130429 biberatica business plan

Your personal waiter
Business Plan
2013.04.29

Index
SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................4
THE VISION: A PERSONAL VALET ON FOOD, A SOCIAL EXPERIENCE......................................................5
STATE OF THE ART ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
THE BUSINESS MODEL ............................................................................................................................................7
THE ROLE OF PARTNERS ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
Nutritional choice-driven associations .............................................................................................................................8
Opinion makers ............................................................................................................................................................................8
Phone/OS Makers, retailers ...................................................................................................................................................8
Other services ...............................................................................................................................................................................8
WHO ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
WHAT ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 11
HOW ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
SEGMENTATION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 11
POTENTIAL TARGET ................................................................................................................................................................ 13
INTERNAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................ 15
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................ 16
MAIN DRIVERS IN RESTAURANT INDUSTRY ......................................................................................................................... 16
The location ................................................................................................................................................................................ 16
The Menu ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Price Range ................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Community Demographics and Labour Pool .............................................................................................................. 16
The Competition ....................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Promotional Ideas ................................................................................................................................................................... 17
RESTAURANT PEST ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................................. 17
Political Factors........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Economic Factors..................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Social Factors ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Technological Factors ........................................................................................................................................................... 17
UPCOMING MARKET TRENDS ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Related to treatment of animals ....................................................................................................................................... 18
Healthy Snacking ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Tea Beverages ........................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Mediterranean Foods ............................................................................................................................................................. 19
COMPETITORS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................... 21
POTENTIAL ENTRANTS – HIGH THREAT ............................................................................................................................... 21
BUYER POWER – HIGH THREAT ............................................................................................................................................. 22
SUPPLIER POWER – HIGH THREAT ........................................................................................................................................ 22
THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES- LOW THREAT............................................................................................................................. 22
INDUSTRY RIVALRY – MEDIUM THREAT ............................................................................................................................... 23
SWOT ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................................... 24
STRENGTHS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 24
WEAKNESSES ............................................................................................................................................................................ 24
OPPORTUNITIES ....................................................................................................................................................................... 24
THREATS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
A MARKET PENETRATION AND GROWTH STRATEGY .............................................................................. 26
COMMERCIAL ROAD MAP ........................................................................................................................................................ 26
Market segments ...................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Geography ................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Niche Markets............................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Food allergies ............................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Food intolerances .................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Auto-immune disease ............................................................................................................................................................. 30
Halal/Kosher Diets .................................................................................................................................................................. 31
Vegetarianism ........................................................................................................................................................................... 32

Potential market base............................................................................................................................................................ 32
Potential Italian market base ............................................................................................................................................ 34
ECONOMICS .............................................................................................................................................................. 36
THE TEAM ................................................................................................................................................................. 39

Summary
Everyday, millions of people worldwide are made unable to fully enjoy a satisfying customer
experience at the restaurant, one which is compatible with their taste and needs. Helping people
live the best food experience, wherever they are and whenever they want is our mission.
For example, every time someone puts his/her traveller’ shoes on, one of the biggest threats to
the best traveling experience comes from language. Imagine yourself travel in a foreign country,
and sit in a local restaurant. Everything looks delicious, but you cannot understand a bit of what
is written on the menu. You just take a leap of faith, trying to do what the locals do, but … too
bad, faith won’t be of any help when you’ll find out that you are actually allergic to the delicious
food you are already eating. That might sound harsh or exaggerate, but the risk is quite real and
millions of people face it every day because of different reasons: coeliac disease, food
intolerances or allergies, and – why not – deliberate religious or lifestyle choices as being a
Muslim, Jewish or simply vegan or on a diet. Customers’ needs are a precious source of information to restaurateurs. And leaving things to fate might cause huge economic and legal
inconveniences.
For final consumers the pain is about time waste to understand what the restaurateurs can offer
and if that suits his/her needs and taste. This is not only related to language; the pain relates to
the possibility that the chosen restaurant fits personal requirements of the consumer in terms of
taste, health, extra services. How can consumers find the closest restaurant which better suits
their needs?
From the restaurateurs’ point of view, the opportunity is about taking advantage of their
possibility to differentiate in the highly competitive market of food by means of specialized and
more customer tailored services.
Biberatica will allow consumers stop gesticulating to waiters and try to understand the menu. In
2013, the menu will understand you. Biberatica will disrupt the concept of menu, turning it into a
personal valet that speaks your language and knows your needs. It never goes on vacation and
will always be one fingertip away.
Biberatica is a desktop and mobile platform meant to solve all of the aforementioned problems
and many more, while reducing management and marketing costs for restaurateurs. It runs on
off-the-shelf hardware, does not require any huge or long term investment and will be available
through easy and safe digital download. The only requirement for the restaurateurs is to have a
fine working Mac or PC and a wireless network, while their guests would only need their own
smartphone or tablet.
Biberatica needs an initial seed of about €200k for the deployment of the basic version and set
up of the needed operational structure. Further, it will need for more €300k of investments to
reach maturity in terms of more features and scalable operations, compatibly with the
estimated growth of customers base.

The Vision: a personal valet on food, a social experience
Biberatica’s vision is to create a marketplace meant to meet the demand for custom-tailored,
high level food experiences for the heterogeneous panorama of restaurant industry. Revenues
are generated based on a subscription model. As its predecessor (the good old menu),
Biberatica will be free for every hungry or thirsty customer. Restaurateurs are the only ones in
need of a license, which will be comfortably affordable and renewable even on a monthly basis.
Thanks to Biberatica, restaurateurs can pretty much cut all of their costs for menu prints, paying
instruments and marketing efforts. This will give them a competitive advantage over their
competitors. Biberatica will be available for download from the official website and the most
famous online “app stores”. Biberatica is looking forward to serve the best food experience ever.
This idea will give restaurateurs the advantage of providing their customers with a completely
innovative and custom tailored service. Clients will be enabled geo-localize their most
compatible restaurants and to enjoy a satisfying food experience supported by a personal valet.
Food is culture and providing people with this powerful instrument will differentiate Biberatica
in the market of services for the restaurant industry. The goal for Biberatica is to impose as
leader in this market, progressively integrating services meant to enrich the consumer
experience, making it social.

State of the art
There has been an increase in how the restaurant industry invests on technology to improve
their customer experience. Different players are now playing and willing to play into the market
and some of them have been able to gain highly respectful customers (as Hilton for Conceptic
Ltd.). This trend knows no boundaries of market segmentation, as demonstrated by the efforts
made by companies like Hilton and McDonald’s, but also from significantly smaller “fusion”
restaurants. McDonald’s has already started the deployment of a new tablet-based plat-form in
one of their stores in Virginia Beach (Virginia, U.S.A.) and independent developers are pushing
tablet based solutions as replacements for the wide popular Points of Sale1. The in-vestments
those developers and their customers are making, clearly set the stage for a variety of solutions
that aim to help the food industry increase their sales and margins. But there is still no sign of a
market leader, nor of a “good enough” solution to a problem that has never been precisely
identified. It is our belief that this might be happening because no player pinpointed the real
problem of this market yet.
In Italy, the industry of commercial restaurants makes about €48.8bln in revenues and has more
than 228,000 restaurants.2 During the past 30 years, demand has raised at a pace of 4% per year.
Restaurants have more than 50% of market share, followed by 30% of “pizzerie”. The smallest
average expense per consumer is over 30€. We believe we can help profit figures rise thanks to
1

Mendiola, José. “McDonald's pone a disposición de susclientesiPads en uno de susrestaurantes”. Engadget.com.
Web. October 10, 2012. Last visit: October 20, 2012.
Matyszcyk, Chris. “McDonald’s offers free use of iPads”. CNet.com. Web. October 19, 2011. Last visit: October 20,
2012
Shapiro, Carolyn. “Have an iPad with yourmeal. Butit’snot to go.” hamptonroads.com / PilotOnLine.com. Web. October 7, 2012. Last visit: October 20, 2012.
2
Martirano, Manuela; Valdameri, Emilio. “La ristorazione in Italia: andamento del mercato” Università IULM.
August 1, 2008. Web (SlideShare). Last visit: October 2012.
ANON, “Il gran mondo del mangiare bene” Il Sole 24 Ore.Web. September 1, 2011. Last visit: October 20, 2012.

