Importance of Practical Business Strategies for Independent Quick Service Restaurants to Sustain Beyond Five Years

Aims: To explore strategies that independent quick-service restaurant owners use to sustain business beyond the first 5 years.

Study Design: Qualitative multiple case study design was used in this study.

Place and Duration of Study: Data were collected from semi- structured interviews with 6 owners of independent quick-service restaurants in Little Rock, Arkansas, who sustained their business beyond the first 5 years and from the review of business documents concerning sustainability. The study was conducted between January 2019 to May 2019.

Methodology: A qualitative re-search design was used to explore the narrative experiences, and contemporary experiences and the culture of independent quick-service restaurant owners. Second, re-searchers conducted semi-structured interviews to collect data from the independent quick-service restaurant owners Finally, a thematic analysis was conducted to organize data from the interviews and make a conclusion from the collected data regarding.

Results: The findings of the study identified 6 emerging themes: organization value, customer required excellence, financial perspective, human assets, physical operating materials, and technological prowess. These 6 emerging themes contributed significantly to the success of the business practice by 1) providing a guide for operating an independent quick-service restaurant with limited resources, 2), determining whether internal resources are heterogeneous and immobile, 3) evaluating internal re-sources to determine their competitive advantage, and 4) leverage internal re-sources to achieve optimal outcomes.

Conclusion: The implications for positive social change include the potential to support the welfare of the citizens in Little Rock, Arkansas, and owners of quick-service restaurants across the United States by providing them with the strategies necessary to increase their survival rate, improve job sustainability, and encourage job creation. The successful owners of independent quick-service restaurants knew how to respond to challenges; they knew how to leverage their limited internal resources using informal strategies to create sustained competitive advantage.