Marketing Page - Copy Deck

8/2/2019 Marketing Page - Copy Deck

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TALK IS CHEAP

Marketing is used to identify the target customer, satisfy the target customer and keepthe target customer. By building a strong market positioning strategy, developing aconsistent product (food, physical experience, and brand touch points), perfectingcustomer access, creating value through effective pricing, and spreading a funpromotional message, FAVE clearly understands how to attract its core consumer.

FAVE boldly combines fast casual dining (market position) and meat-free food (marketniche), presenting the combination in a sunny, summery and celebratory way. Thishybrid market model carves out a unique position in the explosively growing fast casualrestaurant industry, a tested yet highly underserved market in Vancouver. The followingsection defines the market positioning for FAVE and indentifies key trends, industryanalysis and the competitive context.

SWOTANALYSIS

The following is a comprehensive SWOT analysis for FAVE:

Strengths The Food: a dynamic mix of taste-first proprietary food designed to be premium

to competitors in the local fast casual category. Quality and taste has the abilityto covert omnivores and impress non-vegetarians

The Service: a strategically designed environment and set of offerings to

effectively serve key service periods of lunch and dinner The Message: a sunny, summery communication platform that strategically

avoids the typically negative vegetarian baggage including animal rights andthe environment

The Theatre: a natural, handcrafted soda program set to become a beveragebarista experience

The Supply: a partner network of distributors, manufacturers and consultantsready to deliver an impossible-to-copy menu of great food that just happensto be meat-free

The Finances: strict and rigorous cost controls and financial management The Management: strong industry experience, complimentary skill sets, large

social networks and passion to drive the concept long-term

Weaknesses A start-up food and beverage concept, one of the riskiest initial investments New business that requires tremendous effort to build customer loyalty High initial capital investment structure No trademark on FAVE, Fruit and Veg Eatery


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Opportunities Health: the individual need to combat increasingly sedentary lifestyles with a

healthy, low cholesterol, low fat, high vegetable diet Category: explosive growth in the fast casual restaurant market in North

America

Trend: media, television, and pop culture support for increasing vegetableconsumption, the vegetarian shift and the vegan movement Politics: continued pressure from national, provincial and municipal government

organizations to recommend, develop and fund healthier lifestyle options to offsetballooning health care costs

Threats Meat serving competition able to develop and serve meat-free food options that

compare in price and quality A dramatic market shift away from healthy eating, plant-based diets and the

personal health movement A difficult commercial leasing marketplace, barring new entrants from the

marketplace

PRICING STRATEGY

The FAVE pricing strategy is to position the restaurant in the mid-point of the fast casualfood service industry, bringing in an average check of $12.50 to $14 before tax, for apremium food and beverage meal combination. This price point is aligned with emergingVancouver quick serve competition such as Chopped Leaf and Freshii. It also aligns withcurrent quick serve competition such as A&W.

INDUSTRY &MARKET ANALYSIS

The industry and market are both undergoing significant shifts. The restaurant and foodservice industry is still recuperating from the economic downturn of the past coupleyears, but one can still find tremendous growth opportunities within the many segments.Consumer eating behaviours are changing to eat much more healthy diet and rely onoptions that fit with a time-starved lifestyle. The following section identifies a number of

trends within both the industry and target markets that build potential for FAVE inVancouver.

Industry SizeAccording to a recent Mintel foodservice report, the fast casual restaurant categoryaccounted for estimated sales of $23 billion in 2010 in the United States (of a total $566billion), up nearly 30% since 2006. As there is no specific, generally-agreed to definition


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of the sector, it is very difficult to estimate exactly how many units there are in the fastcasual industry.

Within Canada, the limited-service restaurant industry is worth $20.4 billion in annualrevenues and makes up approximately 34% of the overall food service market, totalling31,911 outlets. The food service industry is one of Canadas top five job creators.

Initially, FAVE is a single outlet fast casual restaurant operation, capturing a smallpercentage of a localized marketplace. But as expansion plans take hold, it is easy tobelieve FAVE could capture a significant percentage (1%-4%) of the fast casualmarketplace within particular North American regions. The industry trends below furthersupport the potential growth of the concept.

