Chipotle engages customers through facebook

Equinox Custom Kitchen

1. Equinox Background and History

The first Equinox began in 1991 by the Errico family, located in the Upper East Side, - the richest neighborhood in Manhattan’s(From Wiki). After eight years of operation, Harvey Spevak became CEO of Equinox. In 2005, Equinox was acquired by real estate giant “The Related Companies for $500 million in 2005. (From Wiki). In 2008, Equinox brought Pure Yoga to the United States from Hong Kong, which operates separately (From Wiki). In 2018, Equinox opened its first luxury hotel in Hudson Yards and planned to spread the hotel into 77 different locations which matched its number of gym locations.

Equinox had some amusing and inspirational events such as the “Commit to Something” campaign and the “Cycle for Survival” campaign. The “Commit to Something” campaign in 2016 is an OOH campaign unveiled a collection of images shot by Steven Klein, who is one of the most famous fashion photographers in the world, showcases the human expression of commitment in all aspects of life. Through this campaign, Equinox gained great attention from the media such as Times, Fox News, The NY Times, and the Huffington Post. This campaign brought over 735 million media impressions and an 80% increase in their sales for Equinox. Another campaign, which was called “Cycle for Survival”, held the fundraising event for cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering and donated one dollar for every new like on the social media page. This campaign helped Equinox to achieve a greater brand image and public relations.

Until today, Equinox is a luxurious fitness brand chain with a creative team of 18 people, which has been established in the United States, Vancouver, London, and Toronto. It strives to offer unlimited personal fitness experiences and outstanding services to members(From Wiki).

The core values of the Equinox brand engage in providing a high-performance lifestyle and enable every member of to gain the best results from gym exercise. For example, Members can try some new fields of exercise by attending a variety of classes; the classes range from beginner to high level. This allows members to become motivated and provide a fun way to improve the quality of their everyday workout. In addition to the plentiful selection of classes, Equinox has provided superior in-club amenities and spa services. The message they convey to its members is not simply gym service, but also a healthy lifestyle.

0. Trend of industry

Fitness centers are considered to be health clubs in these few years, they provide both exercise equipment and classes including different levels of cardio, strength and flexibility training, as well as the many types of services focused on promoting members’ inner health and outer beauty.

The United States, as the biggest health and fitness club market in the world, owns the most yearly revenue and the most number of members in fitness and health clubs. The fitness and health club industry generated over $80 billion in revenue in the world per year, of which around $30 billion, was attributed to the US market. In 2017, there are more than 200 thousand fitness clubs worldwide, of which around 38.5 thousand clubs are located in the United States. According to the Statista survey, around 25% of American work out at least one time a month. The fitness brands such as Equinox, Lifetime and Base facilities offer more than just workout areas and classes. They also offer professional spa and massage services for members which give them a quiet place to relax from their exercises and escape from the stress of daily life. These facilities maximize members' experiences. In addition to providing these services, diet is also an important part of inner health, in these past few years, many fitness clubs open cafes to their members. Gym cafe is the best place for members to get their meals after workouts. Choosing the right foods for your fitness routine is an efficient way to improve work performance. Therefore, in today’s fitness industry, doing exercise and eating healthy cannot be separated.

LA Fitness

0. Product Description

According to the suggestions from Dr. Shawn Arent, who is the director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Rutgers University, the amount of food that people should eat before or after a workout will be based on various factors including their size, workout goal, workout routine intention, and specific exercise activities. If Equinox fitness club members go out to buy food, they might not have meals that perfectly meets their health needs after exercise. If they go home to cook, it might be very time-consuming. If they eat outside or grab takeouts, it might not perfectly satisfy the health needs. Therefore, our idea is to create a custom kitchen under the Equinox fitness club. Name of the restaurant called “Equinox Custom Kitchen”. Our goal is to provide a customized meals and services avoid people from detours on their fitness experience.The operating model of our kitchen is different from other fitness clubs. We provide a custom kitchen ultimate solution for all club members. Eating clean and keeping health are core values we want to deliver to our members, We hope every member to meet their needs and expectations in terms of fitness goal and enjoy an exceptional experience through our restaurant. The professional personal trainers and chefs we hired in our kitchen will give members the best advice according to each person's needs.

