This is the thread for Aptitude to post their pitches.

Hello, we are Team Aptitude, and we are here to present to you our new chain of restaurants : Tropicity.

Tropicity embraces the British desire for exotic and tropical holidays, and directs this desire into the food industry via a chain of restaurants around the United Kingdom.

Tropicity provides four cuisines from around the world, each with their own flavour and style, and unites them for a fresh and unique experience. We have chosen to provide the cuisines of Argentina, Australia, India and Morocco.

Customers will be able to choose four starters, and four mains, one from each cuisine for both. For example, an Australian main, an Argentinian Main, a Moroccan Main and an Indian Main. These dishes will then be placed on a rotary spinner in front of the customers, allowing them to pick and choose what they want across all of the dishes.

We feel Tropicity is a unique, creative and fun way to experience things people have never experienced before and we feel there will be a large demand for Tropicity.

Location
We will open 5 restaurants at first located in the main high streets/city hubs of each of our locations. We have decided the locations based off finding the least multicultural (where you would expect to find very few restaurants of the same nature) yet still substantially big enough to attract enough people with high enough disposable incomes to spend on our exotic food.

So we have decided on 5 big cities but with less of a multicultural population than say Birmingham/Manchester/London but prime tourist destinations especially for native British tourists:

Sheffield
York
Bristol
Cornwall
Devon

The last 3 are particularly prime locations as they are located in quite coastal/beach areas which just enhances the whole tropical element of our plan which is to bring that exotic holiday to a British high street.

On average, an amount of 60 million British people go on holiday each year. Team Aptitude wants to take advantage of the massive demand for the exotic taste of tropical holidays by introducing to you our new chain of restaurants : Tropicity.

Tropicity is something new, something fresh while also occupying a large gap in the market. There is no denying the demand for exotic holidays is large, and with every holiday comes a vastly new selection of foods that people may have never encountered before, which adds to the exotic feel of holidays ; transporting people away from their normal lives to one which is completely different.

Tropicity aims to function by providing four different types of cuisine from four countries, thereby aiming to provide a large variety of selections of food from around the world. The cuisines we have chosen are : Australian, Argentinian, Indian and Moroccan.

We have chosen these cuisines as we feel they allow a large variety of dishes to be represented and to satisfy the ongoing demand for exotic holidays to these countries. For example over 800,000 British nationals visit India every year on holiday, while approximately 569,000 visited Australia in the past year.

We feel there is large market for this type of restaurant, and we hope to focus and aim for the family market. Families tend to go on holiday the most, as a break from school and work life, so we feel we can tap into this desire with Tropicity. Also, families tend to spend more which would allow the business to strive and flourish.

We also hope to provide a new experience for customers through the use of a spinning disk on tables. Once customers have chosen the dishes from each cuisine, they will be placed on the rotary spinner allowing everyone to pick and choose which of the cuisines they would like to eat, hence allowing a sense of sharing and unity to prevail between the cuisines and the family itself.

Our menu is also very marketable giving everyone the chance to have an interest in something, while also experiencing something new. Children can marvel over the Argentinian Fainá Pizza while adults can astonish over the Argentinian Asado Grilled Steak & Chimchurri. Once customers have chosen the dishes from each cuisine, they will be placed on the rotary spinner allowing everyone to pick and choose which of the cuisines they would like to eat, hence allowing a sense of sharing and unity to prevail between the cuisines and the family itself.

Our menu is also very marketable giving everyone the chance to have an interest in something, while also experiencing something new. Children can marvel over the Argentinian Fainá Pizza while adults can astonish over the Argentinian Asado Grilled Steak & Chimchurri. Tropicity therefore allows people to try something new, something unexpected which they may soon to love, providing new experiences on each visit, while still maintaining a competitive price.

Team Aptitude feels that Tropicity is very marketable due to the uniqueness behind it and also it being able to fit a large gap in the market, with transport to exotic holidays on the rise.

Tropicity : Bringing the holidays to you.

Food/Menu
The Front/Back
http://postimg.org/image/l59p5hco3


The Middle
http://postimg.org/image/l59p5hco3

Future Plans
Using the profits from our successes, we hope to reinvest in the current 5 restaurants and expand them. We will have feedback cards for any families to express their desires for any other tropical cuisines they would like to add to the current selection. Also we can expand the restaurants themselves by adding floors to fit more people. We can also open up take-away styled snacks and meals.

We will also open up 1 new restaurant a year similar to Vue cinemas to further extend the chain. Finally we also plan to open some separate Tropical smoothie bars at some beaches (and we can expand the Cornwall/Bristol restaurant outlets to include this) which should be especially lucrative during the summer months.

