SWOT Group Project Essay Merrell’s Pizzeria is a home-style pizzeria business located in Greer, South Carolina. Merrell’s specializes in delicious pizzas and Italian classics as well as amazing service.
Merrell’s currently uses the focus strategy. They concentrate on great service and great food using high quality ingredients. The owner conveyed this to us during our interview, and we also witnessed and experienced this firsthand on our visit. This is an effective strategy because if Merrell’s provides amazing service to its customers and provides its consumers with a delicious product, the customers will keep coming back and will hopefully spread the word. It has developed customer loyalty and through their social network presence word has spread about the restaurant. Employees are empowered to make decisions in order to make each customer’s visit a great and enjoyable experience. The owner is very hands on and there daily. This provides him an opportunity to make any changes or handle any crises that may come up. Merrell’s has a family and friend’s discount and they participate in the Valupak coupon circular. This helps bring in new customers, rewards current customers and builds brand loyalty. When it comes to Merrell’s strengths, the first strength is great dining experience. The food was of exceptional quality and was extremely delicious. As a group, we experienced this strength when we visited the restaurant one Sunday to observe and eat. The prices were great and the pizza was outstanding. The portion size was beyond adequate. It is definitely a great value. The second of Merrell’s strengths is the employees are very friendly and helpful. If it is your first visit, they will help you get exactly what you want without any pressure. The service was fast, polite, and all around exceptional. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted with a smile and a “How can I help you?” That’s not all, less than ten minutes after we placed our order, our pizzas were presented to us in a neat and orderly fashion. The third strength would be that the company has a good organizational structure through work specialization. This works because everyone who is designated to a job is working on his or her set job. Without job specialization, there would be chaos and confusion in the work environment such as waitresses trying to make pizzas or cooks trying to work the register. When we interviewed the owner we asked him what he thought their weaknesses were. He quickly came up with one, that being its location. We also discovered this phenomenon when half our group had trouble finding the restaurant and had to call each other for help. Another weakness is that it has a poor market plan. It’s plan is only based locally and is not trying to stretch its market even further to towns like Taylors or Blue Ridge. It is limited to the town of Greer, which is a poor plan. The final weakness is the lack of technology used. In today’s businesses, technology plays a huge role and is very essential to business growth and success. The extent of technology at Merrell’s is two cash registers and two TVs. This can make it tough to run the business when it gets extremely busy because everything must be done the long way, instead of technology bridging the gaps to make things easier. When asked about its opportunities and future, the owner believes that the restaurant will eventually expand and eventually grow into a larger business with restaurants spread throughout the Greenville area. When it comes to threats and competition, one might assume that large chains such as Pizza Hut, Dominoes, or Papa John’s were the biggest threat, however this is not the case. Some of Merrell’s biggest threats come from other local pizzerias and not the big chain stores. We learned this through our interview with the owner; it is also evident because there are not many chain restaurants in Merrell’s area, but rather more of the “Mom and Pop” variety. Merrell’s strengths far outweigh its weaknesses because its only weakness is location. However when it comes to opportunities and threats, the threats seem to outweigh the opportunities because it is hard for a local niche business to expand like Merrell’s wants to. The threats of the other pizzerias are prevalent. Part one of Merrell’s strategy is that of good service. In our opinion, Merrell’s is doing very well in this aspect because we did not have any problems with the service and were very happy with it. The second part of its strategy is to have great quality pizza. Again, as a group, we were very happy with the quality and value of the pizza. Merrell’s is upholding its strategy and is raising the bar for pizza restaurants everywhere.
Currently Merrell’s uses the focus strategy and this strategy is quite effective for them in our opinion. In order for it to maintain competitiveness, we feel it should explore using either the differentiation or cost leadership strategies. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, but because it is a relatively new business profitability is key for growth and sustainability. According to our text, the differentiation strategy involves a firm distinguishing itself from others in the industry. This can be achieved through creative advertising, distinctive product features, exceptional service, or new technology. Merrell’s service and atmosphere set it apart from other pizza restaurants, especially the major chain restaurants. It’s advertising should emphasize this. It has already achieved loyalty from its customers. This loyalty should help keep any new pizzerias in the Greer area. The friends and family program that it instituted gives customers great incentive to return on a regular basis.
Cost leadership strategy according to the text involves an organization aggressively seeking efficient facilities, pursuing cost reductions, and using tight to produce products more efficiently than others. Companies with low cost positions and undercut competitor’s prices, have good quality and still turn a decent profit. Now we are not suggesting that Merrell’s become Cici’s Pizza, but by reducing costs, it can increase profits. If it can be a low cost pizzeria while maintaining quality this should be able to protect it from competitors. Having a small staff keeps employee costs down. Shopping around and comparing supplier prices could land them a better deal on supplies. This could also give them leverage with current suppliers, ultimately driving costs down.