Kudler Fine Foods: Problem Statement Kudler Fine

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 (Don Hudson, 2010).

The key to resolve these issues are the efforts made by management in achieving the organization's goals. 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 is advertised and marketed. Marketing by means of promoting communicate messages through media in one way. Due to their existing business, Kudler Fine Foods already have their potential customers. This will cause them little cost for promoting communicate messages and advertising to their clients (Marketing Case Study, 2008). KFF management also has an opportunity to improve its current operations by delegating the business responsibilities among more staff. Building an effective management team is crucial to any business expansion effort (Pearce and Robinson, 2009, p. 106). This can be achieved by an increase in the technological competence of the entire organization through a new Web site design, launch of ecommerce site, improved tracking and inventory systems (Don Hudson, 2010). This in return can lead to lower payroll for the employees. In addition to this, the employees can spend greater amount of quality time on client interface and implementation of better management strategies for the organization.

As Cohen (2010) mentions, customer satisfaction, lower costs and prices, increased quality; productivity, enhanced profits and market share are the key characteristics of a company which has availed the opportunities to become a better business. . Upon the realization of the opportunities mentioned earlier, KFF can become one of the leaders in the food market providing to the upscale community clientele such as five star hotels. By creating and acting on the vision of providing more affordable foods, KFF can optimize its success. Furthermore, Kudler Fine Foods can have its own franchise on an international level introducing new product lines and new services for growth. KFF would be a company with a secure cash flow avoiding it to be in debt. It would have good public image due to long-term and reliable relationships with its customers and local suppliers having multiple suppliers for its products. Kudler Fine Foods would know its threats and operating environment well.