CRM in UK Restaurant Industry

Chapter 1: Introduction

Preface

Restaurants industries are based on human connections and interactions. Though, CRM is in its core to its business but most of the organizations are nowadays adopting it. The concept of CRM helps in personalized experience to the customers and it integrates seamlessly into the process that already exists. The restaurant of the UK is also adopting the practices of CRM that will be helpful to the restaurants as well as the customers. The chapter focuses on the problem statement as well as the objectives for performing the research along with the research rationale. The significance of the study is also focused on the research and is also highlighted with a proper structure so that it can be understandable.

Background of the research

The research has a significant role to manage the integrated CRM in the restaurant of the UK. The improvement of the CRM is needed to be integrated according to the technologies applied in the market. It would help the restaurant to make an impact on their business and also in this sector. Different customers generally prefer the option of "take away". An integrated CRM can help the organization to better deal with the customers and this would also help the customer to process their orders.

Company Background

The research is based on the restaurant dealing with the CRM to make the availability for its customers. "The Clove Club, London" is been taken for the research which was opened in 2013. It is located in “Shoreditch Town Hall, East London” and was founded by Johnny Smith, Isaac Mchale and Daniel Willis. The restaurant serves modern cooking of the UK and has an elegant food in an informal setting

Problem Statement

It has been seen that the organization is implementing CRM but they are needed for the checking of their performances in increasing g their base of the customers. The restaurants need to gather all the information of their customers related to their food habits and payments system. But, the CRM in the restaurant sector, it lacks in managing all the information and is finally opted with lesser details. This should be sorted out very soon so that the restaurants can deal with overcoming the problems.

Research Rationale

The different restaurants utilized the CRM to manage the customers and other clients in an effective manner. The problems that are associated with the application of CRM in the hotels are that most of the data or information of customer are lost or affected by the third party. Thus it is resulting in the stealing of essential information that might contain sales information and others. The problem is basically because the CRM system is not updated in most of the restaurants and it is not portable to the environment. The problem is still occurring in a large number resulting in a large percentage of loss.

Research Aim

The research aims to improve the practices of CRM in the sectors related to restaurants. It is needed to analyze the feedback that can be taken by the consumer those prefer the option of "take away"

Research Hypothesis

H0: The practices of CRM cannot be improved in the sector that deals with restaurants.

H1: The practices of CRM can be improved in the sector that deals with restaurants.

Research Objectives

To identify the factors of CRM by which it can be improved in the sector that deals with the restaurant

To evaluate the effectiveness and significance of different tools of CRM in the restaurant by which customers can be influenced?

To analyze the relationship between CRM as well as company growth in the bottom line.

To recommend the improvement of CRM activities in the restaurant so that the customers can be able to avail of the facilities of “take away” preference.

Research Questions

What are the factors of CRM by which it can be improved in the sector that deals with the restaurants

What are the effectiveness and significance of different tools of CRM in the restaurant by which customers can be influenced?

What is the relationship between CRM as well as company growth in the bottom line?

What are the improvements in CRM activities in the restaurant so that the customers can be able to avail of the facilities of "take away" preference?

Importance of the study

The study is been considered an important role in analyzing different aspect of improving CRM in the restaurant sectors. It will also identify the factors that led the customer to take the preference of the "take away" option.

Structure of the Dissertation

The dissertation is consisting of five chapters where the first chapter describes the research rational, main objectives as well as the research questions. It focuses on the aim of the research. The second chapter states the factors that influence the practices of CRM for the improvement and the models as well as the theories. It describes the challenges in improving the CRM in the restaurant sectors. The third chapter deals with the research methods as well as designs and also the strategies applied in the study with the process of collecting the data. The fourth chapter will be analyzing the quantitative as well as qualitative data by which it can results in a proper outcome for the research. Finally, the fifth chapter has the dealings with linking with the research objectives and provides proper suggestions and also discusses the limitation of the study and also states the future scope for performing the research.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The chapter describes the complete review of the literature which includes the factors that influence the practices of CRM to improve the restaurant, “The Clove Club, London”. The models as well as theories of the study are also highlighted to make an impact on the study. The challenges of the study are been discussed and also the gap in the literature is stated in this chapter.

2.2 Factors influencing CRM practices to improve restaurant sectors

There are different factors which influence the practices of CRM to improve the restaurant and are stated as follows:

Service Quality: It would help the restaurant, “The Clove Club, London” to improve their food quality as per the customer feedback (Panwar, 2016). They can make their services also after the reviews of the customers.

