Post on 25-Aug-2020
Logan Vickroy, Liz Leech, & Nick Robbins February 8, 2016
HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM OPERATIONS RESEARCH EVENT
Indianola DECA Chapter
Indianola High School
1304 E. First Avenue
Indianola, IA 50125
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Executive Summary ..................................................................... 1
II. Introduction ............................................................................. 2-6
a. Description of business .................................................................... 2
b. Description of the community ......................................................... 3
c. Overview of current promotional tactics ......................................... 6
III. Research Methods ................................................................. 7-12
a. Description and rationale of research methodologies .................... 7
b. Process of conducting selected research methods ........................ 10
IV. Findings and Conclusions of the Study ..................................12-17
a. Findings of the research study ....................................................... 12
b. Conclusions based of the findings .................................................. 15
V. Proposed Strategic Plan ........................................................17-24
a. Objectives and rationale of strategic plan ...................................... 17
b. Proposed activities and timelines .................................................. 18
c. Proposed metrics and key performance indicators to measure plan
effectiveness .................................................................................. 23
VI. Proposed Budget ........................................................................ 25
VII. Bibliography ........................................................................... 26
VIII. Appendix ..........................................................................27-28
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I. Executive Summary
Business Overview: Brickhouse Tavern is a restaurant located in Indianola, Iowa. The business is
primarily known for its pizza and special event room on the second level. The goal of this
restaurant is simply to make their customers happy and cater to their needs when it comes to
dining.
Research Methods: Research over the restaurant included interviews with several members of
the community, as well as Brickhouse employees and the co-owners. A survey and various
secondary sources were also included in our research process.
Findings and Conclusions: obtained through research
Pros Cons
High quality food Poor social media presence Affordable Lack of informative material for customers
Centrally located within community Lack of marketing within community Free banquet room Lack of younger clientele
Objectives:
o Re-vamp social media in order to attract customers and give people access to
information
o Broaden exposure within the community in order to expand target market
o Reach customers where they are while providing special deals and incentives
Proposed Plan:
Enhance Brickhouse’s current website, Facebook, and Twitter pages Increase advertising and event sponsoring within the community Utilize “Remind” application Implement Pizza Punch Promotion card
Proposed Budget: We created our plan with activities allowing the overall cost to remain low.
The complete breakdown of our budget can be found in the following report.
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II. Introduction
A. Description of the Business
The Brickhouse Tavern is located in Indianola, Iowa and is an Italian inspired, rustic-style
restaurant. Established in 2009, the vision of The Brickhouse Tavern originated with JR and
Heather Sheffer. The couple wanted an eatery with a
menu and an atmosphere that carried on a tradition of
hospitality, quality and value that is only found among
the finest small town restaurants in the Midwest. The
Sheffers found a watering hole that was for sale in
Indianola. The Indianola community provided the
Sheffers with a place where they felt welcome, which encouraged the couple to raise a family
and lay the groundwork for The Brickhouse Tavern. On January 1, 2012, Joe and Amanda
Ripperger bought The Brickhouse Tavern from the original owners, JR and Heather Sheffer. In
earlier years, Joe and Amanda both worked for JR and Heather as waiters and managers. Being
exceptional servers, managers and overall workers, they believed they could take on the roles
of being business owners.
The Brickhouse is a key fixture located on the west side of the historic town square in
Indianola for over 10 years. Serving the best Italian food in the local area, The Brickhouse
Tavern creates a big city vibe that meets small town America. The Brickhouse is a great place to
go for a quick, affordable meal with family and friends, or a large group meal in the banquet
room. The overall target market of the Brickhouse includes people between the ages of 25 to
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45. The Brickhouse’s casual old style atmosphere makes it an amazingly cozy place for dining
with family, friends or clients and business associates. All of the workers are pleasant and
welcoming, and make every Brickhouse experience superior for their guests.
B. Description of the Community
Economic: Indianola is a mid-sized town located closely to the state’s capital, Des Moines. The
estimated median income in Indianola is $53,172. In comparison to the national estimated
median of $51,759, Indianola residents hit right above the average medium income. The
average household size in Indianola is 2.39 persons, in contrast to the National average
household that consists of 2.54 people. The percentage of people in poverty in Indianola stands
at 10%. In general, the economic condition in Indianola is positive. New businesses are
frequently being drawn into the town, allowing its economy to grow. New developments
continue to be constructed throughout the town, which also
contributes to the growth of the town’s economy. The sales tax
in Indianola is currently set at 7%.
