A Note on Case Based Learning

The case-study method may be new to you. Experience has shown that case studies help in bringing
interesting, real-world situations into the classroom study of business marketing, finance and
management. As you discuss cases with your fellow students, you will learn that decision making is
often a confrontational activity involving people with different points of view. Most important, you
will learn how to work toward consensus while tolerating legitimate differences of opinion.

Decision-making is what managers do. The decisions of managers directly influence revenues, costs,
and profits of a firm. If you are to be successful in a business career, you must learn to be a good
decision maker. You must develop the ability to apply classroom training in business and economics
to problem solving so that you can learn how to (1) make decision making easier, (2) improve the
analytical quality of decisions, (3) reduce the time required to make decisions, and (4) increase the
frequency of correct decisions.

After completing a few case studies, you should find them an interesting and rewarding way to learn.
You will soon discover, however, that case studies require an approach that is different from normal
homework assignments. Each case can have more than one right answer depending on how the problem
is defined and which assumptions are made. Students commonly spend several hours preparing the
solution for a case assigned for classroom discussion. The time you spend working on case studies will
be well spent because it will prepare you to confidently take on a position in business in which you
will face decision-making challenges every day. Success in your career will be the real reward for the
work you do in preparing case studies.

DECONSTRUCTING THE CASE

Your first reaction upon reading a typical business management case will probably be to feel
overwhelmed by all the information. Upon closer reading, you may feel that the case is missing some
information that is vital to your decision. Do not despair. Case writers do this on purpose to make the
cases represent as closely as possible the typical situations faced by business managers. In this age of
computers, managers often have to sift through an excessive amount of information to glean the facts
needed to make a decision. In other situations, there is too little information and too little time or money
to collect all the information required. One definition of management is this: "it is the art of using
scanty information to make reasonably important, semi-permanent decisions under time pressure." One
reason for using the case-study method is for you to learn how to function effectively in that type of
decision-making environment.

When assigned a case which does not contain all the information you need, you can do two things:
First, seek additional information. Library research or online databases/business news sources may
provide the necessary facts. Second, you can make assumptions when key facts or data are not
available. Your assumptions should be reasonable and consistent with the situation because the
“correctness” of your solution may depend upon the assumptions you make. This is one reason that a

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case can have more than one right solution. In fact, your teacher may be more interested in the analysis
and process you used to arrive at the decision than in its absolute correctness.

In some cases, the case writer(s) have provided questions to guide your analysis; in other cases it is up
to you, the case analyst, to decide which questions are relevant in defining the problem. This too is by
design. In an actual business situation, you will have to decide which questions to ask, and certainly
no one will give you a list of multiple-choice answers. This is why it is suggested that you not limit
your analysis to the questions at the end of a case.

Using an organized seven-step approach in analyzing a case will make the entire process easier and
can increase your learning benefits.

1. Read the case thoroughly. To understand fully what is happening in a case, it is necessary to read
the case carefully and thoroughly. You may want to read the case rather quickly the first time to
get an overview of the industry, the company, the people, and the situation. Read the case again
more slowly, making notes as you go.
2. Define the central issue. Many cases will involve several issues, problems or dilemmas. Identify
the most important problems and separate them from the more trivial issues. After identifying
what appears to be a major underlying issue, examine related problems in the functional areas
(for example, marketing, finance, human resources, operations, MIS/analytics, and so on).
Functional area problems may help you identify deep-rooted problems that are the responsibility
of top management.
3. Define the firm's goals. Inconsistencies between a firm's goals and its performance may further
highlight the problems discovered in step 2. At the very least, identifying the firm's goals will
provide a guide for the remaining analysis.
4. Identify the constraints to the problem. The constraints may limit the solutions available to the
firm. Typical constraints include limited finances, lack of additional production capacity,
personnel limitations, strong competitors, relationships with suppliers and customers, and so on.
Constraints have to be considered when suggesting a solution.
5. Identify all the relevant alternatives. List all the relevant alternatives that could solve the
problem(s) that were identified in step 2. Use your creativity in coming up with alternative
solutions. Even when solutions are suggested in the case, you may be able to suggest better ones.
6. Select the best alternative. Using a suitable management concept or model, evaluate each
alternative in light of the available information. If you have carefully taken the preceding five
steps, a good solution to the case should be apparent. Resist the temptation to jump to this step
early in the case analysis. You will probably miss important facts, misunderstand the problem, or
skip what may be the best alternative solution. You will also need to explain the logic you used
to choose one alternative and reject the others.
7. Develop an implementation plan. The final step in the analysis is to develop a plan for effective
implementation of your decision. Lack of an implementation plan even for a very good decision
can lead to disaster for a firm and for you. You should be able to explain how to implement the
decision.

