Kudler Fine Foods: Problem Statement Kudler Fine Foods is a company which provides gourmet style groceries and catering services to the local markets. KFF's primary vision is to be the premiere gourmet grocery store for those savvy shoppers who are searching for the finest meats, produce, cheeses and wine."(University of Phoenix, 2010, p. 3). Although Kudler Fine Foods has managed to succeed as a small company, they can't benefit from the large scale economies to purchase from their suppliers. In comparison to the large scale grocery stores, they have a small profit margin. In addition, the company's employees' high payroll causes the same result. The limited geographic expansion only allows KFF to cater to the San Diego local market. This can be a serious issue for KFF when similar competitors are present.

KFF's small management team can lead to weak employee-customer relationships since the employees are not able to give the required quality time to each customer. The company deals mainly with perishable goods which is why the company's gross sales are vastly affected by the economy recession and culture. During recession, people tend to spend less meaning KFF would have to consider selling foods which are more affordable for the people. Little marketing and advertising can cause KFF to lose its clientele to its competitors. Therefore, the firm needs more attention to a solid marketing effort including a website design and website launch and it needs to find alternate means of financing beyond its current sources...

Managing quality requires effective leadership to outline a clear vision of the improvement process based on customer requirements (Young & Wilkinson, 2001). For this purpose, the management can use selection of evaluation tools. One such tool is the SWOT analysis. As Figure 1 explains, the SWOT analysis -- an acronym that stands for "strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats" -- focuses attention on both the external attributes of a firm's environment (opportunities and threats) and on the internal attributes of a firm (strengths and weaknesses)" (Mintzberg, 2003, p.11).
The SWOT analysis mentions a number of opportunities for KFF to take into account. . At the end of 2003 the company had a total capital of $1,928,960 and a cash balance of $1,430,000. Since the company has good financial records with very little debt, it can start a variety of product lines and offer more catering services as they grow. Customers are always attracted to places that can offer them more services. Rather than having just gourmet goods which are perishable, KFF can include foods which are more affordable to customers as well as to the company. This opportunity will be beneficial to the organization in times of recession.

KFF can grasp the opportunity of spreading its business throughout and outside California and bringing it in the global market. The globalization impact can result in more customers for the KFF, therefore, increasing the company's net sales. However, expanding the business globally depends on how well the business…