To advertise Tropicity, we will be using a range of methods, all to be used to spread interest of the restaurant, and to gain word of mouth.

One method we will be employing is to send out flyers to each household within a close radius of the restaurant, to ensure that locals are familiar with the restaurant before and after it opens. With the flyers, we will be distributing a voucher for a free starter when a purchase of £23.99 has been met or exceeded to provide an incentive for people to try this new restaurant, and thus increase word of mouth as more customers are able to tell their friends and relatives.

We will also be creating our own website for the restaurant, giving customers a chance to professionally take a look at what Tropicity has to offer with the cuisines it provides, price list, details of contact. This website will then be displayed on several advertising sites for increased exposure.

While also being advertised in newspapers and publishers such as The Yellow Pages, we hope that the high quality of food and great experience that Tropicity provides will be of great help to the restaurant by allowing food reviewers from newspapers and online blogs to review the food available at Tropicity. This will increase exposure to customers who would have normally not heard of the restaurant and have been recommended by a reviewer.

Design
http://oi62.tinypic.com/29aznns.jpg

Deleted

The launch of Tropicity, much like the restaurant itself, shall be a diverse affair showcasing the crème de la crème of the cultures that we have selected. Not only will we be offering ‘tasters’ of each cuisine, we aim to offer a ‘taster’ of the culture itself. The launch of any restaurant is a big risk – it’s the first occasion in which all eyes are on not only the restaurant, but, those behind the scenes. It’s an old wives tale that a captain shall go down with his ship, and, it’s that sort of passion that we expect those working at the restaurant to evoke. At the launch night, we aim to ensure that the Tropicity staff make themselves familiar to everyone gathered: familiarity is one thing that we expect shall be welcomed at such a diverse, and unfamiliar, restaurant.

One of the locations that shall home Tropicity is Sheffield and, for one night only, the cast of ITV hit show Emmerdale (who film the show nearby in Leeds) shall be making their mark at the restaurant – interacting with journalists and any members of the public who have the privilege of attending such an elusive event. Everyone who makes the welcome decision to dine at Tropicity shall receive the VIP treatment; so we believe that there’s no better way than to launch in spectacular style: you’ll be treated like a star, whilst dining amongst them!

Outro
So in conclusion, I and my team really believe in the concept and idea of Tropicity. The introduction of new flavours and experiences will have the customers enticed, after all. It's like being on holiday.

Hi all, I'm reading through and just wanted to let you know before I ask a question that you posted the same menu image twice.

Hello, Justin!

Arran is the only team member who has access to the menu and he's having internet trouble, however, I shall try my very best to find the text version of the menu that myself and my team saw the other day.

Mains:- Empanadas (Squash, and Beef), Steak & Chimchurri, Fainá Pizza (Vegetable, Plain, or Meat), Locro Stew, Grilled Salmon & Chimchurri Roast Potatoes
Sides/Starters:- Marinated Eggplant, Choripan con Chimchurri, Grilled Provolone, Parmesan Kale Chips.
Desserts:- Alfajores, Dulce De Leche Tiramasu, Banana and Dulche De Leche Crumble, Pasculina
Drinks:- Cynar Julep, Hanky Panky Cocktail, Toronto Cocktail, Ferrioviario Cocktail

Here is the menu that I have in my possession, I'm sure if Arran is able to access DS he'll tell you more.

Hi Aptitute. I think you've created a really strong business modela nd I like that you're bringing 4 niche restraunt ideas into the UK and I definitly think that you've created a strong unique concept. I think your idea is very well thought out and is different to what's already existing in the marketplace and I like the holidays aspect and seaside locations of your idea. I have two questions.

1. Do you think your business idea is too niche and would appeal to too little customers? There aren't many Moroccan / Australian restraunts existing in the UK. Do you think that this could be because there isn't much of a demand for products like this.

2. Why did you choose to advertise through publishers. Don't you think advertising through the Yellow pages would be too expensive and might be easily missed by a large amount of customers where as maybe other advertising platforms you haven't used like social media might be cheaper and more effective.

Thank you in advance and once again I'd like to emphasise that I think this is a really strong and unique idea.

ALRIGHT I'll ask a few questions without the graphic because mine are more conceptual anyway.

First off, this was a really well-designed pitch. It was articulately worded and was a great representation of the effort you clearly put into this task, so well done.

