KUDLER Functional Area Relationships: Kudler

Kudler Fine Foods

Mission, vision, values, and goals

Kudler Fine Foods has made a commitment to providing healthy products to its customers like fresh produce -- and fine, gourmet items as well. These products may span from the freshest cauliflower to imported cheeses. It is not an ostentatiously 'healthy' company with an organic mission, but it strives to offer customers who are concerned and interested in what they put on their table the products they want.

The company began as the brainchild of California entrepreneur Kathy Kudler as a single gourmet food shop that offered fresh ingredients and tools for the serious gourmet cook. Because of its climate and culture, California is often on the cutting edge of food trends in the United States. Kudler's vision was to offer one-stop shopping for produce, meats, cheeses, and wines, along with other products used and beloved by cooking enthusiasts. While not an explicitly 'organic' food store like Whole Foods, Kudler does stress the 'fresh' aspect of its offerings. It has an upwardly-mobile client base because this demographic has the time and money to be interested in food preparation.

Currently, the store has three locations: the original one in La Jolla, California, and the other branches in Del Mar and Encinitas. In all three stores, Kudler promotes both its high quality as well as its relatively low prices, given its wide range of gourmet offerings, suggesting that it is attempting to cast a wider net, in terms of the types of patrons it wishes to solicit. Additionally, given that customers may cut back on foods when the economy is uncertain, advertising reasonable prices as well as premium quality, and diversity as well as exclusivity in its product offerings is part of its overall marketing strategy.

Reason for the type of organizational structure employed by the organization: Key positions that support that organizational structure

Each store has a different manager, but the founder is still the 'brainchild' of the company and manages overall operations. Different departments manage specific areas, such as finance, human resources, and operations. Unlike a large, multinational company, each individual store does not have individual departments handling these concerns, although there are individual managers that deal with store and customer-specific issues in these various locations.
Kudler is still a small, emerging operation. Having additional functionaries assume control of these operations at a storewide level would be too unwieldy, and might even create dissent and disagreement between the organizational players. However, because every store has a different character because of its unique location and need to suit the specific, regional demographic, there is still the ability to manage the inventory of particular locations and respond to micro shifts in customer demand. For example, in one location there might be a higher demand for Mexican specialty goods, while in a different area there may be greater demand for imported cheeses or organic vegetables. The organizational structure enables Kudler to remain flexible, when needed.

Steps of the collaboration process among the functional areas that must be employed to achieve organizational goals

First and foremost, the vision of any company begins with its founder. CEO Kudler must create a company-wide vision for her organization. She must then consult with members of her management, marketing, advertising, and financial staff to create a 'branding' strategy that is financially feasible within the current market environment and distinguishes Kudler from its competitors.

Kudler might initially want to promote the international product line but it might be determined that there is insufficient…