CUP RICE AND LUNCH

BOX
Fresh Off the Pan

Jaekeun Lee
MKT 230 Section 4
August 2, 2015
Dr. Horace Melton

Illinois State University

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Executive Summary
The products that I will be introducing is not an existing product. The name of the
business will be Fresh Off the Pan. The name was derived from the phrase Fresh off the
Boat, which a phrase is meaning the migrants from Asia. The products will be introduced in
United States of America. Main target customers are college students who are busy going to
classes and having to miss their lunch or dinner time. The product will be ready within three
to five minutes for the customers to easily take-out. Although it is a new business, it may be
risky to start the business because it has never been introduced to the United States. The
business will be food industry collaborating Korean food and Western food in order to
broaden the customer range. The main product concept is to provide college students with
healthy food but to be ready as fast as other fast food restaurants.
By using different marketing strategies around university campuses such as
distribution, promotion, public relations, pricing strategies, and personal selling, the business
will definitely grow all over the United States. The marketing objective is to provide healthy
food to students who are busy with their academics. Main competing companies would be
any other fast food restaurants that can be easily found around campuses such as McDonalds,
Chipotle, KFC, Burger King, and Potbelly. In order to be successful with these major
companies, the business and product requires something special that will attract customers
over the competing companies.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary......................................................................................................................1
Current Marketing Situation..............................................................................................................3
Market Description...................................................................................................................3
Product Review.......................................................................................................................5
Competitive Review.................................................................................................................6
SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................................7
Strength.................................................................................................................................7
Weakness..............................................................................................................................7
Opportunities..........................................................................................................................8
Threats..................................................................................................................................8
Marketing Objectives.....................................................................................................................9
Marketing Strategies....................................................................................................................10
Marketing Implementations..........................................................................................................11
Action Plan...........................................................................................................................11
Budget.................................................................................................................................12
Controls...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................13
Reference...................................................................................................................................13

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Current Marketing Situation

Market Description
As an international student studying at the United States, I realized that most of the
restaurants around campuses are mostly unhealthy products. However, students, staffs, and
faculty members have no other option because fast food restaurants are the only way to
reduce their time. Therefore, I decided to introduce a healthy but fast food to students, staffs,
and faculty members for both dine-in and take-out. It is pretty clear that many people are
looking for fast food but that are healthier because McDonalds have been one of the most
popular restaurants all over the world but as other restaurants such as Chipotle, Potbelly, and
Subway started to introduce healthier food with more fresh ingredients, McDonalds started to
lose their customers. The restaurant chain has struggled to maintain its relevancy with
millennials, a key consumer group, in the face of competition from fast-casual chains like
Chipotle, which continues to report explosive growth (Gensler 2014). This article clearly
shows that the trend of fast food restaurant is going from just ready-to-go food to ready-to-go
and healthy food. The article also mentioned that, Net income for the third quarter fell 30% to
$1.07 billion ($1.09 per share) from $1.52 billion ($1.52 per share) a year ago (Gensler
2014).
Fresh off the Pan will start with few simple menus. Main concept of the products
will be a bowl of rice served with toppings including pork, ham, beef, chicken, vegetables,
tuna, and don katsu. There will also be special sauce included in between the rice and the
toppings in order to provide variety to the flavor. There will be three different sauce: ketchup,
honey mustard, and mayonnaise that will be provided to customers for free. It is completely a
new market in fast food restaurant industry because all of the fast food restaurant is based on

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bread, if not, flour. However, it was very difficult to find restaurants with rice-based products.
Therefore, it will be very competitive. The trend of the fast food is going from just simply
The business will start at three different campuses with more than 500 Asian
students. This is one of our marketing strategy because at least half of the Asian students will
be a guaranteed customers. After the restaurants are launched, we will do a survey of how to
improve our products and make it more appealing to almost everyones taste. Once all three
branches are settled down, the business will spread out into different campuses within the
United States. Many of the international students miss their food back home. Rice is a main
meal for almost all the countries in Asia. Increasing number of students from India, China,
Japan, and Korea are coming abroad to the United States to study. According to Forbes
website, there are total of 44,942 students in University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Out of
all the students, there are 15.08 percent of Asian students, which equals to around 6,777
Asian students enrolled in the school. This statistic shows that there are great number of
Asian students studying at schools in America. Also, our target customers are not only Asian
students but any college students who are looking for healthier food that can be ready within
few minutes for them to-go or to dine-in.
The company will be open from 11am to 8pm from Monday to Thursday and 11am
to 11pm during weekends in order to attract more customers at night during weekends. Many
students are looking for late night snacks but they are limited with their choices and most of
the late night snacks around campuses are very heavy to eat at night. The company will
definitely provide lighter and healthier snacks at night to fulfill the customers needs. There
will not be a delivery so allocating the store will be one of the main important point in
opening up the business. There is not delivery in order to provide fresh food.

