Management Report On Street Food Event At Manchester Metropolitan University

Success of the Theme and Concept

Describe about the street food event that took place on 9^th December 2015 at the Atrium Court in Cavendish, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK?

This management report relates to a street food event that took place on 9^th December 2015 at the Atrium Court in Cavendish, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. The food stall was named “Fusion Illusion” that consisted of four different types of cuisines namely, French, Greek, Romanian and Indian. The main theme of the foods stall was to depict the concept of multiculturalism. This idea was influenced by the fact that the students involved in this food stall belonged from four different ethnic backgrounds (Turner, 2014). The soul of this theme was to combine all the cultural essence of these four countries and present them through a common link – food. Food is considered an integral part of the tourism industry and is one of the main attractions of tourists. Food has the unique feature of attracting all the senses of a human being at the same time. It was the objective of Fusion to combine the essence of multiculturalism and present it as a tribute by altering the traditional dishes and giving them a new exotic look and taste. While undertaking this transformation, due care was taken so that ingenuity is kept intact and authenticity of the ingredients is maintained. Through Fusion, the students attempted to bring to the forefront the fact that Manchester consists of people belonging from various backgrounds and this helped the city to maintain societal harmony and peace.

This objective of the Fusion to offer a good combination of various cuisines turned out to be very successful among the customers. The event was a huge hit and the stall gained much appreciation. The pivotal point of success was the variety of food brought by the group in a jiggled and exotic manner. In this course, due care was taken in maintaining food safety and hygiene standards. Importance was also given to the allergy risks that could arise due to the consumption of the foods. This is visible in the allergy chart prepared by the group and appended at the end of the operational plan. Therefore, it can be said that the primary objectives of the group was successfully implemented and attained at the end of the event. The theme also proved to be a huge success and the concept of social integration through food was clearly visible (Meredith, 2011).

The concept of sustainability has gained much importance in recent times. Businesses are actively looking for means of achieving sustainable development. The concept of sustainability in the food industry carries a special importance along with it. It is obvious that food and food habits of people are sensitive and in order to excel in this industry as a business concern it is very much necessary to offer food that is safe and hygienic. This was the outlook of the group from sustainable business point of view (Kerzner, 2013). Sustainability also carries with it some social, cultural and environmental factors that have become indispensable. All these factors were taken care of by Fusion as it employed a number of methods as tools to achieve this objective. Labelling of the products and informative charts were used by Fusion to communicate its efforts directed towards achieving sustainability. For example, Fusion maintained the “Good Food Guide for Festival and Street-food Caterers” as proposed by the Food Legacy Programme in partnership with Sustain’s Ethical Eats and A Greener Festival (Good Food Guide for Festival and Street-food Caterers, 2015). Environment friendly food was offered which were procured locally to support the local small businesses. The most innovative step taken by Fusion was the use of blackboards to convey important information about the food being served. Fusion emphasized on the fact that their customers should be aware of the nature and type of food their customers is consuming (Hargreaves and Fink, 2012). Therefore, it can be inferred that Fusion took effective and efficient steps towards attaining sustainability.

Sustainability

Planning and executing the whole venture required crucial decision making by the members of Fusion. The process of decision-making is considered to be one of the most important aspects of management function. As the venture was small and was concentrated within the University, the scope of the decision making process was precise and much more functional. The group conducted a detailed primary research in order to achieve its pre-determined objectives of attaining sustainability and promoting multiculturalism through food (Selznick, 2011). Job responsibilities were assigned according to the degree of conformability of the members and this turned out to be advantageous for the venture. The members possess international strategic experience that catered to an effective decision making process. This in turn, has helped Fusion to be a successful business venture.

A detailed discussion of the elements of the food production will depict the role they played in the success of the venture.

The main characteristic of street food is that they can be made easily and without consuming a considerable amount of time. Food can be served as readymade and these foods can be consumed while moving such as while going for work in the morning. The products have been segmented in order of their appearance, the degree of healthiness, uniqueness and others. The recipes included Romanian, Greek, French and Indian food in a contemporary style and exotic manner. Traditional dishes were experimented on and this provided fruitful results and was able to contribute towards the success of the venture (Burke, 2013). The production methods used were directed towards minimizing waste by preventing producing poor quality food and beverages. These factors contributed towards minimizing costs by Fusion largely.

Scheduling and organizing the whole event was a challenge. However, proper scheduling was resorted to and this helped Fusion in fulfilling its targets. The work schedule along with the responsibilities assigned was critically done with the help of a Gantt chart. This contributed in achieving the pre-determined targets.