Latest payment option: Improving the CRM in “The Clove Club, London”, it would help their customers to pay their respective bill according to their wish of paying “mode of payment” which means there is no boundation for the customers in paying their bills (Chorianopoulos, 2016).

Better opportunities: The restaurant, “The Clove Club, London” started the “take away” option for the customers and it also increased the revenue and also there is a high frequency of repeating their business (Kim et al. 2016).

2.3 Models

CRM Customer Model: The model addresses the perspective for corporate customers to deal with their billing (Madhovi and Dhliwayo, 2017). It is formed in such a way that the customer can have their availabilities in dealing with the orders in a restaurant and pay them accordingly (Alshourah et al. 2018). They can also avail of different benefits as per the orders.

CRM Organization Model: This model describes the behavior of the restaurant in marketing, sales, billing services (Malesios et al. 2018). The working of the CRM describes the structural changes and has operated within the organization for their betterment.

2.4 Theory

Behavioral Theory: It represents inter-related perception in the case of CRM and manages the relationship with the corporate as per the behavior of the consumer (Malesios et al. 2018). The integrated approach and the leadership style can be judged critically but the software cannot.

CRM Institutional theory: It is usually utilized for explanation of adopting the practices. It motivates the adoption in effecting the market to increase the practice of the market (Kim et al. 2018. The social factors have the effectiveness in the restaurant for the customers according to the theory.

2.5 Challenges

Different challenges are observed during the implementation of CRM in the restaurant, “The Clove Club, London” and are stated as follows:

Training: It would be problem if any user faces any problem regarding using the software (Alexandridou, 2019). It will also hamper the business when the staffs are also not able to use the software properly.

Integrating CRM: It would be a problem while integrating the system when it already involves in transferring the information system and existing software (Martínez-Navalón et al. 2019).

Defining clear motives: It is required to follow the factors while linking the business objectives as well as the process (Marino and Presti, 2018). Better strategies can be implemented to overcome the challenges in CRM

2.6 Literature Gap

Different journals are acquired to identify the gap in the context and it lacks proper information regarding the implementation of CRM which would help the restaurant (Madhovi and Dhliwayo, 2017). The literature also has gap in the context as it does not have any proper aspect. Different factors are required to analyse it effectively in raising the literature gap.

2.7 Conceptual Framework

2.8 Summary

The chapter has stated the factors that influenced the practices of CRM for improving the restaurant, “The Clove Club, London”. The study describes the theories as well as models to justify the importance for the same and graphically represents the conceptual framework. Later on, the challenges are also discussed and the chapter also shows the gap in the literature

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

The chapter includes a proper outline of the research where the philosophy, approach as well as design of the research is been discussed. The method of collecting the data is also discussed in the chapter by stating the issues in accessibility with ethical consideration. The chapter also highlights the time table so that it can properly understand the period of each activity.

3.2 Research Outline

The outline of the research states that the researcher frames the research in selecting the research method as positivism and inductive approach as well as descriptive design for the research. The ethical consideration of the research can be focused on conducting the surveys as well as interviews to collect the data.

3.3 Research Onion

The research onion clearly states in each of the methods in performing the research. It deals with each method, design and approaches in the research with a clear view.

3.4 Research Philosophy

There are two types of philosophy in research- interpretivism that deals with the evidence overtime period and positivism, which are based on real-life evidence (Kalkat and Grant, 2017). This particular research follows the positivism research philosophy as it is based on collecting the data for making the analysis.

3.5 Research Approach

This research follows inductive, but not deductive approach as there is a need of using the research questions to make the research narrower to meet the requirements.

3.6 Research Design

There are three types namely, exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive research design and the researcher followed the last one as it is required to execute the research in meeting the objectives and the research questions and has got adequate data for the analysis (journalcjast.com, 2019).

3.7 Sampling Process

There are two types of sampling processes- non-probability and probability. The researcher has applied both to complete the analysis based on the surveys on 40 people and interviews with 2 managers.

3.8 Research Strategy

The researcher follows the research strategy based on surveys with a set of questions and interviews with the managers. The research strategy followed by the researcher is clear according to the survey and interview.

3.9 Data collection Method

The researcher follows primary apart from the secondary method as there is a need for survey as well as the interview. The survey was performed with 40 people and it result in a proper analysis by the researcher (academia.edu, 2019).