the savings Biberatica will induce both for small and global customers. This under-lines how
much Biberatica aims to serve as a tool to increase effectiveness, productivity and efficiency of
restaurants, causing savings and higher volumes of transactions as a consequence.
Revenues will be determined by the licensing fees for the restaurateurs and the individual
agreements with the biggest realities, such as restaurant chains. We are determined to keep the
fees as low as possible to determine the highest adoption rate possible, creating different tiers
for different sets of customers (such as bars, pubs and restaurants).
From a marketing perspective, the market will be addressed in two phases. During the first
phase, Biberatica will be rolled out with a clear focus on markets with vertical and very specific
needs, such as coeliacs, allergics, vegans and vegetarians. Those markets will be addressed
through specific agreements to be established with their relating category associations and by
means of some initial basic investment in commercial force. Biberaticaintends to use this first
phase to refine the features of the service to be provided to the wider, generic restaurant
industry. With the second phase, we plan to expand proposing a more mature service and
spread the brand worldwide through investments meant to expand the commercial force and,
most of all, by means of campaigns of viral marketing. We count of word of mouth: the clients
with special needs pay a lot of attention to the search for restaurants compatible with their
needs and are very active on socials and specialized sites.

The Business Model

General

Every restaurateur is a service provider. As such, the objective is to have their tables as much
occupied as possible. A bigger customer base would increase the possibility to reach that goal.
Following this target with low extra-cost and, possibly, improving the ability to efficiently manage the store and the capacity, can certainly be considered a value to them.
Consumers tend to look for restaurateurs that can satisfy their needs. Finding a service which
suits their needs, certainly increases their fidelity as consumers.
Our model wants to build a market place where the demand of personalized services (that of
final consumers) meets the offer of customer tailored, differentiating opportunities man-aged
by restaurateurs.
Target
Restaurateurs (niche AND nonniche) who want to widen their
potential markets

Value Proposition
Increase their appeal on tourists by offering them a
custom tailored service using their own language
and knowing their taste and specific needs, so that
they can better serve them.
Ease the work of their waiters and allow them to
serve their customers faster.
Live a personalized, easy and rich food experience.
Be part of a rich social experience on food.

Consumers
Restaurateurs (non-niche) who do
not invest in marketing tools
because of costs/resources/FUD
(Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt)

Specific

Restaurateurs (non-niche) who
already invest in marketing with
3rd party tools

Restaurateurs who were/are put in
trouble by the market of reviews
and ratings

S
p

Target
Consumers (niche)

Reach the same results of expensive marketing
campaigns with a low cost and simple to use tools
that grant total control over their marketing costs
and results. No contract locks, opt in and out
whenever they want. No hidden fees, choose what
to pay for. Join a network of trust!
Start their own marketing campaigns; manage them
by themselves (no need to rely on third party
marketing policies and services). Full control over
the number and the extent of the deals they want to
offer.
Gain customer loyalty by providing a tailored and
personalized service.
Let customers be part of their workforce, involving
them into a rich social experience.
Promote a differentiating quality of service through
a trustworthy and reliable (coming from final
consumers) reviewing system that avoids anyone
from blackmailing them for paid reviews.
Stop unverified sources from threatening their
business and causing them losses.

Value Proposition
Start exploring new places without the need to nit-pick

Consumer (everyone)

the menu for their needs. Get the dedicated care of
specialized bistrots in every restaurant.
Help the waiters serve them faster, no need to call for
their attention. The waiter becomes a complement
(culture, experience) to the food experience.
Turn every special food experience to a social
experience, by sharing their thoughts on the places you
go while being rewarded for it (e.g.: special offers,
coupons). Enjoy a personalized menu that is based on
their personal taste and needs and speaks their
language, in their country as in the rest of the world.

The role of partners
Partnerships are going to have a key role in the success of the business model. Following are
listed the main types of partnerships.
Nutritional choice-driven associations
We want to co-operate with those associations from day one in order to learn how Biberatica
behavior can be improved for their needs (which are more restrictive than other people’s, thus
more interesting from a marketing-point-of-view).This could grant Biberatica feedbacks, but
also audience and visibility.
Opinion makers
The service will be introduced officially to opinion makers and influencers with significant
visibility both to the general audience and the professional one. It is a must to shed the light also
via those communities who are focused on traveling experiences.
Phone/OS Makers, retailers
In the long distance, partnerships may even be established with operators such as Google or
Nokia/Microsoft, or retailers such as Vodafone, to include Biberatica as a pre-installed app on
those phones with custom firmware.
Other services
Biberatica will provide APIs for integrating it with existing or future services, such as
OpenTable, Cibando, and so on.

Key partners
Partnership will be created with the most spread web
information services and bloggers specialized on food
and tourism advising. This will contribute to promote
awareness.
More partnerships will be considered with providers of
complementary services such as restaurant web
booking and coupons. This will enrich the global offer,
increase the interest on the aggregate service and
contribute to speed up reaching the critical mass of
users, contemporarily reducing the chicken-egg risk
related to creating a new market place (that of food
addicted).
Partnerships will be established with freelance
interpreters (having experience with food industry), to
support Biberatica with the translation service, based
upon an on demand service.

Key Activities
Software development.
Database design and maintenance.
System scalability.
Graphic design and usability.
Language translations.
Start up: create direct commercial relationships with
restaurateurs, according to a commercial policy aimed at
covering the most attracting touristic sites in the world.
Maturity: develop and maintain a rich client restaurateurs
version to provide them with more and more value
addedservices.
Distribution Channels will be based on Web and App
technologies.
Customers relationships will be managed in terms of
personal assistance to restaurateurs. Final consumers will
contribute to create the social experience.
Revenue Streams will come from fees paid for basic and
premium services provided for dynamic management of
menus by restaurateurs.

Key Resources
The needed human resources include
expertise on software engineering and programming, sales,
business planning and development, strategy and web
marketing, design.
The needed computing capacity will be sourced as a service
and on the cloud.
The financials estimate a seed of €300,000 to start up and
deploy the starting web based version which will allow to
begin penetrate the niche market. A further first round of
financing will give the chance to estimate what needed to
improve the system and start penetrate the global market.
We plan to patent the design and algorithm through which
the smart-phone app will learn on consumers’ taste and
needs.

Cost Structure
Costs are mainly related to developing and maintaining the web site and the app.
During the start up phase, extra cost will be allocated to deploy the commercial strategy.

Value Propositions
Restaurateurs
Unleash restaurateurs’ will for offering their customers
a new, high level of hospitality through a personalized
service.
Get rid of natural and artificial limits on food
experience such as language, limited information,
physical barriers.
Provide restaurateurs with the possibility to easily and
conveniently differentiate in a highly competitive,
mature and traditional market.
Give restaurateurs the possibility to independently act
marketing policies on price and service promotions,
through a customer tailored experience proposition.
Consumers
Give consumers an enriched, personalized and social
food experience, wherever and whenever they want.

Customer Relationships

Customer Segments

Personal Assistance will be offered to support restaurateurs
managing the content of their commercial proposition.
For final consumers the experience is going to be social. They
are going to co-create the content of the globally shared food
experience.

The commercial strategy will be first focused on niche
markets; that’s because it is aimed at making the
starting service mature enough to be later used to
penetrate a more general market, that of food
addicted. Niche markets are those where the demand
for more personalized services is higher, such as
coeliacs, vegetarians and vegans, food allergics and
intolerants. The awareness will be reached through
promoting the service on specialized sites and socials.
This first focus will be essential to improve easiness
and effectiveness of the app that will learn from
consumers taste and needs.
The second phase will be devoted to addressing
markets of passionate and tourists. The awareness will
be boosted by partnerships with the most spread
specialized sites providing mass market with touristic,
complementary information and food opinion makers’
blogs and sites.

