Business Cognate School-Based

Assessment
2019-2020

Name: Atharva Satpute

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 School: Island Academy

Table of Contents
Topic/Issue/Problem…………………………………………………….. Page 3

Objectives…………………………………………………………………….. Page 3

Background/Overview……………………………………………………Page 3

Methodology………………………………………………………………… Page 3

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………. Page 6

Recommendations………………………………………………………… Page 6

References and Appendices……………………………………….…. Page 7

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Topic/Issue/Problem

Road Runners is a business which is situated in the Village Walk Commercial Center in Antigua.
The business entity is in the form of a restaurant that mainly sells pizza. Since this restaurant is
located in a busy area, it should expect a lot of demand, primarily because there is a greater
potential of a civilian being a possible customer. However, this is not the case and Road Runners
only receives a little to moderate number of customers compared to its competitors, as seen from
a 3rd person perspective.

Objective

To investigate the issues that might be holding this particular business at the bottom of the
competition, and to come up with ways in which this business entity can improve.

Background/Overview

Road Runners is a business that has been running for 8 years at the time this SBA was written. It
was started in the year 2012 by three Italian men who were very close in association. While the
restaurant has had a very good reputation over the years, in the recent year, it has been reported
that sales have dropped, along with its customer service. Customers have complained about
various issues, such as a scarcity of pizza toppings, poor employee representation, as well as
unpleasant customer service. This suggests that there might be an issue that potential customers
might be facing, resulting in less demand for the business entity.

Methodology

 Data Collection Strategies: Data was collected for this SBA through interviews with the
manager and reviews from the customers, as well as observations that were taken while at
the premises.
 Data Collection Instruments: Interview, Survey
 Types of Data Collected: Quantitative and Qualitative
 Methods of Presentations: Graphs and charts
 Methods of Analysis: mean, mode
 Limitations Faced: Some records were inaccessible from the business entity due to a
confidentiality policy.

The following is an interview that was taken with the manager of this business entity:

1. What is your name and where are you from?

“My name is Rondel, and I am from Jamaica”

2. How long have you been running this business for?

“8 years”

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3. Can you please tell me the brief history of this business?
“This business was started by 3 Italian men back in 2012. These three men were good
friends. At first, Road Runners was just a fish and chips place, but then we expanded the
menu to pizzas”.

4. How many employees do you have?

“We have 7 employees, including myself.”

5. Do you have any competitors?

“No, I don’t believe that we have any competitors”.
6. What made you choose your current location?
“Due to lots of clientele, and possible customers. This is a good location because it is a
busy area, and there are good money opportunities.”

7. What sort of impact does your current location have on your business?
“Mostly positive impacts, but one thing holding us back is the roadwork that’s going on”

8. What are your goals for this business?

“To expand to different locations”
9. Are there any issues that Road Runners might have, which isn’t enabling it to
perform optimally?
“The Kitchen is very congested, and it really affects the mobility of our staff, and as a
result the time it takes to cook our pizzas is delayed massively”

10. Do you believe that your customers are satisfied with your products?
“Yes, for the most part, sometimes there are complaints regarding prices and few
toppings”.

11. In what year do you think that you sold the most pizzas?
“2018”

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The Following is a Survey that was taken by 10 People:

1. Do you like the quality of the pizzas at road runners?

2. Have you had a good experience with customer service?

3. Do you like the variety of toppings that are offered at Road Runners?

4. Do you think that Road Runners has a fast waiting time for the making of their pizzas?

5. Are you a regular customer of Road Runners?

6. Are the employees friendly?

7. Do you like the taste of their pizzas?

8. Do you like the quality of the pizzas being made at Road Runners?

Results of the Survey:

Question Number People who answered ‘Yes’ People who answered ‘No’
1 15 5
2 9 11
3 7 13
4 10 10
5 5 15
6 14 6
7 16 4
8 18 2

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The Following is an analysis of Road Runner’s percentage profit since the first year of
business:
(please note that these percentage values are approximations provided by the interviewee)

Road Runner's Percentage Profit over Time

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Customer Rating Chart: (For written Customer Reviews please see Appendix)