Industry TrendsThe industry and market that FAVE positions itself to capture is saturated with a numberof positive trends. This subsection describes a selection of research-backed industry andmarket trend snapshots.

Growth of Meatless Meal Popularity

New York Magazine featured a piece in late 2010 stating Vegetables are the new Meat(http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/69369), and Epicurious food trend predictionsfor 2011 identified Meatless Mondays and Tofu Thursdays as a top trend(http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2010/12/food-trend-predictions-for-2011.html). These are two examples of what is becoming a popular discussion infood circles: the rise in popularity of the vegetable and a flexible, meat-free meal rotationfor the average consumer.

Again, the December 2011 Mintel report (covered in Section 1.7) can be found here:http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/analysis/features/specialist-diets-become-part-of-healthy-lifestyle/3032733.article

From the pop culture kitchens to the grassroot urban vegetable garden, the rise inpopularity of vegetarian cuisine is a strong growth indicator for FAVE.

Explosive Fast Casual Restaurant Growth

According to FastCasual.com and Technomics (leading industry publications), the fastcasual restaurant category continued to outpace the remainder of the restaurant industryin 2010 with over 6 percent total growth. According to Technomic executive vicepresident Darren Tristano, This category [fast casual] has essentially blown through therecession without skipping a beat. Chipotle Grill, the fast casual category second placemarket share holder grew an astounding 21 percent year-over-year.

It is generally accepted within the food and beverage industry the heaviest growth isfound within the fast casual category.


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Unsatisfactory Health-Oriented Food Options

Prior to the recent economic recession, Eastern North America saw a rapid uprising offast casual restaurants branded for the forward-thinking diner. Instead of these newbrands being all-encompassing restaurants offering something for everyone, they builttheir concepts on doing only a few things really well. Post recession, these new

restaurants were still launching, but their focus shifted to health. From visiting franchisetradeshows, it is clear to see how this health and the environmental movements havebegun to takeover the food and beverage world. New franchises are promoting their noexpensive ventilation required (which means that no ovens, grills, fryers or anything hotis needed to prepare their food).

The effect of this industry trend is that the market has been trained into accepting a lessthan satisfactory dining experience in order to achieve their health needs for a particularmeal. Although the competitive environment is fierce in the restaurant world, the recentshift in industry trends has paved the way for a massive underserved market: A largesegment of the population who want a healthy, socially positive, fast, inexpensive mealthat still tastes really good. The single largest opportunity for FAVE is that it can be

discovered as a restaurant with many great contributory causes, and the food still tastesgreat.

CompetitionFAVE operates in the highly competitive food and beverage industry, defining itselfwithin the fast casual industry category and in the vegetarian genre of cuisine. Thishybrid model offast casual and meat-free food is unique to the marketplace, but theFAVE product is also an innovative offering difficult to find across all North American,European and Asian regions. Based on a unique market position, this section develops acompetitive set based on industry segments and provides comprehensive analysis.

Key Competitors & AnalysisFAVE has no direct competitors in the local marketplace. Below, indirect key competitorswithin the local fast casual category and vegetarian genre are described in detail.

Fast Casual Competition

FAVE positions itself in the fast casual food and beverage environment, competing forbusiness alongside local cafs, upscale fast food outlets and hot local artisanindependents. There are no fast casual meat-free restaurants in Vancouver, although afew of the following competitors offer a sub-standard vegetarian meal option. Here is alist of fast casual competitors:

Veras Burger Shack (http://www.verasburgershack.com)

Stackhouse Burgers (http://www.stackhouseburgerbar.com) Freshii (http://www.freshii.com) Chopped Leaf (http://choppedleaf.ca) Meat + Bread (http://www.meatandbread.ca) Hubbub Sandwiches (http://www.hubbubsandwiches.com) Peckinpah BBQ (http://www.peckinpahbbq.com) Nuba (http://www.nuba.ca) Whole Foods Market, self-serve area

(http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/cambie)


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Historic Vegetarian Competitors

FAVE would compete against local vegetarian operators who traditionally target amarket that is politically left-leaning. These traditional vegetarian competitors serve thestatic lifestyle vegan and vegetarian markets and have dirty, rugged and burnished in-

store experiences. Here is a list of the traditional vegetarian competitors in theVancouver region:

Gorilla Food (http://www.gorillafood.com) The Foundation (http://dinehere.ca/vancouver/foundation-the) The Naam (http://www.thenaam.com/naam)

New Contemporary Vegetarian Competitors

Although no local direct, contemporary, new age vegetarian competitors exist in theVancouver marketplace, there are examples of extremely successful concepts withinNorth America targeting the emerging market of the flexivore. Here is a list of the mostsuccessful contemporary vegetarian competitors:

Veggie Grill Los Angeles (http://www.veggiegrill.com) Fresh Toronto (http://www.freshrestaurants.ca) Boon Burger Caf Winnipeg (http://www.boonburger.ca) Moaz Vegetarian Southern USA (http://www.maozusa.com) VeganBurg Singapore (http://www.veganburg.com)

Analysis of Competitive Set

From a big picture perspective, the resounding lesson from competitive analysis issimply that new age contemporary meat-free competitors are succeeding in othermarkets across the globe. The trend of meat-free eating is on the rise and a massivemarket opportunity exists, especially for FAVE, a concept designed for scalability and a

vision to conquer. With no local direct competitor of fast casual meat-free cuisine, FAVEstands alone in serving the Vancouver marketplace and setting a base of operations tobegin scaling across North America.

The local fast casual competition is doing many things well in serving decent food and areasonable price, with an upscale dcor and in-store experience. This set of competitorswill compete for retail lease space alongside FAVE with every location. A number of thelisted fast casual competitors do offer a vegetarian item, but based on the pure focus ofthese locations in serving meat-centric items, the vegetarian offering is typically sub-standard and an afterthought expression.

The Vancouver-based traditional vegetarian competitors are all very busyestablishments with loyal clientele. A part of the marketing strategy for FAVE will centrearound stealing destination traffic for these locations by offering a clean and exciting in-store experience and food that is premium when compared to these competitors.

Based on this analysis, a clear competitive advantage emerges.


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COMPETITIVE EDGE

FAVE relies on three strategic advantages that make up its competitive edge:

1. Good product, that just happens to be meat-free (strategic supply partnersourced)

2. A fast casual market position that deliberately avoids existing messagingconnotations with the vegetarian and vegan movements

3. A healthy and environmentally sustainable food option, priced competitively

MARKETING STRATEGY

The core message of FAVE is great food that just happens to be meat-free. In order

to achieve this goal, FAVE needs to be an inspirational brand and avoid existingconnotations with the vegetarian movement. The key to being inspirational, andtherefore successfully being a game changer, is letting people define what the brandmeans to them and enabling guests to be inspired on their own terms.

Our food allows people to discover, on their own terms, that meat-free cuisine can bedelicious. In much the same fashion, the brand and marketing strategy promote thediscovery of layered meanings and symbolism that capture the essence FAVE.

Logo, Brandmark and Core EssenceThe name captures the brand essence and style of food in a truly authentic and honestway. Its based on an official acronym for Fruit and Veg, with the E standing for

Eatery. This is exactly what the restaurant is and creates a sharable story. The nameworks well with our target demographic, which uses the word FAVE as commonvernacular or slang to represent favourite. This infuses our brand name with a doublemeaning. The connection to the word favourite enables for playful messaging to becrafted, further bringing the fun and easygoing brand personality to life. Its a simple,easily understood, memorable and positive word that says exactly what we are on bothliteral and conceptual levels.

The brontosaurus icon and soda label inspired brandmark symbolize everything theFAVE message stands for. The icon image has universal appeal across alldemographics, making it a truly inclusive brand. Its simple, fun, memorable and easily


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recognizable. It is intelligent and gives the brand multiple layers, as this dinosaur is avegetarian. That connection may not be discovered immediately, but its clevernesscreates a story people will be compelled to share with their friends and family when theyeventually do. The icon and brandmark is powerful, eye catching and iconic enough tocut through visual clutter. It is also honest and authentic, as dinosaurs were the originalvegetarians and the soda is the central theatrical feature of the in-store experience.

