

Values:

Non-vegans;

Eating healthy;

Willingness to experi-

ence of eating plant-

based food

Regarding the profitability, we analysed for statistics of the disposable income of these segments.

Overall, young people with ages between 21 and 34 years old have less money which they can


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spend compared with people within the age group 35 to 60 years old (Appendix 14). Based on sta-

tistics made by HORESTA in 2013, people with ages between 20 and 29 years old go out the most

often, compared with people older than 30 years old. Taking all the mentioned factors taken into

consideration, consumers from the age group 21 to 34 years old might spend less when going out

than older consumers, who might spend more and less often (HORESTA, 2013:5).

Targeting

Souls could target the following segments: vegans and non-vegans, with ages between 21-34 and 35

-60 years old who would be interested in the above mentioned benefits. Derived from our analysis,

their main focus should be on the non-vegan segment, who are willing to eat at a plant-based restau-

rant. Moreover, their targeting focus might exclude the customers with ages between 26 and 48

years old represented by women and families with children. According to Denmark’s Statistik, in

2015 the fertility rates were high among women with ages between 26 and 36. More than 70% of

the women within this age group have children (Appendix 12). We assume people spent less time

going out for lunch or dinner if their children are smaller than 12 years old.

The targeting strategy would be concentrated marketing, because the targeting is narrowed down to

small and specified groups of customers being treated as unique, however the segment would be too

broad to be a niche market.

Correspondingly to the investigation of customer segments in the Copenhagen part of the analysis,

after the segmentation and targeting, we examine the buying behaviour of the potential customers.

Buying behaviour

Firstly, we evaluate the first segment of the potential customers regarding the buyer characteristics

and buyer decision process.

Segments 1: Meat consumers with ages between 21 and 34 years old.


A number of 11 people from this segment answered our structured interview. The majority of them

are women. Moreover, 6 out of 11 respondents live in Roskilde. Even though most of them eat meat

daily and rest of them at least 1 to 3 times a month, the majority of respondents, would eat at a res-

http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik

http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik


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taurant where no meat or other animal based products are served. The other 6 respondents would

mainly want to eat meat when going out (Appendix 11: 1-5).

Most of the reasons for why respondents would be willing to eat at a plant-based restaurant are for

the experience, Other reasons respondents agreed on in a high number were “I like food with ani-

mal products” and “To eat healthy”. Few respondents agreed on the fact that they would eat at such

restaurant in order to invite their friends and family, or in order to join friends and family (Appen-

dix 11:6). What is more, 86 percent of the respondents consider word of mouth from their friends

and family’s opinion when deciding on which restaurant to go eat at. The second most used source

of information is Facebook, mentioned by 33% of the respondents. Restaurant websites are more

used than Facebook, Instagram and blogs. The least popular sources of information are TripAdvisor

and AOK, being mentioned by 14% of the respondents, and online and printed newspapers, which

are used by 10% of the respondents (Appendix 11:8).

When looking more at their lifestyle, 29 percent of the respondents eat out once per month. The

equal percentage of respondents eat at a restaurant of cafe, 2 to 3 times per month, once per week

and 2 to 3 times per week (Appendix 11:9).

Buying decision process

When evaluating their alternatives of where to eat, food which tastes good is really important for

the half of the respondents. A percentage of 45 of the total respondents from this age group consider

fresh produce as also very important. Homemade food has been ranked as importance level above

seven, on a scale from zero to ten by more than half of the respondents, whereas 27% of these

ranked this criterion as very important. Organic food, aesthetic presentation, good reputation, and

table service were ranked as being important by at least half of the respondents.

In a like manner, we study the second customer segment in regards to their buyer characteristics and

buyer decision process (Appendix 11:10).

Segments 2: Meat consumers with ages between 35 and 60 years old.


All 8 respondents are willing to eat at a restaurant which does not serve animal-based products (Ap-

pendix 11:13), even though they eat food often (Appendix 11:12). And the main reason given was

the experience of eating in such restaurant (Appendix 11:14).


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There is an equal distribution of gender representation among the respondents (Appendix 11:19).

Only three respondents live in Roskilde, and the others are from Copenhagen, Hvalsø and Holbæk.

(Appendix 11:20).

In terms of how often these respondents go out, half of them, namely four eat out once per month.

Three respondents mentioned as a response “2-3 times per month”, and only one eats out weekly.

Buying decision process

When it comes to the participants in the buying decision process, most of the respondents are influ-

enced by friends and family when deciding on a place where to eat. TripAdvisor or other recom-

mendations sites, newspapers, and AOK were also mentioned but by a small number of respond-

ents. Other sources mentioned were Google, or “Place we know” (Appendix 11:15).

When evaluating alternatives in order to determine which restaurant to eat out, respondents consider

some criteria as being important. Tasty food, fresh produce and table service are considered as be-

ing very important by half of the respondents. The second most important criteria are cosy atmos-

phere, homemade food and good reputation. These were ranked as level 9 and 10 as importance on

a scale from 0 to 10. 63 % of the respondents ranked organic food as level 8 of importance. Aesthet-

ic presentation of food, central location, organic drinks, formal dining and different varieties of food

were considered less important by most of the respondents. Whereas homemade drinks are consid-

ered the most unimportant criteria by the majority of the respondents. Customers from this age

group are not influenced to a high degree by a low level of pricing when deciding on a restaurant.

Of the respondents, 39% have ranked low prices as a level of importance from 0 to 3 on a scale

from zero to ten. And other 38% of the respondents see low prices neither as important nor as un-

important, as they have ranked this criterion as 5 (Appendix 11:17). However, price was mentioned

two times as a second most important priority for respondents when evaluating their restaurant al-

ternatives. On the other hand, most of the respondents take into consideration as the first priority

good, quality food (Appendix 11:18). From this, we can conclude that these respondents would be

willing to pay higher prices in return of eating food with a good quality.

After the analysis of the potential customers, we proceed to analyse the value Souls delivers now

and could deliver to the potential customers in Roskilde in the next section Value proposition.


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4.3.2.2. Value proposition

We investigate the value proposition in terms of finding out which values Souls delivers to their

current customers and what value they could deliver to their potential customers in Roskilde and

other close by regions in order for them to be sustainable on the new market Roskilde. Souls deliver

value to their existing customers through products which include the quality and aesthetics presen-

tation. Furthermore, they deliver value through service, convenience, vegan community, atmos-

phere, and affordable prices.

Value proposition in Copenhagen

In Souls, it is possible to buy homemade, organic food and drinks. The food products that can be

bought are categorised into the different meals you get during the day, breakfast, brunch, lunch,

dinner and dessert. The breakfast Souls offers is three types of meals, two types of brunch, lunch,

where they sell three types of salad and three types of sandwiches. During dinner time, it is possible

to buy three types of burgers, two types of salad and one type of pizza. Lastly, the dessert can either

be cake or pancakes. It is possible to pay for add on’s. The drinks they sell are categories as organic

juices which includes two types, smoothies which also include two types, three types of lemonade,

fourteen types of hot drinks even though Souls is a vegan restaurant, they still serve cow milk but

only if the customer asks for it, it is not included on the menu (Appendix 2: 65+67). Two types of

beer and lastly nine types of wines (Soulscph.dk). All of these products both in the food and drinks

category which is included on the menu are entirely vegan (Appendix 2: 53). Souls mainly serves

cold food, except for warm dinner meals, and the portions of the food are large according to Souls

(Appendix 2: 176+206). The product range of the food is wide which means they have different

product groups but in each product group, the selection is flat because there are few product varie-

ties in each product group. The product range of the drinks is mainly the same as the product range

of the food despite two product groups, which is hot drinks and wines which is more deep in the

varieties (Andersen: 409 - 410).

