Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
NEERU NARENDER KUMAR
ROLLNO: 5020
MBA 3RD SEM
Table of contents :
I.Executive summary
III.Product review:
1)introduction to our product
2)mission statement
3)Environmental mission statement
4)positioning of our product in the market
IV.Review of competition:
V.Distribution Channels
1) Supplier to company
2)Company to customer
VIII.Action programs :
IX.Controls
X .Final thought :
I )Executive summary:
In Lebanon, the service industry is highly saturated with restaurants, cafes, pubs, and
nightclubs. In order to enter such a market, you need to introduce a new idea. With
“Chocolate Lounge”, it is exactly what we intend to do. “Chocolate lounge” brings with a
new concept and idea, in which it’s general idea is CHOCOLATE and mainly all its products
are chocolate based. Our lounge will have a transforming nature between the day and the
night. In the day it is mainly a café and a restaurant, where our customers would have
breakfast or lunch, and also study or conduct business meeting in a calm atmosphere.
However, during the night, our lounge radically transforms into one of the hippest pubs in
town, where the best music is played and the most exquisite drinks are served. What we serve
and our general idea is mainly enjoyed by people seeking a place to study or a classy and
lively pub; such people are mainly categorized as students and working adults in their 20s
30s and 40s. With our “more for more” strategy, we limit our atmosphere to high class. We
offer “more” products, better quality, and an innovative, new idea, for prices maximally
getting to an expensive 50,000 L.L a couple, yet fully compensated for with our services. We
recognize our competitors fully, and understand their strengths and the threats they pose on
us, and consequently we developed a well understood SWOT analysis that helps us in turn
The Lebanese services market that we are entering is characterized by high qualities
standards of life, highly educated labor force and high saturation. This dense market is full of
local restaurants and cafes that shape the Lebanese social culture, as well as of the international
investors that find in the Lebanese market an appealing atmosphere. However, “chocolate
lounge” is unique in its various aspects of specializations, a new idea and concept. Our target
market consists of various age groups ranging from students to young professionals. But with our
lounge’s changing nature, our customers also change between the day and night. During the day,
our lounge welcomes mainly students and customers who are seeking a place to just relax and
have an exquisite and exceptional chocolate snack in a soothing setting. During the night, with
the lounge turning into a high profile pub, our customers are adults (above 21 years old ) who are
seeking a place to enjoy good music with distinctive drinks in an “à la mode” ambiance. Their
social class ranges from middle class to upper class. Our customers will be discovering a new
and unique experience amongst the traditional concepts that exist on the Lebanese soil.
Customer needs are the core of our philosophy in which every employee makes sure that they are
taken care of. We ensure that every customer, regardless of their spending power, is satisfied with
their choice that is highly considered. Our main goal is to achieve a healthy relationship with the
customers. The political situation in Lebanon is likely to affect our sales for we already are
suffering from the economic dilemma in the country. We conduct business according to a very
specific mission statement that consists of 5 commandments and also respect our environmental
Our lounge can serve 150 seated comfortably customer , so we are estimating to receive every day
around 300 customers during our first year of our operations. Our target customers are quite
numerous , there are thousands of university students in Hamra , as well as working adults ( in their
Because we are entering a market with fierce competition, we shouldn’t be expecting big
profits during the first year because “Chocolate Lounge” needs time to build his loyal customer
base . With time its sales will increase if all principles will be met. We are expecting sales of
2000$ /day during the first year . Some might think that 2000$ of sales /day are quite large , well
not really , after conducting market research and asking professionals in this field , we found that
The next year of operations will surely be more flourishing for “chocolate lounge”, sales are
expected to increase to 4000$/day , it’s in this year that profits start to appear in the books of
Throughout history, chocolate has always had the connotation of being joyful,
comforting and special as a symbol of diverse human emotions and has always been a part of
our lives .Chocolate is prestigious, romantic, nostalgic, sexy, and an object of fantasy and
addiction for children and grownup “children”. Nowadays the sale of chocolate is being made in
a way that contradicts its warm, joyful and sensual character. Today we are going to unleash
chocolate from its cage. We introduced a new chocolate culture concept and a chocolate bar
experience in the Lebanese market that incorporates each aspect of chocolate in our everyday
hectic life. “Chocolate lounge” is a lounge that turns into a pub during the night allowing
customers to enjoy a unique experience of exquisite chocolate gourmet products. Our lounge
exposes people to a wide range of chocolate products: hot drinks , alcoholic drinks, desserts ,
During the day “chocolate lounge” is a place to turn free time into quality time ,during the
3- Establish an addictive product that would make our customers always come back for more of
our exclusive atmosphere and product.