FAVE must appeal to a mass market, thus universally positive language and imagery isused. Vegetarian and veganism have heavy existing connotations, so FAVE avoidsdirectly referencing these loaded words to ensure inclusivity. Fruits and vegetables aregenerally thought of as good and healthy, and focusing on them as ingredients helpssoften links to vegetarianism. The inclusion of fruit (not just highlighting vegetables)helps to soften this link even more. The big picture idea is to create a meat-freerestaurant that has strong links to being vegetarian (to maintain honesty andauthenticity), but presents these links in an intelligent, inclusive and not so obvious way.

The message tone is easy to understand, simple, youthful, intelligent and never preachy.The brand personality is sunny, summery, celebratory, fun, friendly, local and promotes

the importance of achieving goals and living life to the fullest.

The Audience SpectrumThe tactical communication platform is a unique marketing exercise. A spectrum ofpsychographic eating-interest profiles dominate the different audiences to communicatewith, each having special needs, biases and perspectives.

In a traditional restaurant marketing plan, the dietary differences between guests issmall, typically only ranging across flavour preferences. Traditionally, allergic and specialneed diets were a marketing after-thought, with a restaurant relying on the experience ofthe kitchen to overcome food challenges to appease a difficult guests preferences. Onlyin the past decade, with the rise of Oceanwise certifications, organic labels and local,grain-fed pronouncements have marketing plans taken note of dietary psychographicaudiences.

The FAVE audience spectrum is based on the eaters meat-centric addiction levels.Described initially in section 1.7.1 The Flexitarian Scale, the different markets oraudiences can be categorized, for the purposes of a tactical communication platform intothree central buckets: Non-Receptive, Dietary-Disruptive and Dietary-Aligned, only thelatter two being truly open to dialogue and engagement with FAVE. As one will see inthe following sections dedicated to marketing tactics, the Dietary-Disruptive and Dietary-Aligned markets require very different, custom tailored strategies.

The diagram below attempts to visualize the different psychographic market segments.In the Dietary-Disruptive Audience category, one will find heavy meat-eaters, balancedomnivores and a small portion of pescatarians (that is, a combination of a seafood andvegetable diet). The Dietary-Aligned category includes a pescatarian segment, allergy-concerned (that is free-from diets including gluten-free and lactose-free), the growingmarket of flexivores or flexitarians, traditional vegetarians and vegans. The non-receptive audiences, at both end of the spectrum complete the population map.


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Interesting data isemerging on the shiftingtrend toward meat-freeconsumption. In a featuredMarketing Week articlefrom December 15, 2011

(here and covered inprevious sections of thisplan including 1.7), fourDietary-Aligned marketsare identified. Meat-FreeEnthusiasts, who make up37% of the UK population(according to the quotedMintel report), aremotivated by the wellbeingof themselves and theirfamilies and can be

targeted by stressing thehealth benefits of theoffering. The Open toPersuasion group, makingup 23% of the UKpopulation, occasionally eatmeat-free food but aregenerally unimpressed bywhat is on offer and needto be won over by dynamicproducts and flavour. Mostappealing is the size of this

potential market,representing 60% of the total population.

Regarding Dietary-Disruptive audiences, the same Marketing Week article quoted aboveidentifies the two remaining market segments. The Disinterested category, making up17% of the UK population, enjoys meat but doesnt necessarily have a negativeperception of meat-free products. Mintel, the author of the featured report believes thisgroup may change their attitude over time and similar marketing strategies to this groupmay convert new followers over time. The final segment, Turned off by Tofu, theremaining 23% of the UK population, find meat-free foods unappealing. Mintel believessampling campaigns may encourage this group to shift interests and enjoy a meat-freediet. But regardless of Mintels opinion, the FAVE communication strategies will target

these two segments with a similar, trial-focused program with dietary conversion as thekey objective.

Based on this audience spectrum, the marketing and communications platform has beencustom tailored for each audience segment. Core motivators within each category willdrive the different category programs creating adoption and conversion.

The following sections include pre-opening and post-opening marketing tactics (coveringall audience segments).