Channels
The distribution channel will be the Web. During the
startup phase a strong commercial plan will be deployed to
spread awareness and reach the critical mass of users. For this
reason a dedicated commercial force will be used and we are
going to take advantage from low cost trip possibilities and an
accurate commercial covering strategy aimed at serving the
main towns in Italy, Europe and then Worldwide.
At a later stage, we count on word of mouth and Web.
We will also count on partnership with the main tourism advisors
web sites and niche categories’ associations.
Demo videos will be created on YouTube and integrated with
socials to share and help evaluate the value proposition.
All the channel will drive restaurateurs to autonomously buy
Biberatica services from the dedicated Web site. Final Consumer
will download the app from Apple and Android stores. They will
gain awareness through plates that will be showcased by the
member restaurateurs and by means of the social experience
(word of mouth).
The post purchase customer support will be provided (e-mails and
phone) by third party work force the will be integrated and
formed as long as the customer base will grow.

Revenue Streams
Restaurateurs are willing to pay for the possibility to:
•
Differentiate their services proposing a customer tailored, highly personalized experience
•
Promote them becoming part of a social experience
•
Increasing their visibility and marketing potential
•
Expanding their customer base through better valuing their added value services
•
Making efficiency on menu proposition, store and personnel management
Revenue will come from monthly fees being paid by restaurateurs for having published their menus and commercial propositions.
Extra revenues will come from supplementary packages such as different language translations and support for content management editorial activities.
The app to the final consumers will be provided for free.

The Market
Here we focus on final consumers’ drivers to categorize our target, which is restaurants.
The restaurant industry for the final consumers can be considered as operating according two
different strategies. One is a B2B, (read: catering and canteens) and the other – far more popular
– is a B2C (single restaurants, branded food chains and so on). The food related services provided
by hotels and highway stops also fall into the latter category, the one Biberatica is after.

Who
The consumer experience in the B2C of restaurant industry is illustrated in the “WHO” axis of our
graphic representation.
The first category of that field represents the general consumer, the one who wants his/her
appetite to be satisfied within a reasonable or low budget. The operators of this category are, for
example, the widespread pizza/pasta/Japanese/Chinese restaurants. In order to make an easier
reference to this segment of the market, we will refer to it as “conventional”.
The other category (named premium) is populated by more demanding customers (high
segment, top spender) who demand a more rewarding, differentiating food experience because
of their need to claim a higher status or because of the concept of celebrating something or
someone remarkable. They require being more comfortable than in conventional restaurants and
claiming the need for something more than just the food, some exclusivity. This kind of customer
may also be in need of dedicated attentions on the quality and kind of food – as for religious or
social choices, regimens or allergies. Vegans, for example, fall into this category.
Technologicalalternatives (HOW)

Value addedservices
brand/location (exclusivity)
Foodvariety (wide)
service (relationship through waiter/maître)
premium (extendedexperience)
conventional (stand alone experience)

Groups of customers (WHO)

type of food (general)
type of food (specialized)
quality/price (general level)
quality/price (high level)
foodexperience (basic)
foodexperience (rich)

Needs of customers (WHAT)

What
The needs of final consumers (those who sit at the tables) are placed on the “WHAT” axis.
They are mainly related to the nature and variety of food but are influenced by the quality/price
ratio as main factor. In this scenario, eating at a restaurant is regarded as an experience that goes
beyond our primary needs, and is affected by parameters such as location, atmosphere, quality of
service and reliability of the staff, the brand. The higher the market segment is, the richer their
food experience needs to be.

How
Restaurateurs differentiate according to several drivers, as described on the “HOW axis.
“HOW”
The main driver is represented by the variety of their offer: one of the most important needs of
their customers is to be able to choose, among a list of possibilities, the ones that fit their needs
and taste at best. According to this need, restaurateurs tend to offer the widest possible choice
restaurateurs
according to their experience and possibilities in order to address the largest potential audience.
This factor is decisive in raising the costs related to managing a restaurant because it requires to
properly handling an expensive and not durable store. This cost can only partially be mitigated by
ly
the cyclic nature of the demand, which is related to the geographical location and climate
variations.
The classic and mature interface between the restaurant and its guests is the waiter. Not only
does he act as a counselor, but as a seller as well and is crucial in the quality of service as
perceived by the final customer. Even if its role plays a central part in how the customer perceives
the food experience, it is just a part of it: word of mouth, newspapers and other information
sources do still have their weight in the equation, highlighting how much a food experience is
really a cultural one.
The location where the service is provided is also very important, and is related to several factors
and
such as the proximity, the exclusivity (downtown restaurants are usually more elegant and
expensive, for example),and the environment.
Brand is also very representative for the segmentation and the associated values, as it might be a
huge part of the customer experience.
The offer of value added services (VAS) might set one offer worlds apart from one other. For
example, this might be achieved by offering a private parking space or a kindergarten, support for
customers with disabilities or allowance for pets.

Segmentation
The highest segment is the most demanding and has top spending potential. It is a customer base
that looks for the richest food experience by choosing the more exclusive restaurants and asking
for unique solutions adequate to their standards. They ask for more specialized food,
utions
sophisticated but still with an important variety. Not only do they appreciate value added
services,but also need their status to be acknowledged and displayed, and that is not just a
matter of money but a matter of choice. This is why this segment also includes niche markets

11

such as those who pay more attention to nature and quality of food (think of customers with strict
vegan or kosher preferences).

Generic and
specializedfood

Premium
Customers

Higherprice
Richfoodexperienc
e



The medium/low segment is represented by less demanding customers, more willing to have just
a satisfying food experience outside home. Variety of the offer still plays an important role, but it
is way less sophisticated, while the importance of the quality/price ratio becomes more
d,
important.

12


Service
food variety

Conventional
customers


Genericfood
Lower quality/price
ower
Common
foodexperience


Potential target
Biberatica aims to give restaurateurs the instruments to vastly improve the reach and quality of
their offer. The idea is to provide their guests with an app for smartphones and tablets that will
o
help them find the right and the best places for their wishes, providing them with a personalized
menu that will showcase the offers of the connected restaurants.
Biberatica should allow highly segmented restaurants to enrich their distinguishing offer,
low
promoting their value added services and integrating them with a customer tailored approach.
Biberatica’s features would enrich the customer experience for the medium segment as well, b
by
offering conventional consumers the possibility to enjoy a more personalized service and giving
their restaurateurs the possibility to better differentiate and pursue their market.

13

Value added services
Brand/location
Food variety
service/regard
Conventional and
premium
customers



General and more
eneral
specializedfood
Medium and
higherquality/price

Richer
Food
Experience


This is how Biberatica’s concept will allow to cover the envisioned requirements according the
three conceptual directions.

14

Internal analysis
FirmInfrastructure
Human Resource Management
Technology
Procurement
Inbound
Logistics

Operations

Social content is going
to be procured
through viral and
cheap social
campaigns
Software Engineering
strong internal
competence.
Partnerships with
externaldevelopers.

Outbound
Logistics

Marketing
and Sales

Software will be
developed externally
according to internal
design. Social
management and
support to
restaurateurs will be
provided by dedicated
workforce. Menu
translationswill be
provided on demand.

Service

A strong commercial
effort will be spent,
supported by strong
niche categories
partners.

The main weaknesses are related to not having a pure software developer in the team. But this is
compensated by a strong internal software engineering competence.
Strong and mature professional networks will provide the necessary relations to create
partnerships with complementary services, software developers, translators, go
go-to market
channels.

15

External Analysis
As of the market analysis made so far, the target market is that of providers of any possible food
experience. From this viewpoint even automatic vending machine providers may be a possible
target. Considering that of restaurateurs as potential target is just a way to focus on a specific
market.