4- Be known for our unique customer relationships and make them our priority in our work.
5- Ensure an appropriate atmosphere for each specific time of day (a chill-out café during the
of hygiene.
2- Try to use in our operations environmental friendly products (recyclable papers , cups …)
Positioning is how the company is seen through the eyes of its consumers by emphasizing
on our beneficial differences in our customers minds. The position of the product is the set of
impressions, feelings, and perceptions that customers have for the product.
Through a new concept, we offer “more” benefits with a price exceeding our competitors’
We are adopting “more for the more “strategy so we can attack our competitors’ position, and
attract highly classed Lebanese customers who like similar highly priced pubs/restaurants . Our
aim is to give our served customers the greatest value for an appropriate price.
Our positioning statement: To college students, working people, groups of friends,
“Chocolate Lounge” is the lounge and pub where you can turn your free time into quality time while
enjoying your favorite and finest chocolate products. “Chocolate Lounge” is the first of its kind in Lebanon,
a shop during the day and a pub in the night; it is the place to be all day long.
Because the market is saturated with likes of our café we find ourselves facing many
competitors that also bring a special concept into the market. Our competitors are all cafés ,
pubs and lounges in the area surrounding our store : Tamaris , Dunkin Donuts , Starbucks ,
Lina’s sandwiches , toffee coffee , Casper & Gambini’s … in the cafés and restaurants business ,
and many other pubs that are located in Beirut (Gemmayze , Monot street … ) in the nightlife
business .
Starbucks
Starbucks is an American coffee shop that went worldwide .Its success is due to what
they call as the Starbucks experience. They have more than five branches in Lebanon. Three that
Starbucks is known for his coffee blends its wide variety of beverages (hot and cold: cappuccino,
frappuccino, espresso…). As for its prices, Starbucks offer high quality products at high prices
( Hot Chocolate with whipped cream at 6000L.L ). Starbucks is known worldwide and its name
consists a main attraction for customers, so as for promoting their products and stores in
Lebanon, not much work is locally required because its international fame.
Dunkin donuts:
Dunkin Donuts is a worldwide chain offering beverages, donuts and other baked goods.
Dunkin Donuts has many branches in Lebanon; Bliss’s branch is our main threat, in which it
attracts most of AUB’s students who form an important part of our target customers. Dunkin
Donuts uses a “less for the same strategy”. It offers a good quality of coffee for cheap prices. As
for promoting itself, Dunkin Donuts relies on significant advertising; in addition to its
advertising campaigns that Dunkin Donuts launches each year, it also sets professional
competitions allowing customers to contribute to Dunkin Donuts image, as well as its healthy
environment.
Toffee Coffee:
Toffee coffee is a coffee shop that serves university students (mainly LAU). It is located
in Koraytem, about 300 meters from the lower campus gate of LAU. Students may have their
coffee and donuts in the morning before or between classes .They also serve bites and
sandwiches ( baguette sandwiches ) and a wide variety of beverages (warm and cold ) .In
addition toffee coffee provides students a quite and relaxing place appropriate to study. Their
prices are considered average for university students (hot chocolate with marshmallows at 4750
L.L. ). As for promotion, Toffee coffee mainly depends on word of mouth inside the university
coffeehouse . Its Branches in ABC Achrafieh and Down Town pose a threat to our lounge
because of their near location .Prices are considered high, parallel to high profile customers, they
position C&G as a high class restaurant (Hot Chocolate is priced at 5000L.L). Their products
Club Social is a pub/lounge that opens its doors around 6 pm every night, people can go
hangout, listen to good music, have a fine drink and eat a byte.
Club social is the closest pubs that constitute a threat to our lounge, because we will be providing
at night a similar ambience, but quite different products, our variety of drinks will contain
chocolate-based products, a service that not any competitor offers in Lebanon. Club social is
located in Gemmayze, and targets a large part of our night customers. Regarding promotion, club
social organizes events such as live bands playing and movie projections. It’s prices range from
10000 L.L. to 25000 L.L for the drink , which is considered average , typical , in the nightlife
industry in Lebanon.