In terms of the cuisine of the restaurant, I can't help but notice that you've picked some interesting fusions of flavors. In a lot of restaurants, you don't see four different international culinary vantages represented effectively. Could you offer a bit more insight into why you decided to go with four disparate international cuisines rather than attempting some form of fusion? Further, I think that a lot of restaurants which do represent different international cuisines that are currently on the market have some form of common thread tying the cuisines together. Is there anything in particular which ties these four cultures together, or did you just pick places that people like to visit as your barometer? Finally, why Argentina? The menu items you have presented look to be more generic Latin cuisine with the label "Argentinian" attached for show value - where is the authenticity here?

The design of the restaurant leans towards a very appropriated sense of the Middle East, which is interesting because you've only got India and Morocco in there as any form of cuisine that would closely represent that. Additionally, the design gives the restaurant a rather gourmet feel. Is this what you were trying to accomplish? Why did you all but ignore Australia in the concept of the restaurant's layout?

If I have any more questions, I'll be sure to ask.

Hi guys! Interesting pitch, but I do have some questions.

Firstly, each customer gets to choose 4 starters and 4 mains? How big are these dishes like to be? How will you minimise waste?

I like that your goal appears to be to introduce this kind of exotic cuisine to people who are unfamiliar with it, but instead of focusing on the least multiracial areas of the UK, would it not be wiser to focus on locations where people have a penchant for this type of cuisine? Also, is focusing on the most white locations of the country really wise when there are many non-whites who aren't from either culture you're representing?

Also, I think your selection is a little limited. British citizens are no strangers to Indian food, for example. Could you not have included a wider selection?

Lastly, I like the idea of being able to pick and choose from 4 different dishes at once, but my concern is that dishes from such different cultures might not necessarily go together? How could you counteract this?

Thanks for taking the time to ask us some questions, Katie!

1. Although to some extent we would agree that our idea is 'niche', the brief stated that we needed to find a gap in the market, and, as niche as our idea may be we certainly believed we found that. The second half of your question, actually, links into the exact reason we selected the locations we did for Tropicity. We wanted to bring, perhaps overlooked, cultures to cities where culture is lacking: we wanted to show people how vast culture is, yet, how easily they can be fused.

2. Social media would almost certainly play a part in the advertisement, however, we chose to focus on the more traditional forms of advertisement such as the Yellow Pages as, pretty much, we feel as though that sums up the ethos of our brand. Traditional foods, promoted in a traditional way.

Hi Team Aptitude. A good pitch with a very original concept. I have a question:

You are proposing to launch your new concept with 5 restaurants. Is the cost and risk of opening 5 locations justified? Would it be best to start smaller to ensure a market exists?

I agree with your responses and I feel you've found a strong gap in the market with this unique idea. I also see why you've gone for traditional advertising but at the same time traditional can be restrictive to how many people see the advertisement yet also expensive. The Yellow pages thing is a very minor point in the grand scheme of things and I think this team has developed unique and strong idea on the whole. Thanks for answering my questions Jess and good luck to you and Aptitute with the results.

Hello again, Justin!

Unfortunately, I am unable to answer your first question as I did not play a part in the 'creation' process in terms of the menu or indeed the locations selected, however, I am sure that Arran shall be along as soon as he possibly can to answer your question and any other outstanding questions relating to the menu.

I'd agree to some extent that India and Morocco are the two cultures represented the most within the design, however, I have just noticed that a post has been deleted from the thread in which the design from the restaurant was made clearer. I shall recover this information as soon as I can, apologies!

Regarding the dishes, Tropicity is marketed towards families and groups of people, hence four starters and four mains would be the standard serving size. This was important to us as we wanted to support the unity between the cuisines and the unity between the family as they share. These dishes are big enough for one person to eat fully as a main or for four people to share equally. Wastage would be minimized as there is an emphasis on sharing between the family.

Regarding your last question, in order to combat a case of conflicting tastes, we would be able to have the waiter act as a mediator by recommending what would taste nice together and what won't.

I hope these answer the questions

Roxie and Arran will be online soon to answer the rest.

I'm here now! Would anyone like me to answer a specific question?

The purpose of having four differing cuisines was to have different flavours that people can try, as if they don't like one dish, they can always try another. This means they can get maximum enjoyment from everything they try and taste.

In regards to your comments about the authenticity of the Argentinean food, after about 2 hours of research I found these delicious Argentinean recipes that have been used on websites like latinkitchen and good food. And yes they might be popular within Latin culture but they're also immensely popular in the Sourh American country!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/emma.she...61023914100411
My designs which wasnt included in the original pitch

Indian food is very popular and we feel by including that, it means that it won't alienate those who don't enjoy the other foods, it also means that if all else fails there will be one dish that everyone knows they will enjoy. Once we are more established, we plan on using different cuisines, that are more adventurous. But for the first couple years we plan on using Indian cuisine until we are a more means treat brand.