Geographic: Brickhouse Tavern is located in Indianola, Iowa.
Brickhouse is a branch of Sportspage, another restaurant
located in Indianola. Various Sports Page restaurants are located in Pella, Winterset and
Ankeny. Each of these towns are in central Iowa and conveniently located near the state’s
capital of Des Moines. The Indianola Brickhouse location is approximately 18 miles South of Des
Moines. Indianola has a total area of 11.25 square miles, all of it land. The population estimate
in 2014 was 15,305, or 1,361 people per square mile.
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Brickhouse can be found on the Indianola town square,
which is centrally located within Indianola and filled with
various local businesses and restaurants. Indianola is
located in Warren County, and is the county seat. The
county is one of 99 various counties within Iowa and was
established in 1849. The county has a total area of 573.5
square miles, of which 570 square miles is land and 3.5 square miles is water.
Demographic: According to city-data.com, in 2014, the population of Indianola was estimated
to be 15,305, which is a 17.7% increase from the 2000 census. 53.8% of the population are
female and 46.2% are male. The median age of 33.2 years for Indianola residents was
noticeably lower than the median age for the entire state of Iowa, which is 38 years. The
population of Indianola is mostly Caucasian with 94.2% of citizens reporting that they are white.
Hispanic, mixed, and African-American are the next most common races at 2.3%, 1.4%, and
0.6%, respectively.
Races of Indianola Community School District
Caucasian 94.2% 14,165 Hispanic 2.3% 347
More Than One Race 1.4% 217
African-American 0.6% 92
Asian (Not White) 0.4% 60 Native Hawaiian/Pacific
Islander 0.2% 34
American Indian 0.1% 16 Other 0.8% 122
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Socioeconomic:
According to neighborhoodscout.com, Indianola is safer than approximately 24% of the
cities in the nation. It is reported that Indianola annually averages 431 crimes (both violent and
property crimes). Residents have a 2.8% chance
of having a crime committed against them.
Indianola is home to the Indianola
Community School District (ICSD). There are six
schools that make up the district: Whittier,
Wilder, Emerson and Irving Elementary Schools.
Indianola Middle school, and Indianola High School may also be added to the list. There are
sixteen students per classroom in the district, slightly above the Iowa ratio of 14 students per
one teacher. The total student enrollment is 3,519. The district is proficient in both reading and
math, and ranks slightly above the state average in
both areas.
Simpson College is also located in
Indianola. Adding about 1,400 persons to the city,
Simpson is a small, private, liberal-arts college. The
school identifies with the United Methodist Church, participates in many sport, and offers 80
majors and pre-professional programs. It has also been recently expanding to begin offering
certain graduate programs.
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C. Overview of the Current Promotional Tactics
The Brickhouse Tavern currently utilizes many forms of promotional strategies and
practices. The establishment uses social media such as a Facebook page and a twitter account
to help boost business and get the word out about the restaurant. The Facebook page includes
frequent posts about the various specials they provide and information about upcoming bands
that will perform at the restaurant. The twitter account doesn’t provide nearly as much
information as the Facebook page does, but does
mention an occasional update or special deal. The
Brickhouse Facebook page currently has 1,146 “likes”
and the twitter account currently has 109 followers.
These numbers are relatively low compared to
Indianola’s population of 15,305. This tells us that the
social and mobile promotional tactics of Brickhouse are doing okay, but have room for
improvement. Brickhouse works with its sister restaurant, The Sports Page, to help support
other local businesses by sponsoring them. By also sponsoring various events within the
community, such as the National Balloon Classic, Brickhouse is able to utilize what is available
locally to assist with the promoting of the business. The local promotional tactics are what bring
the most business to Brickhouse.
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III. Research Methods Used in the Study
A. Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct the research
study
Research Goals
As the purpose of this project is to conduct market research in order to determine the
effectiveness of Brickhouse’s current Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies and seek
to improve them, we employed several methodologies to conduct appropriate research.