V. Distribution channels:
1) Supplier to company:
1-We decided to choose Max Brenner as our Chocolate supplier . Max Brenner ‘s chocolate are
2-Drinks will be prepared by our own barmen, ingredients will be bought from suppliers such as:
FATTAL & Fils who supplies drinks like Absolute and Dewars.
3-Our sandwiches will be homemade by our Chef , who will make sure that sandwiches will be
of high quality .Ingredients will be provided by local markets but will be controlled by a quality
control supervisor.
2) Company to customer:
Like every bar/coffee shop our services will be provided in house, no home delivery system will
be implemented. In order for people to enjoy our services they can call on our number to make
reservations .They can also come directly to the place and they will be seated on the free table of
their choice, or sit on the bar for a quiet drink. For any additional information, customers can call
on the info/reservation line, no website is needed for us right now to launch our business, a
website will be created later on in the upcoming years. “Chocolate lounge” will create its own
database of customers, occasionally, we will ask customers for their numbers in order to update
our phone number database, this will continuously allow us to update our loyal customers on the
To become effective market leaders we are required to supply unique and exceptional
services of high quality and that provide the greatest value to our customers, this will create for
The industry we are entering is highly saturated; we face many competitors, each in one of the
products we serve. But by being pioneers in Lebanon to offer a variety of chocolate based
We should continuously come up with new ideas and new products , maybe try to let our
create new chocolate based drinks , and the winner’s drink , or mix , will be introduced on our
menu and might carry his name . We should also make sure that our customers’ needs and
requirements are met, attained, because customer relationships are the most important to start
and to maintain a successful business. When we promise to provide a adequate place to study, the
Being market leaders and successful doesn’t depend only on customers, internal functions
are essential to the success of any organization. Management should stay aware and control all
Finally, we should also work hard on sticking to our mission’s statement principles to maintain
1) Product:
“Chocolate lounge”, a high profile restaurant and pub, offers a wide variety of chocolate
products as well as hot and cold dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinnertime. “Chocolate lounge”
has an exquisite selection of hot and cold chocolate drinks, which also includes a wide section
for alcoholic drinks, in other words all you can think or imagine of chocolate-based products. In
addition to what we are offering on our menu, we also ensure a good “chill-out” atmosphere for
our students’ customers who are looking for a place to study or read, or for business men who are
looking for a place to conduct business meetings. However, that is all at daytime. During the
night, our lounge goes into a radical transformation, the relaxing music becomes the hippest
music in town, and our customers become adults (above 21) who seek to enjoy a good drink
along with some good music. Our lounge will be turning into an elegant pub. The variety of
products that we will be offering, the selection of beverages and cakes, is listed in the menu
attached with this project .With our lounge transforming from day to night, what remains is our
Our lounge’s character will be innovative, elegant and fascinating .During the day the lighting
will be bright creating a spacey place, right for relaxing, eating, reading newspapers and
studying.
2) Price:
“Chocolate lounge” seeks to attract customers who can afford to pay for our high quality.
Our target customers are mainly middle to high class people, who are looking for a new and
innovative place to spend their free times without the hassle of trying to find somewhere to just
have fun. Our lounge being exclusive by its chocolate emphasis, and unique with its changing
nature, can become synonymous for a good time and comforting atmosphere. And because the
products we are offering are new to the market ,we can afford to increase prices , thus increase
revenues on one hand , and on the second hand target those highly classed people in the
Lebanese society that are intrigued by new restaurants and pubs that are quite expensive. Our
prices will range from 5,000 L.L to 25,000 L.L for drinks, and to a maximum of 50,000 L.L for a
meal that would include a drink, a sandwich and a dessert from our exquisite selection. On
average our lounge’s will cost a couple of people around 50,000 L.L if they intend to have lunch
or dinner, and would cost them according to how many drinks they order if they are just around
to chill out.
The menu attached with this project gives us an insight on the prices of our products
3) Place:
We intend to open our first branch in Hamra, as it is in the heart of Beirut, Lebanese city
of students, with university students roaming the area. The location will be between LAU and
AUB, on Hamra main street, as well as near the stores and banks .We chose Hamra as our
location to open our first branch because Hamra is full of hotels, many tourists wander its streets,
contains three important universities in Lebanon (AUB, LAU and Haigazian) and is considered
one of the busiest streets in Lebanon. Our strategic location will allow us to be comfortable
exposing our products to our target customers who are actually looking for a place in this area
like ours and are willing to pay this amount of money for this new and unique idea.
