Key Findings

• The Historic Rivermill offers family-friendly dining based on seasonal products, weddings, private functions, kids' birthday parties, and corporate events.
• The company's main customer segments are families with children, wedding couples, and companies that organize corporate events.
• There are no direct competitors of The Historic Rivermill, as there are no similar restaurants or event venues in the area. Some of the most alike companies are Le Vintage Boutique Cafe, The Polish Place, and Tamborine Mountain Coffee Plantation.
• Three major business risks for The Historic Rivermill are the decline in the Australian wedding industry, the shortage of skilled workers in the hospitality industry, and possibly continued, unreasonable restrictions related to the pandemic.

Introduction

Services

• The company's main services are family-friendly dining, weddings, private functions, birthday parties, and corporate events.
• It also has a museum in the original part of the mill, which dates back to 1910.
• The Historic Rivermill Cafe focuses on high-quality, seasonal food. It has vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. It serves beverages, all-day breakfast, and lunch.
•  Sections in the menu (with the range of prices) include beverages ($1 - $8), kids breakfast ($9), available all day ($8 - $10), all-day breakfast ($2 - $24), senior's lunch ($11 - $12), burgers ($22.50 - $23), lunch sides ($9 - $15), pasta ($23 - $24), kids menu ($9), and salads ($21 - $23).
• Prices for other services are not available.
• The company organizes both private and public events for kids. For private ones, it has special space and program for birthday parties. For public events, it has the "Rivermill Crafty Cottage" series, through which kids can develop their creativity.
• For weddings, The Historic Rivermill offers a custom menu with "Wedding Packages that include 2, 3 & 4 courses as well as buffet and canapés option."
• It appears that corporate events are less of a focus because unlike other types of events, they don't have a separate section on the website.

Customer Segments

• While it is not explicitly stated, based on the description in the "about" section and sections for specific services, as well as customer reviews, it appears that the company mainly serves families with children, wedding couples, and companies.
• The Historic Rivermill emphasizes that it welcomes customers of all ages, including kids and seniors. There are also special menu sections for both of these groups.

Competitors

• After analyzing the area in which The Historic River Mill is located (the surroundings of the Coomera River, the Gold Coast hinterland,, the Gold Coast, and Tambourine Mountain), we determined that there are no similar companies nearby. This means that it doesn't seem to have direct competition. Below, we present the most similar establishments in the area.
• The only other restaurant in the same rural locality (Mount Nathan) is Bistro 463. It serves breakfasts, pizza, and burgers, and it doesn't seem to focus on events like The Historic River Mill.
• A more similar place, Le Vintage Boutique Cafe, is located a little bit further away, in Worongary. It is still on the Gold Coast hinterland. It serves coffee and pastries (similarly to The Historic River Mill). It also has healthy options and positions itself as the perfect place to organize events.
• Two places that can be potential competitors are located in Tamborine Mountain. One is The Polish Place, which, like The Historic River Mill, offers picturesque views, promotes itself as a perfect place for afternoon drinks, and organizes events. As the name suggests, it serves Polish cousine and drinks, which is its differentiation.
• The second competitor in Tamborine Mountain is Tamborine Mountain Coffee Plantation. The place has a coffee house that serves its own coffee, other drinks, and breakfasts, and special attractions for tourists (such as plantation tours). It also positions itself as the perfect place to organize unique events.

Major Risks to the Business Model

• Based on the content on the website, it appears that weddings are one of the focus areas for The Historic River Mill.
• According to an article by Evie Vox Kob, an economist from Deloitte Access Economics, wedding-related businesses recorded losses of around 50% in 2020, due to the pandemic. While some analysts predict that the industry will quickly recover, others believe that the negative trend will be a long-term one.
• Before COVID-19, an average couple spent about 20-50% of their annual income on the wedding. Experts think that they may become more mindful about how much they spend on the wedding. At the same time, the overall number of weddings may remain lower for several years due to continued restrictions and social consciousness about the virus.
• Furthermore, the restaurant and hospitality industries in Australia are facing critical skilled staff shortages due to closed borders, which results in shortened opening hours and reduced dining capacity. According to experts, these industries may not recover from the pandemic without access to overseas workers.
• They also observed that unfavorable government policies for foreign workers and low wages contribute to staff shortages.
• In May 2021, there were 46,000 unfilled jobs in hospitality.
• At the same time, people from the restaurant industry believe that the country doesn't have a reasonable COVID-19 strategy. Restaurant lockdowns are reimposed about "every 12 days," despite very few serious cases of COVID-19 across the country. Therefore, further possible restrictions are a major risk to any company in the industry.

Opportunities

• According to ABC, farm stays and rural properties are experiencing significant growth in Australia, due to the pandemic restrictions easing and people eager to travel again and spend time in nature.
• Since the restrictions on international travel are still in place, people are more likely to choose locations within Australia.
• The Historic Rivermill falls into the trend as it invites people to come "visit and feed the alpacas, deer, ducks, chooks & turtles and enjoy a delicious seasonal menu."

Metrics of Success

• There is no information available on the company's financial performance.
• The Historic Rivermill has 85 reviews on Trip Advisor, with an average rating of 4.0.
• It also has 10,394 fans on Facebook, with an average rating of five stars.
• Additionally, it has a Google rating of 4.4 (out of 608 reviews).

Research Strategy