Let’s Solve

A Consulting
Case
problem statement
Your client is a
restaurant owner. It
has been
experiencing a
decline in profits. It
wants you to analyse
why?
 Interview thread
Interviewee: Since when has the client been
seeing decline in its profits? Also, do we have
the magnitude of decline?
Interviewer: The client has been seeing
decline is profits for the past one year, but
there has been a significant decline for the
past three months.
Interviewee: Is it only the client’s restaurant
which has seen the decline in profits or other
restaurants in the area have also seen a
declines?
Interviewer: Other restaurants have also
seen some dip in their profits, but the client
has been significantly impacted.
Interviewee: Now I’d like to understand more
about our client. What type of a restaurant is
it? And where exactly is it located?
Interviewer: The client has one high-end
multi-cuisine restaurant located in a high
footfall area of Agra.

Interviewee: Due to the Taj Mahal, Agra

attracts a lot tourists. I’d like to understand
the type of customers that visit the
restaurant. Are they locals or tourists?
Interviewer: This is a fair observation. The
customers are mainly tourists, and you can
consider them to be international tourists.

Interviewee: Got it. The decline in profits

could be due to increase in costs or
decrease in revenue or a combination of the
both. Do we have an idea which side the
problem lies?
Interviewer: The revenues have declined
significantly, while the costs have declined
marginally.
Interviewee: Since, revenues have seen a major
decline, let’s first understand the reasons for
its decline and then explore the cost side. A
restaurant can have multiple revenue streams
including dine-in, take-away and delivery. It
can offer both food and beverages including
alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Is our client into
all of these services. Has any one of these
services observed a greater decline than
others?
Interviewer: The client only has dine-in
restaurant services and does not provide
alcoholic beverages.
Interviewee: Okay. Has the average number of
customers being served at the restaurant in a
day or the average amount spent per
customer decreased?
Interviewer: The average amount spent per
customer has not changed but the number of
customers visiting the restaurant has
decreased.
Interviewee: Do we know if this decrease is
because the client has not been able to
cater to the customers willing to visit the
restaurant or the demand for the
restaurant has declined?
Interviewer: The client has been able to
cater to all the customers who have visited
its restaurant.
Interviewee: This implies that the customers
visiting the restaurant have decreased. The
average number of customers visiting in a
unit time can be seen as: Total number of
tourists visiting India X % tourists visiting
Agra X % visiting the client’s restaurant.
The problem could lie in any of these parts.
Interviewer: The total number of tourist
visiting India and % of those who visited the
client’s restaurant, both have declined.
Interviewee: This is interesting. Let’s first look
at why tourist visiting India have decreased.
This decrease could be either due to a change
in the International perception about India,
increase in processing hassles such as visa
approvals or change in preferences of the
tourists due their country’s economic reasons
or increased availability of alterative options.

Interviewer: With the current slowdown

internationally, the international tourism
market has seen a decline and India has been
affected by it too. Now can you look at why
the % of tourists visiting the client’s restaurant
has decreased?

Interviewee: To understand this, I would like to

look at the journey of the consumer from the
time when it decides on which restaurant to
eat, to actually eating the meal at the
restaurant. For this, I would like to divide the
journey into three parts.
Interviewee: The first part of the journey will
start with the decision to eating food till
reaching the restaurant. The second part will
include the experience inside the restaurant
and the third part will include the journey
after exiting the restaurant.
Interviewer: Sure, please go ahead.
Interviewee: To finalize the client’s
restaurant to eat, the customer needs to be
‘aware’ about the restaurant. Many
international tourists must be checking
reviews on websites such Tripadvisor as well
as those of niche food bloggers. The
promotion done by restaurant through
posters and hoardings can also make
tourists aware. Many tourist also ask for
recommendations from their friends, travel
agents and from the tourist guides available
at monumental places.
Interviewee : The tourist will then check the
price of the restaurant to ensure
‘affordability’. Finally, once the restaurant
has been decided, the tourist will head
towards the restaurant. The restaurant
should be ‘accessible’. Mismatch in location
from google maps, change in routes or
route blocks due to construction activities,
difficulty in parking spaces etc. could
negatively impact the tourist's decision to
visit the restaurant. Do we know is there
any problem here?
Interviewer: Yes. A few months back, the
restaurant decided to reduce the
commission of the tourist guides because of
which these guides have now started
recommending our competitor's restaurants
to the tourists. You can now move to the
next phase of the journey.
Interviewee: Interesting. This can potentially
explain why the costs also decreased, but
we’ll look into it later. Once, the customers
reach the restaurant, they may have to wait
before their turn comes. Then they enter the
restaurant and take a seat. The seating
arrangement, presentation of cutlery and
other amenities will affect the overall
perception. The customer places an order
using a menu, where the presentation in the
menu is important. Having placed the
order, the waiting time, waiter’s hospitality
and food quality and quantity will be
important. Finally, the ambience also adds
to the experience. Has there been changes
in any of these?
Interviewer: Can you look at the ambience
part in more detail? What all would it
entail?
Interviewee: Sure.
Interviewee: The ambiance of a restaurant is
aided by the features inside the restaurant
like the music, fragrance, visual appeals of
the paintings, the overall décor, etc. The view
from a restaurant also adds to the ambiance,
used by roof-top cafes, sea-facing
restaurants etc. Here, a view of Taj Mahal can
be an added experience to the customers.
Interviewer: That’s great. A building
construction started three months back which
has blocked the view of Taj Mahal from the
client's restaurant. This has deterred many
customers. Can you quickly also look at the
last part of your journey?
Interviewee: Once the customer has exited the
restaurant, she may avail of a service from
near the restaurant including local shopping
or visiting a sweet shop. She may have to
take a transport mode to visit another place.
The restaurant may engage in loyalty
programs as well.
Interviewee: However, since tourist visits are
generally a one-time visit, a loyalty program
doesn’t seem to be important here. Can you
suggest if any of these have had any changes
in recent times?
Interviewer: Outside the restaurant was a
famous paanwaala shop which got closed
due to the sad demise of its owner. This has
also impacted a few customers. Can you give
some recommendations now?
Interviewee: Since blocking Tthe aj Mahal’s
view is the major reason for the decline in
revenue, the restaurant can explore if
relocation is possible, though that would be
tough. While continuing with the same
location, the restaurant can provide a
differentiated ambiance with local Agra’s
feel, provide value-added services, and
include paan in its menu. We will have to see
why the tourist guide commissions were
reduced.
Interviewee: If increasing it is possible, that
could be done or non-monetary incentives
can be provided to these guides.
Interviewer: That’s great. Thank you

that’s a wrap!
 Framework
Profits

Revenue Costs

Average spent Average no. of

per customer customers

Annual tourists % tourists % visiting the

visiting India visiting Agra client’s restaurant

Changed Change in
Indian Process tourist
Perception Issues pref.

Economy Increase in
downfall Alternatives
 Framework

Pre During Post

Accessibility Entry & Loyalty

waiting program
Affordability
Seating Transport
Arrangement Availability
Awareness
Menu Options just
Offline Online outside
Service and food the
Posters, quality & restaurant
travel agents quantity

Tourist guides Ambiance

External Internal

Sound from View of Taj

outside Mahal
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