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Growth Strategy

Expand the Menu?

by
•Sandeep Puri,
•Kirti Khanzode, and
•Alison Beard
From the Magazine (June 2016)
Sam Peet

Rohit was juggling eggs. Smooth, brown ovals—in one hand or the other for a split second,
and then up, up, up in the air. First there were three, then four, then five—Where are they
coming from? he wondered—but he kept his arms moving and the loops going, and the
crowd in front of him cheered. Where am I? Who are these people? He wanted to look around
but knew he couldn’t take his eyes off the eggs. Then, suddenly, they changed into different
things: a chicken leg, a courgette, a tomato, a potato, and a bag of lentils. He tried to keep
juggling, but his fingers slipped on the slick chicken skin, he tossed the lentils too low and the
potato too high, and everything came crashing to the ground. He looked down, but the mess
wasn’t what he expected. All around him were broken eggs—dozens of them—whites and
yolks oozing out through splintered shells.

He woke with a start—sweaty, heart racing—and looked from side to side. To his left was
Anaya, still sleeping. To his right, his nightstand and alarm clock; it was midnight. Rohit sank
back into his pillow, breathed for a moment, and started to chuckle—quietly, so as not to
wake his wife. He was the founder and CEO of Yolk-ay, a popular United Arab Emirates
restaurant chain that specialized in traditional Indian egg preparations but was, as of that
morning, considering expanding its menu. The dream was pretty easy to interpret.

Ten Years Earlier

“Dad, you have to try this.”

“Try what, Vikram?” Rohit asked, putting down the Sunday paper. He’d been staring at an ad
for the hotel where he worked as a bell captain, wishing that “superior service” had been
listed alongside “luxury spa, five-star restaurant, and rooftop pool.” He felt underappreciated,
and so did his team. At least he had the morning off. Anaya was making breakfast—egg oats
upma—and it smelled delicious.

“Put this in your palm and squeeze as hard as you can,” Vikram said.

“Because I want yolk all over my hands?”

“It won’t break. I promise.”

Rohit was skeptical, but his 19-year-old son rarely initiated conversation nowadays, so he
did as he was told. He squeezed—with all his might. But he couldn’t crush the egg.

“See?” Vikram said. “The shape helps it withstand the pressure.”

“Very interesting,” Anaya said, putting breakfast on the table.

“Indeed,” Rohit said, smiling and setting the egg aside.

“I miss your food, Ma,” Vikram said, mouth already full. He had started university the
previous fall and was home only on weekends. “I can’t get a good upma to save my life—
never mind masala omelets or egg curry. You should open a restaurant next to the dorm. Or
even a handcart like the one that taxi driver in Vadodara took us to when we were visiting
Dadu and Nanu last year. Remember how good those fresh omelets were? I’m telling you,
there are so many Indians on campus. My friends and I would be there every day. So would
the professors.”

“Those egg dishes are easy. You could learn to cook them yourself. Isn’t there a kitchenette in
your dorm?” Anaya asked.

“No time,” Vikram replied. “Class, cricket, parties…” His mother frowned at the last point.
“And soon there will be work,” he added hastily. “I’m applying for a summer internship at
Sony in Dubai Internet City. Now, there’s a place you should open a restaurant. It’s crawling
with transplants from Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore—all in their twenties, all away
from home. Everyone’s coming for the jobs, just like you and dad did. You’d make a fortune.”

Rohit hadn’t touched his eggs. He was too busy listening to his son outline the business idea
that would change both their lives.

Five Years Earlier

“We did it, Dad—three new restaurants in three months. I know you thought I was crazy
when I suggested it, but we couldn’t let Tikka House and Raja Cooks steal such prime retail
spots from under our noses. There will be literally hundreds of new workers moving into this
area and the others over the next year, and we really need to be the ones
increasing our supply to meet that demand.”

“Did you learn that in your business school classes?” Rohit teased.

