DOS GATOS KOLACHE BAKERY

Tammy Garman Dos Gatos Employee MC3360 Final Project 12/05/2014

The PR Problem •  Dos Gatos Kolache Bakery is a restaurant open to the public since

2009 in the city of San Marcos, TX. Owned and operated by brothers Chase and Seth Katz they are dedicated to providing a good tasting, inexpensive, quick breakfast to both Texas State University students and local San Marcos residents.

•  While the business has stayed decent they have seen a recent slight decline. They are hoping for more customer traffic for the hope to start branching Dos Gatos out and opening more Kolache bakeries around the Hays County area. When I approached them they said they really wanted to know what people thought of Kolaches, of Dos Gatos, what people wanted in a breakfast place, and the demographic that they are really selling too.

•  Its important to research the issue of helping Dos Gatos bakery because I am an employee of the bakery and have been for quite some time. Its important to keep small businesses alive, especially with such a growing community such as San Marcos.

SWOT/Secondary Research SWOT on small local business and how to improve

•  Strengths: When owning a small business you have the opportunity to grow with your small business and the people and customers involved in it. (Willmark)

•  Weakness: Income is not steady and is hard to keep track of (Willmark) Very stressful; bewildering array of things you have to worry about. (Collins)

•  Opportunities: Opportunities are endless with a small business in order to improve experts suggest giving away small samples and explore new market niche's. (Barufaldi)

•  Threats: A huge threat to small business restaurant is convincing customers to spend a little more money on good quality home made food. Especially in a nation that is used to frozen microwaved I want it now at my fingertips style foods. (Peterson)

Secondary Research Resources Barufaldi, Dan. "10 Breakout Ideas For Small Businesses.” Investopedia. N.p.,

2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/small-business-breakout-ideas.asp Collins, Karen. "Exploring Business, v. 1.0." Flat World Knowledge. Exploring

Business, 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014 http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/7?e=collins-ch05_s04 . Peterson, Steven D. "How to Identify Opportunities and Threats in Business

Planning." - For Dummies. For Dummies, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-identify-opportunities-and-threats-in-busin.html Solutions, Winnmark B. "Pros and Cons of Owning a Business." Managed

Hosting, Cloud Hosting and Web Hosting. Willmark Buisness, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.

http://www.hostway.com/web-resources/no-category/pros-and-cons-of-owning-a-business/

Focus Groups

In my three separate focus group for Dos Gatos Kolache Bakery I asked a range of customers a series of questions. a.  Do you eat breakfast? b.  How often do you eat out? c.  How long do you care to wait in a line for breakfast? d.  Have you ever had a Kolache? e.  What is the most important thing to you in a restaurant. Here were the following answers for the different customers.

Focus Group One

White Female 18 years of age. a.  I try too but not always b.  A lot c.  Maybe 10 minutes if

not in a rush d.  Yes e.  Customer service

Hispanic male 19 years of age a.  Yes b.  Every now and then c.  5 minutes d.  Yes e.  Quickness

White male 20 years of age a.  Every day b.  Not often c.  If I’m not in a rush I

don’t mind waiting d.  Yes e.  If the food is good

Conducted: October 15th, 2014 Demographics: White female, Hispanic male, White male; age group (18-20) Where: Alkek Library

Focus Group Two

Hispanic Female 21 years of age. a.  Not really b.  Only when I am with

family c.  5 minutes tops d.  No e.  Good Food

African American male 25 years of age a.  Yes, every day b.  Also, almost every

day c.  If I don’t have class I

don’t mind the wait d.  Yes, I love them e.  Cheapness

White male 27 years of age a.  Never b.  Very rare c.  I don’t like waiting d.  Yes e.  Quick

Conducted: November 5, 2014 Demographics: Hispanic, African American, White; between ages (21-27) Where: Alkek Library

Focus Group Three

Hispanic male 30 years of age. a.  Everyday b.  My wife cooks so not

often c.  If I am not in a rush I

don’t really mind d.  Yes e.  Tasty food

African American female 36 years of age a.  I try too b.  A few times a week c.  Not long, I have kids d.  No e.  A good price and

good atmosphere

White male 42 years of age a.  Yes b.  Every so often c.  Maybe 5 minutes d.  Yes e.  Convenience

Conducted: November 22, 2014 Demographics: Hispanic, African American, White; between ages (30-42) Where: Mochas and Javas

Focus Group Findings • After doing these different focus groups I have found out

most college kids eat out very often. Even those who aren’t in college eat out pretty often in San Marcos. Most people are ok with the price range like at the establishments I am representing. Also, people don’t like waiting for their food for very long especially when they are in a rush on their way to school. Most people did know of Dos Gatos though so that was really helpful!

•  These groups have helped shaped my project by letting me know exactly where I need to go with my survey questions.

Survey Research •  I chose to use a survey because I felt that I needed a little more

information from a much broader group. I tried to make my survey questions closed-ended. I felt that this was more concrete answers than open-ended would be. My questions were based off of the questions asked of my focus groups.

•  I used surverymonkey.com as my survey tool. By posting the link to my Facebook page and encouraging and asking other San Marcos people to share it to their walls as well I hoped to get a good variety in my demographics. My main target population though was definitely that of people who live here around San Marcos.

•  By using Facebook my sampling was one of convenience and hopefully a good sample size. 74 people answered my survey in the matter of only a couple days!

•  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VPX67XT

QUESTION 1:

QUESTION 2

QUESTION 3

QUESTION 4

QUESTION 5

QUESTION 6

QUESTION 7

QUESTION 7 CONT.

