The Two Headed Coin

EpilogueDecision-Making at the Restaurant: Creating and Executing a Risk-Aware Strategy

Let us finish by returning to our two partners and consider the decisions they made and will be making as conditions evolve. The strategic positioning statement to be a fine dining establishment set the frame for all the other decisions that had to be made. You may recall that earlier they recognized that to some degree they would be price takers. Having accepted that constraint, but with no desire to compromise their positioning as a fine dining restaurant providing an excellent dining experience, they began to attack the Gordian knot of decisions that had to be made. They quickly realized that one of the first decisions would be location. From their experience they had a sense of the demographics and psychographics of their target customer base and decided it would be smart to locate in an area where their customer base resided. They identified a potential spot in an urban location with thriving businesses and a rapidly developing residential market. Many of the residents were singles who walked to work while others were younger families and empty nesters who had moved into the vibrant area. Cranes were everywhere, cultural facilities were growing, and complementary businesses were booming. And people enjoyed walking in good weather.

They did not want to rush into a decision but started to attend local meetings of various business groups and social gatherings to better understand the market. ...