3.10 Accessibility Issues

At the time of the research, the researcher faced different accessibility issues availing the participants of the interview. Few issues occurred at the time of arranging face to face interviews due to non-availability and general survey to the people.

3.11 Ethical Consideration

It is to be followed at the time of researching to avoid such legal complications. The “Data Protection Act 1998" framed by the government of UK provides sufficient protection to the information that is dealing with personal details. More liberty was provided to the participants while conducting the interview (crmsolutions.crmnext, 2019).

3.12 Data Analysis

It is a process where the data are collected and the researcher analyze from them to perform the research. The study analyses the set of data from the survey and prepares a final analysis to get a proper outcome on the impact of CRM in the restaurant, “The Clove Club, London” (academia.edu, 2019).

Summary

The chapter has guided a proper outline for the study and has mentioned the philosophy, approach, strategy as well as design of the research. The sampling of the research and data collection is also mentioned in the study by stating the availability issues. This chapter also focused on ethical considerations and periods to show each of the activities.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Introduction

This chapter focuses on linking with the objectives as well as a proper suggestion so that the researcher can provide a proper outcome. The limitations of the research are also included in this chapter and have the future scope for the research which has shown a proper understanding.

Linking with objectives

Objective 1: It identifies each of the factors like adding many options for the customers which improve the CRM in implementing in the restaurants.

Objective 2: It shows the importance and effectiveness of various CRM tools so that the customers can get influenced.

Objective 3: It has a proper analysis from the survey that the restaurant is also benefited in their business growth

Objective 4: It can be seen that the customers are getting benefited from taking away options from the advanced CRM so it would be better for them.

Recommendation

It is recommended to every hospitality sector that the CRM must be updated so that it can keep the data more secure and safe. The restaurants who are not using the CRM must include the method in business as it will help in better management of the customers.

Research Limitations

There are some of the limitations that are identified in the research. There is less number of relevant information retrieved through the journals and websites. There are some of the journals in which not all the factors have been mentioned and even the contradiction is not properly available for the topic. The journals that are accessed are having lack information and for that reason some of the results lacks accuracy.

Future Scope

There would be further scope to improve the research as it has a hundred percentage improvements. If there would be more availability of data from various sources, there would be more efficient and have standard research with good quality to get good feedback.

Reference List

Chorianopoulos, A., 2016. Effective CRM using predictive analytics. John Wiley & Sons.

Panwar, U.S. ed., 2016. Handbook of research on promotional strategies and consumer influence in the service sector. IGI Global.

Alexandridou, S., 2019. Customer satisfaction in Hospitality throught the lens of CEM, CRM and technological innovations.

Alshourah, S., Alassaf, H. and Altawalbeh, M., 2018. Roles of Top Management and Customer Orientation in Enhancing the Performance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Hotel Industry. International Journal, 6(3), pp.233-239.

Kalkat, M. and Grant, B., 2017. How new strategies, different promotional tools and CRM are useful for improving sales.

Kim, D.Y., Kim, S.B. and Kim, K.J., 2019. Building corporate reputation, overcoming consumer skepticism, and establishing trust: choosing the right message types and social causes in the restaurant industry. Service Business, 13(2), pp.363-388.

Kim, S.B., Kim, K.J. and Kim, D.Y., 2016. Exploring the effective restaurant CrM ad. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Madhovi, P.G. and Dhliwayo, S., 2017. The relationship between Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and performance in the hotel industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(1), pp.1-13.

Madhovi, P.G. and Dhliwayo, S., 2017. The relationship between Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and performance in the hotel industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(1), pp.1-13.

Malesios, C., Skouloudis, A., Dey, P.K., Abdelaziz, F.B., Kantartzis, A. and Evangelinos, K., 2018. The impact of SME sustainability practices and performance on economic growth from a managerial perspective: Some modeling considerations and empirical analysis results. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27, pp.960-972.

Malesios, C., Skouloudis, A., Dey, P.K., Abdelaziz, F.B., Kantartzis, A. and Evangelinos, K., 2018. The impact of SME sustainability practices and performance on economic growth from a managerial perspective: Some modeling considerations and empirical analysis results. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27, pp.960-972.

Marino, V. and Presti, L.L., 2018. Engagement, satisfaction and customer behavior-based CRM performance. Journal of Service Theory and Practice.

Martínez-Navalón, J.G., Gelashvili, V. and Debasa, F., 2019. The impact of restaurant social media on environmental sustainability: An empirical study. Sustainability, 11(21), p.6105.