Dietary-DisruptiveAudiences(17% of population)

Dietary-AlignedAudiences(60% of population)

Non-ReceptiveAudiences(23% ofpopulation)

Carnivore Omnivore

Flexivore

Allergic(Free-From

Diets)

Pescavore

VegetarianRawVegan

Vegan


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Core MessagesBased on the different audience motivators, the following core messages will be thearchitecture for all developed tactics pushed into the many mediums:

1. Ingredient-focused food message: highlights the amazing food look, how it ismade and where it comes from

2. Humourous and cheeky explosion of meat-free taste indulgence. This messagewould be paired with a tactic to push new consumer trial in-store

3. Celebration of the good, the fun, and advances in ones (meat-free) life journey

Pre-opening Marketing Tactics: General + OverallIn the pre-opening phase, FAVE will be dedicated to building word-of-mouth, hype andexcitement by utilizing social media channels, direct network influence and localizedmedia outlets.

FAVE will create a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, and Youtube channel at leastfour weeks before opening. The social media objective within all channels during thepre-opening phase will be aimed at increasing profile and building a dedicated audience.The strategy will employ a range of content within the channels including teaser videos,photography of the store build progress, and visual stories of the developing food.

By leveraging existing relationships with local food publications, local media outlets andonline blog personalities, FAVE would push for additional pre-opening word-of-mouth.The message would be directed exclusively around the launch of meat-free cuisine inVancouver. Targeted publications would include Vancouver View, Metro, 24 Hours, TheStraight, ION Magazine, Vancouver Magazine, and the Vancouver Sun. Onlinepublications would include Scout Magazine, VancouverisAwesome.com, Miss604.com,

Toro Magazine, VitaminLDaily.com, FollowmeFoodie.com, Notable.ca andRickChung.com amongst others. A Vancouver-based PR agency will be employed, 3months prior to opening with the responsibility to manage the public relations for FAVE.

Finally and the most importantly, direct network influence will be used to dramaticallyincrease awareness with a Generation Y social influencer market. Pre-openingrestaurant tours, food tastings and trials will be provided to key influencers and influentialneighbours in the marketplace increasing buzz and word-of-mouth in direct networksand via social media. Industry insiders will be treated to pre-opening meals and sneakpeak product trials. And through the use of personal relationships, these influencers willbe treated to complimentary meals for bringing in new guests once the restaurant opensits doors.

Conversion Strategy: Dietary-Disruptive Audiences40% of the market, according to Mintel Reports, can be considered Dietary-Disruptiveaudiences, or otherwise those consumers who are still very loyal to a meat-centric diet.Yet even though these consumers are your typical carnivore, many may still be open tothe trial and adoption of a meat-free experience so long as taste, flavour and the goodlooks of delicious food are not sacrificed in the process.


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The purchase conversion of this segment, including a portion of the unaware Dietary-Aligned segments, truly must be left to first time trial of the food and experience ofFAVE. As the most ideal location for trial is inside a FAVE location, the communicationstrategy must rely on a pull direction, drawing these consumers into the storeexperience. Aside from the obvious, that being a great brand, colourful curb-side appeal,and other marketing techniques discussed in this section, the first FAVE location in a

region requires a unique direct social network promotional campaign to become acatalyst for conversion.

Prior to the first FAVE opening its doors, a collection of local social influencers will beinvited to an exclusive pre-opening reception at the completed store. The hosted FAVEexperience will introduce the concept of FAVE Agents, a social collection of 50 meat-freeinfluencers who care deeply about the values of health, wellness, and the environmentand want to share these values by bringing in carnivorous friends. By inducing trial in anumber of fresh demographic social networks (20-25 year-olds, 25-30 year olds and 30-35 year olds) the undercover promoter model will work to induce trial and spread word-of-mouth more quickly.

By taking part in the program, the FAVE Agent social influencers will be provided anumber of reciprocal perks including a period of free meals, a gaming platform to trackconversions and best other Agents, hosted social evenings at the store, as wellopportunities to win awards and prizes. The ultimate prize: the permanent naming (afterthe winner) of a FAVE menu item.

Depending on the duration and depth of the program, an online social media gamingplatform will need to be created to spur competition between Agents: anything from aunique, searchable and track-able Twitter hashtag, to email-able QR codes to send ontofriends, to a full-blown mobile app that can track real-time progress. The investment ofthis model will be evaluated as the marketing and communication platform unfoldstoward opening.

