Hospitality Small Business Operations

The aim of this task is to provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge of Hospitality Small Business Operations to a real world scenario. In doing so, students will visit a small hospitality business of their choice and in inconspicuously perform an evaluation of this business based on specified criteria.
Rules and Guidelines
1.The business you choose must be of a small size (i.e.  less than 20 employees)
Location of Venue must be in Brisbane. Have to be hospitality’s business.
2. You must purchase something to fully evaluate the service component and running of the operation – a coffee or cold drink would be fine
3. You must remain unnoticeable – as inconspicuous as possible. It might pay to simply observe and write some rough notes whilst at the venue rather than complete the evaluation at the venue.
5. Please do not ask the staff or owner / managers any questions – we should not interrupt them or distract them from their duties and this will also give you away.
7. You do not need to provide references or academic support for any of your responses to the questions.
8. You do not need a table of contents or any other additional components – just answer the questions.
9. The entire evaluation document should be no longer than 4 pages.

Please cite the following headings and question numbers in the order they are listed below when compiling your evaluation.
Details of Visit
1. Name of Venue:
2. Type of Venue:
3. Location of Venue:
4. Time visited:
5. Duration of stay:
Description of Business
1. Generally, describe the nature of this business and include in your description comments about the ambience, the target market, the staff personalities, the kind of food / beverages they are selling – for example, fresh, healthy, a la carte, snacks, share plates, pizza, international cuisine etc.
Positioning Strategy
1. Discuss how you perceive the business is trying to position themselves in the market place and provide your opinion as to how well you believe they have achieved this position. (HINT: look at the product they are selling and the types of customers that patronise the business)
2. What would you identify as the businesses Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Comment on whether you believe this is consistent with their positioning strategy.
External Environment
1. Comment on the competitive environment for this small business.
2. In addition to competitors, what specific external forces do you believe may affect this business at the current time or in the near future?
Service Encounter
1. Comment on the service you received during your visit.
2. What does this say about the way in which the owner / manager addresses their Human Resource Management responsibilities.
Summing Up
1. Comment on what you believe makes this small business successful / unsuccessful.
2. What have you learnt about running a small business operation from this exercise?