Sue Smith Is the District Manager for the Local Restaurant Mario’s Family Dining.

The Incident

Sue Smith is the district manager for the local restaurant Mario’s Family Dining. She has been employed here for six years. Sue has noticed a lot of competition in the area and noticed a new trend. She noticed customers are eating less which could be due to time constraints, an attempt to eat healthier, or to save money. Sue read about a trend of offering smaller plates for customers and this appears to be successful. Sue would like to implement this idea at her own restaurant, but must decide how to explain this to the restaurant owners. In addition, she must consider what her customers’ interest are and determine the marketing strategy she will use to promote this promotion.

Defining the Issue

Sue has several things she needs to take care of before she begin offering the new menu items. First, she must get permission from the owners to offer the new menu items. Furthermore, Sue must figure out what her customers’ interest are concerning food items. After she has completed these tasks, then her biggest issue will be deciding how to implement and market the new promotion which includes using the corporate website and social media. Considering everything involved, Sue has a big project on her hands.

Analyzing the Case Data

Sue’s new project was the result of competition. Since Sue is a district manager it her responsibility to be informed of restaurant trends in the area. Furthermore, she must act on these trends to remain competitive with other local restaurants. Sue recognized the trend of customers eating small portions and thinks the restaurant can benefit from offering customers small plates. Now, she must determine how to promote and market the new promotion in order to inform customers of the restaurant’s new offerings.

Generating Alternatives

There are several options that Sue has concerning how to promote the new smaller plates. The first alternative consists of Sue buying air time on a local television station to...