A new takeaway restaurant called Poulet Rotisserie opened in Leeds City centre. It sells whole chickens cooked on a rotisserie along with accompaniments such as salads and roast potatoes. It also sells a selection of cakes and other desserts. The shop has a few small tables where customers can choose to eat in the shop instead of taking away. It is aimed at people wanting to pick up cooked food on their way home from work or for people to buy when entertaining guests at home and also offers catering for parties. The chickens are cooked with a range of flavours: chilli, traditional and Cajun.
To survive Poulet Rotisserie needs to generate sales. It faces stiff competition from major supermarkets which also sell cooked chickens, salads and food for parties and entertaining. Poulet Rotisserie charges higher prices for its products than supermarkets because it is producing on a much smaller scale and cannot take advantage of economies of scale. It tries to ensure that its chickens and accompaniments are better in quality and offer a greater choice than those found in supermarkets. The opportunity for customers to eat in the shop is another method of generating sales. Poulet Rotisserie also offers free delivery for orders above £50.
Poulet Rotisserie is finding it difficult to compete with supermarkets despite getting positive publicity in local newspapers. Business during the week tends to be quiet and most of their orders for catering services occurs at the weekend. They are considering trying to break into the lunchtime market for office workers by offering a roast dinner takeaway and delivery service to generate sales and ensure survival.
1. Outline the customers’ needs that Poulet Rotisserie has identified.(4 marks)
