This document summarizes observations of six different food stores made by a student for a class project. The stores observed were Caketini bakery, Starbucks, Chipotle, Jimmy John's, Five Guys, and Pizza Studio. For each store, the student describes details like layout, atmosphere, menu options, and notable features to get a sense of what each business is like. The purpose of the observations was for the student's interest in the food industry as a potential future business endeavor.

1. Te’ Carter
TEM 431
April 15, 2017
Observation Lab: Food
Being interested in the food industry as a future business endeavor, I choose to do my
observations on fast food restaurants. Working close to the downtown area of Phoenix I choose
to go through cityscape to their nearest food options for this project. I also went to Scottsdale
Fashion Square to visit Caketini to visit a bakery due to my interest in the baking industry.
Below I have pictures of my observations of the six different stores: Caketini, Starbucks, Five
Guys, Chipotle, Jimmy Johns and Pizza Studio. Hope you don’t get too hungry!

2. Store 1: Caketini
At first when I was observating Caketini I noticed directly under their store name you can see
their cupcakes and pastries creating an inviting entry into their store with open doors. They
have tables outisde of their store to eat outside, but they have no tables inside. I thought this
was kind of odd how no matter what you have to take your food “to-go”. The store itself is lit
up pretty bright creating a wondering eye askig for attention.

3. Throughout the store, you can see how the store displays their other featured products that
they use in store that you could use at home such as tea, coffee and other baking products. In
addition, throughout the store you will see cake displays and photos of their work that they can
do for future customers.

4. Store 2: Chipotle
Chipotle is a very busy store in downtown Phoenix during lunch hour filled with business men
and women. I believe customers choose Chipotle for a healthier choice for a fast food lunch
option. You can see the line before you enter the store through the glass window, so they don’t
cover the fact that they are a busy store. You can also place orders to-go with their own
separate line for those orders for people that just don’t have time to wait.

5. What stood out about Chipotle when observing their restaurant was their lighting fixtures and
ceiling. I think the lights hanging from the ceiling made me look up to the uncovered ceiling. I
have found out that stores often have an open ceiling due to cost and the fact that customers
don’t spend too much time looking up so they barely notice an uncovered ceiling where you
can see pipes. The lights made you want to look up in my perspective, so I thought this was kind
of odd. The staff was friendly as they greeted me as soon as I entered the door, this was also
since there was no line at the time. The offer seating both inside and outside at the patio.

6. Store 3: Jimmy John’s
Jimmy John’s offers fresh gourmet sandwiches for their customers. The nice part about their
store is that they offer delivery, many of my co-workers take advantage of this because they
don’t want to walk out in the heat our here in Arizona, especially in the summer. They advertise
that on their door so I can only imagine they get a good amount of business through this
method. This is also for consumers that are looking for a more healthier choice as they offer
sandwiches.

7. The store itself seemed well put together with an industrial feel. I thought the store itself was
very clean and organized. Their menu is displayed right above you and the employees had very
good knowledge of their sandwiches. You can see your sandwiches being made from behind
the counter so you know it’s being made fresh which is nice. I also noticed that Jimmy John’s
offers their own chips for their sandwiches which I feel is a great idea for a sandwich shop to
do. Water is also displayed in the middle for a healthier choice which I feel is really what this
store is going for to separate itself from competition.

8. There is seating inside with a checkered red and black colored scheme in middle of the mall. It’s
a very plain and clean feel to the restaurant, but still gives you an inviting welcome. Once again,
the table area was clean so I really feel the pride they take in a clean restaurant. There was only
one employee working at the time when I went into this location and was quite friendly.

9. Store 4: Starbucks
There is a Starbucks at literally every corner. I call it legal drugs for American’s because of how
crazy people act and how far they will go for their coffee. Some Starbucks customers won’t
drink other coffee products but Starbucks coffee even if they must wait in line for thirty
minutes or even more.

10. This is a store that gets very busy as well, but it keeps the proper amount of staff to handle
these lines. Unlike Jimmy John’s I would never see only one person working here or at any
location. Starbucks is a huge franchise that cost a pretty penny to get one of their signature
coffees. I noticed a lot of young employees this could be due to ASU and Starbucks partnership
where Starbucks will pay employees way through school while being employed at Starbucks.

11. Store 5: Five Guys
Five Guys has an interesting store name, it looks very plain on the outside of their storefront
and without any knowledge of their store you would never guess that amazing hamburgers
await you inside. The burgers are pricey even though you can get one a pretty much any size
imaginable, but for a cheeseburger combo you won’t be able to walk out without spending at
least ten dollars. The small fry was $3.29 which was hard for me to fathom as well.

12. The interesting part about the store is the peanuts. There are peanuts galore in Five Guys. You
can eat some while you are waiting in line, take some to go or if you’re eating in save them for
last after you finish your meal. I really don’t know what to think of this if you are a peanut fan I
guess this is a place for you, but if you have peanut allergies I suggest you stay away from this
store!

13. There was plenty of seating inside the burger joint, and they also had a soda fountain lets you
customize your drink options to give you a wide arrange of drink selections. They also used a
checkered color scheme like Jimmy John’s did. I have found that the color red means danger
most of the time, but it is also a good color to get people hungry!

14. Store 6: Pizza Studio
Pizza Studio is pretty hidden amongst these other fast food restaurants. Myself, I never heard
of Pizza Studio before doing this project. It is next to chipotle but under the stairs and escalator
so unless you backtrack going down the escalator it is kind of easy to miss. They offer outside
seating as well as seating inside to give the most convenient seating for their customers. They
have their own selections of pizzas, but you can customize a pizza however you like. You can
place orders online to go, but they do not offer delivery. They give you a pretty big pan pizza for
a decent price depending on the toppings you choose from.

15. The coolest observation of the day was from Pizza Studio because of their Art display. They
constantly change out the pieces and add more and most of their paintings come from local
artist which is cool. It gives you more to look at while digging into your food. They also have a
red color scheme with the chairs, it is defiantly a popular color among the fast food chains,
maybe everyone knows the secret!

16. THE
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