Main drivers in restaurant industry
Restaurateurs are the main target of Biberatica, its main source of revenues. Here we analyze the
main drivers in this industry.
The location
The location of a restaurant is crucial.3 It needs to be close to target customers, have available
parking and the rent must be afforda
affordable. It must be in a well-known, easily accessible area, but
known,
not too close to other restaurants of the same type. It also takes having a clean, attractive space
where people will want to spend time. Ideally, the restaurant will also be in a location that h
has
foot traffic and is close to public transportation.
The Menu
The restaurant's menu should contain items that appeal to a variety of tastes. Since people are
becoming more health conscious these days, it's important that the menu offers a variety of
healthier and lighter items (e.g. low fat, low sodium, low calorie and vegetarian). A good selection
thier
of beverages and desserts is also important, as most restaurants find these items to h
have the
highest profit margins.
Price Range
The price range of a restaurant’s menu should be comparable to that of other similar restaurants
nt’s
in the area where it is located. In general, restaurants that offer breakfast items for €4-€7, lunch
items for €6-€12 and dinner items for €10
€12
€10-€25 will get the most business.
Community Demographics and Labour Pool
mographics
It takes considering the composition of the population in the selected target community. Is it an
older, established area, one with a lot of young single people or one with a lot of families with
kids? When deciding on the menu and price range for the restaurant, it takes to be sure that the
and
menu and prices are appropriate for the community where it is located. It’s also important to
know about the available labor pool and to be sure that there are a sufficient number of younger
people, as waiters, waitresses and other help normally fall in this group. Proximity to public
eople,
transportation will also be important for the employees.

3

KING, B.J. “Restaurant Marketing Analysis” eHow. Web. Last visit: 2013.01.20
Restaurant
.
16

The Competition
It’s important to be aware of other successful restaurants in the area, understand their clientele
and evaluate their menus and prices before finalizing a proper menu.
Promotional Ideas
Several different techniques are used to drive business to a restaurant. Distributing flyers and
coupons and taking an ad in the Yellow Pages are usually succe
successful low-cost options. Another
cost
good idea is to hold an opening reception, where the restaurant offers samples of some of the
served foods. More expensive options include billboards and direct mail campaigns, and
advertising on cable TV and local radio stations. Understanding what kind of promotions and
stations.
advertising work best for a restaurant can be crucial to its success.

Restaurant PEST analysis
Political Factors
Political factors deal with the degree to which the government influences and controls
businesses.4 For a restaurant, the most important factors will be health regulations relating to
food preparation. A restaurant will be affected by factors that affect other businesses as well,
such as tax rates and labour laws.
h
Economic Factors
Economic factors are extremely important to a restaurant. This is because restaurants are a
luxury, not a necessity; people must have the disposable income to spend at a restaurant.
Economic growth is, therefore, extremely important for restaurants. A restaurant wi also be
will
affected by the economic factors that affect most businesses such as the co of capital and
cost
inflation.
Social Factors
The social factors of a market will have a huge impact on a business. For example, in a very
health-conscious market a restaurant should offer healthy foods, while in a market where people
conscious
restaurant
prefer high fat foods, they should not. Another important social factor is the attitude that people
have toward restaurants and eating out; a restaurant stands a much better chance in a market
where people prefer to eat out than in one in which people prefer to stay at home.
Technological Factors
In general, the restaurant industry is a low technology industry. If there are strong technological
low-technology
demands in a market, this may make it difficult to enter the market. In the restaurant indus
indus-try,
specialized equipment is the largest technological factor. For example, if all the pizzerias in a

4

WENDEL, C “Restaurant PEST Analysis” eHow. Web. Last visit: 2013.01.20
17

market use specialized ovens to cook their pizzas quickly, then it will likely be necessary to
acquire such an oven to compete with these restaurants.

Upcoming market trends
Related to treatment of animals
Western countries consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the treatment of
animals before they are slaughtered, and are turning to such foods as viable alternatives.5 To be
viable
certified as halal or kosher, both types of foods must go through extensive testing and
observation, so consumers know that they are receiving quality products. As the Muslim
population in North America and Europe expands and as demand from non
demand
non-Muslim and nonJewish consumers grows, the halal and kosher markets are expected to see even greater growth
in the future. In addition, the idea that Halal and Kosher certifications will be used as an added
level of food security assurance is gaining steam and these processes will be increasingly
is
introduced to non-traditional consumers through education.
l
Healthy Snacking
There has been an overall snacking trend internationally, with particularly healthy snacking
experiencing significant growth. Consumers are opting to purchase quick food solutions that are
h.
both nutritious and satisfying.
An increasing number of consumers are purchasing high protein snacks as meal replacements.
high-protein
Fruit is the most popular snack among children ages 2 to 17.
According to Mintel, close to 50% of children living in the U.S. snack almost four times a day. This
ing
presents an opportunity for manufacturers of healthy snacks that are both tasty and kid
kid-friendly.
Humus and falafel chips are becoming the healthier snack alternative to traditional chips and
alternative
dip.Granola bars now come in a variety of flavors, and there are many gluten
gluten-free, dairy-free and
organic options available.
Tea Beverages
Tea is gaining significant popularity as more options become available, and is current the
currently
second most popular beverage world
world-wide, after water.
Tea appeals to a variety of ethnic groups, ages and to both males and females. Sales of tea
products continue to grow every year, especially with increasing consumer awareness of the
many health benefits associated with this beverage.
According to a recent study by Nielsen, specialty tea grew by 5% in 2010, while decaffeinated and
caffeinated tea each grew by 1% and 2% respectively.

5

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, “Health and Wellness Trends for Canada and the World” ATS
ATS-Sea. Web. Last visit:
2013.02.12. http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/inter/4367
sea.agr.gc.ca/inter/4367-eng.htm#j

18

Fermented tea beverages, such as iced green tea and kombucha tea, are also becoming
increasingly popular because of their relation to digestive hea
health.
Mediterranean Foods
Many consumers consider Mediterranean foods to be much healthier and contain a higher
proportion of nutrients. Food items, which have especially gained popularity, include olives, olive
oil, fish, herbs, spices and red wine.
There is growing consumer awareness of the health benefits, quality and taste of these products,
which are believed to fend off health problems like heart attacks, Alzheimer's disease, and
diabetes.

Competitors
Focusing on the more specific market of companies providing App and Web Sites services to
restaurant industry, our map shows a set of competitors. Most of them provide restaurateurs with
applications meant to support waiters. The ones who focus on the final consumer are developing
complementary supportive services but are very little focused on customer’s experience.

19

Logo

Company

Product

Launched?

Conceptic

eMenu

Yes

IknosysS.r.l.

QuickMenù

Yes

Channel
Direct,
AppStore

Target
Luxury
Restaurants

Direct sales
Website,
Express
Courier
Website,
AppStore

Markets

Description

Intl.

Interactive menu with pictures. Wine
matching. Web basedbackend. POS

Bars,
Take-away

Italy

PDA for waiters, touch-screen POS
touch

Restaurants

U.S.A.

Sowftware + hardware (iOS
integration)

Restaurants

Russia

Sowftware + hardware (iOS
integration)

TouchBistro Inc.

TouchBistro

Yes

Alayamovskaya L.

TillyPad

Yes

PosIOS

Restaurant
Butler

Yes

AppStore

Restaurants

Intl.

iOS App for waiters

Evernote

Evernote
Food

Yes

AppStore

?

Intl.

Save and share points of interests and
recipes.

Foursquare

Foursquare

Yes

AppStore

Businesses
(Generic)

Intl.

Customer loyalty, offers

MiSiedo

MiSiedo

Yes

AppStore

Restaurants

Italy

Reservations

Cibando

Cibando

Yes

AppStore,

Restaurants

Italy,
France

Contact info, reviews, localization
info

General

U.S.A.

Loyalty, subsidized hardware

Belly

BellyCard

Yes

Website,
Express
Courier

WeOrderS.r.l.

WeOrder

No

-

restaurants

?

Self-ordering

-

AppEatIt

No

-

restaurants

?

