Introduction

There are two basic things that most Hong Kong people are familiar with: food and prices.

Food: is easily accessible within walking distance of any give location in Hong Kong;
Price: with all the shopping that we do, something has got to give. Food, a luxury to some, is the easiest expense to cut.

There are a number of reasons why I decided to take on this study:

• Firstly, I’d like to observe how restaurants and F&B outlets cope in a difficult economic environment.
• Secondly, I’m also interested as restaurants and F&B outlets do not engage in much branding activities, so there needs to be a push for the industry in this direction if Hong Kong wishes to attract tourism, enhance its global identity as a food paradise and thus increase its GDP. (Reasons why the F&B industry does not engage in brand activities might be due to: lack of management initiative, lack of market research and focus on operations.)

The Challenge
The challenge for F&B outlets is that it is hard to differentiate in offerings because dishes can be easily imitated, perhaps not to the same standard but the same type. Thus, the strategy is often to compete on pricing which permanently affects the customer’s future expectations and makes it harder for the restaurant/ F&B outlet to increase their profits.

I’d like to see a bit more creativity in the industry, in creating a brand experience to define its positioning rather than differentiate through price promotions. My articles might be a tad analytical at times but I’ll keep it light-hearted outside of work.

My post might also differ from Woo’s as I might not be looking to venture to different places, but rather I might focus on several key restaurants/F&B outlets and track their menu, pricing and offering changes over time and speculate reasons for these changes.