The quality of the food, according to Souls and the existing customers, is high (Appendix 2: 228;

Appendix 3: 5). They put an effort into finding local ingredients, and ensure the products are plant

based, clean and fresh so their level of quality in food and drinks is possible (Appendix 2: 79+145).

The food is entirely homemade and only includes organic ingredients (Appendix 2: 24). The meals

are very tasty according to the current customers, they rate it highest between 8-10 on the scale,

(Appendix 3: 5) which also portrays the quality of the ingredients used in the different products.


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The aesthetics presentation of the food is arranged as picture perfect food and customers take part of

it by taking pictures and showing it on the social media (Appendix 2: 135). Souls and the existing

customers both express the aesthetic presentation of the food has high importance (Appendix 2;

228: Appendix 3; 5). The food is arranged with features such as the restaurant name written in the

coffee and decorations which are meant to catch the eye and make it more attractive and inviting to

eat (see pictures below). According to Souls owners, the meals are meant to look innovative, crea-

tive, healthy and homemade, all features Souls aim to reach the customers’ attention with (Appen-

dix 16: 3).

Pictures made by the existing customers on Instagram

In Souls restaurant you can experience a place with a unique interior design. The place has wooden

tables and classy chairs; the walls have pictures frames with sticks created to portray a tree. The

whole interior is made of natural materials even the “SOULS” sign is made of a moss-like material,

which creates an authentic experience of going to a “green” restaurant in terms of healthy and or-

ganic (Appendix 2: 85). Outside of Souls, they have painted different words on the wall of what

they are offering in the restaurant, this helps the customers to find out from the outside if the restau-

rant offers something they are interested in before even entering the restaurant. When ordering at

Souls, the customers go to a salad bar counter where they can choose the ingredients they want in

their food primarily the salads. There are large menu signs hanging on the wall behind the salad bar

counter for a better overview of what the customers can order, so they do not have to search for it in

a smaller menu car (see pictures below). The customers can experience an international, informal

and laid back environment in the restaurant according to Souls owners (Appendix 2: 11, 79, 86).

Moreover, there is a cosy atmosphere which is created by pillows, blankets and “laid back” envi-

ronment in Souls, where the customers can be healthy and contribute to change (Soulscph.dk; Ap-

pendix 2: 85). Souls aims to have a chilled and cool environment in order for the customers to feel

relaxed and be themselves just like in a hangout place. (Appendix 2: 11; Soulscph.dk)


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Pictures of Souls taken by existing customers

In the restaurant Souls, the customers can receive both self-service and table service. The customers

use self-service when ordering the food, then they can either take the food on the go or sit at a table

and receive additional service when the waiter/waitress comes with the food and makes sure every-

thing is in order at the tables (Appendix 2: 184). The service level at Souls is high in a casual level,

according to both the owners of Souls and the existing customers (Appendix 2: 228; Appendix 3:

5). It is important for the owners at Souls that the staff catch up with the regulars and greet new-

comers with a smile and friendly attitude. The staff is very friendly and must be outgoing to connect

with the customers in order for them to feel welcomed (Appendix 2: 79+184).

Souls is placed at Østerbro which is convenient for the local customers. It is located close to public

transportation options and the main roads. It is very convenient for the customers when they just

want to get a prepared and delicious meal on the go or at the restaurant compared to preparing food

at home (Appendix 3: 5; Appendix 2: 228).

The prices, according to Souls and the current customers, are affordable (Appendix 2: 24+228; Ap-

pendix 3: 5) which means they might get a quality product for a reasonable price in comparison

with the competitors (Appendix 2: 22+29). At Souls, one would get value for money when buying

the food, which has a good quality and comes as a large portion (Appendix 2: 206; Appendix 3: 5).

Vegan community

When eating out at Souls, non-vegans might become aspired to try out vegan lifestyle, even if on a

temporary basis. By becoming vegan, one might be compelled by proclaimed appeal of health bene-

fits or find a longing social connectivity in particular circles where individual will be continually

endorsed by growing vegan community and very likely, develop a need to support personally dif-

ferent associated issues which veganism movement finds demanding attention.

Primary vegan community’s concern is with animal welfare and a particular view that we, as a hu-

man race, are extinguishing our own resources needlessly by reproducing animals we intend later to


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kill. It is suggested that we don’t need to slaughter animals for sustenance, clothing or shelter

(PETA, 2016). It is also viewed, especially strongly among vegan adherents, that once a person

chooses a particular lifestyle, he or she is also passionately cultivating compassion. Moreover, it is

asserted that person who is compassionate towards all animals will be naturally inclined to feel the

same towards humans, which in return, will result in excision of needless international conflicts,

wars and famine. That is if idealistically all individuals would strive to improve their compassion in

such way (Lion, 2015).

According to Nordqvist, the customer can also be compelled by possible health benefits of a vegan

diet, as losing weight or even reversing type 2 diabetes (Nordqvist, 2015). Individuals, that are con-

cerned with their health and food they put into their bodies, might feel the desire to experiment with

a vegan lifestyle after visiting Souls.

There is also an issue, that may drag Souls customers’ attention and consideration, which is preva-

lent not only among vegan adherents but have reached a more global consensus, namely climate

change. Climate change discourse milestone is considered The Paris Agreement which enforces all

nations to keep a global temperature rise in this century 2 degrees Celsius and preferably push be-

low 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In this meeting, agricultural farming was em-

phasized as one of the main drivers towards unsustainable increases in temperature worldwide (un-

fccc, 2016). Therefore, it is not only vegetarian subgroups that emphasise the magnitude of the

problem anymore but apparent, prevailed global understanding towards an issue. Thus one could be

compelled by joining veganism to “save the planet”. By abstaining from meat products newly-

become vegan might feel an immense personal contribution towards a bigger thing than themselves.

Value proposition in Roskilde

In order for Souls to be sustainable in Roskilde, they might have to continuously focus on the quali-

ty of the product. According to the potential customers’ food should be organic, healthy and good

quality, as the potential customers rate those as being the most important factors with an average

rate of 9,4 (Appendix 4: 5). In addition, they might have to maintain a high service level and have a

constant table service because that is something the potential customers see as being valuable for

them when going out to eat, the potential customers rated it between 6-10 on the importance scale

(Appendix 4: 5).

The potential customers in Roskilde do not necessarily need the price to be cheap in order for them

to visit the place, as long as they get value for the money. It is important for the potential customers

that the atmosphere in the restaurant they visit is cozy, 90 % rated it as being important (Appendix

4: 5).


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Souls could focus more on the experience for the potential customers when eating at the restaurant

rather than the vegan aspects, however the vegan aspects will still be there even though they might

have to change their focus when entering the Roskilde market based on the fact that 82,9 % of the

potential customers would try a vegan restaurant in terms of the experience even though they are

meat consumers (Appendix 4: 1 from “Vegan restaurants”).

They have to maintain more or less the same values they already have but with emphasis on the ex-

perience and organic, healthy and good quality based on the fact that most of the potential custom-

ers in Roskilde and surrounding regions are meat consumers.

