You are the director of marketing for Coastal Fare, a full-service casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in seafood. Since 1970, Coastal Fare has been serving favorite menu items such as fish, scallops, shrimp and lobster. The Coastal Fare garlic butter rolls that are served to each table are so popular, the company sells a boxed mix at various retailers for customers to bake at home.
While Coastal Fare is not a sophisticated restaurant chain, it is priced higher than many other casual dining chains due to the higher cost of seafood, especially as fresh seafood is shipped to the 700 restaurant locations. Due to the higher prices, the chain relies on promotions and specials to bring customers in that may be hesitant to pay full menu price.
One popular Coastal Fare promotion is the Never-Ending Shrimp Plate on Mondays. This promotion began as a method to increase the number of diners on Mondays, a typically slow day. A regular shrimp entrée on the Coastal Fare menu is priced at $19.99 and includes a dozen shrimp and two side items. The Never-Ending Shrimp Plate is priced at $24.99 and the customer is able to request as many shrimp as they care to eat. The Never-Ending Shrimp Plate initially includes a dozen shrimp and the customer can request additional shrimp as many times as they care to eat. The special also includes one side item.
The Never-Ending Shrimp Plate on Mondays has been so successful since its launch in 2018, the director of operations decided to implement it as a permanent offer rather than only on Mondays. The director of operations was hopeful that the special promotion would boost traffic in the third and fourth quarters of 2023 which are the slowest quarters for the chain.
Unfortunately, the promotion did too well on the permanent menu. Coastal Fare saw a record number of third and fourth quarter customers, significantly increasing the chain’s market share. However, the number of diners choosing the Never-Ending Shrimp Plate was much higher than expected and the low margins on the popular deal led to a massive operating loss.
The director of operations wants you to recreate the Never-Ending Shrimp Plate and turn it into something that will still attract customers but yield better results for Coastal Fare.