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Product Review
Fresh of the Pan will have various menu choices. All the menu will have rice on the
bottom, special sauce, and ingredient of customers choice on the top. Choice of ingredients
will be pork, beef, sausage, ham, tuna, salad, chicken and don katsu. In order to bring variety
to the flavor, customers can add ketchup, honey mustard, and mayonnaise for free. Customers
will also be able to choose in between white rice, brown rice, and sticky rice. Presenting
different options will definitely be more beneficial in bring in more customers. Also, there
will be dried seaweed provided in small pieces that will add more variety to the flavor.
Along with the rice cups, there will be fruits, side dishes, and soft drinks for
customers to purchase. In many Asian restaurants, basic side dishes are provided. Just like
other Asian restaurants, yellow-reddish, Kimchi, Asian styles beans, and few others will be
ready for customers to self-serve with limited amount. They could purchase a small plate in
order to serve themselves with the side dish menu. Instead of snacks or chips, the company
will sell fresh fruits because main objective of the company is healthy food ready-to-go.
However, in marketing point of view, we will need to sell soft drinks such as coke products.
Coke products are the well-sold products all over the world. In order to make the restaurant
more appealing to all race students, soft drinks must be sold.
In order to present unique characteristics, all the ingredients will be fresh ingredients
instead of frozen food. This is to stay with the marketing objective that is to provide healthy
food for college students. Therefore, including salads and meat, all the ingredients will be
fresh ingredients.

Competitive Review
There are countless amount of fast food restaurants in the United States of America.

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According to QSR Magazines that was published in 2011, the biggest fast food industry in
America is McDonalds. Along with McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Wendys, and
Panera Bread were the top ranked restaurants (Oches 2011). As a new starting business, it
would be very difficult to compete with other major companies. Another major competing
company would be the Panda Express. Panda Express is one of the biggest Asian food
franchises in the United States. This statistic shows both possibilities and threats of opening
up an Asian food based restaurant. Panda Express is the only Asian franchise that is famous
nationwide. This can be accepted as it is very difficult to succeed in American food industry
with Asian food items. However, if that thought is flipped over, it means that Panda Express
has made itself to develop within America. Panda Express can be an organization that can be
looked up at but at the same time, become a competing company.
Trend tends to change as time goes by. People are looking for healthier food even
within fast food industries. Therefore, newly rising companies in 2014 are Chipotle, Chickfil-A, and Panera Bread. Common aspect of these restaurants are that it is less fattening by
using healthier ingredients. CNN received a survey response from more than 5,000
individuals rating the fast food restaurants scale of 1 to 100. According to the survey, Chickfil-A received 86 points and ranked number one among fast food restaurants. However, the
biggest fast food company, McDonalds was ranked in number 18 with a scale of 68 (Vasel
2015). This completely shows that people are looking for healthier food. Therefore, even
though it is a build-up business, it has a huge potential to be competitive within the fast food
industry.

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SWOT Analysis
There are going to be many different weaknesses and threats, since Fresh off the Pan
is in the beginning stage. However, company has many opportunities for changes and
adjustments. Company needs precious SWOT analysis in order for us to be successful in the
market. Many of these weaknesses and threats are just temporary issues, since we have the
confidence to overcome these factors with great marketing plans and employees.
Strength
The companys biggest potential positive internal factors are employees benefits
along with diversity and inclusion. Through research and being part of the workforce, I
recognized the importance of the benefits. One of the most important components of running
a business is keeping up with the employees and keeping them happy. Also providing them
with enough incentives (benefits) to maximize their productivity. With great benefits, it
increases companys appeal, minimize the turnover rate, better morale, healthier employees,
and better job performance (Mann 2015). Even though this company is a chain restaurant, I
am planning to encourage managers/employees to come up with their own specialties for
their own location. Companies cannot be successful on a global platform if they do not have a
diverse and inclusive workforce. Diversity is a key of innovation and attracts top talent (Egan
2015).
Weakness
Since this company is in the buildup stage, our weakness is not having enough
capitals. In order for us to expand and grow, company needs more investors to fund our
program. However, for the short term, we could get loans from the banks to expand, so the
company could be more attractive to the investors. Many of our competitors are already well
established and still growing every day. US chain Panda Express is still the largest Asian fast
food chain in the world at US$1.9 billion in 2013 value, three Japanese chains are quickly