Reservations/self-ordering

20

Five forces analysis

Supplier
power
Potentiale
ntrants

Industry
rivalry

Threat of
substitutes

Buyer
power
Potential entrants – high threat
The food market is a red ocean, where competition is played through differentiation based on
price or on strong quality and variety of service differentiation. Laws do not specifically re
regulate
niche markets, but the richest countries strictly rule on health.
Market promotion is strongly based on word of mouth.
Big chains (such as McDonald’s) are experimenting alternative ways to allow customers submit
orders by themselves through kiosks. The goal looks meant to ease operations more than
improving customers’ experience.
Top segment restaurants invest in enriching the customer experience in terms of quality of food
and culture. Hotel chains could invest in vertical and branded Apps, to buil customer tailored
build
services to be spread everywhere one of their branches is.
The menu, as a product, is poorly differentiated. The real differentiation comes in terms of
services.
The tourism market knows several advising services, with a widely known br
brand, which might
independently develop a complementary service for restaurants. This might lead to the need for
big investments in marketing promotion to gain some market space.
Well-established brands can easily access distribution channels (e.g.: direct contact with
established
restaurants). A new service provider, like Biberatica, might face a lot of difficulties gaining
credibility among restaurateurs and final consumers.
The possibility to develop Apps and Web services with relatively low initial investment is su that
such
there are very low barriers to entrance. This might lead other start ups to develop comparable
start-ups
services.

21

Buyer power – high threat
Final customers will expect to use Biberatica App for free. The use of low cost Apps is widely
spread (their sensitivity to price is relatively low) but the need for building a critical mass on the
vity
demand side will ask for the app to be for free.6
The target of Biberatica is made of restaurateurs. There are already many services meant to
promote their visibility and able to collect reviews and critiques by final consumers such as Yelp
e
consumers,
7
and Tripadvisor . The main difference with Biberatica is that it proposes a reach customer
experience not only before having the experience, but also while the consumer lives it, by the
service provider (the restaurant). Anyway, the spread of already well known brands promoting
ervice
mature experiences in leisure time markets creates a high switching barrier for both, final
consumers and restaurateurs.
A key for the success of Biberatica will be its usability by the restaurateurs, which will have to edit
and compose his menu on line.
An opportunity is to value the complementarity of such services to Biberatica and take ad
advantage of their critical mass.

Supplier power – high threat
From this viewpoint, the richness of the value proposed by Biberatica is:
•
For final consumers: the dimension of the involved audience (critical mass) ensures a
proportional richness of the social experience.
•
For restaurateurs: dimension of the involved audience (critical mass) ensures the best
visibility and opportunity to enlarge his customer base.
•
The ability of Biberatica to attract a conspicuous customer base is related to the richness and
quality of its content of information. The major contribution should be that of final consumers.
should
They will be the co-creators and main providers of the content. Once the critical mass will be
creators
reached, the credibility of Biberatica will be a lock in value for such providers. But, meanwhile, a
lock-in
strong and effective proposition needs to be addressed to get a proper momentum in terms of
on
consumers and restaurateurs’ attention.
s

Threat of substitutes- low threat
Several similar services are being developed but they do not focus on the customer experience
and do not provide a really perceivable value to final consumers. Plus, they are focusing on the
y
general market and specializing on specific features related to ease payments, coupons and
special offers, the ability to book tables in restaurants

6

More than 12bn downloads, about 3bn users, 4 downloads per user. http://www.slideshare.net/shwetaj/mobile
http://www.slideshare.net/shwetaj/mobileapplications-7455683
7
User Reviews and Recommendations of Top Restaurants, Shopping, Nightlife, Entertainment, Services and More
Entertainment,
atYelp: www.yelp.com
Unbiased hotel reviews, photos and traveladviceforhotels and vacations - Compare priceswithjustoneclick:
www.tripadvisor.com

22

Particularly in niche markets, the absence of substitute products helping consumers to live rich
absence
customer experiences and make them feel less discriminated would increase their loyalty and
lower their sensitivity to price, because of a really perceivable added value.

Industry rivalry – medium threat
m
The main source of competition is related to the high possibility to develop services similar to
Biberatica in short times. The start up arena already shows many small companies trying to
create value added services in the restaurant market. Time to market is going to be key.
The actors already involved in this market (already established brands) compete on emerging by
better reviews and attracting positive feedbacks by their customers.

23

SWOT analysis
Strengths
Time to market will be short, because Biberatica has already found first restaurateurs available to
collaborate as early adopters.
The time needed to develop the prototype is estimated in four to six months.
The cost of first prototype will be completely absorbed by the founding team, thanks to their
competence (software engineering, business planning, graphic design, marketing, languages).
Favorable revenue models can be set up.
The team is a balanced mix of competence, managerial and technical. Plus, it is composed by
people having already matured start up education and experience (both successful and
ready
unsuccessful). One of the three involved resources is available to work full time. Each of them
man-ages an about one thousand people professional network.
ages
Collaborations relationships are being developed between Biberatica and several nutritio
e
nutritional
choice-driven associations.

Weaknesses
The company is still to be founded. The brand is still to be registered. The initial equity is to be
deposited. Apart from personal funding capability and potential, external funding is going to be
potential,
crucial to deploy a starting version of the system.

Opportunities
The apps already available for restaurants are poorly focused on customers’ experience.
The possibility to mature the service expanding it through progressively extended markets eases
progressively
the difficulty related to creating the necessary critical mass.
Many nutritional choice-driven associations are, which should help penetrating the relating niche
driven
market with low costs and effective time
time-to-market.
High and growing demand for added value services in restaurant niche markets, for those
consumers usually being discriminated by poor dedicated services.
In global crisis time, the budget allocable by restaurateurs to compete, retaining their customers
and attracting new ones gets lower and lower.The start up scene is facing a progressively growing
acting
promotion in Italy. There are many possibility to compete in start up contests, gaining visibility
and increasing the possibility to be fund by seed and business angels.
funded

Threats
Fierce competition among start-uppers paying attention to the same market.
-uppers
Setting up the critical mass is going to be difficult. The saleability of the service will be connected
to numbers and to the usability. The start up phase will need for early adopters to be open
minded and available to experiment new services. Biberatica will need for first restaurateur

24

customers being available to behave as partners. Biberatica is being progressively developed
according
to
two
main
drivers:
drivers:
technology
and
market
covering.

25

A market penetration and growth strategy
From a technological perspective, the first version of Biberatica will be aimed at offering basic
features to support access through pure web. This means that restaurateurs will be offered backend functionalities through a Web browser and they will be supposed to access functions
provided by Biberatica web site. Final consumers will always need to have a smartphone with a
data connectivity available. In a second phase, the goal is to provide restaurateurs with a richer
goal
client application.
Year 1
Translation support for 5
languages (Italian, English,
French, Spanish, German)
Web-basedarchitecture
Geo-localization and
statistical information
Support for vegetarians and
vegans
Support for coeliacdiesease
Support for food allergies on
single ingredients
Local backup
Pre-set up templates of
commercial products
Pre-set up templates of
typical products and dish

Year 2
Support for more languages
(Russian, Japanese, Arabic,
Chinese)
Value addedservices
Geo-localisation with real time
information
Support for Halalfood

Year 3
Support for dialects and
minority languages (Catalan,
Euskari, .
, ...)

Support for BIO-branded
products

Support for diabeticcustomers

Backup on the cloud
Integration of QR code feature
Continuous enrichment and
integration of food dossiers
Direct paymentthroughApp
Analytics

Support for Kosher food

Support for low
low-cholesterol
diets
Remote sync
Bill reporting
Continuous enrichment and
integration of food dossiers
NFC Payment

Commercial road map
From a more commercial perspective, the growth strategy will be driven by two more drivers:
market segment and geography.
Market segments
Before being extended to the largest market of general final consumers, the main showcase of
the service, which is the App-based personal waiter, will need to progressively mature, becoming
based
more and more easy-to-use and sensitive to recognize people’s taste and needs. The best way to
use
do that is to focus on those segments where demand is more demanding on features such as
s
quality of food. That’s the market veggies (according to the several possible variations), as well
that of food intolerances and allergies and that of religious food constraints. These markets can
26

pretty much be considered high potential because guarded by specific category associations,
which can become very important partners, helping Biberatica to penetrate them because of its
Added Value characteristics. Accessing those markets through category associations should help
through
quickly penetrate the markets keeping low costs in terms of commercial force.

