SWOT analysis about a hotel or restaurant in Boston area

SWOT Analysis about the No.9 Park Restaurant in Boston

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SWOT Analysis about the No.9 Park Restaurant in Boston
Strengths
The No. 9 Park is well known for its mouth-watering dishes that are enjoyed within an impressive ambiance with the classic, brown booths and dark-wood floors. Its location within a historic Beacon Hill townhouse provides it with a major strategic advantage as it is much easier for customers to access this elegant restaurant. The restaurant boasts of a very creative award-wining chef, Barbara Lynch, who uses local produce to prepare unique dishes. Through employing both French and Italian techniques in continuously recreate the original menu, the chef is able to provide the guests at the restaurant with exciting and delicious dishes that keep them coming back for more (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
The entire staff of No. 9 Park is well trained and armed with extensive knowledge of every bottle on the beverage menu while the bar staff are trained on making arguably the best cocktail in the entire city. This gives the restaurant an upper hand in that it ensures that its customers receive exclusive world-class services from its entire staff (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
Terrific view is also strength for the No.9 Park restaurant. As a trendy bistro situated on Beacon Hill, a table situated along the windows overseeing the Park Street will ensure the clients observe all the action-taking place on the park and in the State House (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
As a small restaurant, No. 9 Park is an ideal location for intimate diners (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015). The overwhelming support of the servers coupled with Boston Common view, nice ambiance, and the tasty, creative menu makes lovers relax and completely enjoy their romance.
Weaknesses
Despite it not being a five-star restaurant, No. 9 Park is quite expensive and even appears in the list of the most expensive restaurants in Boston City. This is a disadvantage as it tends to turn away some of the low-income tourists and fun lovers who are on a tight budget (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
Another weakness of this restaurant is the limited table occupancy level. No. 9 Park only has 18 candle tables, which greatly inhibits them from maximizing on their earnings and profits. Its limited seat-capacity also raises the issue of locking out many customers who may have the interest of dining in the restaurant but unfortunately, may have been late in making reservations (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
No. 9 Park’s Menu does not include a wide array of exotic cuisines. The restaurant only does the American, French, and Italian cuisines, leaving out such big ethnic groups as Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
Opportunities
No. 9 Park should be able to embrace the comeback of business lunches given the popularity of individual and corporate business lunches. The restaurant should emulate the likes of Bristol Lounge, whose tables are often filled by people in suits updating each other on matters concerning the boardroom, a group planning a networking event within the city, or a couple of entrepreneurs sealing a business deal (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015).
Another opportunity that No. 9 Park should take advantage of is the rising population in Boston. This city is regarded as the most expensive real estate market nationwide with a potential market for the 2,461 condos, apartments, and homes permitted from January to June of 2015, nearly half of which can be categorized as either in the being affordable housing category for residents of low income (Adams, 2015). These occupants will require restaurant facilities for their evening dinners, night outs, and dates, and No. 9 Park should seek to serve this population.
Furthermore, the Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced that the City had received a $3 million grant from the Obama Government as a shot to the arm to increase apprenticeship and internship opportunities in the most thriving hospitality and construction industries through the Mayor’s Workforce Development office (Adams, 2015). No. 9 Park can take advantage of this opportunity to attract as many gifted and talented apprentices as possible. Therefore, it would improve the quality of the service personnel and the efficiency of its service delivery.
Threats
No. 9 Park faces stiff competition from Menton restaurant, which is rated among the most upscale and recognized in the Barbara Lynch Gruppo. Among its strengths is the fact that it managed to attract the Top Chef winner Kristen Kish who was given the head chef position. Moreover, in the entire Boston City, there is no other Five-Star restaurant listed in the Forbes Travel Guide apart from Menton (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015). The hotel is known to be a prix five only, meaning that it has a four-course option in addition to the expansive chef’s testing menu. Another restaurant that is a threat to No. 9 Park is O Ya is since it is the undisputed Japanese cuisine restaurant in Boston and maybe in the entire country as rated by James Beard.
The ever-growing number of coffee shops throughout the city that offer a convenient option for conversations is another major threat to No. 9 Park. The “Little Italy” is lined with a sizeable number of cafes competing to provide the best cappuccino. When it comes to Romance, the Moo restaurant at XV Beacon offers a very nice dinner ambiance with the gold-toned and candle light with a wine list as well as some rare vintages (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015). Bristol Lounge is also another romantic restaurant with a rear restaurant window table overlooking Boston. The Rialto also offers a superb view of the Harvard Square.
Another possible threat is the approved six-month construction plan of over $ 1 billion housing units at an estimated budget of $1.65 billion mainly targeting low cost housing with over 43% of the total units being non-luxury (Kaitlin & Melanie, 2015). Although this move would provide a relief to Boston’s middle and low income earning residents, it would do more harm than good to the hotel industry since apart from the fact that most occupants will not afford to dine in such expensive restaurants as No. 9 Park, the housing project may also develop an insecure and untidy environment that might taint the image and appeal of the area in general. The probable outcome will be affecting No. 9 Park negatively as a hotel since most of its customers are rich and prefer to dine at restaurants situated in clean, quiet, and secure environments.
Possible marketing strategy approaches to address the various observations in SWOT Analysis
No. 9 Park can concentrate more on marketing its destination as a Romantic restaurant within the Boston area by ensuring that it advertises its facilities in wedding and bridal magazines. The hotel can also take advantage and create awareness and offering special offer packages during romantic events such as Valentine’s Day to attract the young lovers. In order to attract the less affluent in the society, No. 9 Park restaurant should review their pricing strategy downwards so that they get a large pool of young people who are still trying to establish themselves financially (McDuffee, 2014).
Another marketing strategy would be to keep up necessary pre-qualification requirements for the restaurant to be listed in the Forbes Travel Guide. This would involve providing world-class meals in terms of a diversified menu, services in terms of well-trained service people, and accommodation in terms of increased seat and bed capacity. In addition, the restaurant should consider diversification strategy by expanding their boardroom and meeting facilities to substitute their traditional dining services (McDuffee, 2014). In addition, as a marketing strategy, branding is very important and thus the No.9 Park should concentrate on improving its brand by improving their interior décor. Thus, improve the ambiance of the restaurant and boost its appearance as a romantic destination.

References
Bruce McDuffee (2014). Go “Back to the Future” with Strategic Marketing Plans. Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved from: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/01/back-to-future-strategic-marketing-plan/
Dan Adams (2015). In Boston, a surge in affordable housing. Boston Globe. Retrieved from: https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/06/boston-permits-record-billion-residential-developments-first-half/RraOTLooSMzrEUjZ8t3BaJ/story.html#inbox/_blank
Kaitlin, M. and Melanie, N. (2015). What’s Boston’s dining scene like? Forbes Travel Guide. Retrieved from:
http://www.forbestravelguide.com/boston-massachusetts/whats-bostons-dining-scene-like