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catching up. Japan-based gyudon chains Sukiya (US$1.7 billion) and Yoshinoya (US$1.5
billion) fill the second- and third-place rankings, each with ambitions to become true global
competitors (Friend 2015).
Opportunities
The companys one of the major opportunity is the rising of the Asian food
chains/cuisines market. Asia is home of many largest foodservice markets in the world and
also the largest upcoming growth in the market. Asian trends have become the global trends.
According to Elizabeth Friend, Senior Consumer Foodservice Analyst, Asian flavors are
growing increasingly popular all over the world, due in part to rapid growth in Asian markets,
but also to rising interest in bold, spicy flavors and exciting new foodservice experiences.
Asian concepts in particular, especially those that extend beyond typical Chinese food or
sushi, are a growing trend in major urban areas, offering consumers more nuanced ways to
enjoy Asian cuisine (Friend 2015) Many of the Korean foods have that bold and spicy
flavors that many people are looking for.
Threats
The biggest threat for the company is that there are many successful cuisines for
Chinese and Japanese food. However, there are not any recognizable Korean cuisines. I have
seen many Korean cuisines closed down, because they could not quite grasp Americans
taste. This is very entrepreneurial move. Even though Korean Cuisines are on the rise. In
order to overcome this threat, company needs to find the flavors that will attract people. Most
important thing in the food industry is the taste of the foods. People tend to seek more new
flavors and healthier choices for their diet. At headquarter of the company, planning on to
hire many cooks to encourage experimenting many different flavors and menu. Also, food
testing the new menus and flavors are must with many different consumers.

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Marketing Objectives
Many college students prefer microwavable foods/snacks because they taste good,
cheap, and fast. However, these microwavable foods/snacks are not really healthy. Our main
goal is to provide healthy, fast, good tastings meals to students to keep up with their studies
and life. Since Fresh Off the Pan have not launched anywhere yet. The most important part of
any business is marketing and getting the name out in the area. Since our target markets are
college students and the importance of advertising through social network is essential. By
creating Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest page, Tumblr, and Instagram, we can
reach our targets fast. We can easily start any promotion through these social network pages.
We would like to start the advertising about a month before the launching date of the
restaurants. Planning on launching the restaurants in the following locations within a year:
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, University of California Los Angeles, and
University of Pennsylvania. We have picked these specific locations, because these locations
have many students and especially Asian students. We tried to minimize the risks as much as
possible in order for us to slowly expand to different universities/colleges around the United
States.
In order for us to attain these goals, we need some capital. According to a report on
food franchising by Franchise Business Review, 51.5 percent of food franchises earn profits
of less than $50,000 a year; roughly 7 percent to $250,000, with the average profit for all
restaurants coming in at $82,033. That does not sound too bad, until you factor in the initial
investment. Though some basic restaurant concepts cost less than $100,000 to open, many
established brands require as much as $500,000 to start. And a full-service restaurant may
require an initial investment of $1 million or more (Daley 2013). Even though our focus is
heavily on the take-outs, we also offer dine-in services (full service), which requires more
capital. We need lots of investors/capitals in order for us to launch restaurants in those three

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locations.

Marketing Strategies
In order to enter into a food industry field, solely set marketing strategies will be
extremely crucial. This can contribute to success or failure of the business. Advertisement is
one of the most important factors to consider when starting the business. Since it is a brand
new company, notifying the company to as many people as possible will be better. There will
be banners around campuses as well as flyers within campus buildings. Also, when the
restaurant is first launched, coupons will be distributed to students, staffs, and faculty
members to bring in the customers. Also, the best way to advertise a restaurant is to
participate in school events. The company will have public relation department in order to
keep a good relationship with the schools. Therefore, by participating in school events,
people will be able to see what is being sold and how the business is ran.
Price is one of the most difficult and important aspect of the product when starting
the business. Pricing is very sensitive problem. Just like any other fast food restaurants,
combos with the rice cup, fruits, and drinks will be provided as well as being sold
individually. Cup rice with the salad topping will be the cheapest with 6.99 dollars. Any other
cup rice with meat topping will cost 7.99 dollars. Combo with Salad Cup Rice will cost 11.99
and all other combos will cost 12.99 dollars. This is a reasonable and definitely an affordable
price for college students. However, price will be the same within all the branches even if the
store is allocated outside of the campus.
Promotion is one of the best ways to bring customers into the store. There will be
various promotions. The company will provide sample to potential customers and ask them to
rate the food. Once they rate and provide their ideas to improve the products, they will