He felt so proud of Vikram he thought he might burst. When they had opened the first Yolk-
ay restaurant, five years ago, his son had been a scrawny college student, welcoming
customers at the door with flyers he’d printed at a local copy center. Today, armed with an
MBA from the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management—which he’d earned while
working as a cashier, cook, restaurant manager, supplier liaison, and, finally, COO—he was a
full-grown man and a fully-fledged partner in the business.

They now had five locations, including the three new ones, spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
and Ras Al Khaimah, in office and residential areas with high concentrations of Indian,
Pakistani, and Bangladeshi expats. The restaurants were known across the Emirates for
having the best egg dishes west of Okha, made with local farm-fresh ingredients, priced
affordably, and always served with a smile, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Both Rohit and
Vikram could recite the pitch in their sleep, they’d given it so many times to financial backers,
customers, and journalists. Thanks to hit radio ads—developed by Vikram and featuring his
and Rohit’s voices touting the health benefits of eggs—the father-son duo had even become
minor local celebrities: expat entrepreneurs made good. Yolk-ay’s 2010 turnover had been
two million dirhams. With the expansion, they hoped to double that amount this year.

The restaurant they’d just opened, near the Mall of the Emirates in Al Barsha, had been
packed all day.

“Where to now?” Vikram asked.

“Home,” Rohit said. “Your mother is waiting for me, and I’m sure Gretchen is waiting for you.”
Vikram’s German-born wife of one year was pregnant with twins and due in just a few days.

“I meant, which locations should we start scouting next? There is huge growth in Sharjah.
Tikka House just opened there—a little too early, in my opinion—but I’ve heard rumors that
both Infosys and Tata are considering moving significant numbers of employees there next
year. I could put Arundhati on it.” Vikram’s college friend was working at Yolk-ay, focusing on
new business development.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, Vikram, but let’s make sure the new restaurants are running
smoothly first. We don’t want to spread ourselves too thin. The quality has to stay the same
across all our outlets. That’s what we’re known for. That’s our promise to customers.”

“I promise it will, Dad. I’ll see to it.” And over the next five years, he did.

That Day
“Dadu, Dadu.” Rohit’s grandsons rushed into his arms. They were turning five today and had
asked to have a party with their preschool friends in the original Yolk-ay, in Dubai’s Al
Karama. Because their birthday fell on a Monday this year, the one day of the week the
restaurants were closed, Vikram had asked Rohit, and of course Rohit had agreed. The boys
were the light of his life, and no matter how many Yolk-ays there now were—they’d opened
the eighth location, in Sharjah, a year before—this was still his favorite. It felt like home,
especially this morning, since Anaya was cooking in the kitchen. He’d told her he would ask
the staff to come in and handle everything—his employees were like family, after all—but
she’d insisted.

“Your chefs might cook for every twenty-something in the Emirates nowadays, but they’re
not going to cook for my grandsons on their birthday,” she’d told him.

Vikram was right behind the boys, carrying presents, which he set down on one of the café
tables. “Are you ready for 10 more toddlers running around this place?” he asked.

“Of course,” Rohit replied. “They’re the next generation of customers!”

“At least we have an hour until they come. Does Ma need help? Ah, never mind, Gretchen is
already on her way.” Indeed, Rohit’s daughter-in-law had given him a quick kiss on the cheek
and then darted behind the counter and through the double doors into the kitchen, shouting
“Boys, be good!” as she went.

“Is she talking to us or to them?” Rohit joked.

“I brought some trains to keep them occupied,” Vikram said, pulling the toys out of a
rucksack.

“Great, let’s play.”

“Actually, Dad, I was hoping we could talk business for a second. Have you thought about the
discussion we had with Arundhati last week?”

“Sure—we’ve hit a dead end with geographic expansion. That’s fine. We can focus on the
existing restaurants for now.”

“Yes, but turnover has been flat for the past few months, and we seem to be losing market
share to Tikka House and to western competitors like KFC. Of course, we still have loyal
customers who love us for the familiarity, but we don’t seem to be winning new ones. The
excitement isn’t there anymore. That’s why Arundhati and I think we need to start expanding
in other ways.”

“Are you talking about home delivery again? I thought we’d agreed that our dishes don’t
travel as well as they’d need to. No one wants cold eggs.”

“Actually, people do want us to do home and office delivery. According to our customer
surveys, they want it desperately. They’re getting it from every single one of our competitors.
But you’re right—maybe they don’t recognize the reduction in quality that would come with
the convenience. The chefs have been adamant on that point, and I’m not going to argue with
them, or you, about it again.”