4.3.2.3. Channels

We will in the block channels, investigate how Souls are currently reaching their customers, moreo-

ver, how they started to create awareness about their restaurant and what they have done throughout

the time they have been opened in order to reach the existing customers. Lastly, we will investigate

in which way will be most suitable for Souls to reach the potential customers when entering the

market in Roskilde.

Channels in Copenhagen

Souls is reaching their current customers through various channels such as personal sales, online

marketing, PR and their website. Some of the strategies used were initially in the start-up phase of

the restaurant. They started to create awareness to the customers through a launching party where

the customers were offered free drinks and samples of the food. They promoted the launching of the

restaurant by using flyers, the neighbourhood and others got aware of the restaurant opening (Ap-

pendix 16: 1). In the beginning, Souls hired the PR agency “Sweeksneakstudio” which created an

article in the newspaper of the restaurant opening which led to an increase in the awareness. Addi-

tionally, the PR agency created the look of Souls current Facebook and Instagram page (Appendix

2: 119+123).

Moreover, they hired two different people to make their website and the professional pictures for

the website and social media. Lastly, they used food bloggers and AOK to create awareness for po-

tential customers (Appendix 16: 2; Appendix 2: 119+123+124).

According to the survey, we made among the current customers 28,9 % found first out about Souls

through friends and family. The experience the customers had when visiting the Souls restaurant

created word of mouth among friends and family, it is an important strategy for Souls to use. For

Souls to create a good experience in their restaurant which can lead to potential customers trying the

restaurant (Appendix 2: 98+101+126; Appendix 16: 1+2).


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Further, the network of Souls also had a great importance when creating awareness of the restaurant

and the different promotions, they helped Souls through Facebook by word of mouth and sharing

their posts about the opening of Souls, this created awareness around in the different people’s net-

work (Appendix 16: 1).

Souls also uses personal sales in terms of selling directly face to face with the customers in their

restaurant at Østerbro and by selling indirectly through take-away and catering orders by phone.

Through this channel, it also has an impact on the way they promote themselves because it creates

word of mouth and the reputation of the restaurant (Appendix 2: 33).

The promotion strategies Souls themselves are currently using, are their website, Instagram, Face-

book and google AdWords, this is strategies which can be time-consuming for Souls because they

have to update it and post information on the social media pages in order for the current customers

continuously are updated on the events Souls is making. The “free” promotion, which is the promo-

tion Souls do not have control over, are received from the customers who make reviews on blogs,

TripAdvisor and HappyCow (Appendix 2: 102+106+107+109+115).

Channels in Roskilde

The target groups in Roskilde and other regions are divided into two groups: 21-34 and 35-60, who

are non-vegans and don’t have smaller children. In terms of reaching the target groups, Souls could

use different strategies according to the different age ranges. In both segments, they could reach and

create awareness to potential customers in Roskilde, mainly through word of mouth. According to

the results of the structured interview, 78,6 % of the respondents ask their friends and families opin-

ions when deciding on a restaurant to eat at. (Appendix 4: 4). Therefore, we could assume it is im-

portant that Souls’ potential customers receive a good experience in Souls.

In the 21-34 segment the other strategy they could use, are some of the current promotion strategies

they are already using such as their website, blogs and Facebook based on that the target group find

news about eating places through those channels (Appendix 4: 4).

In the 35-60 segment the customers might mainly use google after word of mouth as a way of

searching for information of restaurants to visit, therefore Souls could continuously use google

AdWords (Appendix 4: 4).

Lastly, customers from both segments could search for information about restaurants through

TripAdvisor and AOK which would be ideal for Souls to also use in order to reach the 2 segments

(Appendix 4: 4).


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When entering a market like Roskilde and surrounding regions, the start-up promotion would be to

create awareness. This could be done through an article made about the company and about Souls

opening in the local newspaper. In addition, Souls might create awareness through the newspaper

by making events in the local area, which would be written about in the local newspaper (Appendix

4: 4).

Having listed the channels in both Copenhagen and Roskilde, next, we study the relationships they

have maintained with their customers and the relationships they could create with the potential cus-

tomers in Roskilde.

4.3.2.4. Customer relationship

In regards to the customer relationship, we will look into which kind of relationship Souls currently

have established with their customers. Furthermore, we will look into how they have maintained

this kind of relationship and what kind of relationship they might create and maintain with the po-

tential customers in Roskilde in regards to being sustainable.

Customer relationship in Copenhagen

Souls has established a close and friendly relationship with the regulars in the restaurant according

to the way Souls wants the staff to treat and interact with the customers (Appendix 2: 81). It is not

costly for Souls to maintain the relationship they have built with the regulars because it is some-

thing they have incorporated as a value for the customers (Appendix 2: 33+79).

They have maintained their customer relationship throughout the social media such as in the vegan

community on Instagram (Appendix 2: 115).

One example of how Souls have maintained the relationship with the existing customers is that, at

Souls, it is possible for the customers to co-create their meals, such as the salads, with the staff. The

customers choose what they want in their salad and the waiter/waitress will make it with the pre-

ferred ingredients. Another way of how Souls maintains the relationship with the current customers

is that the staff assist in maintaining the relationship with the customers by chatting up with them

and greeting them in a friendly way.

In the interview with the owners of Souls, they stated “We have to be very picky when choosing our

staff.”. Based on that, it is important for the owners to Souls that the staff’s character is outgoing,

chatty and contain some of the Australian values when it comes to interacting with people (Appen-

dix 2: 81). Furthermore, the staff is dressed in an informal and everyday way in order to be coherent

with the values of the atmosphere as being cozy, yourself and laid back in the restaurant. The staff

should represent those values of the restaurant and the owners’ values of how the staff should inter-


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act, and not the typical “hippie style” of being slovenly (Appendix 2: 11+79+81). Lastly, on the

Souls website they state: “We love all our friends that visit us and we always love to hear what you

thought of your experience, if there is anything that we are missing, ways we can grow”, this tells us

that Souls would adjust the products/price based on the customer feedback if it seems logical, which

shows the customers that Souls is listening to them and therefore the relationship is maintained

among them. (Appendix 2: 24+30; Soulscph.dk)

Customer relationship in Roskilde

In order for Souls to be sustainable in Roskilde, they could establish a close relationship with the

potential customers by creating a special type of experience. For our structured interview, 70,6 % of

the potential customers responded that they would go to a vegan restaurant based on the experience

of it, even though they were meat consumers (Appendix 4: 1 from “Vegan restaurants”).

By establishing a close relationship, they could have the chance to not become a one-time experi-

ence but instead a preferred place to go when going out to eat in Roskilde. It is possible to establish

a close relationship with the potential customers by chatting up with them each time they visit the

restaurant. This type of strategy could also be beneficial in terms of word of mouth, which is an im-

portant way to reach the customers, as the customers would be suggesting the experience they had

in Souls to friends and family and 78,6 % of the potential customers mention that they would most-

ly likely try it based on suggestions from friends and family. (Appendix 4: 4).

In the next section, we delve into the revenue streams.

4.3.2.5. Revenue streams

The revenue streams generated by the Souls restaurant are represented by their sale of breakfast,

brunch, lunch and dinner items, as well as drinks and desserts offered on their menu. These revenue

streams are categorized as Transaction Based, as they are earned by single transaction from a cus-

tomer (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2009:30).

In order to determine whether or not there are growth opportunities for Souls in Roskilde, we inves-

tigate if there are enough potential customers, who might ensure continuous revenues and subse-

quently the profitability of the restaurant.

