Bruce Adams stood in the parking lot facing an empty restaurant building.
The restaurant had closed 60 days earlier, after being in business for about eight months. As he visually surveyed the area he noticed several things of interest. The building itself was fairly new, having been built ten years ago by a franchisee of a national budget steakhouse chain. In the current configuration, the building had three separate dining areas, with seating for 40, 50, and 30 in the respective areas. In addition, there was a lounge that had 12 seats at the bar and space for an additional 16 seats. The quality of the building was very good, and the equipment, while not new, was certainly better than what he’d seen in other locations.
Bruce, who owned three other restaurants in another city within the state, believed that the local area offered potential. A successful 130-room, fourstory Days Inn was located next to the restaurant, and it was positioned at an interchange of an interstate highway. There was a small residential community north of the restaurant that consisted of approximately 100 single-family homes priced slightly above the average for the city. To the east and south of the restaurant were over 1,500 apartments, occupied predominantly by students attending a local university. The city in which the building was located had a rapidly growing population of 50,000, and the effective trading area population for businesses in the city was over 200,000. Several universities and a community college were within a ten-mile radius of the restaurant. The local industrial base consisted of a number of small manufacturing operations.
The largest employers manufactured parts for the automotive industry, published books for national and international distribution, manufactured equipment for the agricultural industry, produced beer for one of the nation’s largest brewers, and provided trucking and transportation services. In addition, there was a growing service economy, and the city was home to a regional medical center and a strong professional community. At the present time, overall economic conditions in the area were good. Unemployment was very low, less than 2 percent, well below both the state and national levels....

Case Study Questions and Issues

1. How can the marketing concept be applied to this situation?

2. Should Bruce be considering the potential product-service mix for a restaurant at this location at this time? Or should he be focused on other issues? If so, what might they be?

3. What information does Bruce need in order to make a decision about the possible purchase or lease of this site?

4. How should he go about gathering this information? What should his action steps be?

5. Based on what Bruce has said, do you perceive him to be a marketer or a seller? Why?

6.Based on the information you have, assess the marketing environment.