JULY2022/MKT2013/MKT201/MKT2123

CASE STUDY

COURSE : PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

COURSE CODE : MKT2013/MKT201/MKT2123

SUBMISSION DATE : 26 SEPTEMBER 2022

2

1. This individual assignment aims to fulfill CLO2, which is to evaluate the application of
marketing principles and concept of a product and service.

2. The marks allocated for this individual assignment is 20% for the individual written
report of total marks. You need to write minimum 2500 words.

3. You are required to analyse case study related with marketing strategy. Student’s
compulsory to discuss the problems, strategies and actions would you recommend
based on the case study given.

4. The general format of the written report is as follows: (base on the subject’s
requirement)
 Cover page based on ISO format
 Font size: 12
 Font: Arial/ Times New Roman
 Justified
 Line spacing: 1.5
 APA referencing

5. Save your file with the Name, Section No, the name of the assessment, and the
subject code as the file’s name. (Example of the file’s name: Ahmad Albab S1 Case
Study MKT2013)

6. You must submit your assignment ONLINE through Learning Management System
(LMS) or any other platform by 26 September 2022 before 11.59 p.m.).
CASE STUDY: Agrain by HALE

These days, many Malaysians are watching what they eat in order to have a healthier
lifestyle. However, some are still struggling to find where they get healthy meals at affordable
prices. Seeing this shift, private equity analyst turned restaurateur Jason Ooi founded HALE
at Menara Hap Seng in 2016. The restaurant mainly sells healthy burgers, pasta and rice. In
November 2017, HALE started a food delivery service. At the end of 2018, two more outlets
were launched. While Jason focuses on business development, his managing partner Chuah
Kee Wei runs the entire operation of the business. HALE was recently awarded for the “best
menu innovation in health” while Jason received the Rising Star Award at the QSR Media
Asia Conference & Awards 2019.

He noticed two things as he was running HALE: (1) food customisation was in demand, to
satisfy the customers’ needs, and (2) customers were mainly foreigners and not many locals.
His observations led him to open HALE’s sister restaurant, Agrain by HALE. Using a
customisable grain bowl concept, Agrain by HALE serves Western-inspired recipes with an
Asian twist. Each bowl has more varieties than just the usual leafy vegetables. Customers
can choose from a wide selection of carbs, proteins, supplements, toppings and dressings.
Otherwise, they can choose directly from Agrain by HALE’s pre-set bowls.

Agrain by HALE covers three key areas that are important for its business:
 The food needs to be warm and bring a sense of familiarity through local flavours.
Something that reminds the customers about home-cooked food but also distinct
enough to make them come back for more.
 Their menu is rotated every four months or so. They make sure to incorporate the
freshest available ingredients during that period.
 They have to be receptive to the customers’ suggestions and feedback, and flexible
enough to adapt to these changes without compromising on their principles.

Malaysians Moving from Fat to Fit

For the past three years, Jason and his team have seen that the awareness towards a
healthier lifestyle has changed significantly. They have received a lot of enquiries, especially
from the corporate side, to deliver healthy meals. However, it is still at an early stage. There
are many people who want to eat healthy food but not aware of what they have access to.
Malaysians generally encounter two obstacles in embracing this lifestyle:
 They are still very value-oriented and have preferences for heavy-flavoured food.
 The healthy food consumption goes hand-in-hand with how much they spend.

“We want to accelerate this shift in perception by providing an easier entry for people to
embrace healthier food choices,” Jason said. “Hence, our food needs to be sustainable in
terms of price as well as taste.”

Balancing Taste, Value, And Health

Agrain by HALE targets working individuals who care about what they eat. They are
conscious of their food choices but, at the same time, their taste buds need to be satisfied.
“We noticed that our customers start off with things that they are familiar with, but eventually,
they try out different toppings that are more uncommonly found in Malaysia and stick to that,”
Jason added.
They’ve observed that not many people can afford meals that cost more than RM15.90 on a
regular bowl. So Agrain by HALE’s protein bowl starts from RM13.90. Also, they strive to
provide greater value by increasing food quality while maintaining or reducing prices.
“People are willing to pay a little more to get more value in return.”
This strict expectation on food comes with a cost. Despite that, the team believes when
people start demanding more for higher quality food, they will be able to see lower prices for
their supplies.

Mixing And Matching Models

The team are in a unique position where they are exposed to both running a physical
restaurant but also do food deliveries. They’ve found that the experience on the back-end is
very different. Customers that order their food to be delivered are not necessarily the same
as the customers that will dine in. This includes their entire experience and demands.