As discussed in the previous chapter of Customer Segmentation, when opening a new Souls restau-

rant in a location in Roskilde we define an appropriate age group and expand the geographical area


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of the potential customer segments, subsequently we consider the individuals residing in the Ros-

kilde, Holbæk and Lejre areas. The total amount of individuals considered as potential consumers is

104.286 (Appendix 17:1).

Considering the seating capacity and table turnover at the restaurant's current location on Østerbro

(Appendix 2:243,245) we have calculated the ideal and maximum capacity of visitors on daily,

weekly and monthly basis. Seeing as the restaurant has 50 seats inside and 100 seats outside, we

outline the warm seasons as the period of maximum seating capacity as most of the seating can be

found outside.

We have concluded that if the current restaurant is full every day in the warm seasons

(Spring/Summer) during breakfast, lunch and dinnertime and the table turnover happens twice dur-

ing each meal on the weekends and during evenings on weekdays, the ideal number of customers

visiting Souls per month is 19.200 (Appendix 17:2). When we consider the Autumn/Winter season,

during which we assume the 100 outside seats will not be used – the maximum number of visitors

per month would be 6400, subsequently the number of customers decreases by 67% in the Au-

tumn/Winter season if compared to the Spring/Summer season.

Considering both seasons, we estimate that the total amount of customers Souls should have per

year, in order to utilize their restaurant to its full capacity is 153.600 people (Appendix 17:2).

When we put this number in relation to the number of potential customers in Roskilde and sur-

rounding cities Holbæk and Lejre, which totals to the amount 104.286 (Appendix 17:1), we can es-

timate that having the new restaurant in Roskilde identical to the one on Østerbro is not realistic. It

can be assessed as not realistic, as the sum of the estimated restaurants’ yearly full capacity exceeds

the total number of individuals living in the area.

It will therefore be advisable for Souls to adjust to the surrounding area by choosing a restaurant

location with a smaller capacity than the one they run on Østerbro in Copenhagen.

Next, we determine the key resources and key activities which might be considered in order to open

a new restaurant in Roskilde.

4.3.2.6. Key resources

Physical resources entail physical assets that are critical for business. To open a vegan restaurant in

Roskilde, it would be required to obtain building which is large enough to fit a kitchen and suffi-

cient space for customers to sit indoors and preferably outdoors.


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Souls owners’ place critical importance on characteristics of staff that they employ and, therefore,

are very picky towards their choices. Current Souls’ business model in Copenhagen is run with fif-

teen employees, so it can be estimated that for Souls to be feasible in Roskilde - eight to ten em-

ployees would be required, at least in first stages of business (Appendix 2; 236). This estimate is

supplemented by the analysis of Souls present seating capacity and its turnover rate on the busiest

times of the week, which is discussed in detail in the above chapter of Revenue Streams.

It is assumed that the potential Souls restaurant in Roskilde would not require the same seating and

projected turnarounds, seeing as the population of Roskilde and the surrounding area is significantly

smaller than Copenhagen’s populous.

The owners want customers to feel welcomed and relaxed at Souls. “The other side of it is that it is

about us as well, it’s not only about the food, it’s about the cool atmosphere and everyone in here

has to be smiling and say hello, be themselves”. (Appendix 2; 79) It is demanded that employees are

socially accommodating towards customers, smiling and just be themselves in a way that supports

values of Souls.

Another important human element of key resources is Souls’ chef with a lot of experience in mak-

ing vegan food “We knew the chef from previous job - Sticks’n’sushi” (Appendix 2; 234). Particular

chef developed a unique menu that boosted Souls positioning in the marketplace and, therefore,

could be considered very crucial during start-up of a restaurant in Roskilde.

Financial resources are important to make sure the business will not suddenly run out of cash need-

ed by its budget or have any other financially related issues. Souls was started with owners’ own

savings, which required them to save for a long time and work many hours at Souls premises them-

selves (Appendix 2; 187).

The most significant sources of costs for Souls currently are labour, food, electricity and drinks,

with labour being the biggest expenditure (Appendix 2; 189). Another type of costly contingencies,

that are mostly unexpected in nature, are operational malfunctions and recruitment delays: “General

breakdowns of machinery e.g. Fridges. Finding kitchen staff. Room temperature in the summer.”

(Appendix 2; 240). Therefore, it must be ensured that there is a financial safety-net available in in-

stances of operational setbacks.

In more general sense, in order to finance launch of business in Roskilde and day-to-day operations,

it could be advised to take a loan and streamline their finances accordingly. (Appendix 2; 192)

Thus, it might be imperative for Souls to get a good line of credit from a bank.


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4.3.2.7. Key Activities

The most important activity for Souls to deliver value and retain revenue is to cook and serve high-

quality homemade vegan food consistently (Appendix 2; 24). Cooking burgers and dishes

alike is undertaken by chefs, and preparation of drinks and desserts is prepared by waiters.

After creating the business model canvas for Souls’ new restaurant in Roskilde, we delve into the

analysis of competitors which Souls might compete with, considering they decide to expand to

Roskilde. Correspondingly to the Copenhagen part of the analysis, we use the strategy canvas to

perform the competitors’ analysis. Before the competitors’ analysis, we state which restaurants

might be considered competitors to Souls and the reasons behind our selection in the section Com-

petitive rivalry.

4.3.3. Competitors

4.3.3.1. Competitive rivalry

To begin with, various eateries in Roskilde will be briefly described together with reasons why we

are considering them as Souls potential competitors. All these competitors were found as a recom-

mendation of where vegan people eat or should go and eat, on the Facebook group “Veganere i

Roskilde”.

Burgerkilden restaurant sells burgers made with fresh products. On their menu, there is a vegetarian

burger (Burgerkilden, 2016) which can be prepared as a vegan one on customer’s requests (Appen-

dix 6, 3).

Cafe Satchmo serves vegetarian sandwiches which can be also served as a vegan, but at a higher

price (Appendix 6, 7).

Falafel-House (Shawarma-House) serves some homemade vegan products such as “falafel, Baba

Ganoush and hummus” (Appendix 6, 5). This is a restaurant and takeaway focused on middle east-

ern cuisine, more specific Lebanese. Even though Falafel-House (Shawarma-House) had a really

good recommendation on the vegan Facebook group “Veganere i Roskilde, we will not take it into

consideration, as we consider it bigger competitor with Souls for the lunch but not during the dinner

service.


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There are a couple of restaurants in Roskilde offering organic food in Roskilde. One of them is

INSP!Mad (Appendix 6). This restaurant is offering homemade food, and some of the products used

are fresh (insp.dk), which makes the restaurant attractive for the target group of healthy people.

INSP!Mad has no vegan options, but vegan options can be served for big groups (Appendix 6, 9).

Vegan people in Roskilde are willing to go there in a big group (Appendix 6, 9). Moreover, mem-

bers of the vegan community “Veganere i Roskilde” are encouraged to go out and socialise together

at different events (Appendix 6). As a result, we consider INSP!Mad a potential competitor of

Souls.

Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen is another place where organic food is served (Café Fjordglimt n.d.).

From the Facebook recommendation, we know that this cafe offers a vegan burger with sides, such

as potatoes and pesto (Appendix 6, 2).

WabiWabi is a restaurant recommended to vegans for its vegan sushi, but also for the restaurant’s

“All you can eat” offer (Appendix 6, 1.). According to the results of the structured interview, a per-

centage of 54.8 of respondents prefer Asian cuisine (Appendix 4, q. 3).

