Anna Montanana

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Group 8 Anna Montanana Rosemary Nocito Deana
Vezo Maggie Wu
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Agenda

• Company History
• SWOT analysis
• Issue Identification
• Alternatives and pro/con analysis
• Recommendation
• Implementation

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Company History

• Pita Pit is an up and coming restaurant chain
  that is revolutionizing the fast food industry
  by offering "quality, healthy, fresh food, and
  fast.
• The chain was started in 1995 by John Sotiriadis
  and Nelson Langis with the first Pita Pit opening
  in Kingston, Ontario.
• In 1997 Pita Pit realized that they had a success
  on their hands and began to launch more
  franchises throughout Canada.
• Today there are over 198 Pita Pit locations
  between Canada and the U.S.
• The franchise continues to grow at a rapid pace,
  opening almost four new stores a month.

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Pita Pit Comes to George Washington Univ.

• Pita Pit was opened on the George Washington
  University campus in September of 2005.
• The George Washington University Pita Pit on
  average, achieves the highest gross sales in the
  entire Pita Pit franchise.

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Critical Success Factors that Make the GW Pita
Pit Franchise Profitable

• Pita Pit has accurately defined its target
  market College students
• In order to have direct access to college student
  market, Pita Pit franchises are primarily located
  on college and university campus in both the U.S.
  and Canada.
• Offer a healthy, fast food alternative that is
  fresh and tasty, affordable and quick.
• PitaPit.com is an interactive website that allows
  health conscious customers build pitas online in
  order to determine the nutritional values of
  their customized pita.

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Critical Success Factors that Make the GW Pita
Pit Franchise Profitable cont.

• Unlike many other college campus food options,
  Pita Pit has late night hours and is open until
  3am.
• Atmosphere of the store is very friendly and fun
  with music playing and interactive message and
  picture boards.
• Pita Pit often hires college students as
  employees to reinforce their relationship with
  the student body.
• Offer on campus and off campus delivery service
  for hungry students.

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SWOT
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
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Strengths

• Offers "quality, healthy, fresh food - fast is
  becoming a popular health food alternative for
  people on the go, which aligns with their
  business strategy and appeals to their target
  market
• Over 198 Pita Pits stores scattered throughout
  Canada and the United States
• Strategically opened stores on college campuses
  and in high traffic business areas
• Most Pita Pits are open until 3am or 4am
• The company prides itself on providing a fun
  atmosphere that is inviting and comfortable for
  customers
• Pita Pit offers a punch card where students who
  buy ten pitas can get an eleventh pita free as a
  sales promotion
• The food is cooked fresh on a grill right after
  you have placed your order no toaster or
  microwave is used in any Pita Pit stores
• Located in every store is a detailed nutritional
  information guide to the Pita Pit menu
• Pita Pit offers a convenient delivery option
• Pita Pit can be purchased on GW students GWorld
  meal points card

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Weaknesses

• Pita Pit has no national advertising program
• The university doesnt provide them with any
  guidelines or information regarding marketing, so
  they must contact the university themselves if
  they are interested in specific events or
  marketing opportunities
• Pita Pit doesnt offer a high variety of
  different types of food
• Pita Pit only targets college students and young
  professionals

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Opportunities

• Pita Pit continues to expand, averaging four new
  store openings every month
• With our highly health conscious society that
  seems to scorn carbohydrates, a pita is a light
  alternative
• Pita Pit partnered with GW Basketball, where they
  gave out t-shirts at the games and held a Pita
  Pit dance contest where the contestants were
  displayed on the big screen on the scoreboard and
  the winner won ten free pitas
• Expansion into the Georgetown University market
• Todays professionals devote more time to work
  and less time to preparing food at home,
  therefore, low-cost and convenient fast food
  restaurants become their first choice
• Few competitors offer healthy food, late night
  hours and quick delivery services

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Threats

• A large majority of the GW college students will
  be away for the summer
• Each Pita Pit franchise faces competitive forces
  from other restaurants or fast food chains in the
  area. At GW, Pita Pit faces competition
  primarily from the three other food venues in the
  building, and secondarily from other food venues
  in the area
• Finding quality, reliable deliverymen
• High real estate in the Georgetown area if they
  decide to open up a franchise there
• The problem that the GW franchise may not have
  the capacity to support delivery service into the
  Georgetown area

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Issues

• How is Pita Pit going to sustain sales throughout
  the summer when there aren't as many students on
  campus.
• The unreliability of delivery workers is slowing
  down the efficiency of late night delivery.
• Pita Pit wants to enter into the Georgetown
  University market but is not sure which
  distribution channel it should use opening a new
  store in closer to GU's campus, or starting a
  delivery service based out of GW's store.
• Can the George Washington Pita Pit location
  handle the capacity of making enough Pitas to
  serve both the GW and GU Markets.
• If Pita Pit decides to enter Georgetown Market,
  it will need to develop unique marketing
  strategies since the store is already in
  existence, just out of the GU students reach.

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Alternative 1 Stay Focus on GW campus

• PROS
• Pita Pit already has its brand awareness at GW
  community and they have also established ways of
  promotion at the GW community so it will be
  relatively easy for them to get involved during
  the summer
• Colonial inauguration
• DC is a great location for summer interns and GW
  has the best location for these interns to stay
• Stay company focus on GW campus makes management
  easier
• Track daily operation
• Track demands
• And others

• CONS
• Georgetown market is definitely worth to capture
• Interns and summer students eventually will leave
• No first mover advantage on Georgetowns campus

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Alternative 2 Enter GU campus through delivery
services

• CONS
• Pita Pit has not yet established a great
  awareness at GU campus
• Increased advertising cost
• Finding reliable deliverymen is a big challenge
• If demand increases too much, GW Pita Pit will
  face capacity issues

• PROS
• Increase market share
• Increase sales
• First mover advantage because there is not yet a
  restaurant offering similar menu near GU campus
• Start through delivery service does not cost too
  much and it is easier to manage the new branch of
  business
• Management control stays at GW Pita Pit franchisee

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Alternative 3 Open a new store on GU campus

• CONS
• It is expensive to set up a new store
• initial total investment is in a range between
  170,000 and 250,000
• It is more risky
• Target Market will be limited to students because
  few offices are located near GU campus
• Management issue

• PROS
• Increase market share
• Increase sales
• Being physically on GU campus creates a
  different/better relationship with the
• Easier to establish awareness customers
• Meeting demand will not be a issue
• No delivery issues

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Recommendations

• Alternatives 1 2
• Start expansion into Georgetown by introducing
  delivery service first to test the market
• Hold off until Fall 2005 semester when students
  are back on campus
• This time will allow for improvements to the
  delivery system by adding incentives for
  deliverymen and working out better scheduling to
  ease the transition
• Eventually look into real estate to open a
  franchise in the Georgetown area

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Implementation

• Short term (next 3 months)
• Focus on the GW market
• Take advantage of summer campus events such as CI
  and various kids camps
• Get involved with CIs Taste of GW event
• Take out ads in the summer issues of The Hatchet
• In July, begin planning for, hiring and training
  new delivery workers to prepare for expansion
  into the Georgetown market
• In September, heavily advertise delivery services
  on the Georgetown campus
• College radio, student newspapers, on-campus
  promotions including coupon inserts in the
  newspapers

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Implementation

• Long term
• Assess current situation after the four month
  test period
• If there is enough demand, look into real estate
  in Georgetown to start a new franchise
• Eventually look into other local colleges such as
  American University and Howard University,
  following the Georgetown-expansion plan

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• Thank You
• Group 8
• Anna Montanana
• Rosemary Nocito
• Deana Vezo
• Maggie Wu