Hottie Hawg’s Smokin’ BBQ
Case Study
Team 16

Strengths: * NASCAR Partnership * Excellent food * Differentiated brand * Creativity of owners * Excellent marketing * Low infrastructure costs * Mobile restaurant * Little brand competition * Service flexibility * Proprietary recipes * Community support/interests * Professional marketing image
Weaknesses:
* Lack of cash flow * Leadership working for two companies * Loss of founder means all lies on Vaughn * High travel costs for events outside of Atlanta * Licensing decision reduces the opportunity of franchise income * Limited distribution capabilities * Expansion is expensive * Non-centralized staff * …show more content…

Will this be just another barbecue joint or will Hottie’s stand out among a sea of ribs and wings? Rybka initially envisioned a brand so “extreme and offensive (as) to purposely alienate a large portion of the population” (Ferrell & Hartline, 519) Allowing a franchisee to potentially dilute this brand is a risk they should not be willing to take. The branding strategy employed by HHBBQ depends on the extreme offensiveness they are building, and a franchisee that doesn’t have the same “tough guts” that Vaughn and Rybka have may not be capable of sticking to their vision.

Vaughn has done an excellent job thus far in developing a different style of BBQ restaurant in the southeast, and should protect the emerging brand image fiercely in order to maintain and develop according to the company’s vision. A license agreement, where complete control can be exercised over the quality of the food, the brand image, logos and marketing materials allows Vaughn to control the direction of the company, while realizing income from licensed sales. The brand is the most valuable asset to this emerging company; in fact, the brands image was “the cornerstone of the company’s success thus far” according to Lee, and therefore, should remain the top priority at this stage in the game (Ferrell & Hartlien, 526).

It should also be noted that by licensing the product rather than franchising, HHBBQ