Today’s economy of the European Union is statistically proven to be largely made up of startup enterprises. Startups, that has been and will be an essential part of the economy, be it present or future. However, it is a well-known fact that startup failure rates are quite high, both in the economy as a whole as well as the restaurant industry which is of focus in this paper. Therefore, there is a pressing need among both scholars and entrepreneurs to figure out how to reduce the micro-enterprise startup failure rates.   It is why; this paper was written with the purpose of studying the components of a traditional business plan model, to look for gaps and parts that are worth developing more. Primary concern was to find out the necessary steps a startup must take in the business plan to better avoid financial failure in the pre-established startup period – which is over 42 months.    Therefore the following research question was posed: “How can the components of the traditional business plan be adapted or complemented by contemporary research, and, entrepreneurs’ views and experiences in order to better avoid financial failure of a micro-enterprise start-up within the European restaurant industry?”   In order to answer this question a qualitative study was done; contemporary research was reviewed and compared with primarily collected data which was gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with managers and employees of restaurants. The abductive approach allowed the authors to “enrich” the established theories used.     It was made clear that two prominent gaps were found in the traditional business plan models; networking and a red-thread strategy. The first gap, networking, includes the need to establish a “network identity” within the network that the startup operates in, and to plan how the network that the business operates in can be used, as well as clearly state what purposes and benefits it provides.  The second gap, red-thread strategy, emphasizes the need of a strong overall focus on the desired goals and visions of the organization in order for it to better operate and function, and specifically, how it is to be implemented to permeate throughout daily operations. It is to make the operational inferences of the vision clear, and how the startup will ensure that the aim will stay the same through their day-to-day operations.      To conclude, it was found that by allegedly filling up those two gaps by including them in detail in the business plan, the startup could have a bigger chance of avoiding financial failure within the startup period.

Sociala medier fyller idag upp en stor del av människornas vardag och med sociala medier kan företag nå ut till en stor mängd människor på ett relativt enkelt och snabbt sätt. Användningen av sociala medier för företag har blivit ett ”måste” när det kommer till att synas, marknadsföra och komma ut med information. Det handlar även om att skapa en relation med sina konsumenter och bygga ett förtroende. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att identifiera användningsområde, fördelar och nackdelar vid användning av sociala medier för restaurangbranschen i medelstora orter. För att identifiera detta har datainsamling genomförts genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra olika restauranger i Karlstad. Resultatet av studien visar att sociala medier används främst för informationsspridning till sina gäster och följare. Restaurangerna vill snabbt och enkelt komma ut med information till sina gäster och följare, det kan vara allt från tillfälliga öppet tider till att sprida information om en nyinkommen vinsort i vinlistan. Studien visar även att den största fördelen är även den största nackdelen med sociala medier, nämligen tvåvägskommunikationen. Att gästerna och följarna numer inte enbart är mottagare av information utan även kan skapa och sprida information är en fördel. Däremot kan de som enbart är ute för att skada restaurangens rykte lika enkelt skapa och sprida information om restaurangen, nämligen troll. Dessa troll har restaurangerna ingen kontroll över. Så länge det är befogade kommentarer är det värdefull kritik för restaurangen. Gäster och följare kan även bidra till att sprida restaurangens varumärke genom funktionerna gilla, kommentera och dela.

This study investigated the effect of organizational culture on firm performance in the restaurant industry. Despite the importance of organizational culture in the organizational functioning, empirical evidence for the organizational culture-performance relationship remains fragmented. The inconsistency in the literature was aroused from a lack of theoretical development, a negligence of industry-specific factors, a small sampling issue, and a lack of longitudinal examination. Therefore, this study proposed to use text analysis in measuring organizational culture and examined the organizational culture-restaurant performance with a consideration of moderating effect of service orientation, franchising, and economic condition. This study found that different organizational culture influences restaurant performance differently. Specifically, the result of this study reveals that: clan culture immediately increases restaurant productivity; adhocracy culture decreases restaurant growth; and hierarchy immediately decreases restaurant productivity. In terms of moderating role of service orientation, this study found that: that tangible service orientation positively moderates both hierarchy culture-profitability and hierarchy culture-productivity relationships. This result implies that tangible service orientation works better with the hierarchy culture in improving restaurant performance than intangible service orientation. As for the moderating effect of franchising on the organizational culture-performance relationship, this study found that franchising positively moderates the clan culture-profitability relationship and the clan culture-productivity relationship. This result implies that operational and economic benefit of franchising could be passed on to create synergetic effect with the clan culture and maximize the positive clan-productivity relationship while offset the clan-profitability relationship. Last, this study found that recession positively moderates the hierarchy culture-profitability relationship and the hierarchy culture-productivity relationship. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by: providing logical link between the organizational culture and firm performance; providing empirical evidence that reveals the performance implication of the organizational culture; and by using alternative organizational culture measurements based on text analysis of firms’ 10K filings. Practically, this study offers insightful implications for industry professionals in understanding the effect of organizational culture on restaurant performance.

Restaurangbranschen i Sverige har blivit hårt drabbat av pandemin covid-19 vilket gjort att många restauranger varit tvungna att genomföra nedskärningar. Det har medfört att många individer blivit arbetslösa. Sensemaking uppstår när individer försöker förstå meningen bakom en upplevelse som har inträffat. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur medarbetare inom restaurangbranschen skapar mening i samband med nedskärningar för att ta reda på vilka faktorer som har en påverkan på individens sensemaking. Studien har primärt använt sig av Karl Weicks (1995) teori gällande de sju principerna av sensemaking som teoretiskt ramverk men även relevanta forskningsstudier om nedskärningar i restaurangbranschen och sensegiving. Det empiriska underlaget utgår från åtta genomförda semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda inom restaurangbranschen som har blivit uppsagda under pandemin. Genom att använda sig av en tematisk analys på det empiriska materialet har det hittats samband och olikheter mellan respondenterna svar som utformat teman som exempelvis kommunikation, tidigare erfarenheter, ryktesspridning, hantering av nedskärning och relationer. Studiens resultat visar på att respondenterna skapat sin sensemaking i samband med nedskärningarna genom att förlita sig sina tidigare erfarenheter, interaktioner med andra i sin omgivning och individens egen självuppfattning. Påverkande faktorer har bestått av ekonomiskt stöd, familj och vänner, självkänsla och individens tidigare erfarenheter. Slutsatsen är att individernas sensemaking påverkats negativt av organisationsstrukturen, chefers agerande och avsaknaden av den interna kommunikationen som finns inom restaurangbranschen. Studien belyser att bristande faktorer inte verkar prioriteras, dock uppkommer det en svårighet att bedöma det då studien utgår från ett medarbetarperspektiv. Trots de bristande faktorerna som identifierats är det de andra faktorer som blir mer påtagliga och utgör grunden i individens sensemaking-process. / The restaurant industry in Sweden has been hit hard by the pandemic covid-19, which has meant that many restaurants have had to make cuts. As a result, many individuals have become unemployed. Sensemaking occurs when individuals try to understand the meaning behind an experience that has occurred. The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees in the restaurant industry create meaning in connection with cuts to find out which factors have an impact on the individual's sensemaking. The study has primarily used Karl Weick's (1995) theory regarding the seven principles of sensemaking as a theoretical framework but also relevant research studies on cuts in the restaurant industry and sensegiving. The empirical data is based on eight completed semi-structured interviews with employees in the restaurant industry who have been laid off during the pandemic. By using a thematic analysis of the empirical material, connections and differences have been found between the respondents' answers that has shaped themes such as communication, previous experiences, rumors, handling of cuts and relationships. The results of the study show that the respondents created their sensemaking in connection with the cuts by relying on their previous experiences, interactions with others and the individual's own self-perception. Influencing factors have consisted of financial support, family and friends, self-esteem, and the individual's previous experiences. The conclusion is that the individuals' sensemaking was negatively affected by the organizational structure, the actions of managers and the lack of internal communication that exists in the restaurant industry. The study highlights that the lack of factors does not seem to be prioritized, however, there is a difficulty in assessing it as the study is based on an employee perspective. Despite the lack of factors identified, it's the other factors that become more apparent and form the basis of the individual's sensemaking process.

According to U.S. Small Business Association, the failure rates for small businesses in 2014 were as high as 50% to 80% within the first 5 years of establishment. Failure rates were especially high among restaurant businesses. The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies that small business owners needed to sustain their businesses beyond the first 5 years. Guided by entrepreneurship theory as the conceptual framework, a case study was conducted with semistructured interviews of 3 successful Thai restaurant owners in Salt Lake City, Utah. Member checking and methodological triangulation with field notes, interview data, company websites, customer comments, and government documents help ensure theoretical saturation and trustworthiness of interpretations. Using precoded themes for the data analysis, the 7 themes from this study were entrepreneur characteristics, education and management skills, marketing strategies and competitive advantages, social networks and human relationships, technology and innovation, government supports and social responsibility, and financial planning. Two key results indicated the strategies that were needed for small business owners were entrepreneur management skills and government support for small businesses. These findings may influence positive social change by improving small business owner efficiency and sustainability, increasing higher business income, providing a better quality of living for employees and the well-being of the community, and benefiting the U.S. economy.

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Employee turnover remains a ubiquitous phenomenon that could negatively impact the operations and profitability of any business entity. For decades, managers, business leaders, and individuals in academia have devoted considerable time and resources to understanding and reducing the phenomenon. This qualitative multiple case study was conducted to explore the successful strategies that restaurant managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population sample consisted of 4 restaurant managers from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago who had successfully used strategies to reduce employee turnover. The conceptual framework used was the transformational leadership model. Data for the study were gathered using semistructured interviews, employee records, and company documents. The data were analyzed using cross-case synthesis. The findings included 4 emergent themes. Two themes were tethered to the transformational leadership model with the focus on the constituents of individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation. One theme was linked to the transactional leadership style under the element of management by exception active approach. The 4th theme was unexpected and tethered to practice; actions involved the use of various labor configurations to reduce employee turnover. The results of the study might be beneficial to managers not only in the restaurant industry but within the wider business ecology. With the implementation of successful strategies to reduce employee turnover, business operations and profitability could be spared degradation from operational disruptions due to frequent recruitment and labor shortages. The improved margins could be reinvested towards improving the communities and the lives of workers through positive changes in wages, therefore, contributing to positive social change.

Motivating employees is one of the management top priorities nowadays. Motivated employees are less likely to leave the company, which leads to lower turnover rate which in turn can lead to lower costs for the company. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how organizations can increase employees’ motivation and lower employee turnover by using reward packages.

Consumerism plays an important role in the development of society, and consumption can be a driving force to shift society into a sustainable future. This paper defines ethical consumers and the restaurant industry as the research field, after analysing the current reality of restaurant industry, and the existing tools for ethical consumers to make their purchasing decision, we bridge the gaps by creating an ideal eco-labelling process for the restaurant industry. Eco-Etiquette is our ideal sustainable tool to better inform ethical consumers in their purchasing decisions. This paper also discusses other ways to assist ethical consumers, and identify some aspects for further research.

This study is grounded in the evolving perspective of Service Marketing, Service-Dominant-Logic and ServiceLogic and aims to provide a holistic view of how the digitalization of interactions affects the service provided by the restaurant and in turn the customers’ value creation processes. More exactly, the study examines a digital system for information exchange, order placements and payments in a restaurant on the Swedish market. The study adopts a qualitative approach and data has been collected through the use of unstructured observations and semi-structured interviews. The findings are that the system for digital interactions has both positive and negative effects on valuecreation. It also changes other aspects of the service not directly linked to the system. If this ultimately creates more or less value for the customers is believed to depend on the customers’ individual differences, but if the system is used as a complement to the already existing service rather than as a substitute of the human interaction there are opportunities for a successful implementation.