“Good,” Rohit said.

“So let’s talk about the menu. What can we add to spice things up?”

“The chefs in the test kitchen were working on some new preparations yesterday—a recipe
one of them got from his great-aunt, another from a cookbook that just came out in America.”

“Egg dishes?”

“Of course,” Rohit said. “Yolk-ay is eggs. Our brand, our marketing, our genesis—eggs. ”

“Only eggs, for ever and ever? Couldn’t we consider adding some vegetarian and chicken
dishes, with poultry and produce sourced from the same farms as our eggs? We already have
solid relationships with suppliers, and they’d love to do more business with us. They’ve been
begging us for years.”
Case Study Teaching Notes
Sandeep Puri and Kirti Khanzode teach the case on which this is based in MBA marketing,
services marketing, and retail management courses.

What drew you to this story?Many of our students and friends regularly visit Raju Omlet.
We had a chance to meet with the founder to discuss the challenges of expanding without
compromising the unique value proposition.
How do you kick off the discussion?We ask about critical success factors in the restaurant
industry generally and in the UAE in particular. Then we prompt students to discuss
customer expectations, marketing communications, and potential growth strategies,
including home delivery, geographic expansion, and menu changes.
What do you hope they’ll take away?We want them to understand the importance of
branding to small and medium-size businesses, to evaluate the strategic choices available
to Raju Omlet given customer preferences, and to work out how entrepreneurial firms
create and sustain competitive advantage.

“Of course they have. It would mean more money for them.”

“More for us, too, I think. Arundhati and I asked a few questions about this in the last survey.
A full 48% of respondents said they would come to Yolk-ay more frequently and spend more
each time if we had a more varied menu.”

“And what did the other 52% say?”

Vikram ducked his head sheepishly. “They said they were happy with the menu and probably
wouldn’t change their routine—but Dad, remember that these are our most loyal customers,
people who really love their eggs. Imagine if we did a broader survey of all quick-service
restaurant diners—everyone who goes to Tikka House or Raja Cooks or KFC. If we
asked them what would bring them to Yolk-ay more often, you know they’d say more
offerings.”

“We’ve always said that if you try to do everything, you won’t do anything well.”

“I don’t want us to do everything—just a few more things, enough to get people talking about
us again, enough to make sure this business keeps growing, for me, for you, for your
grandsons.”

“What does Sunil think?” Yolk-ay’s head chef was a traditionalist; Rohit couldn’t imagine
suggesting this type of expansion to him, much less insisting he execute it. There would be
huge implications for the kitchen staffs—new ingredients, equipment, and stations;
additional training; a whole new way of working together.

“Actually, we asked him to do a small, unofficial market test on Friday. Don’t be mad—it was
impromptu, just something Arundhati and I thought up that morning, a tiny experiment. We
brought him the ingredients for those samosas he made for last quarter’s company party, and
he grumbled at first but finally agreed to make a batch to hand out as samples to the lunch
crowd. People loved them—couldn’t get enough. And Sunil was grinning from ear to ear.”

“So he wants to expand the menu too?”

“Not exactly. He talked my ear off about the havoc it would wreak on his systems. But I think
we could bring him on board if we had your support.”

“I don’t know, Vikram. Can we talk about it at the office tomorrow? I thought we were here to
eat cake and watch a clown do some juggling.”

“Sure, Dad. Sleep on it. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

That Night
Rohit was still at the party, and the twins were opening the last of their gifts, tearing into
identical boxes wrapped in yellow paper and tied with red bows. They were quite large—
Had Vikram bought them those monster trucks?—but once the boys had them open, it looked
like only white tissue paper was inside. They pulled out sheet after sheet after sheet, flinging
them across the table, until finally, simultaneously, they reached in deep and pulled out their
prizes. In Reza’s hand, hoisted above his head, was a perfect brown egg. In Wolfgang’s, a
chicken leg. Both boys were beaming.

Rohit woke again with a start and turned to the alarm clock: 1 AM. Two dreams in one night
about the same thing: Vikram’s proposal. But what did they mean? Stick to eggs, or not?

Question: Should Yolk-ay expand its menu offerings?

The Experts Respond
Rajiv Meherish is the founder of Raju Omlet, a Dubai-based restaurant group.

