Shabu House’s Business Analysis
The following information will provide an overview analysis of one of the multiple Shabu Houses located in San Francisco. This information will be divided into two sections. The first two sections will describe the overall property and an operation description of Shabu House business purpose, volume of business, and distinction in the market. The second section will provide an evaluation of the services and products offered through promotion strategies to the business's target market while discussing strengths and weaknesses. The second section will provide an evaluation of the services and products offered through promotion strategies to the business' target market while discussing strengths and weaknesses based on a site visit made on February 11th from 5pm and 7pm.
Shabu House is a Japanese style hot pot restaurant. Shabu House has created a menu that serves a variety of soups, meats, vegetables, and, as well, offers a vegetarian option with a selection of sake, beer and wine. In fact, according to former manager, Amy Wong, Shabu House was the first brand to create the spicy miso broth (personal communication, February 10, 2015). This creation generated an open market for others to open up their own Japanese hot pot restaurant.
The Shabu House location on Ocean Avenue is one of the smallest restaurants compared to its other locations. The maximum capacity of this restaurant is 65 people. Shabu House holds about twelve tables, five bar seats, and, if needed, may be transformed into a large table to accommodate larger groups. Shabu House uses every square inch of their restaurant efficiently. Every night 3 servers seat approximately 150 tables. The staff is required to be knowledgeable in their sake selection in order to generate sales. The restaurant is opened every day from 5pm-10pm and open for lunch Friday and Saturday from 11:30am to 2:30pm. For lunch only 2 servers are needed. Shabu House is a small restaurant that produces high volume of business on a regular basis. Due to the location, a range of customers dines at Shabu House. During the weekdays more of an older, family crowd comes in and on Friday and Saturday, younger adults tend to eat here for dinner. This type of clientele is beneficial towards a business because this place advocates that any age group is welcomed.
The business purpose focuses on giving “customers a wonderful dining experience… that include generous portions”, which is what every restaurant implies to do (Shabu House). Yes, the portions are ‘generous’ endorsing 8oz instead of 6oz, but the business purpose is to generic. A broad business purpose and a restructuring of its own management disable employees from preventing to do their job successfully. Employees do not have the guidance of representing Shabu House with full purpose and conviction. Employees at Shabu House are college students and their focus is mostly on money rather than service. Thus, without a motivating statement or the training from management, a well-crafted staff cannot be completed. As the restaurant industry says, bad service will be told to about nine people and good service will be told to only five. One advantage Shabu House has is that they are the only Japanese hot pot in the area. The area consists of the usual Italian, Mexican, and French food, so, Japanese is a distinction to the market. This convenience makes it suitable for locals and people who work around the area to get Japanese for lunch or dinner at their convenience. As a result, these local become regulars because of the services and products offered and how close the place is.
Some key products presented at the Shabu House is on their menu. The menu is simple and straightforward with reasonable prices and as the business statement states every portion a guest receives is fulfilling. The menu has special sections of an all-you-can-eat for $32 and an all-you-can-eat-and-drink for $43. This special attracts customers especially college students because it is an all-you-can-eat-and-drink. Next, the Happy Hour special of 15% off the whole bill is a way to lure customers in since customers start arriving after happy hour. The promotion is a well-planned strategic move since the first hour of many restaurants are slow. Both of these promotion strategies meet guests’ needs, either families or students, by intertwining a guest’s urge for a generous portion that does not burden their wallets. As well, the selection of sake and strictly Japanese beers, help with the authenticity of what is expected from the restaurant.
Due to poor management and a small staff the service portion of the business becomes inconsistent. During the site visit, it was noted that the server/hostess greeted and seated every guest within a minute of them walking in the door. It was observed during the visit, not a lot customer dined at this establishment. According to Yelp reviews, the service of Shabu House has mixed reviews. Some customers have received phenomenal service stating service was fast and friendly, while other reviews suggest to never return to Shabu House (http://www.yelp.com/biz/shabu-house-san-francisco-2). Shabu House servers take on many roles from serving food and beverages to seating guests and back to cleaning and resetting the table, on top of being friendly to guests, which can become overwhelming. As previously mentioned, the staff does not have set guidelines or training to assist servers for busy nights which leads to an unpleasant experience. After the evaluation and analysis listed in this report Shabu House is a distinct, reinvented, Japanese hot pot restaurant in the Lakeside neighborhood. Shabu House targets a range of customers, which produce a high volume of sales with their bundling products. But, due to the high volume of business, the quality of service diminishes.

Reference

Shabu House - Bay Area's famous Shabu Shabu restaurants. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from http://www.myshabuhouse.com/
Shabu House. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.yelp.com/biz/shabu-house-san-francisco-2