Percentage of Online Reviews for Road Runners

1 star 2 star 3 star 4 star 5 star

9%

9%

55%

27%

Conclusion

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From our findings it is evident that Road Runners is a reputable restaurant, which is slacking due
to poor employee workmanship, as well as improper customer service. We know this because of
some of the feedback that was received from the customers of the restaurant. Road runners is
also falling behind on their menu options, because the customers have also reported that there
isn’t much of a variety of pizza toppings, which is an aspect that the customers are consistently
demanding.
Recommendations
Firstly, Road Runners needs to further develop and enhance their customer services to tackle
issues such as: impolite communication with customers, slow service, and poor employee
workmanship. These issues can be tackled by the management taking actions that will develop
their employees.
Management should hold review meetings regularly, in which employees can provide their
opinions of how tasks can be carried out better in the employee workspace. By making the
employees provide their perspective of the workflow, management will be able to take those
opinions into consideration, resulting in a healthier environment, in which work can be done
more efficiently.
Road runners also need to invest their retained earnings back into the business. Often, the
shareholders keep these retained earnings as extra cash for themselves. However, if these
retained earnings have been set aside, then those funds can then be used to better develop the
menu, and provide the customers with a variety of toppings, as it is the most demanded part of
the menu from the customers.

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Appendix

Customer Reviews:

1. Narelle Magloire
Clean and affordable Pizza, thin crust everything.. Not sure if they make regular crust. Prices
seem reasonable, it's popular with the locals. Service is a bit slow. There are places to sit and eat
or wait, cool enough at night, but seems like it could get hot during the day. You can order online
and have it delivered. No bathrooms in the area that I can see immediately, whole complex is
wheelchair accessible. Shared area. Enough parking outside.

2. Meghan Scrimgeour
Local pizza joint that is affordable and super tasty. Simple pizzas on the menu but they taste
great!

3. Sabine Weber
Love the fresh made pizza... Affordable prices.

4. Camille G
Customer service
I have been a customer of road runners pizza for the past two years and I must say I am very
appreciative of its service. The pizza there is exceptional and the Jamaican cashier she greets
customers by name and is very well spoken I tend to visit Friday or Saturday but because of the
wait she told me when to order in order to avoid waiting no I mostly go on weekdays because my
kids can't have enough of road runners pizza my daughter of 14yrs is can we go by the pizza lady
which is awesome great service and pizza

5. Anonymous
Good price and good quality!!
I am Italian and I am from the South of Italy, the land of the real pizza. Road Runners pizza is
pretty good and it is decently priced. I have tried pizza in some other places on the Island up to
50% more expensive and I must say so far this is the best pizza. I get pizza from Road Runners

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once every week or two since I am living here (2013). The owners are Italian and are quite
friendly. This is a good pizza takeaway, there are some tables but it's a pretty informal table.
Enjoy!

6. Sharie
Great pizzas
Pizzas are made fresh. My personal favourite is the Carlo's pizza. The flavours are on point,
rivaling that of Big Banana's pizzas. The only reason this little pizza place doesn't receive five
stars is the awful Jamaican lady that is supposed to be dealing with the customers. She gives
jamaicans a bad name.

7. Anonymous
Good Pizza but Terrible Service
Have been buying Pizza at Road Runners for a while and although the pizza is good the service
is terrible. I have put up with it because I generally do take away but from my last experience I
have decided not to return. I called to place an order and wanted to try something different but
could remember the name I had seen on the menu. I tried seeking some information from the
Jamaican employee but in a rude don't bother me attitude she put the phone down without asking
me to hold then proceeded to shout to someone one to " come deal with this woman" I waited for
almost 3 minutes then hung up the phone and ordered from Big Banana. The pizza was delicious
and the service was great.

8. Joy M
Great find!
We started off going to Big Banana since that is the most popular place for pizza in Antigua!
Well they were crowded and would not take our order until we were seated. Thats the best thing
that happened! We drove up the road to road runners and that was great! First you watch your
pizza being made! Everything is fresh! You watch the vegetables being cut and the dough being
rolled and tossed and the pizza baked! It is so hot you have to let it cool for a few minutes before
you can eat it! We had a group of 13 with 5 teenage boys 3 teenage girls and 5 adults. We got 5
large pizzas and drinks for 90 US. The parking was easy since it is not in St. John's and the
prices were comparable if not better than the chains in the US. This is thin crust pizza, so if you
like deep dish this is not for you! But if you like thin crust, this is the place for you in Antigua.
The menu has other dishes but they were only serving pizza and frankly that is all they need to
serve! Do one thing well instead of lots of things OK!

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