VIKRAM IS RIGHT on a few counts: Restaurant-goers do seek novelty, and there’s only so
much you can do with an egg. But if Yolk-ay wants to preserve its unique and hugely
successful brand identity, it should stick to the product it’s known for.

That’s not to say menu expansion isn’t possible. It absolutely is. At Raju Omlet, we’re more
than willing to experiment with new offerings, provided they live up to the promise implied
by the restaurant’s name: egg dishes with an Indian touch. For example, while we’ve added
chicken to our menu, it comes in a roll that incorporates eggs. In fact, all our dishes remain
egg-related. And although we’ve toned down the spices in some recipes to better suit
Western palates, the general flavoring remains the same.

This sort of flexibility—variety that doesn’t interfere with the brand—is very important in a
multicultural, restaurant-heavy city like Dubai. Now that Yolk-ay has secured its spot as a
favorite among South Asian expats, it should begin to target other nationalities in a careful,
calculated way.

To preserve its brand identity, Yolk-ay should stick to the product it’s known for.

Vikram seems big on customer surveys, which are useful, but I’d suggest that Rohit start
visiting his restaurants—particularly the newer locations—more regularly so that he can
engage directly with both loyal and first-time Yolk-ay clients. I do this every Friday and
Saturday, either at our original restaurant in Al Karama or at a larger one we recently opened
in Jumeirah. (A third will open in Sharjah soon.) When you talk to people and ask them
questions, they feel valued, and you get free information.

When these conversations tell me that customers might be interested in a new offering—
those chicken rolls, say, or fresh orange juice—we introduce it, but we don’t put it on the
menu right away. We advertise it on laminated tent cards on our counters and tables and sell
it for four or five weeks, encouraging employees to recommend it. If it takes off, we add it to
the menu.

Vikram and Rohit might also consider reopening the home delivery conversation. We, too,
initially thought that sort of service was not possible: Eggs get cold, and bread gets soggy. But
we’ve found about 15 items we can bring to people without diminishing their quality and are
testing technologies that could allow us to add more.

Yolk-ay’s opportunities for geographic growth and menu change may be limited. But that
doesn’t mean the chain should stop innovating.
Anthony Ackil is a cofounder of b.good, a fast-casual restaurant chain with 29 locations in the United States, Canada, and Switzerland.

IN THE FAST-CASUAL restaurant business, innovation is a must. So I would advise Rohit to

experiment with and expand Yolk-ay’s menu as far as the brand will allow.

A restaurant’s name and initial positioning can present limitations, of course. For example, I
would never encourage Chipotle to add burgers to its menu, or Shake Shack to start selling
salads. Those brands trade on the simplicity of their offerings and shouldn’t muddle their
messages. But Yolk-ay might have a bit more freedom. As Vikram says, it might not be too
much of a stretch to add dishes made with chicken from the same farms that deliver the
restaurant’s eggs—emphasizing that chicken, too, is a lean, versatile protein.

When my partner, Jon Olinto, and I opened our first b.good, 13 years ago, the idea was to
serve real food—meals customers would feel good about eating—fast. That gave us a lot of
flexibility in our menu, and we’ve taken advantage of it. Four years ago we were focused on
beef, turkey, and veggie burgers; chicken sandwiches; salads; and shakes. Since then we’ve
added kale-and-grain bowls, fresh-fruit smoothies, and healthful, hearty breakfasts.

In the fast-casual restaurant business, innovation is a must.

We’re constantly testing variations on existing menu items along with new categories. An
idea might come from Jon, me, or our head chef, Tony Rosenfeld. We also listen to customers,
employees, and outside chefs we bring in for inspiration. Once Tony works up a recipe, we
test it internally. If we like the dish, we invite select customers who have registered to join
our “family” system to try it free at certain restaurants; we send them coupons through our
app, and they show the bar code at checkout. We follow up with a survey, tweak the recipe,
and add the item at a few restaurants, typically one urban and one suburban. If sales are
good, we roll it out across the chain.

Of course, the process takes longer—six to eight months—when introducing an entirely new
concept, such as the bowls or breakfast, and Rohit should approach an expansion to, say,
chicken or vegetable-only dishes in the same careful way.

Standing still isn’t an option. If the UAE market is anything like the U.S. one, Yolk-ay will be
under constant pressure from current and new competitors that take its theme of home-
cooked fast food to the next level. To stay successful, it has to evolve.