Bilal Gomaa

Marketing Research

4/3/2023

Hi everyone, my name is Bilal Gomaa, and I am a marketing researcher. I am currently working

for USF; University of Super Fun research team and we were researching on finding good places

to eat and ones that are close to our students. On March 22nd at 3pm I entered the restaurant

which would be Cali Tampa Palms. Before I start to speak about the restaurant, I want to talk

about the hype and distance it is from USF. The distance between the middle of USF and Cali

Tampa Palms would be 5.1 miles and is a 11-minute drive. That is wonderful for our students

because they have a restaurant that has opened up in the Bruce B Downs plaza and is a great

healthy option to eat from. I entered the establishment and the first thing I noticed was how clean

and friendly the area was, the staff greeted me with a warm how are you doing today and

whether I would’ve liked to be sitting inside or outside. The floors were being cleaned as we

were speaking, and it wasn’t too busy inside except for one couple. When I looked outside I

found about 4 groups of people. Nurses together on breaks, a group of socializing seniors, a

single woman who looked about 20-27, and a family having lunch. I had a note book with me

and my phone to record what I saw in real time by taking notes and I took pictures of the inside

and outside because I chose to sit there with the groups that were there.

 My research that day was to find a great tasting, affordable price for our students to eat

from away from campus but not too far away.

 I also wanted to find a place that had a bar and desserts because that is important for most

college students who are of age to drink and would like to taste different drinks and enjoy

themselves.

 College is all about making connections and friends and Cali Tampa Palms was a great

choice because I was looking for a spot where you can relax and sit in a nice warm vibe

and be able to have group settings and a fun time.

 My last goal was to find a place that had good picture lighting and great picture spots so

people could post them and bring more engagement and curiosity leading to wanting to

try Cali’s food.

Cali Tampa Palms was extremely clean and nice. They have two doors where you can walk

from in the front to either pick up your to go order or wait to be seated by a hoster or hostess.
They have a very earthy vibe added to the restaurant as well inside and outside. The chairs

and most of the walls are white, while the floor being black with decorated white paint spots.

The tables are clean and are wood while the chairs are comfy and have a homestyle vibe to it.

The bar chairs are quite the comfiest however they aren’t the worst I’ve experienced and also

show the white countertop and white bricks to match the set with.
The outside was even more beautiful with nice, decorated chairs and ambient lights above us

that makes it look like a film studio which is perfect for the pictures to take to boost

engagement. There you can see the socializing seniors having lunch together and eating tex

mex bowls.
The bathrooms were very clean and had paintings or drawings on the walls that resemble the

hills in California with palm trees there as well. The bricks were painted white, and the floor

was a dark grey color. There was no trash or water marks on the mirror which means it was

very clean and it had the new touch sensor paper towel dispenser for you to dry your hands.

The sinks were made of marble and had both really hot and really cold water.
The menu was styled nicely with cocktails and wine, sweets and appetizers and looked well

put. As you can see the motto for them would be Real Food, For Real and talks about how

they ensure fresh quality food, they believe in food with a purpose that allows you to create

your own balance. They also have an executive chef, which signifies that the food is high

quality and isn’t a bunch of line cooks Instead.

The food I ate was delicious, I had a spicy Rio burrito that came with blackened chicken,

white lime rice, guacamole, black beans, Pico salsa and corn. It was delicious and also came

on a whole wheat tortilla. The burrito came with a side of fries from what I chose, and it was

crispy and delicious and were seasoned to perfection. The manager realized I was doing

some type of research and brought me a free cookie on top. The cookie was warm and

chocolatey and made fresh to order. This shows that their customer satisfaction is great, they

were constantly checking on me about the food and refilling my water but not in a hovering

way, more to make the customer feel at home.

1. My first theme would be Family Fun, there was a table with a family of 4. There was the

father, the mother, and a boy and girl. The father looked to be between 40-45 years old

and the mother 38-43 years old. Both children were in their early teens so around 12-15

years old. While I was sitting, you could see them visibly laughing and enjoying their

time by telling jokes, each person in the family had great smiles and the kids couldn’t

stop grinning. The boy ordered the same burrito as I did, which was the Spicy Rio burrito
 and was practically beaming at it. I’m definitely sure he was very hungry. The father paid

the bill with card, and they all left together while the kids were laughing about something

on their way out.

2. My second observation would be a category and they were Moms on a break. They were

there before I arrived, and all looked to be around 30-35 years old. They were wearing

gym attire; one was wearing leggings and a tight track suit quarter zips while two of the

others were wearing tights and a tank top. One of the ladies was eating a salad while

another was eating a Mexican bowl and the last had a wrap in her hand. They left around

3:45 which is the time that students get out of public school and took a right turn towards

liberty middle school. This helped me realize that maybe their sons were friends, and they

were out on a lunch break after the gym and went to go pick up their children. Both tank

top ladies paid with card while the lady with the quarter-zip paid with cash.

3. My third observation would be tension and I saw that from the single lady who was aged

20-25. When she sat in front of me, it took her around 10 minutes to chose something

from the menu, maybe it was stressing her out or something in her personal life was

weighing in on her. She was using body language such as sighs, slumped shoulders, and

the occasional rub on the head. She later got on a facetime call with a woman and were

both speaking Arabic which I can understand and speak and said that her job was killing

her and wanted to quit. She spent about an hour on the phone and was more focused on

talking then eating so the waitress asked her if she wanted a to go box. She refused but

sat there a while longer after I left and watched from my car.

4. My last observation would be another category and it is a group of nurses on lunch break.

We came around the same time and they were seated and started speaking about how
 their jobs were going and what was going on. This was a group of 4 women, and they all

looked to be the age of 37-47 years old. They all ordered salads and were all wearing

scrubs with one particular lady with blonde hair still having here name tag on. She

worked at advent health hospital. They had nice cars from what I saw, one was in a

Mercedes while another one was in a new Infiniti. They all paid with their cards and left.

The space was really nice, and I feel with all these categories and themes, it felt in place. The

area is a very nice place, and the surrounding place has nice homes and cars that have been

seen. There is a relationship though, most of these people are middle aged or older and you

don’t see many teenagers coming here except at night. This is a classy and elegant place to

eat and have a fun relaxed time. The music they played was good and wasn’t blasting in your

ears and its wasn’t quiet either, its enough to gibe you that beach resort feel when it gets

quiet. I think that the menu is fairly priced for the portion sizes they give, the food comes on

big plates, and they fill up your sides a lot. The food quality was also great, if anything I

would say the only thing that needs to change would be the cleanliness of the outside because

leaves come in and the vines and plants are dead but only a few. Promotions for the

restaurant are really good, they have 4.5 stars on yelp out of 700 reviews which is amazing,

and they definitely do promotions for drinks so at night you see lots of people ordering at the

bar. I think another thing that I would change would be cooler drinks for teens since they

can’t drink, they could incorporate lemonade of some sort or refreshers like Starbucks and

have a better kid’s menu. The menu is more tailored toward adults right now, but the options

are there for children but limited. I feel as if my objectives were met and the standard was

very good.

These are the remaining pictures:

This is the appendix with the real time notes taken: