BACKGROUND OF THE MANHATTAN FISH MARKET

The Manhattan Fish Market originated from the west experience since 180 years ago in The

Fulton Fish Market on Fulton Street underneath the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, New York. Over the

years, The Fulton Fish Market has been relocated, but its reputation remains intact as one of the

largest wholesale fish markets in the world.Inspired by the finest seafood restaurants found along

Fulton Street in Manhattan, the Manhattan Fish Market restaurant chain serves only the freshest,

lip-smacking American-style seafood.

Their vision is to be the leading seafood casual dining restaurant chain in Asia in terms of

delighting guests while in their mission statement is by serving unforgettable dining experiences

that 'WOW' people, by ensuring only the highest quality seafood is served and by offering

innovation and variety in menu offerings.

The 4 P’s The Manhattan Fish Market (MFM)

Product

The Manhattan Fish Market offer more sea-selections in their menu. Apart from the different

types of fish not usually available in the local markets such as Alaskan Pollock, Barramundi and

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Swordfish, MFM also have more specialty products which are not easily available. These include

Garlic Butter Mussels, Flaming Prawns, Cajun Fried Oysters and more. The style of cooking is

combined with sautéed, grills, baked, fried with flames and more to attracts the consumers.

Place

The Manhattan Fish Market normally located in the shopping malls attractions mainly in Asia

countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Arab Saudi and Indonesia. The strategic

location with casual dining experience is much appeal in the big cities such as Kuala Lumpur,

Jakarta and more.

Price

Every dish is meticulously prepared with heart & soul to ensure that the meal provides the sea-

superb value for the money’s worth. It is quoted that the MFM do not slash prices, but

accommodate to the budget. According to them; we do not cheapen, we enhance. The average

price for each person dines in from RM 25.00 and above per person.

Promotion

The promotion runs by the main company within a six weeks cycle. Most of the promotional

menu that become a hit and become the main preference by the guest will be incorporated in the

new menu to be offered. Current promotion is

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CURRENT PRACTICES FOR MANAGING DEMAND

1. Segmenting Demand

The MFM has segmented two different target markets during the weekdays and

weekends. They targeted working adults in the weekdays and family during the weekend.

2. Offering Price Incentives

The MFM offered price incentives during the coffee break promotion which happens

Monday to Friday (except PH) starting from 3pm to 6pm. Coffee or tea (including high

price selling item e.g latte & cappuccino) is served at a promotional price of 95 cents.

Customers are also entitled to claim the “Buy 1 Free 1” promotion for any of their starter

during the coffee break promotion.

3. Promoting Off-Peak Demand

The 95 cent coffee or tea initiative could also be considered as an off-peak demand

promotion seeing that it is with the objective of attracting customers to the outlet during

the off-peak period of 3pm to 6pm.

4. Reservation & Overbooking

The MFM does have a reservation system in their restaurant. However customers hardly

use the system. Only during the month of Ramadhan they will call to reserve their seats

as the restaurant normally full during break fasting for the muslims. According to the

assistant manager, during a month’s period only 1-4 reservations were made.

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CURRENT PRACTICES FOR MANAGING CAPACITY

1. Cross-Training Employees

The MFM has a cross-training policy at their outlet, but the decision to whether or not to

participate in the cross-training process is up to the employees themselves. The

management will not force them to participate unless the management identified the

reason to push their employees into cross-training. A multitask staff will be very useful

when they have shortage of manpower at either kitchen or service.

2. Using Part-Time Employees

The MFM also hired part-time employees. Most of their part timers are students from the

nearby colleges. The number of part time required is depending on the projected sales for

the day. Many will be called especially during the weekend to support them with the peak

hours.

3. Scheduling Work Shifts

The assistant manager prepares a weekly schedule for their staffs. At the MFM they

forecasted more sales during the weekend therefore more staffs will be assigned during

these days. Other than that, the MFM also applied the split shift concept during off-peak

periods where the staff will come only during the peak hours e.g lunch hour and dinner

time.

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ANALYSIS

Managing Demand

1. Segmenting Demand

In the previous section, we discussed the two different segments that regularly dine at

Manhattan Fish Market, the weekdays working adults who dines in during the lunch

period and family segment that usually dines at the outlet at around dinner time during

weekdays and all around lunch time till dinner time on weekends. The issue that we

found interesting here is that previously Manhattan Fish Market utilizes the customer

comment card which enables them to identify who their customers are but since then the

system had been scrapped to give way to a more online database system which now

mostly caters to customers who has a complaint to make. By utilizing this customer

database, Manhattan Fish Market could better target their segments and have a better

understanding of their demographic instead of just expecting random arrivals. Having

60-70% of regular customer to the outlet demands more information and knowledge

about them to be studied.

