Launching Indian Fast Food in Bulgaria
The country I would choose to launch the Indian Fast Food would be Bulgaria. In order to evaluate the marketing strategy we have to make research and to discover the differences between the Bulgarian and the UK market 1. Fast food in Bulgaria There is a little amount of information regarding the fast food market free on internet. A survey, done by Synovate (Synovate, 2009), shows that the Bulgarians love fast food more than that Americans and the Brits. According to the survey more than 68% of the people in Bulgaria confirm that they like so much the taste of the fast food that they can’t give it up.
The survey also shows that there is a real passion for fast food in Bulgaria. Compared to the matured market like US and the UK the Bulgarians still find the quick service restaurants quite trendy and creative. Moreover there is no sign of the consumption to go down. The main players on the market are McDonald’s (since 1994), KFC (since 1994), SubWay (since 2008). In Bulgaria there is difference between the burger and sandwich fast food and the typical Bulgarian fast food, which offers pre-cooked or fast prepared dishes.
Typical Bulgarian fast food chains are Happy, Ugo, Divaka. They all are quick service restaurants. And all of the fast food chains international and domestic are experiencing substantial growth during the years. 2. Indian restaurant in Bulgaria The next step is to check the market and the appearance of Indian food in the country. Actually after a short research in the internet I have found just four Indian restaurants Gurkha, Saffron, Kohinoor and Taj Mahal (Inyourpocket, 2012), all of them are in Sofia.
Checking the online published menus confirm that the Indian food is expensive and therefore is accepted as exclusive high standard cuisine. 3. Demographic research The third issue is demographic research. Are there any Indian groups living in Bulgaria? In the research done online there are no traces of substantial number Indians living in Bulgaria. 4. Identifying the differences in the marketing strategy Armed with the research information I would point the first difference from the original projects. The two segments of consumers identified in UK are not applicable in Bulgaria.
There is no Indian society and the people are not familiar with the Indian food. A new primary research should be conducted in order to identify and segment the clients. Next- the marketing strategy should be changed to meet those needs. In the UK in terms of consumer value created we are going to meet stated needs by the interviewed potential clients. In Bulgaria we will have to create value by offering completely new cuisine. We need to create hunger for Indian food in the potential clients. We will do it with the mystic of the Indian food offering it at a very good price.
So in terms of positioning strategy we will compete mainly with the fast food restaurants offering cooked food and not much with the sandwich and burger fast food. Competing with the Indian restaurants will be in the part of food delivery and again targeting the fast food segment we won’t have big difficulties beating them with better prices. Because of the huge demographic differences in the country I do not believe that the service should be offered nationally. I would rather choose between three and four big cities for launching the restaurants.
Another interesting spot to open a fast food restaurant is on the highway. The segment targeted will completely differ from the two identified in the UK Market. As potential clients I would point the people practicing Yoga. 5. Identifying differences in the marketing mix Because the product will be completely new for the local clients the menu variety must be easily recognizable. The primary research will give a better idea about the taste of the people and expectations they have. In terms of pricing there is huge difference between the UK and Bulgaria so the prices should be adjusted accordingly.
And again the prices should be in a close competition with the fast food restaurants offering cooked meals. The places for the restaurants are going to differ from those in the UK for example. The reason is that in Bulgaria the train stations are usually used by the people below or around the poverty line. So the locations should be chosen carefully. I would start with one in the city center in Sofia, another in some of the city malls and third in the biggest business park where more than 10 000 are working every day.
Again changes in the promotions should be made not only to make the clients enter the restaurants but also to make them try the food. A promotion mix should be selected very carefully so to turn every new client into regular one. With having most of the main differences identified I still believe that launching Indian fast food restaurants will be successful. First because the people love it, second because they use it on daily basis, third because the dining out culture is highly accepted in the bigger cities.
Another reason is that the people use for centuries the Indian species, moreover we love spicy hot dishes, and finally but not least Bulgarians are open to try new things especially when it comes to food. Inyourpocket, 2012. Inyourpocket. [Online] Available at: http://www. inyourpocket. com/Bulgaria/Sofia/Restaurants-and-Cafes/Indian [Accessed 22 11 2012]. Synovate, 2009. Softpedia. [Online] Available at: http://news. softpedia. com/news/Bulgaria-Is-the-Real-Fast-Food-Nation-Study-Reveals-113448. shtml [Accessed 22 11 2012].