Adoption Strategy: Dietary-Aligned Audiences60% of the market, according to Mintel Reports, can be considered Dietary-Alignedaudiences, defined as consumers who are ready, or already eating at least a partiallymeat-free diet. These consumers can be categorized by their propensity to enjoy aFAVE meal without convincing them of the benefits. Typically on the lookout for foodservice concepts that fit their dietary preferences, a targeted community-specificmarketing platform can be employed to create awareness and conviction. By breakingthis market down by segment, channels by which the core messages can be directedare listed below.

There are a limited number of vegan and vegetarian community publications, onlineblogs and social influencers. FAVE needs to be listed in Yelp, Urbanspoon and Dinehereand other restaurant directories alongside all other vegetarian options. The companyneeds to leverage strategic supply partner relationships such as Gardein and Daiya

Vegan Cheese to expedite the core messages of FAVE, utilizing direct audienceconnections via blogs and social media.

Quickly aligning FAVE with Happy Cow, Veg.ca, VegDining.com, Vegan in Vancouver,and consumer-organized vegetarian Meet Up groups, FAVE will penetrate the dietary-


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aligned markets fast and effectively. As these communities are typically well-connected,word of new dietary options travels quickly, providing FAVE an immediate projectedboost of early-stage guests.

Post-opening Marketing Tactics: General + Overall

Once open, FAVE will use a multitude of tactics in a myriad of channels to increaseawareness and build local community recall. A comprehensive marketing plan with adefined strategy and on-point message will be built out three months prior to launch andwill include the following tactics:

Continued use of all social media channels, with the addition of 4square.com(with a loyalty trigger). Increased use of photography (via staff onsite) andcustom videos (via creative agency) will highlight the meat-free message

A pre-grand opening media night, including a sneak peak tasting and in-storeexperience before the doors open for the first time

A grand opening day meant to get new guests in the store. Free product trials ofhandcraft sodas for all guests. Old fashioned burger eating competition with localcelebrities

Endorsement strategy for local meat-free celebrities local but high profileperformance athletes, actors, and influencers A creative and targeted business lunch invitation expanding takeout orders Build employee training to encourage positive guest reviews on Yelp,

Urbanspoon, Dinehere, Trip Advisor and Foodvancouver.com In-store loyalty program meant to reward continuous purchasers Experiential out-of-store trial program Subtle support of a not-for-profit environmental program, selected by the

consumer A strategic partnership program (covered below)

POSITIONING STRATEGY

FAVE is the easy choice for healthy eating, easy to like and easy to take friends andfamily to. The food is delicious and quick. It is a place for vegetarians and vegans butmost importantly attracts the broader flexitarian or healthy choice eater. It is has a fastcasual mid price point and universal appeal in branding and messaging. FAVE focuseson the ingredients (fruits and vegetables) not the style of eating (vegetarian). It is simplygood food that just happens to be meat-free. A surprise to non-vegetarians just howgood meat-free cuisine can be.

LOCATION PARTNERSHIPS +ANCHORS

The most critical strategy in every marketing plan is the partnership program. Bytargeting likeminded corporate supporters, hand selecting particular vegetarian marketinitiatives and referral networks, and choosing a not-for-profit charity that resonates with


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the FAVE consumer, the restaurant will be able to increase its business reach, expandrevenues and continue to build goodwill with the brand.

Additionally, the first few FAVE locations need to be strategically selected to ensure alocal, likeminded business entity of significant size and scale is nearby. By locatingFAVE store outlets nearby to Lululemon, Running Room, Mountain Equipment Co-ops,

Vancity, Eds Gluten-Free, Choices, Capers and/or Whole Foods locations it canguarantee a never-ending stream of dietary-aligned consumers, thereby reducing theper-customer acquisition cost.

The following is a summary of the partnership program strategy: Locate FAVE outlets near large (corporate HQ), likeminded companies:

including Whole Foods, Choices, Capers, Vancity, Lululemon and MEC Partner with likeminded corporate supporters: develop a takeout / delivery

system for employees of Lululemon, Running Room, Mountain Equipment Co-opand other socially-conscious organizations

Support the local communities in which FAVE operates: hand select one ortwo large-scale festivals or not-for-profit opportunities to showcase the FAVEproduct complimentary

Select the premium vegetarian marketing and referral networks: designinvolvement in vegetarian networks to build awareness and credibility


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