The Equinox on-site Custom Kitchen will be located at the entrance of the club with the highest traffic, so members can easily access and grub food before or after workouts. The serving and seating spaces will be designed to satisfy various members with different lifestyles. We will offer a large table and single chairs for members who would like to eat or work on their laptops alone. We will also offer a comfortable seating space for groups. For those members who prefer to order and take their meals to go, our restaurant provides a separate cashier spot for them.

Target Audience

Our restaurant only open to Equinox members as a private membership kitchen because we want to make sure every member in our club can enjoy the best dining environment and focus on our members needs and wants.

Two Competitors

Since diet is crucial to every member in the fitness club, a fitness meal that suits members will double lift their levels of health. Although there are many fitness clubs in the US, very few of them provide completely dining services to members. Here are two health clubs we choose from the US fitness industry to compete with Equinox.

Lifetime

Lifetime is a chain of luxury fitness clubs across the US and Canada. Their operating model which is similar to Equinox. The most appealing part is that they call their fitness club as a resort because the facilities and amenities they provide in their club are the most advanced. Lifetime also designed a cafe area for members to grab foods before and after workouts and provide a spacious lounge that gave members a sense of belonging and relaxation. In Lifetime cafe, all foods are made by fresh and organic ingredients with top quality and delicious taste. They offered a wide variety of food, including bowls, salads, burgers, flatbreads, paninis, and tacos. The price range of the food between $8-$18, which is relatively higher than other competitors. Healthy snacks, energy drinks, as well as hot and cold coffee also served in Lifetime cafe just like its competitors of the fitness industry. They also sell nutritional supplements for their members. The supplements they sell in Lifetime cafe are exclusive products, which is targeted to members who want to enhance daily nutrition intake and boost a healthier body. Based on the comments of Yelp, members satisfied with the food and drinks offered. The only complaint is that the food takes a long time to come.

La Fitness

Base

Base is a one-stop-shop gym in the Jersey City, and it obtains integrated facilities, amenities, and management just like Equinox and Lifetime. Base provides a luxe juice bar with smoothie, juice, snacks, and packed foods for its members. The price of the juice bar ranges between $2 to $10, so the price is relatively lower than Lifetime. According to consumer reviews on Yelp, juice and smoothies at the bar are in acceptable qualities and most customers enjoyed them. However, packed foods are not freshly made at the bar so many customers complained about the food quality. The service at the juice bar was also not extremely satisfying according to Yelp reviewers. There is only one servant at the bar counter who helps customers, so customers always need to line up in the wait line during peak hours. Also, the bar is not located at a conspicuous location in the club, so it is not extremely easy for some new members to find out. Because of the wait line and the inconspicuous location, the accessibility of the juice bar at Base could be considered as inconvenient and should be upgraded.

Chipotle ：the format you can follow lifetime

i dentify the firm's major competitors (brand, product, generic, and total budget).

Identify the characteristics of the firm's major competitors with respect to size, growth, profitability, target markets, products, and marketing capabilities (production, distribution, promotion, pricing).

What other major strengths and weaknesses do these competitors possess?

List any potential future competitors not identified above.

Ex: Chipotle: One of the fastest-growing restaurant chains over the last decade, Chipotle is committed to fresh food. The company supports family farms and sources sustainable ingredients from local growers who behave responsibly toward animals and the environment. It has over 1,600 stores and over 1.7 million social media fans–yet spends next to nothing on traditional paid media. Instead Chipotle engages customers through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media via its grassroots “Food With Integrity” digital strategy which puts the focus on what it sells and where it comes from. As CMO Mark Crumpacker notes, “Typically, fast-food marketing is a game of trying to obscure the truth. The more people know about most fast-food companies, the less likely they’d want to be a customer.” YouTube videos with country legend Willie Nelson and indie rocker Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs musically made Chipotle’s case against processed foods and the industrialization of family farms. （public results）

SWOT Analysis (Equinox Custom Kitchen)

A. Strengths

How is your "kitchen" better than Lifetime's set-up which you say is very good?

