Marketing Mix Analysis Of Le Bistrot Pierre Restaurant Marketing Essay

Introduction

Marketing mix is used to describe the combination of different marketing activities that a business does to best meet the needs of the market it is targeting (Jobber and Fahy, 2009). At first, the marketing mix was compounded of 4P’s; starting with the product, price, place and promotion. Thereafter other elements were added to these tools and these elements were; people, process and physical evidence. Considering the added elements, the marketing mix of 7P’s forms a tool that businesses use to satisfy the needs of costumers in the market it targets. Accordingly, the purpose of this report is to analyse how Le Bistrot Pierre, a French restaurant on Mill Lane, in Leicester uses the marketing mix. Identifying where this restaurant succeeds in using the 7Ps and where it fails and proposing what improvements can be made.

The main product in Le Bistrot Pierre is the food and drinks menu. The products must provide good value for money for customers and be of a high quality to entice the customers to want to spend and to make a return visit. This restaurant’s food and drinks menu are of a very high standard. The website notes that the managing team of the restaurant often go to France to taste new foods and drinks to offer to their customers. Le Bistrot Pierre also offers a breakfast menu to its customers at selected branches.

Unfortunately, Le Bistrot Pierre does not offer a children’s food menu. However, if the restaurant was to offer a children’s menu it would entice families to visit the restaurant knowing that they would not have to buy their children and adults meal only for a lot of it to be wasted. Furthermore, offering a children’s menu would promote the restaurants family friendly atmosphere and increase overall profits.

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As mentioned above Le Bistrot Pierre offers a breakfast menu, however it only offers this menu at it’s Leamington Spa, Harrogate, Stockton Heath and Stratford-Upon-Avon branches. Therefore, it’s customers in places like Nottingham and Leicester do not have the opportunity to taste this menu. Furthermore, although these 4 branches offer breakfast menus they all open at different times, for instance, Stratford-Upon-Avon offers it’s breakfast menu from 7am on weekdays whereas Leamington Spa only offers it’s breakfast menu on weekends (Le Bistrot Pierre, 2010). One problem with this is that customers who are travelling throughout the UK and see a Le Bistrot Pierre restaurant may assume that they can get a breakfast then realise that the particular branch they have gone to does not offer this service. Though Szymanski, et al (1993) suggest that marketing standardisation across business branches is still under constant debate, the effect of giving customers mixed perceptions about opening times and breakfast service across cities may be problematic. Therefore to ensure that customers have a good customer experience at all times the chain should offer the breakfast menu at all its chains and at the same times.

The Price

It is important that the price should be competitive however the food offered should also represent the amount of money that the customer is spending on it. The lunch menu at Le Bistrot Pierre according to the website is £9.75 for two courses and £11.75 for three courses (Le Bistrot Pierre, 2010). These prices are reasonable when one looks at other French style restaurants in Nottingham. For instance, French Living’s lunch time menu offers a two course meal for £8.50 and a three course meal for £10.50 (French Living 2010). In addition to this, Le Mistral in Nottingham offers a 2 course lunch menu for £8.90 and 3 course lunch for £10.90 (Le Minstral 2010). In regard the wine menu at Le Bistrot Pierre, they offer their cheapest white wine at £13.75 and the most expensive at £27.60, and for their red wine, their cheapest is £17.95 and their most expensive £61.75. This seems reasonable when compared with Le Mistral another French restaurant in Nottingham that offers their cheapest white wine at £13.95 and their most expensive at £45.50, and for their red wine their cheapest is £13.95 and their most expensive is £45.60.

The Place

Place is concerned with the location so that the customer can buy the product with ease, and its accessibility to the store is another important aspect. In the case of the restaurant it ideally should be in a central place. This means that it is in an area of high exposure for potential customers, be they on foot or in a car. In regard to Le Bistrot Pierre, they are located centrally in all their 8 locations. These locations are in different counties in the UK such as, Derby, Harrogate, Leamington Spa, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Stockton Heath and Stratford-Upon-Avon. Similarly, a new branch is being opened in Yorkshire, providing a wider reach to customers around the UK. A negative aspect of Le Bistrot Pierre is that it does not offer a car parking facility at any of its chains; therefore if someone wishes to park their car they will have to pay high central city prices. One potential improvement for future restaurants within this group would be to have a car parking facility to entice customers from the outskirts of cities to visit them.

The Promotion

Promotion involves different items and the ways in which businesses communicate their products to the customer showing the benefits of buying their products. Le Bistrot Pierre has 2 very popular promotions they do daily, the first is the Early Bird and Pre-Theatre menu which consists of 2 courses before 7pm and costs 13.90. The second is the Prix Fixe Evening with a glass of St. Jean wine which costs 15.50. In regard to special events, Le Bistrot Pierre offers the Soirée Gastronomique menu on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month for 21.90 and the Dine with Wine 3 course menu, each course comes with a specially matched wine for 26.90. In addition to this, Le Bistrot Pierre also promotes its brand via gift cards that customers can purchase for their family and friends to go and try the restaurant’s food and drink.

The People

‘People’ includes everyone who is connected to the product. This involves employees, customers, management and the business owners; therefore everyone has an important role in making the business succeed. The restaurant need to have qualified chefs and staff who can present the product to the customers and are experts in French cuisine. Le Bistrot Pierre details on their website the type of person they wish to work them, noting that they wish to employ people who are friendly, enthusiastic, hard working and care about giving excellent customer service in a busy restaurant environment. Le Bistrot Pierre’s website has several reports from journalists promoting the superior quality of their food. Furthermore, Le Bistrot Pierre uses the media and journalists to promote their offers and competitions for free evening meals.

The Process

Process focuses on the activities done to the product before it is provided to the customer and the method or the process used to provide the service. The main element in process is time, if the process takes long, the sale of the product will be affected. Interestingly, the Le Bistrot Pierre team visits some suppliers in order to ensure the health of the livestock purchased. This evidently expresses the concern that the management have towards providing the customers with their monies worth. Accordingly, the quicker the process is, the more appreciated the product. In the restaurant website news section, an article taken from Leicester and mercury newspaper dated 3rd June 2010 shows an appreciation to this process of being quick and flawless. The only slight let down mentioned by the writer Gary Mitchell was that when he ordered chocolate mousse for his desert, he ended up with an Orange chocolate he did not order.

The Physical Evidence

Physical evidence can be defined as the experience in the use of either service or product. For example, brochures or pamphlets that describe the product to the customer to enable him to know what he is buying and its qualities. Also, the restaurant is furnished in a very warm way in which the high and middle class individuals will be comfortable dining and wining. Moreover, the arrangement of the hall can be adjusted to suit family seating. This means customers of different categories can find convenience in Le Bistrot Pierre. In the case of the different restaurant servings, it is described in its various menu cards for starters, main courses, desserts, and drinks.

Conclusion

In general, Le Bistrot Pierre used all the 7P’s of the marketing mix to meet the needs of the customers, though it slightly failed to use them fully as Gary Mitchell’s article points out. Improving the quality of the service, adding children’s menu and creating home delivery meals, would help to increase the popularity of the restaurant; though it has already set a good reputation in gastronomy as the restaurant declares it in the website.

Furthermore, Le Bistrot Pierre may preferably consider putting the breakfast menu in all branches that do not have this menu yet. This should be supported by specific timing for the breakfast start in all branches. Finally, Le Bistrot Pierre do not have car park and may lose some customers. They could try to create arrangements (or contract) with the nearest car park and tell the customers they have free parking. This will serve as a means to entice potential customers and increase business for the restaurant.