“If we want to do both things right, we have to consider getting certain aspects right that we
don’t usually think of in our operations if we only do one or the other.”
Nowadays, many restaurants and food deliveries use messages about eating healthy
because they feel that these are the messages that people are looking for. Unfortunately, the
team feels that a large group are only doing it on the surface due to how costly it may be
(due to the lack of demand).
“For any business, the longevity of each customer is important, and your product is the best
signal of the practices that you enforce,” Jason commented.
“As awareness grows, those who stand true to their words are the ones that will last.”

More Players on The Field

As they are in a relatively new market, the team hopes to see more players in this space,
which would indicate the growth of the healthy food segment.
“We embrace competition because that would mean that we are all moving towards the right
direction,” Jason commented. “It makes a lot of sense because as income levels rise, we all
demand of a higher quality lifestyle. That starts from what we eat on a day-to-day basis.”
“There’s so much more to learn in this market. We can all learn from each other to help us
understand and serve our customers even better. Not just in terms of products but the entire
experience as a whole.”

Wai L. Y. (2019). "We Embrace Competition"—Why This M'sian Team Welcomes New
Players To The Healthy Food Scene. Retrieved from https://vulcanpost.com/665016/agrain-
hale-healthy-affordable-protein-bowls-malaysia/

Discussion Questions:

1. What is Agrain known for?

2. Is healthy eating a growing trend? Justify your answer.
3. What segment of the market does Agrain cater to?
4. How does Agrain differ from competitors?
5. In your opinion, how do food marketing influence food preferences and health
behaviours?
REFERENCES APA

Textbook

Zikmund, W.G. (2003). Business Research Methods (7th ed.). South-Western, Mason,
Ohio: Thomson.

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business: A skill-building approach. 4th ed. USA:
John Wiley and Sons

Website

MCMC (2020). Communications and multimedia: Pocket book of statistics (2019). Retrieved
from
https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/PocketBookCommunication
s- Multimedia_2019.pdf

Department of Statistics, Malaysia (2020). Current Population Estimates, Malaysia, 2020.

Retrieved from
https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=155&bul_id=OV
ByWjg
5YkQ3MWFZRTN5bDJiaEVhZz09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUU
T09#:
~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20population%20aged,69.7%20per%20cent%20in
%2020 20.

Journal

Featherman, M. S., & Hajli, N. (2015). Self-Service Technologies and e-Services Risks in
Social Commerce Era. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-19.

Akman, I., & Mishra, A. (2017). Factors influencing consumer intention in social commerce
adoption. Information Technology & People, 30(2).
COVER PAGE

CASE STUDY

NAME :
ID NUMBER :
SECTION :
LECTURER :
 JULY2022/MKT2013/MKT201/MKT2123
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (CASE STUDY) RUBRICS
INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY RUBRIC (20%)
Course Name : Principles of Marketing Student's Name : Lecturer's Name:

Course Code : MKT201/MKT2013 Student's ID :

MARKS
MARKS
CRITERIA WEIGHT (%)
ALLOCATED
POOR (1) MODERATE (2) SATISFACTORY (3) GOOD(4) EXCELLENT (5)

Able to slightly identify Able to identify and Able to identify and

Unable to identify and Able to identify and
Identification of main and understand the understand most of understand all of the
20 understand the issues understand some of the /5 × 20% =
issues/ problems issues in the case the issues in case main issues in the case
in case study. issues in the case study.
study. study. study.

Relevant analysis of Complete but not Insightful and thorough

Analysis of the No analysis of the Moderate analysis of
30 some of the issues in the thorough analysis of analysis of all the /5 × 30% =
issues issues. the issues.
case. the issues. issues.

Little suggestions and Adequate suggestions Relevant suggestions Well documented and
Provide suggestions No suggestions for
slightly appropriate and appropriate solutions and appropriate appropriate solutions to
on appropriate 20 solutions to the issues /5 × 20% =
solutions to the issues to the issues in the case solutions to the issues the issues in the case
solutions in the case study.
in the case study. study. in the case study. study.

Inadequate efforts to Significant adaptation Exceptional adaptation

Relate to theories/ No effort to relate to Adequate adaptation to
20 relate to theories / to relate to theories / to relate to theories / /5 × 20% =
concepts theories / concepts. theories / concepts.
concepts. concepts. concepts.

Sentences were
somewhat varied, and
Writing lack sentence Sentences were
some were Sentences were correctly Sentence were well
Language 10 variety and few correctly constructed /5 × 10% =
inappropriate with constructed. written and expressed.
grammatical errors. and well-articulated.
minimal grammatical
errors.

TOTAL MARKS / 100