SWOT Analysis
History of Company:
 Served Kentucky for over 50 years.
 Family Recipes from over 5 decades.
 Moved to a new location that consists of a main dining room, two bars, two
out door patios and a salad bar as well.
 The previous location was right across the street from Western Kentucky
University
Products/ Services:
 Mostly an Italian based restaurant serving;
o Pizza
o Sandwiches
o Pasta
 Use hand cut meat, and local vegetables.
 Serve Grande Cheese’s which is known to be a high quality cheese.
 Provide live entertainment on occasions.
 Provide a rentable establishment for special occasions like weddings and
Greek functions
Strengths:
 Their food is absolutely amazing. Pizza is so good you can tell its fresh and
perfectly cooked.
 They are average in pricing with the food that they have. A typical college
student can afford to grab something to eat there, but may be hesitant with
some of the foods pricing, and it is well priced to suit an older crowd.
 From my experience they had great service and food was put out quickly.
(Maddy)
 The fact they have family original recipes makes them different from their
competitors, they just need to showcase that
 Like the all you can eat salad bar.
 Like the all you can eat buffet for $11.
Weaknesses:
 They have way to many things going on in the same restaurant. It seems like
they want to be a bar/pub, and attract the family atmosphere all in one.
 The have Mellow Mushroom right down the street that is a big chain
restaurant and is closer to campus, and is better known by the Western
community
 Seating is somewhat awkward, and looks a little awkward when first walking
in.
 The pizza buffet was a good deal, however it takes away from the “sit down
dinner” idea part of the restaurant especially when trying to convey that it is
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a family restaurant. It’s slightly ironic tipping the waiter when people are
essentially serving themselves.
The website and social media is all over the place. When first going to their
website, it says they open at three. After clicking on the menu option, it had
different hours and says they open daily at 11. It also has different discounts
on both of those links.
Either this place has no Facebook or Twitter, or they were too difficult to
locate
All of the foods was served differently, there was no uniformity in the plates
or dressings to go along with the meal
The menu offers virtually no variety
Need better parking
Opportunities:
 They have a lot of potential to be successful because the food is fantastic.
 If they were to revamp their menu, and change their image to a Cajun/ New
Orleans style restaurant it would add uniqueness in the Bowling Green
community and would fit more of the image that they currently have with the
city look and all of the lights
 Foods like Cajun and blackened meats, gumbo, spicy pasta
dishes, crawfish, fried alligator bites, jambalaya could all be
incorporated to their menu
 Music that fits the New Orleans area like jazz can be
performed, with an array of trumpets, and when live music
isn’t being performed, it can be played on a soundtrack
 Changing colors to more of the Mardi Gras theme could add
more of an authentic look
 Revamping social media to accurately portray “a night in New
Orleans” by showing the bright colors of Mardi Gras, along with
having consistent information
 This can help incorporate the bar
 A location that has better parking and closer to campus might help.
 Creation of a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
 With these, they could announce various events, follow the
student body to get an idea of what their interests are, and post
pictures of positive dining experiences
 They could also post pictures of successful events they have
hosted to help create the image of a vivacious and lively
environment
 They also need people to closely monitor these networks to
ensure there is always positive feedback, and to hide some
negative ones
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They could partner up with SKYPAC for different events.
Spread the word of what “might be the next big thing” around campus
Bring in test groups of people and have them rate the restaurant on their
experiences, while also enjoying a newly revamped menu
Could really benefit from a more focused market so that they don’t seem so
all over the place.
Threats:
 Mellow Mushroom big chain and right down the street closer to campus.
 Other affordable and well-known restaurants in the area
Target Markets
 The college student:
o Can’t afford an expensive sit down dinner
o Very social, goes out with friends
o Dresses casual
o Eats out for the majority, less home cooking.
o Studies, might be an athlete
o Someone who is looking to have a fun time
 The young adults:
o Usually somewhere close, affordable.
o Dresses nice casual
o Offers a unique and fun atmosphere
o Drawn towards the trendy and innovative menu
Problem:
 They are all over the place in terms of image and the fact they are a
bar/buffet/sit down dining/live entertainment/pub.
 Parking is limited.
 Sit down dining seating is more of a lounge, then “sit down” dining (there
was a table that was completely isolated and in the dark)
Advertising can help by giving them one image. They are trying to be a lot of
different things they really need to try and unify their business. They can do this by
changing the atmosphere in the restaurant. Maybe make it all a lounge atmosphere
or just dinning. Maybe separate the lounge from the sit down part and only open the
lounge from the time of day that target market usually comes to the restaurant.