Examine the reasons how Porcinis has maintained high product and service quality] What are

Porcinis plan for maintain this quality for its Pronto concept?
Porcini strived hard to maintain its product and services quality. Porcini has created its high quality
as a differentiating factor. Porcini set out a unique ambiance of family-owned restaurant,
differentiating itself from others. Addition to that, they put experienced managers as in charge at
individual restaurants. They hired services of award winning chef, Mariana Molise, and she was in
charge and responsible for training chefs in each of the outlets to make sure that quality is not
deteriorating. It is made sure that all the ingredients used in cooking are fresh and meet high quality
standards. Furthermore, special attention was paid to artful presentation of dishes, no matter if they
cost more. Employees were kept motivated thorough various initiatives, as a result, they had a
stable workforce in high turnover industry.
In order to maintain its product and services quality, the chef, Mariana Molise will be developing
new recipes, keeping in mind, the speed for preparation and serving. Addition to that Porcini has
developed proper plans to hire and recruit employees that will be dedicated and will ensure
consumer satisfaction and services quality. They planned for compensating employees with
different techniques and training. To ensure quality congruency, Porcini will be connecting these
branches to the central branch, displaying Italian backgrounds and cuisines. Customer feedback will
also be a part of ensuring satisfaction; it will be recorded through a real time system. This system
will match out performance to the appropriate employee for scorecard. In order to make sure the
accuracy of the orders and speed, company will take help of technology and will be employing
wireless technology and introduction of debit and credit card terminals brought to table by the
employee.
What does the proposed customer questionnaire system Pronto is planning to use tell about their approach to
quality.. What are the strengths and weakness of this questionnaire.. What are your suggestions to improve
it..

Porcini pays great importance for providing quality products and services to its customers in order
to create a positive experience. So, this questionnaire system is an important factor in measuring
customers experience. This system linked with the consumer performance, so it shows the
importance of consumers comments and views. This system covers most important aspects to
capture consumer experience. These aspects include product and services quality, ambiance and
pace of providing those services. Furthermore, this system is real time; this shows the emphasis on
ensuring quality at acme.
This questionnaire covers most important aspects to ensure measuring of quality in real time. This
questionnaire covers aspects that are considered strengths and differentiating factors for Porcini.
These factors included ambiance branch's cleanliness, quality of dishes, and quality of services and
pace of offering these services. Real time system ensures that the consumer values will be taken
with much importance so it will ensure that customers will fill these questions sincerely. In addition
to that, this question is short and is in compliance to target of servicing quickly. The system
provides them with the flexibility to measure direct consumer response to relate compensation and
bonus. However, there are few aspects that need to be considered.

This questionnaire should also contain suggestions relating to improvement of services and quality.
Taking constructive feedback from people can not only enhance quality but also consumers
experience. In addition to that, questionnaire should also probe about the future prospects and visits
because a loyal customer builds a positive reputation and future profitability. Last, but not the least,
Porcini should also include aspects of the best thing about that restaurant and should probe an
implicit comparison between Porcini and its competitors. It will help Porcini to improve and cater to
more market share.
What is the sustainable completive advantage (cannot be copied by competition), if any, Pronto has..

Porcini certainly has some differentiating factors that can serve as a competitive advantage in this
industry, where most services offered dont have any differentiation factor to a great extent. Porcini
has chosen its high quality offerings and services as a differentiation factor and, so, has tried to
abide by it through various initiatives. These factors dont really represent a competitive advantage
until branded. Services when branded are a source of a competitive advantage like Singaporean girl
for Singapore airlines. In case of Porcini, these services can be a source of competitive advantage.
Usually, services are easily to replicate, and customer can differentiate services when they are
branded.
If one looks into other competing factors, then cuisines typically related to Porcini can serve as a
competitive advantage. Porcini can certainly take advantage of award winning chef, Mariana
Molise. She is an asset with bright ideas in cooking and recipes. Her recipes are easy to be branded
and affiliated with Porcini and it can serve as a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition to
that, these recipes will create a first impact on the mind of the consumer and so people will have
greater recall of that recipe associate with Porcini. Even, if someone tries to copy that recipe it will
still have an advantage of being a first entrant.
Customer segmentation and location, is another factor can be used to build competitive advantage.
Though many of the customers (about 50%) will be not travelling, but still locations offer a
sustainable edge. Even for the time later if there are other entrants, because having a prime location
and first entrant always have an advantage and a positive impact on branding and marketing efforts.
The case identifies three options. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each option. What option
would you recommend (Hint: use NPV and ROI for each option)

Franchising:
Porcini is not very strong financially, so franchising provides attractive opportunities. Company
wont have to bear all construction costs and so it provides an opportunity to focus efforts on
branding and marketing. Franchising will also cause Porcinis operations to start early. Franchising
will also provide control over its operations through certain contracts. As a result, Porcini will not
deviate from its main objective.

