Redwood Smoke Shack SWOT Analysis

Background/Introduction:

Redwood Smoke Shack is a Hampton Roads based BBQ joint. They began as a food truck serving Texas style barbecue, but have now expanded to three locations in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Suffolk. The owner and pitmaster, Bob Roberts has always wanted the company to have a community first focus which makes this company so special. They serve all generations barbecue but their marketing focuses on the young adults through their use of Facebook to display their daily specials and keep their customers up to date. This focus on demographic age, generally around 25-44 is a great range for their marketing to focus on as the Greater Hampton Roads has the highest percentage population within that age range. (Claritas, 2024) 

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths Redwood recently introduced an app to better service customers, most likely in their 25-44 age demographic. This app allows customers to order ahead, gain access to exclusive deals, find locations and hours, and gain loyalty rewards. Redwood creates unique specials that they continue to create and bring back when they are a fan favorite. Redwood has a loyal customer base that they continue to make improvements for, including most recently opening the Suffolk location to make the journey easier for many wanting the Redwood experience.

Weaknesses Due to Redwood being such a popular business, most times the wait to be served at the Redwood counter can be estimated around 30 minutes which hurts their business. Limited inventory prevents high selling items from reaching their full selling potential.  It is difficult to predict how busy Redwood will be each day, and therefore it is difficult to prepare enough food due to the lengthy prep time of the meats.

Opportunities When Redwood was a food truck they were often seen at breweries during events, which could be a great collaboration opportunity now that they have three restaurant locations. They could either bring their food to breweries or bring the beer to their locations.  Due to Redwoods focus on community involvement, participating in local festivals or fundraisers could be a great way for them to build customer interest. Though Redwood has a variety of specials, new specials that combine their Texas barbecue with different cuisines has the potential to bring in even more customers.

Threats Many barbecue restaurants can be found in the Hampton Roads area, even some specializing in Texas barbecue just like Redwood.  Barbecue, especially at Redwood is quite expensive, and with the rising cost of food and inflation this has a big potential to harm how much customers are willing to spend with them.  Rising labor costs have a big potential to affect how many people are willing to work at Redwood, when they are offering a starting pay of minimum wage.

Event Recommendation:

The event that I would recommend for Redwood Smoke Shack would be a barbecue and bourbon pairing night. This event would be a great way to get their target audience involved in this trendy local event taking place at the Redwood location in Suffolk. If the event goes well, they could branch out to the other locations and possibly bigger spaces to serve more people during the event. I see this as a great opportunity for Redwood as they have experience working with local breweries and this could build future collaborations for both companies involved. A pairing night would be a great chance for the community to feel closer with the Redwood team and give their opinions on both the bourbon and barbecue selected as options in the event. The opinions of the participating community members could later inspire a social media post surrounding the paired bourbon and barbecue. Overall, this event would be a great way to build more community connections and increase community engagement at Redwood Smoke Shack.

References:

Claritas. (2024, March). Demographics :: Region :: Greater Hampton Roads (MSA). Greater Hampton Roads. https://www.ghrconnects.org/demographicdata?id=281263

Redwood Smoke Shack. (n.d.). About us. https://redwoodsmokeshack.com/about