You are the senior vice president at Pasta Bounty, an Italian themed full-service restaurant chain with over 900 locations. The chain is best known for its unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks that come with every entrée or as an option on the weekday lunch menu.
Pasta Bounty is open seven days a week from 11:00AM – 10:00PM, with a special lunch menu only available on weekdays. The regular menu consists of traditional Italian entrées with various noodles, sauces and protein. The lunch menu adds smaller portions of the regular menu and also includes panini sandwiches and pizzas. Entrées are priced between $16.99 - $25.99, and the lunch menu is priced between $9.99 - $14.99. Each location also has a full bar, appetizers and dessert options.
Pasta Bounty is an extremely popular restaurant among the lower-middle class and middle class in the United States and Canada. It is also popular among couples and for special occasion dining.
Recently, many quick serve restaurant establishments and even a few casual dining restaurants have developed new spinoff concept restaurants. MCDONALDS recently debuted COSMC’S, a spinoff with a menu that only features hot and cold specialty drinks. KFC debuted SAUCY, a spinoff with a menu that only features chicken tenders with a variety of sauces to choose from and side items. BUFFALO WILD WINGS has spinoffs only selling wings. These spinoffs were created to embrace trends and generate additional revenue without opening additional legacy brand locations.
The CEO of Pasta Bounty feels that now is the time for the chain to jump on the spinoff concept bandwagon. It is quite expensive to open new Pasta Bounty locations, but a spinoff that only features a limited menu would be a great way for the company to gain new customers and help the core legacy brand.
The CEO wants you to develop a spinoff concept for Pasta Bounty that is more than simply soup, salad and breadsticks. The CEO wants you to name the spinoff, determine menu priorities and plan the menu with price points. Additionally, the CEO wants you to identify how the spinoff’s successes and possible failures could affect the legacy brand.
