Data Analysis

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Executive Summary

Due to increasing population and the number of people dining out, it has become critical that
food service industry better targets consumers’ dining preferences. This analysis considers the
different approach to marketing segmentation in the food service industry and how the concept
of FLC can be used in marketing to gain competitive advantage.

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Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………3
Problem Statement……………………………………………………………….………3
Data Analysis………………………………………………….…………………………3
Key Decision Criteria……………………………………………………………………..4
Recommendations………………………………………………………..……………….4
Action and Implementation Plan…………………………………………………….…..4
Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..6

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Introduction

Families living in the United States spend more than 48% of their food budget dining out,
indicating that more than often, people spend time eating in restaurants (Robert et al. 388).
Business enterprises spent a considerable amount of money on marketing to promote their
services and products. These marketing strategies should be tailored according to market
segmentation to yield maximum returns. When doing market research in the food service
industry, marketers use the family life cycle (FLC) model because of its ability to capture
lifestyle and expenditure pattern differences brought about by role family transition.

Problem Statement

Family life cycle (FLC) staging as any other research tool has its flaws. Therefore,
managers and marketers in the hotel and tourism industry faced with the problem of making a
decision concerning whether to utilize the family life cycle model or choose other alternatives.

Data Analysis

FLC is a very valuable tool for consumer research and marketing segmentation. Previous
research indicates that FLC staging has successfully enabled retail marketers to discriminate their
promotion across the family continuum. The literature review also reveals that FLC is effective
when it comes to forecasting purchase behavior. However, findings from Robert et al. Research
Family Life Cycle Segmentation for Foodservice Marketing indicate that the FLC concept may
not be fully functional when addressing the patron’s dining preferences (Robert et al. 395).
Therefore, the food service industry should not fully utilize the concept of FLC, but instead, it

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should be supplemented with other alternatives. This case study also indicates that there is a
positive correlation between an individual age and the consumers’ dining inclination.

Key decision criteria

Foodservice marketers should consider the lively upbeat atmosphere when making a
decision concerning the young single adults in the FLC. The age and consumer income should
also be considered when making a decision concerning consumer dining preferences.

Recommendation

It is important that market segmentation approach used should be economical and cost
effective (Hall. 96). Marketers in the food service industry should base their advertising of
restaurants on the upbeat, lively atmosphere in the restaurant (Winston et al. 67). Therefore, I
recommend that restaurants that have a more reserved atmosphere with no smoking policy
should target their promotions to clients in the empty nest stage of the FLC segmentation.
When it comes to dining behavior patterns, foodservice marketers should use age and
demographic data more because it is more informative as compared to FLC staging concept.
Therefore, management should regularly review guest ages by visiting their restaurant to note the
ages of those dining at the restaurant.

Action and Implementation Plan

A business enterprise in the food service industry should do market research and
segmentation. This is important to identify the specific customers that often visit a restaurant of
your specification. Management can use both the FLC staging model and demographic data by
age and sex during market segmentation. Therefore, management can use their customer service

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executives to determine the ages of the patrons who regularly visit their restaurant (Dietz&
William, 22).
The management should develop tailored advertisements and promotions that are specific
to the target customers to increase awareness about a restaurant (Hall &Michael, 102). For
example, restaurants targeting the young and vibrant youths who are single or just married
should tailor their advertisement to suit these age bracket needs. The advertisements should also
be featured strategically with activities associated with such population. For instance, a television
advertisement should be featured in between football matches.

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1.7 Works Cited
Winston, William, and Dennis J. Cahill. How consumers pick a hotel: strategic segmentation
and target marketing. Routledge, 2013.
Hall, C. Michael. Wine, food, and tourism marketing. Routledge, 2013.
Dietz, William H. “New strategies to improve food marketing to children.”Health Affairs 32.9
(2013): 1652-1658.
Robert, E. Frash, Jr. John, M. Antun Harland E. Hodges. Family Life cycle Segmentation for
Food Marketing: An Exploratory Case Study. The Haworth Press. (2008)