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Flavie Lambert

Why is the Concept Development phase important before opening your new food & beverage outlet?


Why is the  Concept Development phase important before opening  your new food & beverage outlet ?

Why is it important to develop a concept before embarking on a food & beverage project?


Concept Development is the process of defining and refining an idea, or a set of thoughts, to make them more explicit and more coherent. This main step involves transforming an abstract notion into a more concrete one.


Example : I want to open my own coffee shop. What are the most important steps to take before opening?


To achieve your project, b. Consulting Food & Beverage Hospitality Cambodia uses critical thinking, research, and analysis techniques.


Each proposition is explored in terms of its advantages and disadvantages, resulting in a realistic project that best meets the customer's needs.



The S.W.O.T (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is one of the tools we use to analyze the viability of a project. An S.W.O.T. is the summary of several studies carried out upstream, especially on the competition, customer interest and the quality of the product to be developed.
Example of a S.W.O.T. developed for one of our customers who wants to move towards a franchise for their brand.

In the food & beverage and hospitality industry, concept development is used when you want to create a lounge bar, to renovate a restaurant, to open a coffee shop, to build a resort etc…


To realize your project, a number of steps must be followed, such as :


  1. Concept Analysis with Market Overview, Competition Analysis Brief, Overall Concept & Products positioning, Concept S.W.O.T, general guideline

  2. Analysis of the location and architectural project with several processes to ensure the viability of the project and confirm the overall budget for the project.

  3. Business plan and human resources structure development for your establishment

  4. Recommendations on overall communication and marketing strategy, such as naming, but not only.

  5. Most important step: Retro planning of the project with initial timetable and initial division of tasks by department


In all these steps of concept development, our team of local and international experts has built up a strong experience over the last few years.




By studying several scenarios, we consider the different possibilities to determine which one will be the best and which final concept will be retained.


Indeed, a good idea must be creative and appropriate to reinforce the brand's strategy and positioning.


It communicates the benefits of the offer and differentiates it from the competition.


Finally, a good idea is a concept that will be profitable.


Example: brief for a Farm to Table restaurant concept development project in a Cambodian province. This brief is accompanied by a moodboard for better understanding.
Example: brief for a Farm to Table restaurant concept development project in a Cambodian province. This brief is accompanied by a moodboard for better understanding.

To develop your project successfully, it is essential to follow steps, such as defining the problem, generating leads, representing the concept, evaluating the idea and selecting the best project.


How does concept development work?


b. Consulting, like all consulting firms, uses tools that enable us to achieve a concrete result with a turnkey project.


Among these tools, we deploy :


Brainstorming - is used in group meetings, where participants exchange thoughts on the same subject to come up with a concept or creative idea. This spontaneous discussion leads to a number of proposals.


Mind mapping is a visual representation of notions and concepts, often in the form of a diagram or flow chart. It is a brainstorming technique for organizing ideas. To create it, consultants place the central idea at the center of the page and add related concepts around it. The final diagram shows the relationships between notions and can help identify new opportunities and connections.


Reverse brainstorming is a concept generation technique in which participants generate ideas to solve the opposite of the problem they are trying to solve. Reversing and reframing the dilemma into a solution can help identify potential obstacles or challenges and generate new concepts to solve them. For example, instead of thinking about reducing the size of a restaurant kitchen, participants might think about enlarging it.


Research - is another method of generating notions. By conducting research, consultants can find similar problems and draw inspiration from them.


Benchmarking - involves comparing a competing product with your own project. By determining the characteristics of other similar businesses in the city, country, continent or even internationally, experts can observe which trends work best. In this way, they determine the company's next strategic choices.



Mind mapping on a concept development project for a SkyBar in Phnom Penh
Example of mind mapping on a concept development project for a Skybar in Phnom Penh. This diagram is combined with numerous other tools, such as competitor analysis.

The purpose of concept development? To be ready for the unexpected.


Our team of consultants is present to clarify the customer's specifications and determine the context.


We are there to identify a project's critical points and, above all, how to provide solutions. This problem may be logistical, financial, technical or other.


By pinpointing these problems, the experts aim to guide the next steps in the project's realization. The earlier the problem is identified, the more likely the solution will avoid project delays.


During concept generation, the clients and consultants (and sometimes architects) meet to discuss the issue and propose solutions.


Once all participants have established a range of proposals, the professionals (architects, interior design) put them into shape to best imagine the project.


At this project stage, the team has achieved the main components of concept development and can move on to the project development and management phase.


Depending on the size of the project and the deadlines involved, our team will take between a month and a quarter to deliver a concept development with a detailed report giving you all the keys to realizing your project.



b. Consulting Cambodia, the experts team for your Food & Beverage / Hospitality projects


Since its creation, b. Consulting has developed numerous projects on behalf of our clients.


This year, we are developing a number of simultaneous projects at BKK and Toul Kork in Phnom Penh, while continuing to work on long-term tourism projects in the provinces of Cambodia.


Our priority: Trust, this is how we work with our valued clients.


We build a confidence-based relationship. We adapt our working methods to the needs of our partners.


After the concept development phase, comes the project development phase, which goes hand in hand with the construction phase. Each project is unique, but it takes at least 6 months to a year from the initial idea to soft opening.


b. Consulting has developed a 360° program to take charge of your Food & Beverage / Hospitality project from A to Z.


 
  • b. Consulting is proud to support Cambodian investments, do you have a project? We are here to assist you. Contact us - click-here

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