That of niches can also be considered a favorable context to set up a network market, where a
sensitive demand is a prolific environment of consumers willing to spread their valuable customer
experiences through word of mouth.
Another favorable context is that of the following market, that of passionate. In western
countries the cultural phenomenon of food is spreading, well supported by s
social networks,
where food-experience addicted share their thoughts, taste, recipes, stories connected to the
experience
place where they consume, etc. This kind of audience produces a great quantity of information in
terms of revisions and critiques (co
(co-creation) and can be considered a highly potential source of
d
promotion. This kind of demand pays high attention to food quality and customer experience.
Even if they can be considered a little less demanding than the former segment, they are very
careful and precise. The expansion through this segment is crucial for the success of Biberatica
and social network will be decisive in succeeding, making the personal waiter even more easy
easy-touse and catchy.
After having grown the service through the first two, more restricted, markets, Biberatica will be
restricted,
offered to the more general market, that of more conventional consumers. Here numbers make
the difference and the personal waiter will succeed if it will have become very intuitive to use, but
also if it will have become part of a real social experience, involving a real critical mass of final
users.
Geography
One of the main driver, from final customer’s perspective, is going to be the translating function.
That means focusing on tourism will be key for initially penetrating the restaurant market.
Italy is one of the best tourist attracting sites in Europe, it is the geographic market the working
group better knows and it is the one more suitable to catch the greatest starting audience with
27

the minor initial commercial investment. That is why Italy will be the first target to which the
investment.
other market penetration criteria will be applied to.
Europe has a remarkable throughput in terms of tourism traffic. And its main touristic sites are
cheaply reachable and well suit an affordable starting commercial expansion strategy. Europe is
affordable
also an important aggregation of different cultures and languages. That is why it can be
considered a determining test for Biberatica.
After having expanded through Europe, a further, global, expansion plan will be considered.
plan
Niche Markets
There are several sub-markets which can be considered specific niches.
markets
Food allergies and food intolerances
Food allergies and food intolerances can be unpleasant, complicate life and in the worst cases, are
deadly.
Food allergy = immune system reaction to a food
Food intolerance = inability to digest a food
Food allergy occurs in around 1 in 20 children and in about 1 in 100 adults 8 Food intolerance is
children
adults.
even more common. Surveys indicate that up to 25 per cent of the population believe they have
the
some sort of food intolerance.
The high incidence of food allergies and intolerance is concerning. Currently there is no cure for
food allergies and the only successful method to manage a food allergy or intolerance is to avo
avoid
the foods containing that allergen or food component.
Food allergies and intolerances can be managed and supporting people suffering for them is
certainly a perceived value.
Food allergies
Having a food allergy means experiencing an abnormal immune reaction to a food that is
harmless for most people.9 This is because antibodies are produced in your body against the
protein in a food (the allergen) so that when you eat the food, histamine and other defensive
chemicals are released into your system causing inflammation. It is these chemicals that trigger
icals
reactions that can affect your respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin or cardiovascular
system.
The eight most common food allergens are:
•
Crustaceans
•
Eggs
•
Fish
•
Milk
8

NSW Food Authority, “Allergy and intolerance”. Web. http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumers/problems
http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumers/problemswith-food/allergy-and-intolerance/. Last visit: 2013.03.10
.
9
http://ebookbrowse.com/food-allergy
allergy-and-intolerance-pdf-d65870027

28

•
•
•
•

Peanuts
Soybeans
Tree nuts
Sesame seeds

These allergens, as well as gluten (from wheat, rye, barley, oats and their products) and sulphites
(which are added to food as a preservative), are required by law to be declared on food labels.
Food allergies are more prevalent amongst young children than adults. Over a quarter (26%) of
the world’s population is 0-14 years old.10
14
Food allergies by region and age group
0-4
5-9
Asia
17.79 M
11.93M
South America
2.21M
1.48M
Europe
3.05M
1.99M
North America
2.21M
1.47M
Oceania
0.11M
0.07M
Africa
6.89M
4.06M
Middle East
1.67M
1.05M

10-14
9.23M
1.09M
1.51M
1.11M
0.06M
2.68M
0.74M

15-19
6.60M
0.74M
1.18M
0.83M
0.04M
1.69M
0.53M

>19
38.9
91M
4.28M
28M
11.4
43M
5.19
19M
0.37M
0.37
5.9
90M
2.2
23M

TOT
84.47M
9.81M
19.17M
10.82M
0.66M
21.23M
6.33M

WORLD

16.43M

11.64M

68.4
43M

152.50M

33.95M

22.06M

Source: Elucidare Limited

Over 150 million people worldwide are allergic to one or more food.. Over 50 million young
children (0-9 years) worldwide are allergic to egg, milk or peanut. Unlike egg and milk, peanut
9
allergy does not decline significantly with age. Hence peanut allergy within adults is the largest
single allergy group.
Worldwide food allergy by age group and allergen
0-4
5-9
9
10-14
Egg
11.85M
6.95M
5M
4.69M
Milk
12.63M
7.36M
6M
4.88M
Peanut
5.92M
5.45
45M
5.15M
Other
3.55M
2.30M
30M
1.71M
WORLD
33.95M
22.06M
06M
16.43M

15-19
2.51M
2.47M
4.93M
1.72M
11.64M

>19
10.02M
M
9.69M
M
35.59M
M
13.11M
M
68.43M
43M

TOT
36.03M
37.03M
57.05M
22.39M
152.50M

Source: Elucidare Limited. Based on age related prevalence statistics from the literature.
age-related

10

http://www.elucidare.co.uk/assignments/Project_Allergy/Global%20food%20allergies%20statistics.pdf
http://www.elucidare.co.uk/assignments/Project_Allergy/Global%20food%20allergies%20statistics.pdf

29

Food intolerances
Having a food intolerance means you will experience an adverse reaction to certain food
components but this does not involve the immune system. In fact, it is quite different from a food
allergy.
There are many different types of food that people can be intolerant to but the most common
include milk and lactose (the sugar in milk), gluten, wheat, food preservatives, and naturally
occurring compounds in foods suc as caffeine.
such
Lactose intolerance is caused by a shortage of the enzyme lactase, which is used to ensure lactose
is absorbed properly into the bloodstream from the stomach.
Milk intolerance is common in children under the age of two years. If left untreated it can result in
malnutrition.
Food additive intolerance only affects a very small number of children and adults. The additives
most commonly linked to food intolerance are artificial colours, e.g. tartrazine, sulphites and
benzoates (types of preservatives).
eservatives).
Sulphites have to be declared on all packaged products under the Food Act. They are
preservatives and are commonly found in wine and dried fruit. The additive numbers for Sulphites
are 220-228 and appear in the ingredient list. Sulphite reactions cause asthma, rashes, irritable
228
reactions
bowel syndrome and headaches in sensitive people.
North America is the largest market for food intolerance products with sales ofUS$3.6 billion in
2010, representing 43% of global sales.11 North American consumers are becoming more health
ecoming
healthconscious and are eager to prevent certain diseases by implementing changes in their daily diets.
As the second largest market for food intolerance products with sales of US$2.5 billion in 2010,
Western Europe is driven by demand in the German market, which accounts for 33.2% of total
Western European sales.
Auto-immune disease
Coeliac disease is a disorder of the small bowel caused by an immune reaction to dietary gluten (a
protein found in wheat, barley and rye). It is not a food allergy but an auto
allergy
auto-immune disease. In
coeliac disease, the lining of the bowel is damaged by the white blood cells of the immune system
and not by antibodies (as in food allergic reactions). Symptoms include nausea, wind, tiredness,
constipation, reduced growth and skin problems.
h
Several associations are specifically devoted to coeliacs. In Italy, for example, there is AIC AssociazioneItalianaCeliachia 12 which tracks a census of Italian’s restaurants for coeliacs.
Restaurateurs can adhere only according to spe
specific conditions, such as:
•
Having attended to basic courses set up by the association
•
Participate to AIC activities and follow up courses
•
Allow periodic controls in the restaurant by AIC technicians
•
Only use allowed (by the Italian law) products and ingredients exposing the AIC brand and
claim “no gluten” in any communication
11

