The Santa Fe Grill has hired you as their business consultant. In this role, you have determined that it is best to first survey the customers at the Santa Fe Grill before making any recommendations. Because the restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, you are considering both probability and nonprobability sampling methods as ways to collect customer data. Pre-Reading Questions: Answer these two questions prior to reading the case study. Case Study and Scenario: Read this section. You do NOT need to answer the questions in this section. Hands-On Exercise: Address all items in this section. In your paper, you are strongly encouraged to make Pre-Reading Questions and Hands-On Exercise headings, and their component items subheadings. Please be sure to follow proper APA format for headings and subheadings when labeling your sections. Before reading the case study, answer the following two questions: Do you think probability or nonprobability sampling methods would be best for surveying the Santa Fe Grill’s customers? Why? Which sampling methods do you think would be useful for collecting data from customers of competing restaurants? Please explain your choices. Owners of the Santa Fe Grill realize that in order to remain competitive in the restaurant industry, new menu items need to be introduced periodically to provide variety for current customers and to attract new customers. Recognizing this, the owners of the Santa Fe Grill believe three issues need to be addressed using marketing research. Should the menu be changed to include items beyond the traditional southwestern cuisine? For example, should they add items that would be considered standard American, Italian, or European cuisine? Regardless of the cuisine to be explored, how many new items (e.g. appetizers, entrées, or desserts) should be included on the survey? What type of sampling plan should be developed for selecting respondents, and who should those respondents be? Should they be current customers, new customers, and/or old customers? Understanding the importance of sampling and the impact it will have on the validity and accuracy of the research results, the owners have asked Goodwin University if our business research class could assist them in this project. Specifically, the owners have posed the following questions: How many questions should the survey contain to adequately address all possible new menu items, including the notion of assessing the desirability of new cuisines? In short, how can it be determined that all necessary items will be included on the survey without the risk of ignoring menu items that may be desirable to potential customers? How should the potential respondents be selected for the survey? Should customers be interviewed while they are dining? Should customers be asked to participate in the survey upon exiting the restaurant? Or should a mail or telephone approach be used to collect information from customers/non-customers? Hands-On Exercise Based on the above questions, your task is to develop a procedure to address the following issues: How many new menu items can be examined on the survey? Remember, all potential menu possibilities should be assessed but you must have a manageable number of questions so the survey can be performed in a timely and reasonable manner. Specifically, from a list of all possible menu items that can be included on the survey, what is the optimal number of menu items that should be used? Is there a sampling procedure one can use to determine the maximum number of menu items to place on the survey? Determine the appropriate sample design. Develop a sample design proposal for the Santa Fe Grill that addresses the following: Should a probability or nonprobability sample be used? Given your answer, what type of sampling design should be employed (simple random, stratified, convenience, etc.)? Given the sample design suggested, how will potential respondents be selected for the study? Finally, determine the necessary sample size and suggest a plan for selecting the sampling units. Please cite at least three examples from the case study as support for your answers.
