Intro and Methods

Introduction

When opening up and maintaining a restaurant over a long period of time, there are numerous factors that the owner needs to take into account. There has been a substantial amount of studies done on this topic, and rightfully so. This is because “over a quarter of restaurants fail within their first year of operation” (Lu, Song, Dock 2014). Owners in turn will do whatever they can to keep their business afloat.

Location. Location. Location. How often is this saying used? Well it has been “increasingly recognized as the single most important element in determining its profitability and overall success” (Lu, Song, Dock 2014). An example in Iowa City would be Mcdonalds. McDonalds is labeled by business insider as “one of the most popular fast-food chains and one of the top franchises in the world” (Fitzpatrick 2015). However, Mcdonald's is located about a mile away from downtown, and in the outskirts of the University. Which is inadequate to the sales of the company because “the average percentage of students who brought cars to campus in the 2016-2017 academic year was 46.8 percent”(Kowarski 2018). Making it much less frequented than many of the centralized locations of other fast food chains because of the inconvenient location and lack of students owning cars.

Vast amounts of research has been done on how price plays a factor in the success of a food chain. One study increased the price of french fries by 10% and 20%, while decreasing the price of fruit by 10% and 20%. French fry sales plummeted by 10.9% and 21.8%. Fruit sales skyrocketed by 25.1% and 42.2%. (Deliens, Deforche, De Bourdeaudhuij, Annemans, Clarys 2016).

Some companies are centered around “Healthy food”, while others completely disregard it. Author Ashley Lutz says “millennials care more about food being fresh, less processed and with fewer artificial ingredients” (Lutz 2015). The large majority of people on diets will target food joint based on how healthy they are. Some of these companies will have a marketing strategy that tries to target this audience. Subway (which is also located in downtown Iowa City) did just this with Jared, along with having the motto of “Eat Fresh”. Jared became the instant spokesperson for subway when he  “shed a staggering 245 pounds in one year, eating two Subway sandwiches a day” (Richards 2015). As a result, subways sales increased dramatically.

Fast food chains utilize many different strategies in trying to bolster their sales. There is a a lot of research based on this, but none specific to the City of Iowa City. Questions such as what is your favorite fast food restaurant in Iowa City? What is your favorite item on the menu? Is it within walking distance? On a scale of 1-5 how expensive is it? Is the food healthy? These questions will provide insight into the issue, and will be asked to random people of different genders, backgrounds, and with different hobbies in Iowa City to ensure a well rounded study.

Methods

Participants: The participants were students that attend the University and are used to the downtown area. It is a very broad range of different types of people with different backgrounds.

Methods: the survey had a total of 5 questions. In these questions the goal is to find all of the factors that determine what makes a fast food restaurant successful. There were yes or no questions, multiple choice, and fill in the blank. The survey was given anonymously.

Data analysis: Graphs and tables can be created to show any common results in the survey.