The abovementioned competitors will be analysed using the strategy canvas, alike the analysis of

the competitors in Copenhagen.

4.3.3.2. Competitor’s analysis

The competitors’ analysis is performed in order to illustrate the position Souls might have in com-

parison to the competitors in Roskilde.

We further compare Souls with three of its competitors, namely INSP!Mad, Café Fjordglimt ved

Vigen and Wabi Wabi. The comparison will be done using the Strategy canvas, on a scale from 0 to

10. The criteria used for the strategy canvas will be:

Taste of meals, Variety of menu, Cosy atmosphere, Formal dining, Price, Variety of drinks, Quality

of meals, Location, Service, Aesthetic presentation of meals and marketing strategy.


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The way we define the rankings, and the description of Soul’s performance will be exactly as for

the previous Strategy Canvas which is part of chapter 4.2.4. Competitors. However, Souls is not

taken into consideration when comparing the other restaurants in terms of their location. Another

exception lies with the way we formulated the ranking for Variety of drinks. More specific, the low-

est level, 0, is represented by restaurants which offer no homemade, organic drinks, whereas the

highest level of the scale, 10, is represented by restaurants offering 30 homemade, organic drinks.

The reason is that we have not asked respondents in Roskilde about how important a large variety

of drinks is for them, but about homemade drinks and organic drinks.

Taste of meals

We decided to not take into consideration this factor as it is very subjective and we do not want to

bias our results. Consequently, we will not rate any of the restaurants regarding the taste of their

meals.

Variety of menu offer

1. INSP!Mad has a low level in terms of variety of dishes served in its canteen. The basis of this

ranking is the fact that there is no information regarding the number of dishes served (insp.dk). We

will not take into consideration their season menu for the comparison with Souls and other competi-

tors.

2. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen has a low to medium level. This café’s menu is divided into sand-

wiches, house’s dishes or “Fjordglimt retter”, a brunch set menu and children’s menu, having a total

of thirteen items (cafefjordglimt.dk).

3. WabiWabi has a high level of menu variety. WabiWabi offers to its customers six types of lunch

menu, a large variety of entrees, sushi, nigiri, sashimi, three types of salads, three types of chil-

dren’s’ menu, two types of veggie menus, eight types of sides and desserts (wabiwabi.dk).

Cosy atmosphere

1. INSP!Mad ranks low, as its canteen is a big, simple room, with a couple of rows of tables with

simple wooden chairs. According to the pictures of the canteen posted on INSP!Mad’s Facebook

page, there an only few decorations in the canteen, which we suppose there are different for various


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events. There can be festive flags hanging from the ceiling, or colourful candles and flowers on the

tables (www.facebook.com/INSPMad).

2. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen ranks low to medium on cosy atmosphere. As we can see from this

café’s website, the interior is very simple. All the walls are bright, there are simple, black lamps

hanging from the ceiling, simple wooden tables and chairs. Some of the wall are made of bright

brick, and others have white brick decorations on. Inside the café there is also a fireplace, and some

interior plants (cafefjordglimt). All in all, it has a simple, but more elegant interior style than

INSP!Mad.

3. WabiWabi ranks medium on this criterion. The restaurant is animated by interior plants, and dec-

orations such as vases with flowers on the tables, and mirrors. Moreover, not all the walls are white

(facebook.com/wabiwabiroskilde).

Formal dining

All the restaurants have a low level of formality, but INSP!Mad is the most informal.

1.INSP!Mad: As the food is being served in a canteen, the atmosphere is informal.

2. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen: The café is described on its website as “Roskilde’s cosiest café with

open fireplace, wooden wall and a service that is worth to travel far.” (cafefjordglimt.dk).

3. Wabi Wabi: The restaurant is considered by its owner(s) as being a cozy place with very friendly

employees. “With a lively look out to the pedestrian street and the bustling kitchen at the front, and

cozy and beautiful view in the back of the restaurant - and the nicest team of dedicated Wabi Wabi

employees, you are assured of a good experience and not least the opportunity to taste the most de-

licious sushi in miles around.” (wabiwabi.dk).

Price

1.INSP!Mad: offers a low price range. The price for the lunch is 50 Dkk and 350 Dkk for a “10-

visits card” (10-turs-kort) . The price for a portion when eating at the canteen is 75 Dkk, and mem-

bers of INSP! Association can eat at a discounted price (insp.dk).

2.Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen: offers a low to medium price range. Average price for a vegetarian

sandwich is 80 Dkk. Depending on whether or not sides are ordered, a sandwich might cost between

69 Dkk and 104 Dkk. And the average price for house’ specialities is 72 Dkk. Bruch is served at a

price of 130 Dkk.


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3.WabiWabi: offers a wide variety of prices, on a low to medium level. However, we will take in

consideration the price range for products which can also be bought by vegans. As a result, average

price for the vegetarian menu is 134 Dkk. Moreover, a lunch can be bought at the price of 69 Dkk

all days between 11-15:00. Another promotion at Wabi Wabi is that for 199 Dkk, customers can eat

as much sushi and Japanese specialities as they can.

Variety of drinks

1. Souls ranks on a medium to high level of organic and homemade drinks. Customers can choose

between six categories of drinks: juices, smoothies, lemonades which are homemade, organic hot

drinks, organic beer and both organic and non-organic wine. Souls offers a total of four homemade

drinks and nineteen organic drinks (soulscph.dk).

2. INSP!Mad: There is no information about variety of drinks offered on INSP!Mad’ website.

3. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen ranks close to a medium level. The cafe offers to its customers a va-

riety of thirty-six drinks which can be categorised as juices, different types of water among which

there are organic mineral, organic juices, beers, organic wines and hot drinks. In total, there are thir-

teen organic drinks.

4. WabiWabi: There is no information about variety of drinks offered on WabiWabi’ website.

Quality of meals

1. INSP!Mad: “Everyone is welcome, the food is made and served by volunteers as cheap as a nour-

ishing 90-100 percent organic meal.” All products are organic and the food is homemade.

2. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen: “We give priority to ecology and quality high - and we are very fo-

cused on that compose our menus from the best ingredients, with care for animals and the environ-

ment.” Not everything on their menu is organic. Their brunch is full organic. At this cafe, pesto, aio-

li and pickled red onions are homemade.

3. WabiWabi: “We always focus on using the best ingredients and create sushi that not only tastes

great but is of aesthetic quality - while we dare to put our own Wabi Wabi twist on so you can get a

unique taste experience”. According to their website, products offered at Wabi Wabi are fresh, but

there is nothing mentioned about them being organic.


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Service

1. INSP!Mad: There is no table service in the canteen of INSP!Mad. Customers need to stay in

queue to take their food and or drinks and pay for them. Moreover, after they have eaten, they have

to take their plates and cutlery and put them away themselves.

2. Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen: They have table service, as according to their website, at cafe

Fjordglimt one gets “a service that is worth to travel far to”.

3. WabiWabi: Customers are offered table service.

Location

The ranking for this criteria is as follows. The lowest ranking is given to the competitors which are

located at a distance above five kilometres away from Central station in Roskilde. Whereas the

highest ranking will be represented by competitors located at half a kilometre from the Central sta-

tion.

1.INSP!Mad is located on Køgevej 4-6, 700 metres away from the Central Station.

2.Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen is located on Baunehøjvej 9 at approximately 4,7 km from the Central

Station.

3.WabiWabi is located on Algade 26, 350 meters away from the Central Station.