12
http://www.celiachia.it/HOME/HomePage.aspx

30

•
Deploy procedures to avoid cross contamination of gluten up to table service, ice cream
distribution, breakfast service, tak
takeaway service.
Eating a meal from a restaurant, café or take away can be a stressful experience for people
take-away
having a food allergy or intolerance. When food is prepared by someone else, you can’t be
absolutely sure that it won’t contain allergens.
The customer experience of such consumers is pretty complex and follows some guidelines, like
er
the following:
Tell the restaurateur
When you book a table, tell the person taking the booking about your food allergy or in
intolerance and ask them to check with the chef that they can provide you with a meal that
that
doesn’t contain the food you are allergic to.
When you arrive at a restaurant, make sure the waiter knows about your food allergy.
Ask about the dishes
Read the menu carefully to see if there is any mention of the food you are allergic to in the
name or description of the dish.
Always ask the waiter or waitress – food allergens are not always stated on menus.
Tell them what you would like to order and ask them to check with the chef that the dish
does not contain the food you need to avoid. If you can, speak to the chef personally.
he
If the staff can’t answer your questions or don’t seem certain, it’s better to order some
some-thing
else or eat elsewhere.
Ask about cross-contamination
contamination
Ask staff whether your food will be prepared with different equipment and utensils that are
prepared
separate to those used for foods containing the allergen in order to avoid cross
crosscontamination, e.g. your food will not be cooked in the same oil as the ‘risk’ food or cut up
with the same knife.
Don’t assume because you ate a dish safely in one restaurant that it will be made the same
way the next time or in a different restaurant.
Avoid self-service areas
If you have a severe allergy, it’s best to avoid eating food from a self service area or buffet.
self-service
It’s easy for small amounts of allergenic ingredients to get into food by accident (e.g.
because people use the same spoons for different dishes), so even if it looks safe, you can’t
be sure.

Halal/Kosher Diets
There is a growing demand for specialty products due to the global diversification of the
population, and the growing global Muslim population.13 Specialty products, such as foods pre
pre13

,

31

pared according to kosher and halal practices, are increasingly growing in popularity. Halal food is
generally eaten by followers of the Islamic faith, while kosher food is generally eaten by followers
of the Jewish faith. Both types of food are prepared in a specific manner outlined by their
respective faiths.
The global halal food industry has grown to over US$632 billion, and now represents close to 17%
of the entire global food industry. The demand for halal meats in particular has become so great
that they are poised to surpass organic meat markets in popularity.
Over the years, many non-Muslim an non-Jewish consumers, who do not follow these religious
Muslim and
Jewish
dietary guidelines, are beginning to buy halal and kosher products as they are considered to be
safer and of higher quality, taste and freshness than conventional products. For in
in-stance,
lactose-intolerant consumers are opting to purchase kosher certified food products, which clearly
tolerant
indicate if a product is dairy-free. According to OU Kosher, approximately 80% of kosher products
free.
sold globally are purchased outside of the "traditional" Jewish market
market.
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat – red meat, poultry,
seafood and the flesh of any other animal; it may also include abstention from by
by-products of
14
animal slaughter, such as animal
animal-derived rennet and gelatin.
Vegetarianism can be adopted for different reasons. Many object to eating meat out of respect
for sentient life.15 Such ethical motivations have been codified under various religious beliefs,
along with the concept of animal rights. Other motivations for vegetarianism are health
motivations
health-related,
political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic or economic. There are varieties of the diet as well: an
ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs but not dairy products, a lacto vegetarian diet includes dairy
vegetarian
lacto-vegetarian
products but not eggs, and an ovo lacto vegetarian diet includes both eggs and dairy products. A
ovo-lacto
vegan, or strict vegetarian, diet excludes all animal products, including eggs, dairy, beeswax and
honey. Vegans also avoid animal products such as leather for footballs and goose
and goose-fat for shoe
polish.

Potential market base
The Biberatica experience strongly points to the “social” experience to grow its customer base.
This is why each segment customer base (niche, passionate, general) is estimated considering the
Facebook population as the starting analysis base. The esteem for each segment has been
dimensioned considering search tags being compatible with the relating profile.
14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism
The most up-to-date, butstillpartial, statistics on vegetarianism are availableat
date,
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=70650
15

32

Criteria
#Coeliac disease, #Food intolerance, #Food allergy, #Halal, #Kosher foods,
Niche
#Vegetarianism, #Veganism, #Gluten , #gluten
#gluten-free diet
#Subway (restaurant), #Slow Food, #TripAdvisor, #Cooking, #Culinary art,
#Cuisine, #Healthy diet, #Tourism, #Organic food, #Natural foods,
#Michelin Guide, #GamberoRosso, #The World's 50 Best Restaurants,
World's
Passionate #Ramsay's Best Restaurant, #Food Network, #Hell's Kitchen (U.S.),
#Cooking Mama, #Recipe, #Grapefruit diet, #Diet (nutrition), #Dieting,
#luxury food, #italian food lovers, #luxury experiences, #lonley planet,
#food addicts, #japan food addict, #chef, #Dessert, #Brunch, #Delicatessen
food
#Whole Foods Market, #Alcoholic beverage, #Soft drink, #Drink, #Nutrition,
#Fun, #Entertainment, #Food, #Hotel, #Tourism, #Fast food, #Pizza,
#Sandwich, #Gastronomy, #Ice cream, #Wine, #Beer, #Pasta, #Fish,
#French fries, #Hot dog, #Hamburger, #Coffee, #Cake, #Fruit, #Bacon,
General
#Potato chip, #Sausage, #Restaurant, #Breakfast, #Lunch, #Dinner,
#Chocolate, #Milk, #Water, #Bread, #Hunger, #Tea, #Biscuit, #Sugar,
#Vegetable, #Meal, #Eating, #Drinking, #Meat, #Cupcake, #Barbecue,
#Yogurt, #Taco, #Candy
Every subset is estimated joining the criteria used for the former one.
The Italian market of niche consumers accounts for about2.8% of the total, worldwide niche
population.16 Passionate are 4.2%, general consumers are 3.5% of the relating global and social
population. With its 432,440 potential niche consumers, Italy has 16% of the total European
potential market, making it one of the most suitable choices as starting country to penetrate the
global market.

Italy
Europe

Niche
0.43M
2.72M

Passionate
5.61M
30.40M

General
12.50M
89.14M

16

As of Feb. 24th, 2013

33

Asia
South America
North and central America, C
Caribbean
Oceania
Africa
Middle East

3.55M
1.16M
7.26M
0.37M
0.22M
0.19M

24.48M
15.88M
54.77M
3.53M
3.70M
2.63M

72.47M
55.19M
116.75M
7.80M
9.17M
6.22M

TOT
TOTAL "social" and active population
% of total social, active population

15.48M

135.40M
917.71M
14.75%

356.75M

1.69%

38.87%

Potential Italian market base
A detailed analysis of the starting Italian market allows to map the most potential cities, in terms
of tourism, according to the highest number of people going to restaurants.
Italian
Cities
Roma
Milano
Napoli
Torino
Palermo
Genova
Bologna
Firenze
Bari
Catania
Venezia
TOT

Potential
Restaurants
10,135
4,368
3,060
3,293
1,095
2,004
1,317
1,352
1,000
815
1,185
29,624

Niche
40,791
30,571
15,918
7,940
9,034
6,596
8,757
10,762
4,500
7,427
2,793
145,089

Passionate
3.6%
3.7%
2.8%
3.6%
3.5%
4.0%
4.6%
5.8%
3.5%
3.9%
5.5%
3.7%

505,679
356,129
259,217
95,527
119,608
75,191
85,068
85,878
63,922
88,761
24,215
1,759,195

General

44.4% 1,138,282
42.9%
830,358
46.0%
563,812
43.6%
219,093
46.3%
258,467
45.4%
165,504
44.3%
192,080
46.4%
185,150
49.3%
129,786
46.8%
189,524
47.6%
50,833
44.8% 3,922,888

customers
per restaurant

112
190
184
67
236
83
146
137
130
233
43
132

The per capita potential customer base per restaurant in town indicates that the two most
potential towns to be penetrated are Palermo and Catania, in Sicily.
If we focused, in the beginning, on general restaurants, we should plan a penetration strategy
coherent with the following ranking.

