Cheesecake Factory Research Proposal Essay

People eating habits have changed over years triggered by changes in lifestyles. Snacks have become typical food for majority of the working people first because little time is spent to eat them and peoples tendency to like sweet things. Social occasions have also increased and nice food has been adopted as the food to serve. Cheesecake factory is a U. S company dealing with restaurant services. The company currently operates about 200 dinner units and it intends to double this. The company has registered increased sales since its establishment indicating good business. Market information is important for any company intending to enter new markets. Such information would reveal competitors’ information and other products in the market. The information would help establish customers’ preferences, the economic well being of people customer royalties and rate with which this can change. This data informs the entrant company to strategize on their marketing so that they would draw customers to themselves and retain them. Market research involves an organized process of gathering relevant market information and coming up with results that would inform decision-making. Market research has successfully contributed to new business and the existing ones in a move to expand their business (James, 2002). For Cheesecake factory to manage to penetrate in the markets they intend to enter, they need to carry out a market research survey to gather data on several products and customer preferences. The main objectives of the study are to identify peoples’ economic well being, to find out peoples eating habits, the preferred eating junctions. The study would the decision to enter the new markets or otherwise. Differences in preferences by gender and age would also be determined and help the company know what products to produce for which groups. These are the hypothesis of the survey. First null hypothesis is that the population of the market under consideration comprises mainly of youth, people less than 25 years and the older people above 54 years. Hypothesis two is that majority in the population under survey have an income of less than $75000 per month. Hypothesis three is that people do not participate much in social occasions like family get tog ethers and in other festive celebrations. The other hypothesis is that people avoid prefer sweet foods. Hypothesis five is that people have no preferred eating junction. The alterative hypotheses are indicted below: one, majority of the population is aged 25 –54 years. Two, most household incomes are at least $75000 per month. Three that people in these populations are favorites of participating in social ceremonies. Four, majority of people prefer sweet foods availed at restaurants. Fifth, that people prefer restaurants and other fast food junctions. This last hypothesis would provide date on specific junctions within the areas under study that would also indicate preferred competitors. The reasons for such preference would also be outlived In order to obtain data from all the age groups, quota sampling would be used. The study would require certain numbers of people from certain age groups to be defined by gender so that we obtain representative sample sizes for both sexes. Stratified sampling procedure would be employed to define the locations from which certain numbers of respondents are required. The population in this methodology is divided into strata each stratum representing a people with common characteristics. Such characteristics could be by income levels, which determine where a person chooses to stay. There are some areas for high-income people, middle-income people and low-income people, all of whose data we need. These methodologies will enable the study gather information from all groups. It also helps in avoiding bias that would result from collecting data from only one group. The various in the study will be classified with regard to whether they are demographic, economic, opinions or otherwise. Some economic variables are household income levels per month, occupation of the respondent, amount spent on food products per month. The occupation of the respondent would in this case be an independent variable while income levels would be dependent variable. Other variables are the frequency of a respondent to participate in social gatherings such as friends’ parties. These variables could partly be related with income levels and the classification with whether they are independent or not would depend on the test being performed. Other variables of interests, demographic are sex, age or the respondent marital status all of which are independents variables. The area of residence is also important. The family size of the respondent is also an important variable on independent one. Other important variables are preferred types of foods, eating junctions, reasons for preference of certain eating. Another important variable will be people’s choice of T. V channels and radio stations. Other media habits that should be studied are newspaper and magazines reading habits. These variables, independent, would help the company know in which media to post advertisement to effectively reach the potential customers. The analysis of the data would be aimed at identifying media habits. The analysis should show associations between various variables that interact and the strength of such association. The analysis should answer such questions as: do more ladies than gentlemen prefer certain food types? Is there association between one’s income level and frequency of participating in social gatherings? Does marital status influence one’s choice for place to live? The analysis should also indicate the preferences of the population within certain age groups. The proportion of the population outside the one targeted should be known. Several statistical tools would be used to these tests such as chi square test, T- test, and Wilcoxon test among others (Birn, 2004). The purpose of any research is to obtain data that will help in decision-making. The results obtained from the analysis would help the company determine whether to enter the market under study of not. If the results indicate that a population has higher percentage of the very young and the very old, such a market should be avoided. A market whose population has a higher number of low-income earners should also be avoided. If a company is to establish business in these markets, it should be advised to locate its business in areas where people of high income reside. The company should also be advised to engage in products that are most preferred people especially during functions. Associations between variables would help establish the factors that influence the decisions at the customer. If association is found to exist between gender and preferred food types the company would market different products to the different sexes. Upon finding the reasons why certain food junctions or restaurants are preferred, the company should aim to offer better services than the competitors. By finding out how much people spend on food, the company would know the prices it would fix to their products to enable them to get customers as well as estimate the duration within which it should expect returns on its investment. A lot more information can be fetched from the analysis of the data. This means that the Cheesecake Company would reap more benefits by carrying out a survey as above explained. The secondary sources would help establish the other costs that would be incurred like licensing fees and government regulations. Other factors that may affect the business are security and the ease of getting space. Research is therefore necessary for the success of the company in all markets under consideration.