Influence Of Marketing Practices On Performance Of Restaurants In Kileleshwa, Nairobi County

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between marketing practices and performance of restaurants in Kileleshwa. The population comprised of 58 restaurants in this geographical area. This was a census study. The response rate was 52 % of the respondents. A majority of the respondents indicated that they develop new menu in response to customer needs (Mean= 4.876, Std. Dev=. 453). The statement on whether the overall quality of food impacts on performance was also heavily supported ( Mean= 4.645). However the statement on whether restaurants had the ability to develop new products was not supported (Mean= 2.897). on pricing strategies shows that a majority of the respondent managers were aware of their competitors’ prices ( Mean= 4.645) a majority of respondents also indicated that maintenance of reasonable price levels impacts on the number of visits per person ( Mean= 4.343). The statement that offering discounted prices attracts incremental customers was however not supported (Mean= 2.786). . The security offered by the restaurant to visitors was given the highest rating (Mean= 4.897). The statements on availability of parking and the strategic location of the restaurant were equally highly rated ( Means above 4.5). Operating hours were not believed to influence performance. On promotion strategies shows that most restaurants relied on word of mouth for promotion (Mean= 4.987). This finding implies that most restaurants do below the line promotion. A similarly high number also indicated that they do no promote their offers through the media (Mean= 4.887). A majority of respondents agreed on the use of internet for marketing. The regression analysis carried out presents the following: the R square of .769 means that the predictor variable (marketing practices) is responsible for or explains 76.9 % of the dependent variable. The remaining 33.1 % is explained by variables outside this study. The ANOVA findings on the other hand indicate that the significance is 0.002. This implies that there exists a statistically relationship between marketing practices and performance. Conclusions and recommendations for further studies are made taking into account the findings.