Blackshop Case Study

Blackshop is a popular casual restaurant in the area of Cambridge. It is a well run business in quite a competitive market. However, in a competitive market, proprietors of a business must do what is necessary in order to remain competitive and “maximise the number of guests” (Cerny). Blackshop must decide whether or not the Open Table system will allow them to gain a competitive advantage, and if so, what sort of operational strategy needs to be implemented for it to be successful. Issues that need to be addressed are whether Open Table systems such as the new reservation system and the table management system will, in fact, leave Blackshop with a competitive advantage.
Blackshop should adopt the Open Table system. This upgrade in technology at Blackshop will allow them remain competitive via a new reservation system which utilizes benefits of the internet, adopt a targeted marketing system through emails, gather information on customers to enhance customer satisfaction and help with facility layout problems that occur through the old reservation system. Blackshop will also need to refine its operational strategy. In a competitive market, a company must structure its company in order to meet its service concept. Operational strategy will include areas such as marketing techniques, employee selection and job satisfaction. It will also outline ways in which Blackshop can improve customer satisfaction through process control.
The Open Table system is able to address areas that are important to a firm in order for it to remain competitive or gain some competitive advantage. Customer satisfaction is one of the main areas that allow competitiveness. It is now recognised “as a primary goal on the path to profitability”(j8) and can be defined as “a evaluative response concerning the perceived outcome of a particular consumption experience”(j1). The Open Table system allows a restaurant to enhance the customers’ satisfaction through a numbers of avenues. Firstly, the