Exploratory primary and secondary research were used to gather more information about
Brickhouse Tavern, and to gain a better understanding about current trends in Social, Local and
Mobile promotional strategies.
Secondary Research
Websites Social Media Brickhouse-
(www.thesportspagegrill.com/indexbrickhouse.html)
Competitors- (www.winnspizzaandsteakhouse.com)
Brickhouse Twitter Account
Brickhouse Facebook Account
Magazines Online Articles
Food Network Magazine
“25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas: Tips & Strategies to win in the Food Business”
Megan Marrs “What is SoLoMo and why is it important to
marketers?” C. Ketterman
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As we began our secondary research, we had a goal to diversify our sources by visiting
various websites, social media platforms and by reading multiple articles. This process was able
to provide us with a broad idea of how successful restaurants in our area employ SoLoMo
strategies into their marketing techniques. Our research also provided us with an idea of how
well the Brickhouse Tavern is doing with their current marketing and what methods they could
possibly employ in order to improve the business and surpass their competition. It is important
that we did not limit ourselves to one type of secondary source because our information could
have been biased or misrepresented by marketing themes in that specific source. We hoped to
find lots of information on why the SoLoMo strategies relate to and work with one another in
the ways that they do.
Primary Research Amanda and Joe Ripperger Co-owners of Brickhouse Tavern
Kate Leech Waitress at Brickhouse
Elijah Clutter College Student at Simpson
Trina Toigo Indianola High School Student
Janet Robbins Adult living in Indianola
Over the course of 2.5 months, various forms of primary research were conducted in
order to gather detailed and analytical data regarding our mission of gathering basic
information about Brickhouse Tavern. In the process of conducting our studies, we chose to
utilize primary research in the form of multiple interviews and a survey. We chose these
methods because we believed they would provide us with the most comprehensive look at
what is going well for Brickhouse’s current Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies and
what aspects of them could use improvement.
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Joe and Amanda Ripperger:
We became personally acquainted with the owners of
the business, Joe and Amanda Ripperger in order to gather data
on the internal operations of Brickhouse Tavern. They gave us
very helpful feedback about what they have done to improve
their SoLoMo marketing already and what has seemed most
successful.
Kate Leech:
We interviewed Kate Leech, a waitress at the Brickhouse via
FaceTime to gather her opinions on how well she feels the Brickhouse’s
SoLoMo strategies are from a waitress’ viewpoint. Kate gave us great
feedback stating that the business could definitely do some work with
improving their social media marketing.
Janet Robbins:
We interviewed Janet Robbins, a representative of the typical adult residing in
Indianola. This interview gave us more insight as to what a person from her generation, people
aged 45 to 55, think of the Brickhouse. Janet had very helpful answers regarding how she feels
about the Brickhouse’s marketing and what she believes could use improvement when it comes
to marketing.
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College Student:
Personally interviewing Elijah Clutter, a student at Simpson College, helped us to gain a
better understanding of how college students in Indianola may view The Brickhouse Tavern.
Elijah gave us feedback involving how he views the Brickhouse, and his opinions on The
Brickhouse’s current SoLoMo strategies.
Trina Toigo:
In order to gather more information about how a high school student attending
Indianola High School and living in Indianola may view the Brickhouse Tavern’s Social, Local and
Mobile marketing strategies, we sat down with Trina and asked her various questions about
Brickhouse and asked for some of her opinions regarding the restaurant.
B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods
Personal Interview
Questions asked during the interview processes: What is your name?
Do you currently live in Indianola?
How often do you visit Brickhouse Tavern?
Where do you find updates & info about Brickhouse?
How strong do you feel the Brickhouse’s social media presence is?
What determines which restaurant you choose to attend?
On a typical Friday night what comes to mind when choosing a restaurant?
How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in Indianola?
How would you describe a dining experience at Brickhouse Tavern?
How often do you use sites such as Yelp or Foursquare?
Does a poor rating on a restaurant dictate whether or not you are willing to dine there?
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In order to learn more about Brickhouse Tavern, many personal interviews were
conducted. We became personally acquainted with the owners of the business, Joe and
Amanda Ripperger in order to gather data on the internal operations of Brickhouse Tavern.
Next, we conducted more face-to-face interviews with a waitress at Brickhouse named
Kate Leech, an adult living and working in the Indianola community named Janet Robbins, a
student at Indianola High School named Trina Toigo, a Simpson College student named Elijah
Clutter. Before we followed through with the interviews, we put together a list (see above) of
questions for each person.
These personal conversations allowed us to better understand how various Indianola
community members feel about Brickhouse, and what their opinions are regarding the
restaurant’s current Social, Local, and Mobile promotional strategies.
Online Survey
We decided to provide the Indianola community with an online Google survey because
the process was quick and easy, yet became a reliable and accurate source of information that
directly reflected the opinions of various focus groups within the Indianola Community.
Although surveys are an excellent source of information, they can very easily be biased and/or
inaccurate. In order to create a valid survey, we used elementary diction and sentence
structure in an effort to not confuse any of the survey takers as to the meaning of our
questions. We also opted for questions that were answered with short-answer responses and
ratings. This reduced the potential for sample and responder bias. After drafting our survey, it
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was approved by the co-owners of Brickhouse Tavern and shared via Twitter, Facebook and e-
mail. After one month we were able to analyze 71 of these surveys.
The results provided extremely beneficial data regarding the satisfaction of Brickhouse’s
customers along with how they view the restaurant’s Social, Local and Mobile presence. The
three main questions featured in the survey that we chose to focus on were (see appendix for
entire survey):
1) Where do you typically find updates and information about Brickhouse Tavern?
2) How user-friendly would you rate the Brickhouse’s Social Media presence?
3) How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in the Indianola Community?
IV. Findings and Conclusions of the Study
A. Findings of the research study
Personal Interviews: From our personal interviews, we discovered that Brickhouse’s
current Social, Local, and Mobile, promotional strategies are steadily providing the restaurant
with business and customers, but these areas could use improvement. Trina Toigo and Kate
Leech believe that Brickhouse’s social media usage is subpar when compared to other
restaurants and businesses in the community. This issue may be caused by the fact that
Brickhouse does not currently employ a media marketing specialist to manage their online
marketing endeavors. The co-owners, Joe and Amanda Ripperger prefer to keep Brickhouse’s
family-oriented atmosphere and fear that too much social media presence may interfere with
their goal.
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However, today marketing and promotional tactics must expand further than face to
face conversation and the occasional advertisement out in public. The world today thrives on
technology and social media, and the owners of Brickhouse are willing to change up their
current pages on Facebook and Twitter in order to possibly gain a more diverse target market
and more customers.
From a local standpoint, Elijah Clutter informed us that most college students living in
Indianola are aware that Brickhouse is a very popular restaurant within the community, but
could become “huge,” meaning they could earn more popularity and business. Sponsoring
events and donating to organizations are both extremely effective ways of promoting oneself
within a small community such as Indianola.
Most people interviewed informed us that they
typically utilize apps that rate and rank
Restaurants. That being said, it is crucial for Brickhouse to ensure they are given good ratings
on apps such as Yelp or Foursquare, especially so that people coming from outside of the
community will be willing to give Brickhouse Tavern a try. Better ratings will also lead to the
retention of current customers.
Surveys: A portion of the Indianola Community was provided with our Google Survey via
Facebook and Twitter, therefore it did not reach many people but was successful in providing
us with a better perspective of how various customers of Brickhouse are informed about the
restaurant and how they personally view it from Social, Local and Mobile standpoints. We
discovered that a vast majority of customers and/or community members do not currently find
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any updates about Brickhouse Tavern at all, meaning they are most likely unaware of the
restaurant's social media accounts, activity within the community and online reviews.
The surveys made it very clear to us that various people view the popularity of
Brickhouse within the Indianola Community differently, some believing the establishment is
very popular, others viewing the restaurant as not frequently visited. We learned through our
initial research that it is a common trend in smaller communities that if a good amount of
people view a restaurant as commonly visited, the establishment will attract curious customers.
The mobile presence of Brickhouse Tavern was rated very poorly by the survey takers,
proving once again that the social media platforms and ratings on reviews sites regarding
Brickhouse must be improved. The following graphs represent key results from our surveys
distributed to the Indianola Community.
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B. Conclusions based on the findings
After analyzing our findings, we can conclude that Brickhouse is an exceptional
restaurant in the Indianola community. The Brickhouse has a good reputation and is well-
known by people of all demographics in Indianola. The Brickhouse Tavern is a key component in
partnering with businesses in Indianola and taking part in events within the community.
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Conclusion #1:
After interviewing with the co-owners we drew conclusions upon their current SoLoMo
marketing strategies. Not only does The Brickhouse do a large amount of marketing with the
community, they also partner up with Simpson College. When The Brickhouse sponsors an
event in the community such as bike night and the annual Holiday Extravaganza, their business
gets advertised on the radio, newspapers, brochures, social media, etc.
As far as Simpson College, Brickhouse is able to utilize the school in order to advertise at
their events. The Brickhouse has a visual presence in the form of a large poster in the Cowles
Fieldhouse. As far as advertising their own business, a lot of the marketing is based on sports
with promoting the specials if there is a big sporting event. Because of the small town size of
Indianola, they have many “regular” customers. Amanda Ripperger described the restaurant as
a laid back social atmosphere where the majority of the customers know each other. She also
said that typically the customers personally know the servers.
Conclusion #2:
Based on the conclusions of the interview with the co-owners and the survey results, we
can conclude that the Brickhouse is an Indianola icon that needs major maintenance. After
interviewing with the co-owners of The Brickhouse, we were able to draw conclusions on how
they view their own SoLoMo strategies. Amanda Ripperger confirmed that Facebook is their
best source of marketing their business socially. Also, the owners believe that The Brickhouse
could improve their social media by getting involved and more active on twitter and other
social media platforms. The co-owners along with the results from the survey state that the
Brickhouse’s social media is on the weaker end of the spectrum.
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Conclusion #3:
With the connections between some of the survey questions and our personal
interviews, we concluded that the Brickhouse is very successful in their finding and maintaining
of adult clientele. This, however, also lead to the conclusion that the lack of marketing to the
younger generation clearly correlates to the lack of younger clientele. The lack of mobile
promotion and presence on social media all make it difficult to change this, along with the fact
that a lot of the events they sponsor are also for the older generation.
V. Proposed Strategic Plan
A. Objectives and rationale of the proposed strategic plan
After analyzing the evidence we uncovered in our research, we concluded that
Brickhouse must improve their social media marketing in order to retain current customers and
gain new. Broadening the restaurant’s current status in the community through more
sponsoring and local physical advertisement. Along with social media advertising, Brickhouse
would greatly benefit from the use of an application that may provide customers with special
offers, motivating them to eat at Brickhouse more often.
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1) Enhance Brickhouse Tavern’s current website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.
Rationale: By improving the business’ current website, Facebook and Twitter
pages, the restaurant will seem more appealing and information will be accessible to a
technology-driven society.
2) Do more advertising and event sponsoring within the community.
Rationale: Further exposure within the community will expand the target
market, and broaden the customer base.
3) Utilize the “Remind” application.
Rationale: By using this app, the restaurant will be able to reach customers from
wherever they are, while also providing exclusive deals and incentives.
4) Pizza Punch Promotion
Rationale: A card that provides a free single-topping medium pizza once the
required amount of card punches is met.
B. Proposed activities and timelines
1) Overhaul of Current Social Media Sites:
A major trend in marketing across industry sectors is an increased emphasis on socially
connecting with customers through the use of social media. The large majority of potential
customers looking for a place to eat will search online for in-depth information about the
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restaurant. Although Brickhouse posts on Facebook, it is not consistently done and the
content could be of an enhanced quality. Younger generations are constantly connecting
with other people online, therefore, our goal is to gain an improved web presence for The
Brickhouse Tavern. We plan to achieve this goal by:
A. Frequently updating with more pictures and posts
B. Post specials, promotions and deals for the week
C. Keep customers updated on upcoming events at the Brickhouse
After changes are made and The Brickhouse Facebook page is enhanced, The Brickhouse
will need to regularly maintain the changes by posting frequently. By implementing this simple
and completely free idea, The Brick House will be able to connect with an endless amount of
people.
2) Increase Local Advertisement
Brickhouse is located on the Indianola
town square. This is a lively atmosphere with
many other local businesses around. However,
because of the square’s location within the
town, many residents do not pass through it on their daily routes. If these same people don’t
have a reason to go to the square, they may not view the Brickhouse as a dining option.
Therefore, we must increase Brickhouse’s advertising within Indianola in order to attract
customers that wouldn’t normally choose Brickhouse to dine at.
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On Highway 65/69, leading into Indianola from the major city of Des Moines, there are
noticeable billboards right as you enter town. We researched just how much these forms of
advertisements cost and concluded that it costs around $500 dollars to utilize a billboard for
four weeks. The busiest time of year for the Indianola community is the summertime. From the
beginning of June through the end of July, there are several events that take place and attract
various people from all over Iowa. Examples of these events include, Bike Nights on the square,
the Warren County Fair and the National Balloon Classic.
If Brickhouse creates an advertisement and posts in on a billboard near Indianola, the
promotion would reach almost everyone who enters Indianola daily, or as they arrive in
Indianola to attend the larger events the city holds.
3) Utilize “Remind”
The Remind app is an application that allows users to
communicate and gain information about dates, times, etc. The app
would allow the Brickhouse owners to create an account with a
username, such as “IndyBrickhouse.” From there, the owners
would need to inform the public about their latest form of
promotion. The best ways to do this would be to physically show
people how to join, share a link leading directly to the application
or adding customers directly. The user-friendly application does a
wonderful job of walking the “class” creator through each step. After the account is created it is
then the owner’s responsibility to send out messages to those signed up to receive them. In
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order to utilize this app as a customer, you would simply text “IndyBr” to 81010, and then
instantly begin receiving messages from Brickhouse!
We have reached a major conclusion that Brickhouse needs to improve upon their
mobile marketing strategies. Therefore, the usage of the Remind app in order to reach out to
customers where they are, verses only advertising in limited places around the community, will
motivate more and more people to eat at Brickhouse. The messages sent directly to customers
will update them about an innumerable amount of various deals, coupons and much more.
This activity may be implemented immediately, and be carried out for however long the
Brickhouse owners wish to utilize the application. Brickhouse doesn’t currently practice any
unique forms of advertising, which is why the Remind app is capable of providing the restaurant
with a feature that may catch potential customers’ attention.
4) Introduce the New Pizza Punch Promotion Card
Brickhouse is famous for their pizza, and this brings in a major portion of their total
sales. Our “Pizza Punch Card” is similar to the common haircut card; if a customer buys ten
medium pizzas, the eleventh medium pizza is free. This program encourages customers to make
several trips to Brickhouse because there is an incentive. This promotional tactic may be
endorsed on the restaurant’s newly upgraded social media pages, and within the restaurant.
Our goal is to target young people (21-30 years of age). The card will be promoted especially
from Thursdays through Saturdays, as those are the primary dining nights within Indianola.
Using the website vistaprint.com, the owners of brickhouse may create an account and
design their own punch cards. The process is incredibly simple and user-friendly. If Brickhouse
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were to start out with around 500 cards printed, this would be a good starting point and would
provide a decent amount of customers with punch cards. Pizza Punch Cards would be given to
customers for free, after they purchased a medium pizza. The Pizza Punch Cards promotional
tactic may be implemented as soon as the cards are designed and shipped to the co-owners,
and last for however long it benefits Brickhouse.
Due to the fact that we have concluded that Brickhouse suffers from a lack of younger
clientele, the implementation of the Pizza Punch Card will motivate this younger target market
to purchase pizzas and receive a free one. Brickhouse has never utilized any type of punch card
in previous years, so this new strategy will potentially be a great form of promotion.
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Below is a sample version of the Pizza Punch Card.
C. Proposed metrics or key performance indicators to measure plan effectiveness
In order to analyze whether or not various aspects of our strategic plan are successful in
meeting our objectives, we will simply measure the increase in customers, increase in overall
social media following and collective usage of Brickhouse’s Remind “class” and Pizza Punch
Cards. Because 2016 is coming to an end as we design this strategic plan, we will evaluate all of
our implementations at the end of the year 2017.