We are planning to rent a store that is around 250m2, which make up two stories allowing
customers a comfortable stay .The lounge will be furnished by big and comfortable couches, and
will also be divided in sections, each section containing its couches and table that allow a
taken, and tables that make up the dining area. The upper floor holds the actual lounge with a
larger number of tables, couches and sofas. It will also include the bar that will serve the various
alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. This upper area will be the place where those who want to
study and enjoy a calm atmosphere during the day will dine. It is also the center of the lounge, in
which at night those who hit our bar will be served upstairs near the DJ and his set. Bathrooms
will be located in one of these two floors, preferably the upper one because the first floor will be
where the kitchen will be situated. Basically our lounge will host around 150 comfortably served
customers.
4) Promotion:
We intend to promote ourselves initially by “word of mouth” and by our huge and
appealing sign and decorations that should attract our customers. However, as business booms
and we position our selves accordingly in the market, we intend to broaden our marketing
magazines that aim towards students and working adults’ .By targeting at first our target
customers, we would keep our advertising costs low. Then later on we would try to expand our
customer base, we could then consider advertising on a larger scope, and target more diversified
customers on other branches. the magazines that are read by students are OUTLOOK,
MAINGATE, WHATS UP LEBANON ; the costs of advertising in these magazines are quite low
.And to get to our other customers who are those working adults we will reach them through
Some competitions will also be held to enhance our lounge’s liveliness. These competitions
would include bartender contests in which various bartenders would enter to perform some
stunts, create new drinks and the winner would have a drink named after her/him. This would
In order for our project to be in full operating scale, a number of steps are in need to be
taken. Assuming work must be started in the next month, that is if our project was approved
We need to choose a proper location for our business, the right place to rent, compatible
2nd month :
•
Hire an interior designer and contractor to make the proper arrangements and repairs in
the chosen location.
•
In the mean time we need to arrange a furniture supplier (local or foreign) and make the
necessary price negotiations and try to minimize our costs before signing the contract and
making the purchase, but certainly without forgetting our principles that is to maintain the
Make all the necessary installments : phone line ,electricity ,computers ,sound system ,DJ
and buy our plates, forks ,knives ,glasses ,spoons etc… in order to complete our kitchen
•
Make all the required arrangements with suppliers of ingredients and alcoholic beverages.
4th month :
•
Recruitment of employees starts , arrange interviews , meet potential chefs and DJ’s to
insure customer satisfaction and high quality .we should recruit good employees , and 18
Hire and train employees to make sure their capable of working under all circumstances
(the pressures of a Saturday night for example) so they won’t be any problems during
first days of operations. As well as the remaining necessary staff: valet parking ,cleaning
staff, accountants…
•
Start preparations for the opening of our lounge: announce the opening of the lounge
weeks before so that people can participate, ensure media coverage. The announcement
5th month
•
Organize every employee’s schedule between day shift and nightshift, as well as number
of work days per week.
•
Make sure the opening night goes as smoothly as possible, first impressions are gold in
this business.
•
Create our phone database to keep people updated on our future events.
•
Perform necessary auditing and maintenance to make sure all operations will go
smoothly.
XI. Controls
Our aim is to make sure that we are taking corrective action and achieving our objectives
and goals. That is why a process of evaluation is needed from time to time. A valid comparison
To evaluate and to maintain our company’s high performance, we have to implement inventory
audit checking and examine our quality of products and services. This is why MIS (management
information system) should be installed in our company, to make sure a professional control
system is on hand.
“Chocolate lounge” being a combination of a café, restaurant and a pub brings a new idea to
the business offering generally chocolate based products. We introduced a new chocolate culture
concept and a chocolate bar experience in the Lebanese market that incorporates each aspect of
chocolate in our everyday hectic life. Our target customers are mainly middle to upper class
university students, as well as young professionals in their 30s and 40s. Our target customers are
of a high profile because in our lounge we implement a “more for more strategy”. We also took
into consideration the threats that our competitors pose on us. With our marketing mix being
intact and well developed, we also came up with an action program that details our work in the
up coming months. We also developed our budgets for the years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009