Entrepreneurial Leadership Yashiqua Jenkins Prof. Victoria Figiel BUS508 –Contemporary Business Strayer University October 28, 2012 An idea is all it takes to ignite the process to start a business. To find a need of the people for a particular product or service and expand on it in order to make a profit is what many entrepreneurs do to start their company. A perfect example is the formation of Five Guys Burgers and Fries by the Murrell family. Their desire to focus on providing the consumer with quality burgers and fries have led them to be very successful in a short amount of time. This paper will determine how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other fast-food chains.
In terms of fast food restaurant life span, even twenty-five years in business can seem like an eternity. In an article published in the New York Times, it was reported that instead of advertising heavily, franchising or redesigning stores, White Castle relied on a simple menu of a square little hamburger that die-hard fans would buy by the bagful and devour in one sitting (Siler, 1988). Although the article was published in 1988, much of White Castle’s promotion has remained the same. This paper discusses a number of strategies that have contributed to the sustainability of the White Castle’s hamburger; identifies the intangible aspects such as crave times and company culture which has contributed to the company’s growth; and discusses the marketing strategies that have contributed to the product’s lengthy life cycle in the fast food business. In an article in Investor’s Business Daily, it was revealed that one of the keys to White Castle’s success has been the company’s ability to keep family in management positions.
Over the course of years new items would be added to the menu; however the original Chick-fil-A sandwich would always be the leading sandwich. Since 1967 Chick-fil-A has become the second largest quick service restaurant in the United States. Currently, there are over one thousand seven hundred locations in thirty nine states. In 2012 sales reached four point six billion dollars, this was a fourteen percent increase since 2011. Chick-fil-A’s SWOT analysis Strengths *Established in the United States *1700 locations in 39 states *Successful advertising slogan: “Eat morchicken” *Well known for its chicken sandwich and other chicken products.
Quality Service Recovery at Chick-fil-A Introduction Truett Cathy established the restaurant that would eventually become Chick-fil-A in 1946 (Cathy, 2002). The company launched the boneless breast of chicken sandwich as well as the trend of placing quick-service food establishments in malls (Cathy, 2002). With a mission to "Be America's Best Quick-Service Restaurant", the company has grown into the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant in the United States (Cathy, 2002; Chick-fil-A [CFA], 2011b). As of February 2011, the chain includes over 1,540 restaurants in locations in 39 states and Washington, D.C. (CFA, 2011a). At $3.58 billion, 2010 chain-wide sales were up 11.37 percent over 2009 (CFA, 2011a).
Subway vs. Jimmy John’s History Mason Cothran borrowed one thousand dollars from family friend, Peyton Vandiver, to start his first sandwich shop on August 28, 1965. Subway restaurants have been consistently ranked in Entrepreneur magazine’s top five hundred franchises, and Subway was selected as the number two overall franchises in 2008. Additionally, it was ranked as the number three “Fastest Growing Franchise” and number one “Global Franchise” as well. In March 2011, Subway was ranked the most popular Fast-Food restaurant in the United States in a poll of over 43 thousand social media users. At the end of 2010, Subway restaurants surpassed McDonald’s restaurant with 33,749 restaurants across the globe.
The three main points I will compare the restaurants’ by is the fan base, the choices, the taste, and the prices. First off, McDonalds has more history and a much longer track-record than Chick-Fil-A does. McDonalds was founded in 1948, while Chick-Fil-A was founded in the early 1960’s. After being founded McDonalds quickly became famous for their 15 cent hamburgers. In seventeen years, McDonalds had 700 stores nationwide.
At Chipotle, every customer is guaranteed a unique experience as they are able to watch the creation of their meal. Customers have responded favorably with respect to all of Chipotle’s business techniques, as is evident by the company’s success in the previous years. What started out as a small corner burrito shop has since turned into a restaurant phenomenon. Chipotle’s achievements early on attracted the attention of many, including a world famous investor. McDonald’s started investing in Chipotle in February of 1998, and supported them financially for seven years.1 This financial backing enabled Chipotle to expand nationally and become large enough to offer stock.
IPO Project –Chipotle Mexican Grill, About company Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. and its subsidiaries has operated 1,084 restaurants in the United States, two in Toronto, Canada and one in London, England till December 31, 2010.Over the past five years, company has experienced grown up greatly and substantially, and expect to their big rally of 2011, new openings between 135 and 145 restaurants are expected to operate in 2011. Chipotle is working to change the way people think about and eat fast food by looking to fine-dining restaurants for inspiration. Chipotle use high quality ingredients, classic cooking methods to make good tasting food, have top performing people to take care of each customer, and make restaurants operationally
Brands, Inc. and America’s leading Mexican inspired quick service restaurant chain. Taco Bell® serves more than 2 billion consumers each year in more than 5,800 restaurants in the U.S. Originated by Glen Bell, Taco Bell® became a reality on March 21, 1962. The first Taco Bell® restaurant was built in Downey, California. Taco Bell® was acquired by PepsiCo in 1978.
Burger King and Taco Bell started in the 1950s, and Wendy's opened in 1969. Some chains, like Carl's Jr., KFC and Jack in the Box, existed before the Speedee Service System, but modified their cooking techniques after. McDonald's, which started it all, is now the world's largest fast-food chain. According to the National Restaurant Association, in 2005, sales of