Equinox Custom Kitchen has strengths in quality, service, and accessibility compared to its competitors. First of all, Equinox Custom Kitchen will be using 100% organic and FSIS proved ingredients including vegetables, fruits, meats, plates of seafood, and unrefined carbohydrates. All meals will be freshly made by our chefs. Our head chef will be Cordon Bleu-level chef and he’ll be in charge of the entire operations at the kitchen. Therefore, we ensure our excellent food qualities by setting high ingredient standards and high chef standards.

Secondly, the Equinox Custom kitchen takes customer service into an ultra level. Pertinence and attention to detail are our core values of service. We track each member’s physical data and analyze his or her nutritional needs. Then, we elaborate on personal meal plans for different members. We make sure that all members receive their meals as soon as they finish their exercises. For those members who practice high-intensity exercises, we serve them 30 minutes after their exercises because their bodies need time to relax before they take food.

Thirdly, we also provide high-speed Wifi service at the restaurant. The benefits of offering free Wifi service across the restaurant is to attract and retain members.

Lastly, accessibility is also one of our strengths because we locate right at the entrance of the club, and we provide multiple cashier spots so members would not have to wait.

B. Weaknesses

Some members might prefer cooking at home, and they believe that eating at home is better for their health. Some other members might think our price is too high and they do not want to spend extra money in our restaurant. Also, some members might not like any food we provide in the restaurant or they might be on their own specific diets. In this case, we will be losing a significant amount of potential customers.

C. Opportunities

To achieve the best fitness result, people now tend to workout followed by scientific advice.

Dr. Arent suggests that nutrient timing will significantly affect the efficiency and result of workout. He emphasized that, ‘The more immediately after working out you eat, the better’. Therefore, as the suggestions from nutritionists and fitness experts spread about the importance of scheduling diet, on-site restaurant in fitness club will help Equinox be more competitive and stand out from the whole industry.

D. Threats

Some of our members prefer eating at other healthy restaurants such as Chopt, Sweet Green, Chipotle, etc. Therefore, those other healthy restaurants will be our threats. However, we could persuade them by saying that they might not have a meal that perfectly meets their health needs after exercise.

(What makes your eatery/restaurant different than the competitors out in the street? You mention in terms of SweetGreens and other places? It needs to be more clear why they should stay.)

Menu Design

Main Menu

Our menu will separate to several branches such as signature meal combos, custom meals, desserts, etc. For members who workout directed by themselves, they can either choose the signature meal combos or the custom meals. The signature meal combos are complete meals with protein, carbs, and veggies. All of our signature meal combos are designed by our nutritionists for different fitness goals and marked with specific calories and the amount of protein, carbs, and fat of all ingredients. The custom meals offers various ingredients sorted by protein, carbs, and veggies. Members are able to customize their meal combos by category of ingredients and weight of each ingredient. For members who workout directed by their personal trainers, it will be much easier because their personal trainer will design the meals according to their workout plan and send it to our kitchen to prepare.

Smoothie/Acai bowl.

Desert Menu

When members are trying to start low-carb diet for their fitness plan but looking for guilt-free desserts, we have four types of desserts for them to choose. They are low carb cupcakes, gluten-free cheesecakes, keto protein cookies and Keto bars. Each of them comes with different flavors. All deserts we made by using organic low-calorie cooking oil instead of vegetable oil, skim milk instead of whole milk, coconut and almond flours instead of bread flour, and stevia instead of sugar. By on, we change all traditional ingredients to low-calorie, not only does not affect the texture and taste of desserts, but also satisfy people who are craving for sweet food.

Seasonal Menu

We provide seasonal menu option during the summertime, our restaurant decide to roll out a set of products available for a limited amount and time, we have sugar free popsicles and low calorie ice cream, which contain fruit, avocado, chocolate and vanilla flavors. The products we offered are completely healthy with non-artificial colors and fat free.

Price of Investment

According to the Mergent Intellect data, the annual sales of a single Equinox Fitness Club in New York is around $13,0000. Since Equinox has eleven different locations in New York, so the total annual sales is around $143,0000. Lorri Mealey says in his article “Open a Restaurant With Little Money” that “opening a new restaurant costs about $50,000 to $75,000 minimum” (1). Ideally, Equinox will be investing around $100,0000 in a single Equinox Custom Kitchen project, and its annual sales in New York is definitely enough for it to invest in a healthy restaurant in a single location in New York.

