history of margaritaville 1
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Notably, Margaritaville is a restaurant chain, founded in 1985 bycountry Singer, Jimmy Buffett. The owner of the franchise is theMargaritaville Holdings LLC, which is in charge of selling allAmerican cuisines like seafood, fast food, and buffets. Apart fromfood, the restaurant also sells Buffets merchandise to fans of hismusic. Over the years, the restaurant has grown owing to thecompany’s vision, which places emphasis on expansion to bothnational and international markets. The customers love for theMargaritaville brand is a driving force for the company’s entryinto the resort industry. With that said, it is vital to have acomprehensive understanding of the restaurant aspect of thefranchise. The paper explains Jimmy Buffett’s vision and theinspiration for the establishment of the restaurant.
As mentioned earlier, Jimmy Buffett is the founder of theMargaritaville restaurant franchise. The first restaurant opened in1985 in the area of Key West, Florida. Since then, the franchise hasmore than 20 restaurants, which serve as an extension to the originalrestaurant. Each restaurant has a unique theme that reflects on thenew environment. However, all the restaurants carry out Buffett’sstrategies and vision. Ideally, the restaurant is unique owing to howit came about. Inthis case, the restaurant is inspired and named after Buffett’s1977 hit song Margaretville (NewYork Times, 2016).
According to Buffett, he first learnt of the Margaritaville drink inLungs Cocina Del Sur restaurant in Austin, Texas. He then wrote asong about how he is enjoying watching the tourists as he eats hissponge cake as he daydreams on many lifelong questions while he sipshis Margaritaville (Brown,2007). His love for food and drink resulted in his transitioninto the restaurant industry in the next five years. His restaurantscater to the local communities in both the United States and offshorecountries. Analysts claim that the reason for the success of hisrestaurants is his branding technique, which takes advantage of hiscelebrity. “Jimmy Buffett, the king of all things Margaritaville(furniture, casinos, restaurants, a radio station …), is often seenas a kitschy with all his branding getting in the way of his music”(Chicago Tribune, 2013, p. 1). Apart from this, one of thereasons for the success of his restaurant franchise is his wide fanbase who constitute of both the old and young demographics indifferent parts of the country. As such, the restaurants attractfamilies, consumers from the ages of 80s, 60s, 40s, and 20s. Therestaurant also caters for small children and toddlers (Brown,2007). 
Buffett’s vision focuses on sharing the cuisine served in hisrestaurant to different demographics by advertising American food atits best. Some of the foods served in Margaritaville are Burgers,Fries, seafood, Cocktails, Pastries, Salsa, and Dips. As such, thefood is a blend of various cuisines from Mexico, Italy, China, theCaribbean, and even Scandinavia. Currently, his strategy and visionfor his restaurant is to make the brand a household name like that ofMacDonald’s. He intends for customers to select his cheeseburger asopposed to that of his competitors. As such, the restaurants oftenincorporate the latest trends, food requirements, and consumerdemands when creating new restaurant concepts, recipes, and locations(Brown, 2007). 
One of the themes that set the Margaritaville franchise apart fromits competitors is that occasionally, Buffett’s band performs songsfrom his album. As such, people are able to enjoy food, drink, andmusic in one place. Currently, the franchise has restaurants inMexico, Sydney, Jamaica, and Canada. “Lastyear, an estimated 15 million people ate at one of Mr. Buffett’s 67restaurants or stayed at one of his seven hotels and time-shareresorts” (New YorkTimes, 2016, p. 1). Therestaurants have adopted modern business management methods to remainrelevant in the competitive restaurant industry. As such, one of theapproaches that the company places emphasis on is taking advantage ofthe latest forms of technology software, marketing concepts, andtrends. For example, Margaritaville has joined the long list ofcompanies who usethe social media to communicate to its customers. In turn, thecompany has a facebook page, which focuses on informing clients onnew restaurants, offers, new product lines, and changes in management(Chicago Tribune, 2013)
To add on, the company has toensure that it appeals to all its customers and clientele. Hence, oneof the company’s strategies is directly reflective of Buffett’svision that states that all consumer needs are met. For example, allthe restaurants follow a standardized menu, which observes thedietary needs of its customer. As such, the meals are healthconscious in order to appeal to health conscious demographics (Brown,2007). 
To conclude, Margaritavilleoperates in a competitive industry, which evolves continuously. Assuch, the management has to take advantage of the unique nature ofthe business in order to attract repeat customers and enter newmarkets. Buffett’s active role in the business management isattributed to its overall success over the years and in the years tocome.
References
Barnes, B. (2016, April,23).Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Margaritaville’ Is a State of Mind, and anEmpire. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/business/media/jimmy-buffetts-margaritaville-is-a-state-of-mind-and-an-empire.html?_r=0
Brown, D. R. (2007). Therestaurant manager`s handbook: How to set up, operate, and manage afinancially successful food service operation.Ocala, Fla: Atlantic Pub.
Chicago Tribune. (2013, June, 28).The king of Margaritaville Started out as a Musician. ChicagoTribune. Retrieved fromhttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06-28/entertainment/ct-ott-0628-jimmy-buffett-doit-20130628_1_margaritaville-cheeseburger-jimmy-buffett