2. Offering Price Incentives

The only price incentive that could be found at Manhattan Fish Market is during their

promotions which last for six month. Another Price Incentive offered is the coffee break

promotion which happens Monday to Friday starting from 3pm to 6pm. Coffee or tea is

served at a promotional price of 95 cents. Although the promotion manages to attract

more customer into their outlet, it could be considered as a failure due to the fact that

most of the customers who comes in for this promotion would only have their tea or

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 coffee without having a look at the other item served there at Manhattan Fish Market

because they are not obliged to dine in to get the promotional price. As how the Assistant

Manager put it, the outlet would suddenly turn into a ‘mamak’ stall due to people coming

to have tea and coffee and just sit around talking to each other. This lack of a well

thought price incentive offering would cause the outlet to lose potential business and

make it hard for them to have a foothold in the market share.

3. Promoting Off-Peak Demand

The 95 cent coffee or tea initiative could also be considered as an off-peak demand

promotion seeing that it is with the objective of attracting customers to the outlet during

the off-peak period of 3pm to 6pm. Unfortunately they are just attracting those who

intend to just have coffee or tea. This would create a false picture of the demand because

the customers are not there for the food and would translate into inefficient capacity

management. Situated close to businesses and education institutions alike, there are a lot

of untapped market in and around the area.

4. Reservation & Overbooking

The issue faced at the Subang Jaya branch is that customers prefer to just walk-in instead

of making a reservation. According to the assistant manager, during a month’s period

only 1-4 reservations were made. Therefore it would be hard for the outlet to determine

or predict the demand at a certain point of time.

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MANAGING CAPACITY

1. Cross-Training Employees

Although there is a cross-training policy at the outlet, the decision to whether or not to

participate in the cross-training process is up to the employees themselves. The

management will not force them to participate unless the management themselves are

forced to push the employees into cross-training due to lack of staff in the urgent

position.

2. Using Part-Time Employees

The issue raised here is the fact that approximately 65% of the employees at Manhattan

Fish Market Subang Jaya are part timers. This could make the cross-training discussed in

the previous item obsolete due to the volatile nature of part-timers. Part-timers could be

there one day and gone the next. Therefore there is no continuity in the work. Another

problem faced with the part-timers that highlight the volatility is the problem of no-

shows. The true extent or force of the problem is felt when there are not enough staff at

peak hours of the day i.e. lunch & dinner. This would also affect the scheduling of

working shifts.

3. Scheduling Work Shifts

Work shift scheduling is a crucial issue also for the MFM where it was stated before that

this outlet hiring more part timers compared to full timers. The background of most part

timers are from international students that is currently studying in the local college

nearby in Subang Jaya area. Therefore, it is issues to schedule most part timers cum full

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 time students during the peak hours especially during weekdays lunch hours due to most

of them are having classes at the same time.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

As we go along and observing the current situation in the capacity management of the MFM, we

have come out with several recommendation to improve the current situation.

Managing Demand

1. Market Segment: By utilizing the customer’s database, the MFM could use this

opportunity in penetrating more market segments such as college students, children and

healthy food conscious. This effort can be done by adjusting the price range for certain

items that is affordable to students complete with student’s meal coupons, offers a wide

range of menu selection that is healthy in terms of ways of cooking such as baked,

smoked and grilled item as well as menu that structured to attract the children segment.

Children segment is becoming more and more important to the restaurant business as

they are potential enough to decide where to eat for the whole family dine-out time.

2. Promoting Off-Peak Demand: The 95 cent coffee or tea initiative also as an off-peak

demand promotion can be considered as one way to manage demand but at the same time

forgetting the initial objective of doing it. The offer can still be around but have to twist a

little bit by promoting the high-selling item or star item at lower price with a

complementary coffee or should remain priced at 95 cent.

3. Reservation and Booking System: Since the MFM does not really experience

overbooking issue, there is no specific booking system needed. Nevertheless, we would

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 like to encourage the MFM to set up online reservation booking since Internet is one of

the dependent medium for today’s consumers with some percentage of discounts to be

offered on total bill. From this effort, the MFM could boost the capacity of the restaurant

by giving discount as the promotion to attract diners.

Managing Capacity

1. Training System: According to the explanation from the Assistant Manager; Miss

Irzayati, there is no proper training module for the MFM’s employees starting from the

crew members up until the outlet managers. Therefore, we would like to propose a

comprehensive training system complete with modules for all departments in the outlet

such as from the service and kitchen area right up to the supervisory and managerial at

outlet level.

Cross training also most welcome to be practices at the outlet level due to overcome

capacity issue. Cross training should be incorporated into the training module and it is

compulsory for both full timer as well as part timers.

2. Using Part-Time Employees: Since the nature of business is highly related to turnover

issue, the management should work with any local colleges nearby to get more

employees to work with the outlet. Better allowance and remuneration should be

enforced to attract this group since the outlet is highly dependable to them.

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 3. Scheduling Work Shift: We would recommend that two-week cycle schedule to be

practiced to carefully plan the man power or staffing. From this approach, manager could

be better prepared when the demand changes and match to the available staffing

resources.

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REFERENCES

1. Miss Hirza Yati, Assistant Manager, The Manhattan Fish Market, Subang Parade Branch

2. http://www.manhattanfishmarket.com

LIST OF APPENDICES

1. Restaurant layout

2. Duty schedules

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