Case Study of the Week: Family Entertainment To Go?

Apr 25, 2022

Restaurant and Food Service

You are the marketing director for Friendly's Club House, a chain of family entertainment centers and restaurants. Friendly's Club House offers a limited menu of food and beverages, arcade games, amusement rides, dance floors and special areas for birthday parties.

When Friendly's Club House first opened its doors in the 1970s, the only food item on the menu was pizza. Beverages were limited to soda, coffee, tea or milk. Friendly's Club House was focused on providing top-level entertainment for families, and executives thought the food menu was secondary.

As the years progressed, executives realized that parents would be more willing to take their kids to Friendly's Club House if there were more food options on the menu. In the 1980s Friendly's Club House added salad bars to every location, in the 1990s appetizers were added, and in the 2000s more kid-friendly dinner options were added to the menu such as hotdogs, chicken tenders, and macaroni and cheese. Also in 2015, the majority of the 600 Friendly's Club House locations added beer and wine sales.

Throughout the years, Friendly's Club House marketing campaigns have focused on the entertainment aspect of the chain, rather than the food. Campaigns centered on happy children having fun at Friendly's Club House with the slogan, “It’s always playtime at our club house!”

Senior executives have proposed that local Friendly's Club House begin to partner with third-party meal delivery services in an attempt to increase off-premise sales. Friendly's Club House has never ventured into marketing to-go orders or delivery service since the focus has been on the entertainment experience and not food.

The senior vice president of Friendly's Club House wants you to create a marketing plan that will determine how to best market the chain as a viable food delivery option, rather than simply a family entertainment center that also serves food. The senior vice president wants your marketing plan to include marketing strategies, creative use of the slogan and ways to package entertainment for delivery.

Questions?

Randi Bibiano
Competitive Events Specialist
randi@deca.org

Randi Bibiano is DECA's competitive events specialist. In this role, she conceptualizes and authors role-play scenarios for the collegiate and high school division’s competitive events programs. She also manages DECA's online competitive events and serves as a liaison to volunteer efforts at DECA's educational conferences.

Discussion Questions

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Classroom Connection

Career CLuster:

Hospitality and Tourism

Instructional Area(s):

Marketing

Performance Indicators:

Describe marketing functions and related activities
Explain factors that influence customer/client/business buying behavior
Differentiate between service marketing and product marketing
Explain the use of marketing strategies in hospitality and tourism