Johnny Jets Drive-Ins is a quick-service restaurant (QSR) organization with more than 4,500 locations in 27 states. Johnny Jets offers customers the option to eat at the restaurant location (in car, inside, patio) or to take out. Regardless of which option customers choose, they order from their smart phones, tablets, or computers on location or remotely, or from a touch screen menu board at the restaurant.

Johnny Jets has enjoyed a high degree of growth and very positive financial returns since starting 17 years ago. Growth has slowed over the last two years as the increase in the number of new locations has stalled. Need for market segmentation Management feels Johnny Jets has reached a level of maturity where growth will need to come more from increasing sales at existing locations and that they need to be more efficient and effective in their marketing efforts. A major factor behind this thinking is that it has secured most of the best locations based on its store location modeling system and that its opportunities for growth from new sites will be much more limited in the future.

It has hired a very large, well-known management-consulting firm to help assess the challenges and strategic options. This firm has been analyzing the data for the last three months and its initial recommendations are that Johnny Jets:

• Needs to find the natural segments that exist in the QSR or fast-food market based on consumer attitudes, behaviors, demographics, and other factors.

• Identify, within the overall QSR segmentation schema, the segment or segments that find their restaurants most appealing.

• Evaluate the opportunities to appeal to additional segments in the QSR space, or, essentially, extend its reach.

• Focus more efficiently and effectively on the targeted segments by making appropriate changes in restaurant location strategy, modifying marketing appeals or positioning, changing product offerings, and making appropriate changes in other elements of the marketing mix.

Questions

1. Comment on the process that Johnny Jets used to select a research firm. What, if anything, would you do differently?

2. Was it appropriate for the one firm to decline to submit a proposal based on conflicts? Why do you say that?

3. What do you think of the DSS response to the, “Why should Johnny Jets choose RESEARCH FIRM NAME?”

4. Based on the information provided, would you choose DSS to do the research?