The evaluation of customer increase may be measured by how much money the
restaurant is bringing in quarterly. An increase in profit correlates with an increase of
customers. Measuring an increase in social media following would be extremely simple. In
order to do this we will record how many Facebook likes, twitter followers, etc., exist at the
beginning of each quarter, and then how many exist at the end of that quarter. This
observation will show us how effective our social media revamp plan was.
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Profit
< 2016’s revenue = 2016’s revenue > 2016’s revenue
POOR FAIR GOOD
The remind app allows the class creator to view how many people are currently utilizing
their class and receiving their updates, which leads to an easy evaluation of how effective the
app is for Brickhouse. If the restaurant purchases 500 Pizza Punch Cards, they will then begin
handing them out to various customers. After a customer is finished with a card, meaning they
have received their free single topping medium pizza, they may then hand the card back to the
business. Brickhouse may then calculate how many cards were returned to them after
approximately one or two quarters, and decide whether or not the implementation of the cards
was a success or not.
Pizza Punch Cards Returned and Completed
100 250 400+
POOR FAIR GOOD
All evaluations will be done quarterly, and after approximately one year we will meet
with the co-owners to discuss which Social, Local and Mobile promotional strategies we advised
them to implement seem to be increasing profit, and benefitting the company, and which of
these tactics are not. The successful strategies will be maintained and built upon, whereas the
less efficient promotional tactics will be improved or done away with.
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VI. Proposed Budget
In order to achieve the elements our proposed plan, we acknowledge that it will come
with a cost.
Pizza Punch Card: The pizza punch card will be given to 500 participants wanting the card.
“Vistaprint.com” states that 500 punch cards will come with a cost of $21.98. Compared to
other competitors selling cards, Vistaprint is the most affordable option.
Billboard: The billboard will have an estimated initial cost of $500, as well as the cost to design
the image posted on the board, which is typically around $500.
Facebook post boosting: The total cost of Facebook boosting will cost $100. The cost of each
boost with vary how many people are striving to reach.
Total Cost: The final cost will be approximately $1,121.98
Pizza Punch Card Billboard Facebook Boosting
$21.98 $500 $100
The budget for our strategic plan is considerably low, and the ideas we plan to implement for
The Brickhouse have the potential to greatly benefit the restaurant from a financial standpoint.
Robbins, Vickroy & Leech Page | 26
VII. Bibliography
Online Websites
R. Jamie, Tara W., Dave C., Dan B., Josh L., Sopla R., and Angela K. "Brickhouse Tavern -
Indianola, IA." Yelp., 03 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.
"Warren County, Iowa." Warren County, Iowa. Warren County Information Technology, 7 Feb.
2017. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.
"Welcome to the Brickhouse Tavern!" Brickhouse Tavern. The Brick House Pizza & Pasta Co.,
Web. 08 Feb. 2017.
"SoLoMo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2011. Web.
"Indianola, IA - Official Website | Official Website." City of Indianola. CivicPlus, Web. 08 Feb.
2017.
Personal Interviews
Joe and Amanda Ripperger
Kate Leech Elijah Clutter Trina Toigo
Janet Robbins
Printed Source Consultants
Food Network Magazine
“25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas: Tips & Strategies to win in the Food Business”
Megan Marrs “What is SoLoMo and why is it important to
marketers?” C. Ketterman
Ashley Noethe, business educator
Carol Carr, business educator Jeannette Campbell, business educator
Andy Leech, financial advisor
Robbins, Vickroy & Leech Page | 27
VIII. Appendix
Appendix A: Survey Questions
Robbins, Vickroy & Leech Page | 28
Appendix B: Focus group questions (all):
What is your name?
Do you currently live in Indianola?
How often do you visit Brickhouse Tavern?
Where do you find updates & info about Brickhouse?
How strong do you feel the Brickhouse’s social media presence is?
What determines which restaurant you choose to attend?
On a typical Friday night what comes to mind when choosing a restaurant?
How popular is Brickhouse Tavern in Indianola?
How would you describe a dining experience at Brickhouse Tavern?
How often do you use sites such as Yelp or Foursquare?
Does a poor rating on a restaurant dictate whether or not you are willing to dine there?