4. Souls could be located on Algade, as by having a central location it might attract both locals and

tourists.

Aesthetic presentation of meals online and on social media

1.INSP!Mad has an website, a Facebook and Instagram accounts. On its website, we could only

found one picture of food one can eat at Insp!Mad. However, it was a good quality picture, with

nice presentation of the food (insp.dk). Moreover, on its Instagram account there is one picture rep-

resenting food served at Insp!Mad, and on their Facebook profiles there are few pictures of the

food. In the same time, pictures have a low quality, as they are mobile uploads (face-

book.com/INSPMad). From this we can conclude that Insp!Mad is not focusing its marketing to-

wards presenting its food in an appealing way. As a result, Insp!Mad ranks on a low level.

2.Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen has an website, Facebook and Instagram accounts. There is only one

picture showing solely food on the café’s website, and a few pictures in which people are eat-

ing.(cafefjordglimt.dk). On its Facebook page, there are five pictures of food, and deserts (face-

http://insp.dk/

http://www.cafefjordglimt.dk/


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book.com/pg/cafefjordglimt/). As for the café’s Instagram page, the number of pictures of food is a

bit lower, namely four, (instagram.com/cafefjordglimt/), but they have a higher aesthetic presenta-

tion than the other photos. All taken into consideration, Café Fjordglimt ved Vigen ranks on a high

level.

3.WabiWabi has a website, Facebook and Instagram accounts. There are good quality pictures of

the food present on their website, but also on their Facebook (facebook.com/pg/wabiwabiroskilde)

and Instagram pages(instagram.com/wabiwabidk/). As WabiWabi is focused on marketing its menu

items through professional pictures, where the food is nicely presented, it ranks high on this criteria.

Total: Souls:54 /I.!M.:23 / C.F.: 40/ W.W:52 /

Implementing the four action framework

All in all, Souls is performing better than its competitors on most of the criteria. It is outperformed

by restaurant WabiWabi when it comes to the variety of menu and service. In the same time, Souls

has lower prices than WabiWabi for a better quality of the food. Insp!Mad has cheaper prices than

Souls for the same level of food quality. However, one of Insp!Mad’s weakness is the absence of

table service, which is an important criteria for Souls potential customers in Roskilde.

Compared to the potential competitors, Souls would raise the value curve of cosy atmosphere by

incorporating an international and laid back vibe in oppose to the more traditional restaurants and

cafés. Souls could reduce the general restaurant value curve of service by implementing self-

service. Compared to the competitors and other eateries in the Roskilde restaurant market, Souls


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might eliminate serving meat and other animal-derived products, and additionally, they could create

a value of only serving plant-based food.

Similarly to the Copenhagen part of the analysis, after the competitors’ analysis, we proceed to

study the substitutes which might have an influence on the Souls restaurant in Roskilde.

4.3.4. Substitutes

As we mentioned in the section 4.2.5. Substitutes regarding the situation in Copenhagen, substitutes

can be considered a momentous threat to the Souls restaurant. Therefore, we investigate which sub-

stitutes Souls might gain, on the assumption they expand to Roskilde.

When we consider meat-eating consumers, it can be stated that there is a large amount of substitutes

to the goods Souls’ is offering, such as products from the local bakeries, cafes and restaurants.

There are over 116 eateries (tripadvisor.com) in the city Roskilde that customers can choose from;

these establishments vary from cafés to fine dining restaurants. Furthermore, consumers are also

able to buy the ingredients they want at the supermarket and cook their food at home.

Moreover, in the recent years, it has become increasingly common for supermarkets and kiosks, for

instance 7 Eleven, to carry ready-to-eat packed meals, such as salads, wraps and sandwiches, which

include both meat, vegetarian and vegan options (7-eleven.dk). There are 43 supermarkets and 24

kiosks in Roskilde (degulesider.dk).

Finally, consumers also have the possibility to order their food online from the various takeaway

websites, such as just-eat.dk, roomservice.dk, eatonline.dk or hungry.dk. It can be said that the pos-

sibility of ordering the meals online, expands the geographical area from Roskilde to other sur-

rounding zones, as there might be takeaway restaurants located outside Roskilde, which deliver

meals to customers living in Roskilde.

When we consider strictly vegan consumers, the number of substitutes decreases, as there no fully

vegan restaurants in Roskilde today and only a few places offering vegan or vegetarian options on

their existing menu (see Appendix 5), nonetheless the consumer still has the option to request the

café/restaurant to prepare a special order meal. Further, the vegan consumers also have the above-

discussed options of cooking at home, buying ready-to-eat meals at the kiosks or supermarkets and

ordering food online.


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Seeing as Roskilde, in comparison to the capital, is a smaller city located in the provincial area,

consequently the number of the substitutes satisfying the need of experience is also lower than in

Copenhagen. These include 10 museums (VisitRoskilde) and 11 yearly festivals such as for exam-

ple: Roskilde festival, RO:KOST Food Festival and Schubert festival "Schubertiade" (VisitRoskil-

de).

Customers can easily transfer from the Souls’ restaurant to substitutes, which means low switching

costs. In addition, the available substitutes are competitive in terms of taste, cost, quality and con-

sumer satisfaction. In this element of the Five Forces analysis which considers the vegan restaurant

industry in Roskilde, it can be stated that the substitutes can be considered as a significant issue;

nonetheless, the issue can be addressed through for example product quality improvement and de-

veloping strategies that would increase Souls’ customer loyalty.

To conclude, in Souls’ case, the following external factors make the threat of substitution a strong

force: High substitute availability, low switching costs, high performance-to-cost ratio.

4.3.5. Sub-conclusion

Summing up, the possible expansion of Souls would target two segments, namely people from two

age groups. These are mainly represented by people eating meat who are interested in experiencing

vegan food, and are influenced by their friends and families. The segments are made of the younger

customers from the age of 21-34 and the older segment from 35-60 years, but excluding families

with children under the age of 12.

For the possible expansion of Souls, we would emphasise the values of a cozy, trendy atmosphere

with a welcoming and outgoing staff. Those values could increase the experience for the potential

customers visiting Souls Roskilde which might be the most beneficial to focus on when entering the

Roskilde market based on the assumable number of meat consumers. In addition, there could also

be focus on some more of the current values such as the product which includes quality, the aesthet-

ic presentation and price. By focusing on the overall experience, Souls could gain and maintain a

close relationship with the potential customers.

We would reach the customer segment through channels of social media such as Facebook and In-

stagram to create word of mouth. Furthermore, we would focus on the interactions in the local areas

which could increase the awareness of the new restaurant of Souls by the local newspaper.


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On the one hand, in the possible restaurant in Roskilde the revenue streams could come more fre-

quent by the younger customer segment, who goes out more often, but seemingly makes less costly

purchases. On the other hand, the older customer segment would visit the restaurant with a lower

frequency, but possibly place more expensive and profit giving orders.

When considering the Copenhagen Souls restaurant's full seating capacity and its daily table turno-

ver we have estimated that it would be advisable for the new location in Roskilde to be adjusted in

size in order to match the amount of potential customer groups in the surrounding areas.

Since there are no fully vegan restaurants in Roskilde, this is a new and uncontested market space

which Souls have the opportunity of entering. However, there are some restaurants and eateries in

Roskilde serving organic, homemade, and healthy food. These restaurants are seen as competitors to

Souls’ possible expansion, and on price, health, and quality Souls are similar to the restaurants, but

Souls differs from their competition on their service concept and by being a fully vegan restaurant

with an international vibe. This results in a moderate to low market competition.