Part 2

1. Specific Objectives (Key objective of the marketing and measurement for each objective )

(have to include short-term and long-term goal and objective)

A. Marketing Goal A: __________________________________________________

(should be broad, motivational, and somewhat vague)

Objective A1: ______________________________________________________

(must contain a specific and measurable outcome, a time frame for completion, and identify the person/unit responsible for achieving the objective)

Objective A2: ______________________________________________________

(must contain a specific and measurable outcome, a time frame for completion, and identify the person/unit responsible for achieving the objective)

B. Marketing Goal B: __________________________________________________

(should be broad, motivational, and somewhat vague)

Objective B1: ______________________________________________________

(must contain a specific and measurable outcome, a time frame for completion, and identify the person/unit responsible for achieving the objective)

Objective B2: ______________________________________________________

(must contain a specific and measurable outcome, a time frame for completion, and identify the person/unit responsible for achieving the objective)

(Can be repeated as needed to develop a complete list of goals and objectives. However, having one goal and two or three objectives is advisable to greatly reduce the complexity of the marketing strategy.)

(Overall marketing strategy-- innovation, price, product, quality, accessibility, or other)

Product Strategy

Brand name, packaging, and logo design:

Major features and benefits:

Differentiation/positioning strategy:

Supplemental products (including customer service strategy):

Connection to value (core, supplemental, experiential/symbolic attributes):

C. Pricing Strategy

Overall pricing strategy and pricing objectives:

Price comparison to competition:

Connection to differentiation/positioning strategy:

Connection to value (monetary costs):

Profit margin and breakeven:

Specific pricing tactics (discounts, incentives, financing, etc.):

D. Distribution/Supply Chain Strategy

Overall supply chain strategy (including distribution intensity):

Channels and intermediaries to be used:

Connection to differentiation/positioning strategy:

Connection to value (nonmonetary costs):

Strategies to ensure channel support (slotting fees, guarantees, etc.):

Tactics designed to increase time, place, and possession utility:

E. Integrated Marketing Communication (Promotion) Strategy

Overall IMC strategy, IMC objectives, and budget:

Consumer promotion elements

Advertising strategy:

Public relations/publicity strategy:

Personal selling strategy:

Consumer sales promotion (pull) strategy:

Trade (channel) promotion elements

Advertising strategy:

Public relations/publicity strategy:

Personal selling strategy:

Trade sales promotion (push) strategy:

Innovation

Price

Product

Quality

Accessibility

Supply Chain

What ways are you presenting your offering as superior to the company

Competitiors

Identify the firm's major competitors (brand, product, generic, and total budget).

Identify the characteristics of the firm's major competitors with respect to size, growth, profitability, target markets, products, and marketing capabilities (production, distribution, promotion, pricing).

What other major strengths and weaknesses do these competitors possess?

List any potential future competitors not identified above.

Target audience and sample “ideal” customer

Primary target market

Identifying characteristics (demographics, geography, values, psychographics):

Basic needs, wants, preferences, or requirements:

Buying habits and preferences:

Consumption/disposition characteristics:

Secondary target market (optional)

Identifying characteristics (demographics, geography, values, psychographics):

Basic needs, wants, preferences, or requirements:

Buying habits and preferences:

Consumption/disposition characteristics:

Creative strategy -- based on all the above, how to approach the potential customer -- humor, seriousness, friendly, fact-based, case studies, user experience, etc

Media selection -- social media, out-of-home, traditional print advertising, TV/Cable

“Creative” for this product or service including copy, art, video

Two print ads as they would appear in a magazine

Two online ads as they would appear on an appropriate website visited by your target audience

Two storyboards of the way video or TV commercials would like from scene to scene to artwork, dialogue, announcer’s copy, etc

Requirements in terms of budget, basic financials, headcount and other resources

One-year timetable that calendarizes when specific action steps are to be implemented.

The measurement criteria by which the success of the program will be judged