Palio’s Ristorante Case Analysis The Situation Angelina Palio is the owner and manager of Palio’s Ristorante and is reviewing the slow growth of her restaurant. In reviewing her restaurant’s growth, she is thinking about the future and how she can modify her current strategy to attract more clientele into the Palio’s Ristorante. At this time, Palio’s Ristorante is not doing well and she is contemplating on whether to weather the storm or to unite with a fast-food or family restaurant franchise chain. The Past Marketing Strategy Prior to opening her business, Angelina believed that her strategy was well thought out.

When looking for the location of her business, she carefully looked at various locations and took into consideration several factors, one, would her location attract individuals to dine at Palio’s Ristorante, two, was the location in a convenient area for her potential target customers, and three, would this location provide target customers with superior customer value. The marketing strategy planning process requires narrowing down to the best opportunities and developing a strategy that gives the firm a competitive advantage and provides target customers with superior customer value (Perreault / Cannon / McCarthy 58).

Once she selected her location, she began to beautify her location by tiling the floors and performing other facelifts to the establishment to attract targeted customers. Because of her tenacity of wanting Palio’s Ristorante to thrive, Angelina advertised her grand opening of Palio’s Ristorante in the local newspaper, which is viewed by the whole metro area. The Present Marketing Strategy Angelina Palio realized that she had to step up her marketing strategy to attract the targeted customers to dine at her establishment to keep her business afloat.

She looked at her past marketing strategy and determined that something else had to be done because her past marketing strategy was not working. Angelina stepped up her advertising, which now, she not only advertised her business in the metro newspaper, but she had secured 10 late-evening spots on a news program at a station, which targeted the middle-income America and she also did radio advertising. In doing this, Angelina was able to reach the individuals that lived in that local area through the newspaper, radio and television station.

She was also able to reach the targeted customers that were passing through that area, via driving. The Opportunities The opportunities that Angelina Palio saw in opening her establishment was that her establishment would be in a small shopping center, where only a supermarket, a hair salon, a liquor store, a video rental store and a vacant space existed, which was a pretty good location for her because it had the opportunity to attract many customers to come and enjoy a full-course “home-cooked” Italian-style dinners at moderate prices.

The Segmentation and Positioning for Past, Present and Future Strategy With regards to the past, Angelina Palio targeted the individuals within that community through the metro newspaper, individuals visiting the shopping mall and the interstate drivers that were passing through. With regards to the present, she targeted the metro newspaper readers, shopping mall visitors, interstate drivers, radio listeners and television viewers.

With regards to the future, she will be able to continue to target the metro newspaper readers, shopping mall visitors, interstate drivers, radio listeners, television viewers as well as internet users, if she decides to take her marketing strategy to another level and advertise via the internet. The Demographics of the Target Group Past, Present and Future

Angelina Palio considered both male and female of all ages, as well as individuals who enjoy eating Italian food, dining in a nice facility and individuals who are visiting her community via the interstate (these individuals may be coming in from out of town) as her demographics of the target group with regards to the past. With regards to the present, she targets the same individuals; however, she also started looking at the middle income Americans. As for the future, again she will target all of the above, as well as internet users if she decides to advertise via the internet. Recommendations for Angelina Palio

Since business is starting to pick up and her situation has begun to improve, I would recommend Angelina continue to operate her business and not consider franchising at this time. When choosing to franchise, there is a lot that one have to consider. As a business owner, you will have restrictions on how you can run your business, the franchisor may go out of business, other franchisees can give the brand a bad reputation and you may find it difficult to sell. Angelina realized, after her research about franchisors, she came to the realization that she is not ready to lose her independence and follow someone else’s strategy.

I would also tell Angelina to advertise online as well. In this technological environment we live in, so many individuals are utilizing the internet and what best way to reach a wide variety of individuals, but through the internet. Recent online marketing reports support the fact that 89% of consumers will use the Internet to search for local restaurants and 57% will visit a restaurant’s website to view menus, photographs, directions and read consumer reviews (http://diningclick. com/).

Also, Angelina can offer coupons, through the mail, in the mall, to her restaurant as well as have billboards generate. These suggestions are marketing strategies to get the targeted individuals in her restaurant. SWOT Analyses The strengths of Palio’s Ristorante are as follows: The present establishment is rather large; the location is a prime location to target all types of individuals; individuals who would like a “home cooked” Italian meal, the meal would be readily at their finger tips, versus fast food, such as McDonalds, Burger King, etc. the prices are moderate; Angelina possesses years of managing a restaurant, the location of the restaurant has great parking and at this time, this is the only restaurant in the mall. The weaknesses of Palio’s Ristorante are as follows: At this time, the business is just trying to survive, funds are limited, must find other means of marketing Palio’s Ristorante, such as billboards, flyers, mail out coupons. The opportunities for Palio’s Ristorante are great: Angelina Palio does not have to worry about finding space for her restaurant for the next 10 years; advertisement via the web to capture internet customers and the growth of he surrounding area. The possible threats for Palio’s Ristorante are as follows: a pizzeria may be moving into the shopping center in the vacant spot and if her marketing strategy does not pick up, Angelina may experience a decline in her revenue, which she cannot afford. Works Cited Perreault, William D. , Cannon, Joseph P. and McCarthy, E. Jerome Basic Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2011. Print. “Restaurant Website Design & Internet Marketing Services” DiningClick. com 2007 WEB