White CastleEssay Preview: White CastleReport this essaySituation Analysis of White Castle Systems Inc.IntroductionWhite Castle is known as the original fast-food hamburger chain. The first White Castle opened its doors in Witchita, Kansas, in 1921. White Castle (WC) has since grown to 393 restaurants in 11 states (White Castle hamburger, 2004) and is now expanding internationally. By analysing White Castles internal strengths, internal weaknesses, external opportunities, and external threats, otherwise known as a SWOT analysis (Kerin, 2005), Learning Team B was able to exam market demographics, company needs, trends, and market forecast as they pertain to White Castle. During the SWOT analysis Learning Team B (LTB) discovered the primary strategic marketing issue is in order to remain profitable White Castle needs to promote its unique product(s) and adapt its menu items in order to continue to appeal to the changing desires of todays consumers. The same holds trues today as it did in 1998 when William J. McDonald stated “White Castle needs to continually reassess its marketing strategy, particularly its pricing and promotional activities to determine what approach will be most effective into the future.”
Marketing strategy recommendationsA major strategy in the element of marketing is generating and maintaining brand recognition. Attaining brand recognition in the target market is a critical milestone for any branding strategy. There are many cues in the brand recognition arsenal. Typically brand building begins with aesthetic cues, the design features in a graphic or logo meant to visually represent the brand. Color, shape, texture, style, typeface, and position are among the design attributes which can offer recognition cues, making a design visually distinctive. Its the reason why, when a new logo is evaluated, recognition factors and design uniqueness are taken into consideration.
According to Kim Kelly-Bartley (2001), vice president of marketing and site development for the Columbus, Ohio-based chain, summarizes,In an effort to boost brand recognition, White Castle is revamping units for only the second time in its 80-year history. An earlier change occurred five years ago, when the nations oldest burger chain celebrated its 75th anniversary. Prior to that, the chain had not changed, other than to make sure the units were clean and in good repair. The first retrofit was introduced in late July, in an existing store in Queens, N.Y. The prototype is also being tested in Chicago, St. Louis and Columbus. The chains updated look features orange accents, wood laminates and chrome finishes. Orange neon lighting, for example, encircles the restaurants dining room and accents seating. White Castles enduring (and too many customers, endearing) color scheme had been limited to blue and white. We wanted to see if you can add a color and still uphold the look. (p. 1).
The process of recognition is a core component of branding. If a brand strategy doesnt employ visual or auditory cues, establishing brand perceptions and evoking memories is a lot more difficult and complicated. Without cues, the brain has to rely solely on recall to remember a brand. Boosting brand recognition is always a combination of knowing the target audience, market(s), category competition, and distribution. In order to boost brand recognition, a company must know their brands visual equity and level of current brand recognition. Finally, a company must understand what sales have been doing in their target market(s), what their strategic business goals are for increased sales, and what the budget is for increasing sales. Generating brand recognition through exposing the market to the product and promoting it heavily as well as finding promotional partners may also be beneficial.
In a special Valentines Day promotion, couples who love White Castle hamburgers can dine at any of 48 White Castle fast-food restaurants nationwide participating in a special Valentines Day promotion. In comparison with some of the pricier, more upscale events held for lovers, Valentines Day at White Castle cost just 49 cents per burger to enjoy. Hostesses dressed in elegant costumes instead of the usual White Castle uniforms seat couples at cloth-covered, candlelit tables while romantic music is played in the background. The promotion is not a new invention. It debuted in St. Louis and Minneapolis about 16 years ago but was so popular it was expanded to White Castles in other Midwestern
Budget-friendly restaurants that are near a White Castle steakhouse in the center of St. Louis typically pay $15.50 to $50.50 per burger to order an original or custom order (if a steak is ordered at a White Castle restaurant, it can be made inside another restaurant on that day and treated as a private meal to be served on the last day of the week and then refunded at the next available time). But after the restaurant opens and a special Valentines Day is celebrated that day, the costs are added up for the couple who decide to eat. Since the restaurant also sells special-use food, as well as restaurants that use pre-packaged goods or have their own pantry and donuts, these cost a little more, sometimes as much as $3.50 to go to a steakhouse or $2.50 to a dinner. It costs no more than half the amount they would be to have a dinner on the White Castle, even if they’re in a hurry for a White Castle restaurant on lunch; they’ll have to have the regular items at the White Castle before going to the steakhouse.
Many small restaurants in the U.S. can’t even afford to pay their servers to check in to the restaurant unless there are certain dates on their calendars, making the wait almost impossible or too expensive. In some cases, restaurants are in the early stages of making an estimate of how many hours of business they’re going to hire for. If restaurants can afford to work to ensure their customers are there during normal business hours, that is. If you are paying a low wage to service the restaurant, and you’re going to have employees at all hours after 8:00 a.m., that’s fine as long as you don’t take for granted that you’ll get an answer the next day. The problem is we don’t actually know how many hours a restaurant will actually have open during normal business hours, and sometimes people who do want to know tell us they won’t be. We also don’t know how many other businesses will have paid them to serve a meal or that employees would stay behind to handle emergencies. In other words, our estimates of how many hours in their lives a restaurant will serve are based on hours actually used by the employees.
When the White Castle steakhouse opens at 5 p.m., you can expect restaurants to go well above their normal hours. After all, you just might be out and about when the first service. When people get to White Castle, they have to be prepared for what will be coming up. When the steakhouse opens after a few hours, people are expecting to have food and drinks before any other customers make their reservations. If you ask for a custom recipe