Brand Case Study: Rosenstein's Kosher Deli
In 10 short weeks, our 6-person team built the built a business plan for Rosenstein's, a kosher deli retail concept, after analyzing data and identifying a clear business opportunity. Landscape planners and judges awarded Rosenstein's Best Presentation and Most Likely to Succeed against nine other similar retail pitches.
Scope
Create a brick and mortar or clicks and mortar retail concept in the College Park / UMD area by conducting primary and secondary research, defining a target audiences, creating a concept of brand identity, interior/exterior renderings, and a promotional strategy.
Approach
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Not another pizza place: Our team brainstormed by ideating an ideal addition to the College Park community. Our entire team prioritized creating a company that would serve a clear untapped market or need.
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UMD has many Jewish students: We began outlining the characteristics that make UMD unique from other Universities. Our relatively large Jewish student population came to mind.
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Would it work? We conducted primary and secondary research to find out whether or not a Kosher retail concept would succeed.
Using Data
Primary Research​
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Can I interview you? We spoke with Jewish students on campus to collect interest and gain feedback on our concept. Rather than holding a traditional focus group, our team reduced costs by interviewing specific, key Jewish leaders on campus.
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Fill out this survey: Using effective survey design strategies (i.e. branching questions, ordering principals), we designed a survey to collect opinions from our target market and other students regarding kosher food. We used strategic channels in distributing the survey and collected 162 highly relevant total responses.
Secondary Research
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We analyzed marketing research libraries and other web sources including Mintel, Pew Marketing Research, and Hillel.org.
Process
Let's be a kosher deli: After deciding we wanted to a Kosher restaurant, we had to establish the type of food we offered. We used data strong success as a Deli due to its meat-focused product offerings, lots of room for ambiguity, and high demand.
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But not just any kosher deli: We positioned ourselves to be a modern delicatessen that featured delicious items Kosher students may not have access to (i.e. Chicken and Waffles, Fish and Chips, etc.) due to uniqueness.
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A la New York style: We took inspiration from classic New York delis but incorporate modern twists into each component. Our team replaced the traditional black and white checker style with a gingham pattern that ran consistent throughout our signage and wall paper.​
Marketing Strategy
Rosenstein's designed a three part marketing strategy to garner initial excitement but also to continue generating brand awareness through regular promotions. This would include creative signage while our restaurant is under construction, hilarious PR stunts to capture millennial attention and generate word-of-mouth buzz, close relationships with UMD campus organizations, and strong social media presences.
Results
The judges loved it! Our presentation gave extremely positive feedback in our idea, marketing strategy, product positioning, and design deliverables. The judges specifically complimented our detailed financial predictions and distinct, viable business plan. The course professor complimented us similarly.
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Winning first place: Rosenstein's received first place in two of the three categories: Most Likely to Succeed as well as Best Presentation.
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