As mentioned above, allocation of key responsibilities and scheduling of work was done by the help of a Gantt chart. The areas of work were divided among the members of the group. Some responsibilities were delegated according to their expertise and the team as a whole took up some responsibilities. The objectivity of formulating a structured plan has catered to the needs of Fusion as a venture (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob, 2011).

Risks are closely related to any business venture. In the present case, food safety and hygiene was the primary point of concern. Food hygiene has always been a concern for street foods. Fusion took personal care in maintaining the standards and offering safe and hygienic food to its customers. It also took due care in communication information about allergies with the help of charts and blackboards. This reflects honesty and integrity of Fusion and this enabled them to attract a huge amount of customers.

Training documentation forms an important part of a business. Essential training are required to be given to the staff (in this case the members), in order to serve the customers in a much more efficient manner. Documenting the learning objectives of a training session helps the member perform better and following up their drawbacks. All these are directed towards serving the customers better (Health Knowledge, 2010).

Success of the Decision Making Process

The costs of food and beverage were kept at a minimum and every item was offered within the range of £2. This made their food affordable and much more enjoyable as consisted variety. The revenue generated was almost double the total costs and the venture recorded a gross profit margin of 48.91%. These figures prove that minimizing costs proved to be beneficial for the venture.

The staff appraisal form that is appended at the end of the operational plan is a means of getting feedback from the customers. As Fusion was not a regular food stall customer feedback holds special importance for it. It depicts the overall quality of food and services rendered by Fusion and provide a clear idea about consumer perception (Health Knowledge, 2010).

Creation of Mood and Atmosphere

Attaining consumer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of any business enterprise. Atmosphere in which the event has been held has a considerable amount of influence on the customers that ultimately lead to the success of Fusion. An ideal atmosphere influences the choices made by the customers and develops a mood for consumption. This propensity to consume generates revenue for the business.

The menu provided the customers with the option of choosing from a number of alternatives with different backgrounds. Beverages offered also had a touch of this variety. The menu design promoted the concept of availability of healthy food at an affordable price. The information communicated by Fusion helped its customers to make an informed decision about their food choices.

As Fusion was a fast food style, food was served quickly and in a simple manner so that people can enjoy it while doing their other important works. The food was kept half ready before the order is made so that it can serve the food readymade when ordered. The food was hand served and this saved time of both the seller and the buyer. As Fusion was designed to be a street food stall, the ideal layout would have been a food cart or food truck. These prove the facility of a large serving place that caters to the needs of the customers to the full extent.

Marketing activities are based on the activities of the management and the concept of the management on how to achieve the pre-determined goal of the business. In order to achieve these objectives the management is actively involved in making and implementing strategies and policies in this regard. Effective working of the management depends greatly on the management functions. Leadership is one of such functions of the management that influences the outcomes of the business activities undertaken by the business organization. The management and the managers are required to show effective leadership qualities so that responsibility can be delegated to them in a proper manner (Businessballs.com, 2015).

As mentioned above, leadership is a function of the management and provides a momentum to business activities if practiced in a positive and functional manner. Effective leadership provides a proper direction to implement the policies of the management (Learn-to-be-a-leader.com, 2015). In this backdrop, there are some popular theories of management and leadership that can be resorted to for gaining success by Fusion. In terms of leadership, John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership Model can be adopted and the management as a whole may adopt the theory of Henri Fayol depicting unity of command. Both these theories are dependent on the functional efficiency of the management and its leadership qualities (Leadership, 2015). There is a slight difference between the viewpoints of Chris Mitchell and the suggested theories. As the venture is small, Chris suggested active participation of all the members. On the other hand, the proposed theories promote the idea of centralized planning and control.

The target market was well defined and the group conducted extensive research work in this regard. The target customers mainly included students and university staff. The market was well segmented in the operational plan and was well defined in terms of products offered to the target customers (Meredith, 2011). In future if the event is repeated, there will be attempts to expand the market reach and increase the target customers. This will surely generate extra revenue for Fusion and will result in achieving success at a greater level.

From the financial point of view, the success of Fusion is clearly visible. The cost of production was kept at a minimum level and this made their food affordable to the customers. The forecasted sales figure was £225 in terms of food. In addition to this, projected sales of beverages are taken to be £50. Therefore, the total projected sales figure comes to £275. The overall forecasted gross profit was assumed approximately 78.35%. As per the viewpoint of the members of Fusion, the event was a success, they were able to recover all their costs, and in this process, they made a considerable amount of profit. The main reason behind this success is minimization of cost that resulted in maximization of profits.

References

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