SITUATION ANALYSIS
Market Analysis
Woodfield Mall is the largest mall for shopping in the greater Chicago area. This is located at the heart of Cook County which has a population of 5.3 million.1 Woodfield Mall contains the nation’s finest department stores such as Lord & Taylor, JCPenney’s, Nordstrom, Sears, and Macy’s, and hundreds of just about every kind of specialty store.
Chicago is known to have extreme weather-steamy hot summers and brutally cold winters. This makes an indoor mall like Woodfield Shopping Center an attractive place to shop or just stroll around, and also to dine. The mall has two stories, and is artfully decorated for visual pleasure. Each year, about 26 million people from all walks of life visit Woodfield Mall for the shopping experience.2 Obviously, a good portion of visitors dine in at one of the restaurants in the mall. As I walk in to the Olive Garden Restaurant I look around notice the warm welcoming atmosphere that surrounds me, as the Hostess greets us with her gracious words, “Welcome to Olive Garden!”. After only five minutes waiting the hostess calls us back to our table, as I look at the friendly smirk upon her face, behind her long blond hair, she seems to actually takes pleasure from her job, which is comforting. Throughout the restaurant I noticed the light brown stucco walls with fancy designs such as grape vines, low hanging lights, and pictures of chefs and it gives it a soothing “at home” feel.
The present time Olive Garden restaurant chain is styled after a farmhouse in the town of Castellina in Chiante, Tuscany, on the grounds of the Rocca delle Macie winery. Italy is the main inspiration of the restaurant, which works for me because Italian food is my favorite. The main reason that inspired the founders of the restaurant was the warmth and genuine Hospitality of their people, as well as the importance for family in their culture. That same passion for Italy also led the founders to establish Olive Gardens institute of Tuscany in 1999, opened up their own cooking school in Italy, of which they send many employees to so they can learn how real authentic food is prepared. The first restaurant was opened by General Mills on December 13, 1982, in Orlando Florida. Since it has become very successful, there were 700 stores open across Canada and the United States. The restaurants are a mid-priced casual dining specializing in Italian food.
As the attractive, clean cut waiter, makes eye contact with me when he walks up to me he has a smile on his face. He politely introduces himself as Ted and asked if we were ready to order our drinks, then insisted that he would be back in just a minute with