In the following discussion, we discuss and evaluate the market potential in Roskilde and which

strategies would be most suitable for strengthening Souls position in Denmark.

5. Discussion

The aim of this project is to discuss how Souls can strengthen their position in the Danish market.

There are several issues connected to this aim; a stronger position does not necessarily equal more

customers, business expansion, or more products. Thus, we define a strong position in terms of

popularity and uniqueness in relation to competitors both on the target markets’ product and on

budget level. As an example, the Danish restaurant noma is a world known and currently ranked as

the fifth best restaurant in the world (visitdenmark.dk; theworlds50best.com).

When looking at the strategy canvas of Souls’ position in Copenhagen, Souls serves a lot of the

same levels of the features as the restaurant within their competitive industry.

Souls’ current image is trendy, urban and cool, focusing just as much on the atmosphere and identi-

ty as the food being vegan. Souls’ image is essentially made up of two factors: doing the right thing

protecting the environment, animals; eating healthy and their advertised unique international laid

back atmosphere.


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5.1 Expansion in Denmark

In this project, we study whether or not there are possibilities on the provincial areas in Denmark,

and we focus on the Roskilde consumer market. Our results indicate that Roskilde is an uncontested

market with opportunities for Souls to grow their business.

Expanding Souls to Roskilde could benefit their mission in regards to animal welfare and environ-

mental protection. An increasing awareness about veganism throughout Denmark could also in-

crease Souls’ value and credibility in the vegan communities, as a business having it as a part of

their mission to spread the vegan lifestyle.

In fact, Souls could benefit being perceived as a trendsetting business. If the customer segments,

who consume meat, would like the restaurant enough to recommend them, the word would spread

about Souls to even bigger customer segment. Additionally, Souls could increase its credibility and

knowledge about the restaurant if they became a symbol of tasty and interesting plant based food.

Thus, Souls’ possible expansion would aid a growing trend, and therefore become an inherent part

of the structures of the vegan food culture.

Souls could also benefit from the newness of their potential business. That is in a local environment

like Roskilde, some citizens would assumingly try out the restaurant, which wants to become a part

of the local environment. In terms of the locality of the business, they would need the same custom-

ers to come again, thus, they need to make the customers loyal. In line with this, Souls’ primary

source for success would possibly be word of mouth. This is derived from the fact that the respond-

ents in the structured interview rated the importance of a good reputation as 7.8. Thus, Souls would

need to make the restaurant visit as an experience for every customer.

Considering the competition, Souls closest potential competitors would be the restaurants, which

incorporate healthy eating and possibilities for vegetarians in their branding. Given the example of

Café Fjordglimt, which serves healthy, organic food, and apparently have great success in the Ros-

kilde area, the restaurant is still competitive, even though its location is decentralised. From this, we

consider that customers travel to get to Café Fjordglimt. This could indicate there is a market for

healthy restaurants in the area of Roskilde.

In terms of competition, an essential strength of expanding to Roskilde would be the ability to cre-

ate a blue ocean. Souls would be the first restaurant in Roskilde with solely plant-based food. Fur-

thermore, Souls would deliver an urban and international atmosphere. Specifically, Souls have the

opportunity of lifting the value for the customers of healthy dining in a trendy atmosphere, and to

capture and further increase this demand. In Roskilde, Souls values could differ from the existing

competitors to the extent, that Souls would be the only restaurant serving good quality vegan food,


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would present an international environment, thus, still performing fairly low on formal dining,

which adds up to the value of a cosy but also hip restaurant (Chan & Mauborgne, 2005).

However, the newness could appear problematic in terms of keeping the customers that come once

to try out a new restaurant, in order to be able to sustain a customer flow, which is profitable for the

business. They would need consistency in price and service, subsequently developing customer loy-

alty. Souls would have to make the restaurant visit an experience, hence, it would have to be more

than just to go out and eat. According to the structured interview in Roskilde, 71% of the respond-

ents, who would want to go to a vegan restaurant, would do it to get an experience. Furthermore, the

customers express that they prioritise food quality and a cosy atmosphere.

Secondly, the risk also increases because it is built on a rapidly growing trend, to which it can be

argued to decay or at least obtain a status quo. In other words, the attention towards veganism and

reducing consumption of animal based products can decrease. Additionally, the vegan trend and

interest have a risk of dissolving faster than the time it would take to properly establish the business.

Furthermore, the most parts of citizens of the towns and provincial areas in Denmark might distance

themselves towards the argument of healthy and plant-based eating (Halkier, 2010:61-62).

The third major risk, for the Souls’ expansion in Roskilde, is that they would have to market them-

selves to a different segment than they currently have in Copenhagen. This is the result of being as-

sumingly fewer vegans and vegetarians, and significantly fewer young people in Roskilde com-

pared to Copenhagen. This means that Souls would have to expand their target group. Furthermore,

they would have to target a customer segment who might not care about animal welfare or envi-

ronmental issues concerning meat consumption, and therefore would distance themselves from the

values of not eating meat, since only 32-35 percent of the respondents would go to a vegan restau-

rant because of these values. Meanwhile, 53 percent of the respondents would go to a vegan restau-

rant to be healthy. Since Roskilde is a more provincial town compared to Copenhagen, the citizens

might be less devoted and open to change. In this matter, Souls could be negatively perceived as

activists for veganism.

Consequently, the fourth major risk is that Souls would have to adapt to the values of the expanded

customer segment. Hence, they might have to change their branding to be more concerned with ex-

perience and health than ethical values. Since Souls would have to expand the customer segment

and tone down the marketing focus on veganism, they might embrace a broader segment, resulting

in a more mainstream and versatile branding. This could have a negative impact on Souls brand

value from the perspective of the customers in Copenhagen because Souls in Roskilde would have a


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lesser focus on the trend of veganism. In other terms, Souls could risk reducing the integrity with

their current brand in Copenhagen by changing the customers’ perception of Souls. The brand value

of Souls being an urban and trendy restaurant, could change to being a more mainstream restaurant,

and so, the vegan trend becomes bigger, but might decrease the degree of trendiness and lead to de-

creased credibility, even though it could increase the general popularity.

However, as long as Souls possible restaurant would not change the concept to be a family restau-

rant, serving a special menu for children, Souls could still maintain their hip and international at-

mosphere.

Consequently, there is a high risk connected to expanding Souls to Roskilde or equal provincial are-

as of Denmark.

If Souls’ owners’ strongest focus is on maintaining and strengthening their brand as urban and

trendy, they could consider possibilities of expanding in Copenhagen or internationally in other

large cities.

Looking at the statistics, the restaurants’ turnover per guest was double as high in Copenhagen

compared to the remaining Zealand in 2012 (HORESTA, 2013:8). This means, that a restaurant is

most likely to be profitable in Copenhagen, while sustaining consistency in their current brand iden-

tity. According to HappyCow, the most vegan friendly places are large international and multicul-

tural cities (happycow.net). In cities such as London and Berlin (narrowing it down to Europe), citi-

zens are assumingly attentive towards tendencies, namely to follow trends and being a part of a

constantly changing urban environment. Going international, however, firstly, needs an extensive

amount of resources, and secondly, the internal rivalry between plant-based restaurants targeting

vegan customers would be even stronger. This means that it would be risky and resourceful to suc-

cessfully break through the barriers as a new entrant on the market. In spite of risk and resources,

Souls could benefit from a successful international competitive position, with a stronger interna-

tional and urban brand identity in Denmark by symbolising a sustainable innovative Danish busi-

ness (Daft et al., 2014:226).