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receive free upgrade to combo. This will only go on for two weeks and first-come first-serve
basis. Stimulating potential customers by advertising that promotions are first-come firstserve basis will be a great motive for them to come in to the store. If customers provide their
student ID cards, they will be able to enroll into the membership. Once they become a
member, they will receive a card, which will give those upgrades to combo, free meal, and
free side dish at random times. Also, they will be able to save up points that will give them 10
percent of their purchase and later purchase with those points. This is an indirect way to help
students to waive their financial stress.
As mentioned several times, place of the restaurants will start around college
campuses. Main mission of the company is to provide busy students with healthy food that
can be ready within few minutes for them to go. It can be considered fast food but ingredients
that are included in the products will definitely be fresh. Once it is stable in three campuses, it
will expand two at a time. After the company gains profit, we will open up in schools in
different areas and make it a nationwide company. Main goal of the company is to allocate
branches in all 50 states within 10 years.

Marketing Implementations
Action Plan
Within action plan stage, it is important to set the right priorities. First of all, we will recruit
employees to start up the business together. Even though I will be the founder, until the
company is set and ready, I will be doing all the recruitment. Once there are one managers at
all three start up branches, managers will recruit part-time employees. There will be one to
two chefs at each brand according to the size of the restaurant.
Budget
Budget is one of the most difficult aspect of starting up the business. The company

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will start the business with funds collected by different places. I will try to put as much
capital as possible that I have earned before opening up the business. Also, part of the funds
will be provided by my parents and any other investors that are interested in the business.
Rest of them will have to be covered by bank loan.
It is expect that single restaurant will need at least one million dollars to open up the
business. If the tax rate is supposed to be 7.75 percent of the total cost, a 12.99 dollar combo
will be 14 dollars. Out of 14 dollars, 3 dollars will be deducted as the ingredient price. Sales
revenue of a single combo will be around 11 dollars. If we expect to sell average of 150
combos a day, we will earn 602,250 dollars (11 * 365) a year. Break-even point in units
would be 90,909 combos and 1,272,727 dollars in sales that can be met within one year and
nine months.
Controls
Since there will be managers in each branch that will be reporting to me every other
week of their performance, I will be able to keep track of all the income, outcome,
performance and so on. Also, there will be a program that will be linked to the order machine.
The statistics will be available for me to access at any time through my smartphone. There
will be a group messaging application that will link all the managers and myself to discuss a
way to enhance the quality of both service and product. Therefore, the company will be able
to find out which menus are most popular in which location and purchase more ingredients
for certain products. There also will be security camera installed in different areas of the
restaurant that I will have an access to.

Conclusion
Overall, Fresh of the Pan will be a successful business in the United States. As a
marketer, it is very significant to follow the trend of the market. I was able to catch the trend

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of how people are changing in their taste and preferences. By introducing completely new
material to college students by reducing their financial stress, it will be very meaningful
business. No matter how big the company develops, the main motive of providing healthy
food with affordable price to customers will never change. By continuously developing and
improving by keeping the products fresh and satisfying customers, it will be very successful
business within the United States of America.

Reference
Friend, Elizabeth. "Interest in Asian Cuisines Is Driving New Concept and Menu Trends Analyst Insight from Euromonitor International." Euromonitor International. N.p., 16 May
2015. Web. 05 Aug. 2015.
Gensler, Lauren. "McDonald's Profit Down 30% On Sales Slump." Forbes. Magazine, 21
Oct. 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2015.
Mann, Nick. "Top 5 Reasons to Offer Employee Benefits." BusinessBee. N.p., n.d. Web. 3
Aug. 2015.
Oches, Sam. "Top 50 Breakdown by Market Segments." QSR Magazines. N.p., Aug. 2011.
Web. 05 Aug. 2015.
Vasel, Kathryn. "America's Favorite Fast Food Chain Is..." CNNMoney. Cable News
Network, 30 June 2015. Web. 05 Aug. 2015.
"University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign." Forbes. N.p., 19 Jan. 2015. Web. 05 Aug. 2015.