On the other hand, Porcini is not a strong brand name so it will not get high fees and royalties with
this method. In addition to that, there is a potential deviation from its standards and procedures with
franchising.
Syndication:
Syndication will transfer the ownership to the investor, but parent company will maintain a full
control over. This method will bring more sites, especially along the highway system if Porcini
converts that land into a cash delivering location. This will allow full control of hiring training and
performance management. This will be in coordination with their standard procedures, and so
porcini can run operations smoothly.
On the other hand, there are certain transactions cost involved in syndication. This is a lengthy
procedure and there are few professions involved before finalizing a deal.
Acquisition:
The third option includes acquisition of the site and development of the building and starting
operations. This will allow them to control all the activities completely. It also allows them to try
and test locations and experiment. If the experiment goes successful, Porcini can further expand if
not they can sell locations without much loss.
Porcini is not financially very strong, so, it requires large investments to be made. It will limit the
opportunity to expand to a maximum of 2 sites a year.
What should company do?..
One can see from the results that company going for acquisition has highest NPV and ROI. This plan,
company owned, will take long in setting up but, once set, it is certainly worth for long term. It will be wise
for the company to pursue a plan to acquire land and fully control all the happenings there. If Porcini suffers
any loss in these chains, then Porcini can sell these outlets without incurring a bigger loss.

Porcini Pronto
Problem Identification
Porcinis is a full-service Italian food restaurant that is looking to expand their business beyond
their domestic market which is currently saturated. As a small private company, Porcinis does not
possess the capital or brand recognition compared to their big chain competitors who are capable of
expanding their business abroad. The company is currently assessing the viability of a new concept,
Porcinis Pronto, which will need to meet the companys 6% hurdle rate.
Key Decision Criteria
Porcinis will face several challenges with this new venture and will need to analyse several factors
before deciding to proceed. One of the most crucial choices will be the location of the Pronto
restaurants since this will define the restaurants target customers. The decision to build Pronto in

high traffic locations requires catering the service to meet the demands of the customers who are
looking for convenience, but at the same time, quality food. This will pose a challenge as the two
are hard to achieve together without incurring significant costs.
Currently, Pronto does not face significant competition for full-service Italian restaurants serving ina-hurry diners. However, the choice of locations for Pronto puts the restaurant in direct competition
with fast-food chains. Pronto will need to convince customers that their value proposition of quality
and service is greater than the unrivaled convenience of fast-food restaurants.
The quality of service at Pronto is reliant on the employees. As a full-service restaurant, prevention
of absenteeism and turnover is crucial in providing customers with rapid quality service. Porcini is
hoping to reach this level of service by experimenting with the Pathfinder Team. The results of
this experiment will provide management with insights into the viability of Prontos business
model.
Management is also concerned with tarnishing Porcinis brand reputation for excellent service and
quality by opening Pronto. To ensure Pronto meets the same level of excellence, the restaurants will
be conducting customer surveys after the meals. However, this will increase the time customers,
who are in a hurry, spend in the restaurant. In addition, there is costs associated with providing
incentives to customers for completing the survey.
The capital requirements required for this expansion can be achieved through three methods,
company own-and-operate, franchising, and syndication. Management will need to choose carefully
as each has associated risks. Company own-and-operate allows the company total control of
operations and customer experience, but requires the largest capital outlay from Porcini. Therefore,
the company is fully liable for the cost of Pronto if it fails. Franchising reduces this capital burden
on Porcini; however, the company will not be able to fully control operations and quality. Therefore,
the companys brand image is at risk. The final option, syndication, provides Porcini with the
benefits of control without the need for a large capital investment. However, the transaction costs
involved in completing a deal is considerable.