Even though expansion can benefit the business’ profit and position, larger corporation would have

significant shortcomings for this type of changeable environment. Considering the fast development

of veganism, the business has to be flexible and responsive in this rapidly changing environment.


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Souls could benefit from higher profits and popularity if they would expand their business creating

Souls as a large corporation either nationally or internationally. An increased amount of customers

would know the brand and possible choose it over and unknown brand, if Souls were symbolised

with quality and trendiness. However, this would create some organisational issues because they

would have a taller hierarchy, and therefore would have slower response to change (Daft et al.,

2014: 341-342). When growing the size of the business, the structure would influence the brand

identity and increase mechanical and superficial values. Thus, the management would have to spend

effort on maintaining consistency in the internal culture and the values reflected to the customers.

When having to expand the amount of staff, Souls would also be less ensured to find staff, who en-

tirely match their values (Daft et al., 2014:380-381). All in all, the bigger the business becomes, the

less freedom both the staff would have for cosy, trendy atmosphere (because there would be certain

guidelines to ensure consistency) and the owners to make changes to adapt to new customer needs

or to maintain competitiveness.

On the other hand, in their current small business, Souls have a flat structure, making them flexible

and easier to adaptable to change, thus, the size of the business. This flexibility creates room for fur-

ther innovation and development of the business, since implementation of new ideas or concepts

will be simple in a small business (Daft et al., 2014: 342). In this organic structure, the owners of

Souls would be able to be present and actively make their values reflect in the business’ culture,

both in terms of what their staff experiences and what they bring in to the customers.

This could give a natural consistency in the business culture and the values, that Souls reflects all

the way through from management to the staff and the food. This culture makes up the business

identity and create a uniqueness of their brand (Daft et al., 2014:380-381).

Furthermore, being a small business Souls have the opportunity of targeting only a specific group of

customers. The issue is, however, that there is an increasing number of businesses competing for the

same customer segment.

Strengthening the experience

Taken this into consideration, we discuss how Souls can strengthen their position in Denmark with-

out expanding their business but instead by creating experience for Souls customers. For this dis-

cussion, we draw on Pine and Gilmore’s (2011) views on the experience economy. Since the major-

ity of the potential customers in Roskilde would go to a vegan restaurant for the experience, we

consider it as essential to discuss how Souls could integrate their restaurant as a part of the experi-

ence economy.


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If we only consider Souls’ key activities, the restaurant is placed within the service economy of de-

livering benefits of good quality vegan food in a design that enables social interaction to the cus-

tomers. Taking into account that Souls offers a certain international and welcoming vibe and aes-

thetically presented food, the full concept of Souls could be placed within the experience economy

because they add values of healthy and trendy eating in the restaurant visit.

In order to bring/push/move Souls in the experience economy, Souls should make their customers

visit the restaurant for a sensational, memorable experience. As from the experience economy view,

it is beneficial to perceive kitchens and tables as stages where we produce and experience phenom-

ena with “immense economic and cultural consequences” (Sundbo & Darmer, 2008: 14). Food is

the basic need of every human. Therefore, the possibilities of developing the experience economy

of food and eating are endless (Ibid: 14).

First of all, Souls could consider improving the uniqueness of dining at Souls. Currently, Souls’

provide the customers with service in terms of delivering the food, but to order the food, the cus-

tomer has to stand in line by the counter to place the order. In terms of giving a unique restaurant

experience, Souls could increase the level of service by replacing the self-service to only table ser-

vice. The host has a paramount influence over the eating experience (Ibid: 23). Therefore, this

would provide an environment where the staff had more time to converse with the guests, and

thereby enabling the staff to make the service more personal and friendly. The majority of the com-

petitors incorporate the trendy vibe, however, they are all ranked from a low to a medium level on

formal dining. By increasing the value of table service and formal dining, Souls could make the cus-

tomers feel like guests and that they could go to Souls for a memorable service. On the other hand,

the table service would equal increasing Souls’ costs of hiring more staff. Drawing on Pine and

Gilmore (2011) businesses targeting the experience economy market should aim at being exclusive,

and therefore also expensive, thus it would increase the uniqueness of the brand. Because increasing

the experience would also increase the value, and therefore the customers would be willing to pay

more (Pine & Gilmore, 2011: 105). If Souls increase the level of fine dining, they could potentially

be seen as a stronger alternative to restaurants serving meat, because they will provide with a com-

plete experience on taste, aesthetics, and social interaction.

Second of all, Souls could aim at creating an experience outside of the restaurant, which connects

Souls’ brand to the customer’s memory. Thus, Souls could brand themselves through products or

services that are already considered an experience, such as festivals or cooking courses. Souls could

have a food truck at a music festival, and by being a part of the customers’ experiences there, these

customers could connect their assumingly positive festival experience with Souls.


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Another type of event, where Souls could make their brand visible is a farmers’ market or food fes-

tivals, where the customers would be people who are already interested in food or cooking. Fur-

thermore, Souls could have healthy cooking workshops to integrate the brand with the customers’

embodied experiences. In line with this and Souls’ owners’ own suggestions, they could have mer-

chandise Souls’ brand homemade food, dips, or drinks, which the customers could use at home as a

part of their daily life.

Additionally, Souls could make it possible to extent the experience on social media, namely to

make the aesthetics of the food or the meaning of the experience so memorable so the customer

would want to create physical evidence of the experience. Thus, the customers would also provide

Souls with word of mouth and thereby create awareness of the restaurant for other potential cus-

tomers.

Connecting Souls to a memorable and sensational experience, they could increase awareness of

their brand to larger customer segments. The benefit from Souls side is that they would be more

popular and have more customers.

Finally, this discussion will lead to the conclusion of this study, explaining and suggesting how

Souls could strengthen their position on the Danish market.


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6. Conclusion

Our study shows that currently Souls have a good position in Copenhagen, according to our situa-

tional analysis and the feedback collected from their existing customers. The results of their re-

sponses showed that the taste of meals (9,8), cozy atmosphere (8,9), quality of meals (9,6) and aes-

thetic presentation of meals (9,5) are the highest rated characteristics. Reversely, just the character-

istic of formal dining (6,2) has a low rating (Appendix 3 ,5). According to our respondents, they

seem overall satisfied with Souls restaurant performance.

Looking at the rivalry within the industry, Souls has a lot of competitors in Copenhagen, competing

on the similar values in order to reach the similar targeted customer segments. Thus, Souls would

have to consider possible growth strategies to implement. First of all, we can see an increase in in-

terest for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles, which adds to the perspective, that Souls should keep the

vegan concept.

On the one hand, Souls could expand their business geographically. We consider Roskilde as a new

potential target market for Souls to benefit from by expanding plant-based eating in Denmark. On

the other hand, when expanding to provincial areas and market vegan food as mainstream, Souls

risk to lose integrity in their brand value of being urban, trendy and international. To decrease the

risk of an unconcise brand, Souls could expand to international large cities, although, they risk en-

tering a market with strong competitive forces.

For further studies, we could research if Souls could successfully strengthen their position in Den-

mark by adding value to the experience of eating at the restaurant. We could do this by using the

concept of food culture, as the food experience differs from all other cultural experiences on the

simple basis of people getting hungry at least three times a day.


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strengthening the position of the vegan restaurant souls

Documents