Potential
customers/restaurant

City
34

236
233
190
184
146
137
130
112
83
67
43

Palermo
Catania
Milano
Napoli
Bologna
Firenze
Bari
Roma
Genova
Torino
Venezia

But we establish to start with niche markets. We do not have statistics upon the local distribution
of niche restaurants and assume that they are most spread in biggest town, namely Roma (more
than 40,000 potential consumers per day) and Milano (more than 30,000).

35

Economics
Since the distribution of niche restaurants cannot be known, the economics will be estimated
according to a cost model. Revenue streams will be estimated assuming a price for the mon
monthly
fee to be exposed to restaurateurs. An estimate of the number of restaurants necessary to cover
the expenses will allow to establish the number of restaurants needed to have break even and pay
back results. Following are assumptions and relating figur on costs.
figures
SOFTWARE

Year 1

(development and maintenance)

Web Site
Development, test and maintenance
Domain and resources
Business logic
Back end
Content management
Database
Design
Maintenance
Smartphone App
Development, tests and maintenance
Hardware
TOT COSTS

Year 2

Year 3

€
€

30,000
100

€
€

50,000
1,000

€
€

50,000
5,000

€
€

20,000
10,000

€
€

50,000
20,000

€
€

50,000
20,000

€
€

30,000
5,000

€
€

50,000
10,000

€
€

50,000
20,000

€
€

50,000
3,000

€
€

50,000
5,000

€
€

50,000
5,000

€

148,100

€

236,000

€

250,000

SALES

Year 1

Year 2

Salesmen
Fixed costs of commercials
Variable provision on signed contract
ariable

0,5
€
€
1,620

€
€

Travel cost
Travel cost efficiency
On-line contracts (no commercial)

€

11,880
0%
0%

TOT COSTS

€

13,500

Year 3

1
50,000
14,742

2
€ 100,000
€
71,280

€

102,960
30%
30%

€ 475,200
30%
50%

€

110,770

€ 301,960

36

OPERATIONS 1

Year 1

(pre-sales, networking, call center)

Worked days/year
FTE on pre-sales-networking
Potential interested contacts/day
Potential interested contacts/year
Closed contracts by sales
Closed contracts
Fixed cost of call center networking (per FTE)
ixed
Variable for closed contracts
TOT COSTS
Cost per closed contract

180
1
0,3
54
20%
11
€
€
€

ADMINISTRATION
Administration (executive) FTE
Administration cost per month
TOT COSTS

€
€

540
4,540
420.37

€
€
€
€
€

SERVICE PROCUREMENT

180
3
4,0
2160
22%
475
€
€
€

11,800
131,880
277.53

€
€

Year 3

1

1
4,700
56,400

2

4,700
56,400

€
€

Year 2

1
0.1
3,200
2,000
3,000
43,400

€
€
€
€
€

Year 1
€
€
€

Year 3

Year 2

Year 1

(editing, translation, accountant)

Translation costs
Initial set up costs
TOT COSTS

180
2
1,3
468
21%
98
€ 40,000per year
000per
€
3,440
€
83,440
€
849
49.00

Year 1

OPERATION 2
Editing/content management FTE
Restaurant-content/FTE/day
Editing/content management cost per month
One shot infrastructure expense
External accountant (per year)
Ordinary management/infrastructure costs
TOT COSTS

Year 2

1
1.0
3,200
2,000
4,000
12,000
56,400

Year 3
3
0.9
€
€
€
€
€

Year 2

918
5,000
5,918

€
€
€

8,354
8,
5,000
000
13,
3,354

9,400
112,800

9,600
2,000
5,000
12,000
134,200

Year 3
€
€
€

40,392
5,000
45,392

Here we consider that the three years target of 475 restaurants corresponds to about 3% of
restaurants in the 11 biggest Italian towns.
The following cockpits summarize revenues and costs figures.
In Year 2 and 3 we assume a premium price of 20 € will be charged for supporting editing (con
(content management) activity for those restaurateurs (assumed 2% on year2, 5% on year 3) want
wanting
it to start using the service (still for free for the first three months).
Revenue Sources

Year 1

Monthly fee per restaurateur € 50.00
Premium services (one shot) €
-

Year 2
€ 50.00
€ 20.00

Year 3
€ 50.00
€ 20.00
.00

37

Months of free use

3

3

3

The contribution of software development will decrease as long as the customer base grows,
while that of operations (FTEs dedicated to content management and editorial activities related
to menus keeps balanced. Service procurement is mostly related to translations and costs grow
variably.
COSTS

Year 1

R&D
SG&A (Sales and
Administration)
Operations
TOT COSTS

Year 3

Year 2

€ 148K

54%

€ 236K

42%

€

250K 26%

70K

26%

167K

30%

€

415K 42%

€ 54K
€ 272K

20%

€ 153K
€ 556K

28%

€
€

311K 32%
976K

Assumptions on revenues are based on hypothesis made in former scheme NETWORKING
NETWORKING-CALL
CENTER and are here summarized, together with financial synthesis figures.
Financial Cockpit

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Restaurateurs
Revenues
Costs

11
98
475
€
37K € 359K € 1,830K
€ 124K € 320K € 726K

EBITDA

€

(86)K €

CAPEX

€

148K €

236K €

250K

OFCF

€ (235)K € (198)K €

853K

Cumulated OFCF

€ (235)K € (432)K €

421K

IRR

38K € 1,103K

53%

According to our estimate, Biberatica would start generating cash flow during year 3 giving, by
the end of same year, a return rate of more than 50%.

38

The Team
Daniele Pes, 39, member of the Italian association Un puntomacrobiotico. Executive MBA cum
.
laude at MIP business school and Software Engineer at Politecnico di Milano he works as Risk
Milano,
Manager and member of the Innovation team for the Strategy Office of FastwebS.p.A. wherein
FastwebS.p.A.,
2011 he won the innovation contest named Innovaction with a project on telemedicine. He is
member of the board of Innovits a non-profit organization active in innovation. In 2012 He
Innovits,
profit
participated in the Startup School of Mind The Bridge Foundation (San Francisco). He formerly
pated
worked as Marketing Product Manager for ZucchettiAxess TMC and as Software En
Engineer for
INQUAS, a start up and spin off of UniversitàdegliStudi di Milano Bicocca He also worked as
,
Bicocca.
Software Engineer in R&D for Honeywell
Honeywell.
Giovanni Maieli, 31, is the CEO of ILIENSES S.r.l., a company which focuses on marketing,
,
communication and publishing.
He graduated in Languages and Literatures (Japanese and Spanish) at the University of Rome "La
Sapienza" and obtained a master in Marketing and Communication at the European Institute of
Design. Honorary member of AEGEE-Cagliari, he coordinated the "Erasmus for Young
.
e
Entrepreneurs" Project of ConfindustriaSardegna, the Italian employer's federation.
ConfindustriaSardegna,
He contributed funding YOUSARDINIA, an Association focused on European project
YOUSARDINIA,
development.
Maurizio Atzori, 27, graduated cum laude in Cultural
Cultural-Linguistic Mediation from the University of
istic
Rome "La Sapienza" works full time on Biberatica. He is a member of the Italian branch of the
Slow Food Association and formerly served as secretary and president of the Association AEGEERoma, organizing the logistics, coordination and development of several international events. In
,
2009, the work pursued by AEGEE
AEGEE-Roma was formally acknowledged by the President of Italy,
Giorgio Napolitano.
He has a solid background on Information Technology (University of Pisa and he worked for
(University
Pisa)
Acotel Group S.p.A. (Noverca, FlyCell, and others) as Helpdesk Administrator and intern at the
Network Operations Center. In 2012, he participated in the Startup School organized by Mind the
Bridge in San Francisco, California.

39

130429 biberatica business plan

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

Similaire à 130429 biberatica business plan

Similaire à 130429 biberatica business plan (20)

Plus de Daniele Pes

Plus de Daniele Pes (13)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

130429 biberatica business plan