Question

Theme restaurants were the biggest restaurant craze of the 1990s, and they popped up everywhere from Boston to Bangkok to Berlin. The craze is believed to have started with the opening of the first Hard Rock Cafe in the site of a former Rolls-Royce showroom in London, England. In 2016 there were 190 cafes in 59 countries, 22 hotels, and 11 casinos.¹⁵ (Links to an external site.) Hard Rock Cafes are now found in many of the major cities of the world, and the name is a much imitated and hotly defended trademark. Other theme restaurants include Planet Hollywood, the Harley-Davidson Cafe, Dive!, Fashion Cafe, and the Rainforest Cafe. By 1999 diners were getting pickier and theme restaurants’ stock prices slumped, creating fierce competition.

The success of these restaurants can be attributed to a perfect balance between novelty and food. Many of the theme restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood look to celebrities to bring in the crowds. Both of these restaurants feature artifacts from past and present celebrities. And celebrities often visit the restaurant, making a diner’s experience even more enjoyable. Planet Hollywood restaurants are designed to fit the culture and customs of the region. The Harley-Davidson Cafe attracts customers with vintage motorcycles, while the Rainforest Cafe mimics a peaceful outdoor setting. The Fashion Cafe has models strolling a runway, and the Dive! is a faux submarine backed by director Steven Spielberg and others.¹⁶ (Links to an external site.)

But novelty alone is not enough. According to one restaurant owner, theme restaurants draw their initial crowd with the “wow,” but if the food is not good, customers will not come back. To attract repeat customers, theme restaurants try to create attractive menus that follow the image suggested by the theme. The Rainforest Cafe, for example, offers food seasoned with spices from South America. The Harley-Davidson Cafe, on the other hand, has a general line of American fare with specialty drinks such as the Page 395Shock Absorber and Wheelie, while Planet Hollywood looks to its signature Chicken Crunch to bring people back.

To successfully provide the customer with the appropriate food, excellent service, and requested products, the manager must have specific guidelines for control. One area needing control is the budgeting process. Many operations use a food cost percentage (FCP) as a guideline for quality control. FCP is the comparison of the sales price to the cost of the materials necessary for production. For instance, if the FCP is too low, it could indicate unacceptable ingredients; on the other hand, if the FCP is too high it might indicate inventory shrinkage (employee theft), purchasing fraud, and lack of appropriations skills, or indicate a need to raise prices. The individual operations can also compare these data to the industry average or to competitors’ data to establish a yardstick by which to measure and compare. For example, according to David Malone of the American Restaurant Association, the average FCP was about 30 percent in 2016.

FCP is only one aspect of the budgeting process. Budgets should be realistic, flexible, and prepared for various time frames. For example, the capital budget that outlines major expansions and acquisitions may project five to seven years into the future, while the operating budget outlines the operating or fiscal cycle for one year.

Can these restaurants be successful over a long time? That is still to be seen, but getting people to come back is what separates successful theme restaurants from the nice ideas that won’t turn heads or profits.

Using the above Case Study, Answer the following questions in a Word Document (Please be detailed in your answers).

1. Do you think theme restaurants are a permanent part of the restaurant industry? Why or why not?

2. What suggestions would you make to improve the attractiveness of these restaurants?

3. Would you like to own and operate a theme restaurant? Why or why not?

Answer 1

solution-

answer 1 - yes, the theme restaurants are the permanent part of restaurants as they are a very entertaining and special experience for the customers' theme restaurants provides food and also memorable decors architecture and theming everywhere in the restaurants as sometimes it also extends to the food.the food is also served with varying themes that attract the customers a lot and brings them back again to the restaurants.

answer 2 - the attractiveness of the theme restaurants is already very much as compared to normal restaurants but some suggestions can be-

1. they can introduce music in the background that will be liked by all customers

2.the innovative furniture can make it more beautiful

3.the attractive colours of walls and ceiling

4.the celebrity theme can also help

5.the food with different colours can be served

6.the lightning should be according to theme

answer 3-yes I would like to operate a theme restaurant as they are having a very different approach and designing as compared to the other normal restaurants both in terms of the look and food as everything is based on the particular theme that is very interesting it also requires a creative mind and approach to introduce new things to attract customers, all in all, it is very different experience for customers as well as owners.