Survey Results • The survey proved to be the absolute best tool I could have had at my disposal. I got so much information from so many different backgrounds and resources. Some major things I learned are that the main cliental we are trying to reach is obviously the people of Texas State University both students and professors and staff. They are the majority of who comes into Dos Gatos.

• Another interesting thing I learned is that a lot of people don’t actually know what a Kolache is. I had a lot of people ask me, after the survey, what a Kolache is and where it is from. So, educating the public on what exactly Kolaches are would be very important.

Survey Results •  Another important thing especially to our business is that

people are not willing to spend much on breakfast, if they even eat out at all. So, from learning this I know we really need to advertise the prices we have to offer and our great deals.

•  Last, probably the most helpful information I learned is that people really are willing to wait a little bit. I thought that people just wanted in and out super but turns out that people really don’t mind to wait a little bit for quality food, which is important to note to take our time in order to not mess up the Kolaches. Our number one motto at Dos Gatos is RESPECT THE DOUGH which not rushing goes hand in hand with.

•  Question number 7 was one that my employers requested to know about just for business purposes and knowing how much of a production they need to be increasing and with what Kolaches.

Recommendations •  After all my research Dos Gatos is a business that can easily

increase revenue and increase customer base. 1.  The main selling point for Dos Gatos is obviously Texas State

University, and all people involved in the university 2.  People who have had Kolaches really like them but there is

quite a large population that has no idea what a Kolache is, its important to reach out to those people

3.  Our social media sights and website are severely slacking. From secondary research it was stated how incredibly important it is to keep up with the social media scene and keep up with trendiness, especially in a college town.

4.  Get more involved with free samples, advertising, and getting involved with local media sources including KVUE and the University Star.

Taking ADVANTAGE of Social Media! •  As a business in this day in age and

especially appealing to college aged kids its very VERY important to keep up with social media and to be posting on it AT LEAST once a week!

•  Business Computing World stated that Facebook is now a crucial part of a successful business for networking and promoting events.

•  I recommend posting something once a week even if it is just a shout out to remind people to come in and see us or a funny picture of the staff. Posting funny things makes people feel more comfortable to come in.

•  Also have a possible short time promotion that if you show us you liked Dos Gatos on Facebook we could give you a one time 10% off your purchase.

•  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dos-Gatos-Kolache-Bakery/318866336794

•  http://www.dosgatoskolaches.com/

Involvement with Texas State University • A huge part of our business is Texas State University

obviously. We need to appeal more to professors and students who need a good healthy meal for breakfast in order to power through the day.

•  I propose that we offer free delivery to anywhere on campus for orders over $25.00. If a teacher doesn't’t have to worry about coming to pick up for the office or department and can literally have it delivered strait to their door step I believe revenue would increase.

Cultural Education on Kolaches •  Once a year Texas State does a

cultural and diversity awareness day on campus and in the quad. A lot of this cultural awareness has to do with different cultures foods. When doing the surveys I was pretty surprised to discover that 22.22% of people surveyed had never tasted a Kolache before and I discovered many people didn’t even know what it was. I suggest that when the next culture day comes around we set up a booth in the quad explaining the Czechoslovakian culture of the Kolache and sell them at half-price. Not only will this be a positive light on Dos Gatos educating the masses but also it will raise awareness to our location and bring in new business.

Free Samples and Coupons. • Another idea would be to actually walk around the quad

with free samples and coupons to pass out. Many students don’t know we are conveniently located right across Sessom road. By actually going out to the quad and giving away free food to starving college kids and giving them coupons so they have to come in and visit I believe we could greatly increase our customer base and range. Also, advertising in the quad could reach out to the teacher and staff population who are a huge source of customer cliental for us.

Yelp Reviews •  Last thing I would suggest would be to also keep in eye

on yelp reviews to know how the business is really going. Right now we have one of if not the highest reviews on Yelp for the city of San Marcos.

•  http://www.yelp.com/biz/dos-gatos-kolache-bakery-san-marcos

Appendices-Survey Instrument • My survey instrument consisted of a short questionnaire

that I created on surverymonkey.com. I distributed among my peers and through Facebook and email. My survey got me valuable feedback about what people think of Kolaches, what people look for in a restaurant, how much they are willing to spend and the type of demographic we are trying to sell too.

Appendices- Focus Group Summary • Appealing mostly to college kids • College kids eat out quite often • Aren’t too excited about waiting for food and DO NOT

want to spend a lot of money • Atmosphere is more important then originally thought.

Appendices- Survey Results • Appealing mostly to college aged students • People in surveys said they WERE willing to wait for good

food • Still don’t want to spend a lot of money • Good quality service is almost as important as the food

itself • Many people actually don’t know what a Kolache is or

know what it is but have never tried one

References for Project Barufaldi, Dan. "10 Breakout Ideas For Small Businesses.” Investopedia. N.p.,

2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/small-business-breakout-ideas.asp Collins, Karen. "Exploring Business, v. 1.0." Flat World Knowledge. Exploring

Business, 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014 http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/7?e=collins-ch05_s04 . Peterson, Steven D. "How to Identify Opportunities and Threats in Business

Planning." - For Dummies. For Dummies, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-identify-opportunities-and-threats-in-busin.html Solutions, Winnmark B. "Pros and Cons of Owning a Business." Managed

Hosting, Cloud Hosting and Web Hosting. Willmark Buisness, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. http://www.hostway.com/web-resources/no-category/pros-and-cons-of-owning-a-business/

•  *All Dos Gatos Kolache websites and social media sights.