Local Business Distrabution Channels

Entrepreneurship: Growth Plan Report Business Overview Geetha Jayarman and her business venture thus far have had a unique and interesting value proposition in which she has created for her consumers. She has created many food items that are distributed and sold through various distribution channels that all incorporate many of the new trends that are developing within the healthy eating phenomenon that is sweeping the entire U.S. to a greater or lesser extent.

Strategic management can be defined as the process of formulation and implementation of the company objectives and goals which are made keeping in mind the resources available with the company and the internal and external environment that the company is functioning in (David, 2005). Thereby strategy can be defined as the course of action that a company develops with the optimum use of resources with the aim of achieving its long-term goals.

The three businesses that Jayarman has experience in all seem complimentary and there is the opportunity for each of the businesses to create economies of scale within a diversification strategy. There are also other developments in the food industry that she has also been able to capitalize on -- such as fast casual. Fast casual is an alternative to the traditional fast food channels that have increasingly become targets for negative publicity.

The fast casual option gives customers any alternative that is vastly healthier than what the fast food chains can offer. Furthermore, the strategy for the entrepreneur will undoubtedly incorporate a diversification strategy as the company is targeting similar consumer preferences in different market segments of the larger food industry. There are two primary social drivers that have subsidized a great deal of the success that businesses operating in these specific niches have experienced in recent years.

The first is that in general consumers are becoming more health conscious as well as becoming increasingly concerned about what kind of processes and artificial additives go into the foods that they eat. There are many negative publicity reports that come out about different artificial ingredients and preservatives on a regular basis. This report will recommend that the business continue with the diversification strategy and operate each individual business with different but complimentary strategies within this trend's development.

Businesses 1) Restaurant -- Grab-N-Go/Dine-In/Delivery: (Chipotle Business Model) 2) Catering 3) Chips/E-Commerce Restaurant Traditionally, the restaurant industry has consisted of two main sectors: full-service restaurants and fast-food restaurants. The fast-food sector typically serves hamburgers, chicken, sandwiches, pizza, Mexican dishes, and breakfast and snack items; generally served quickly but often unhealthy. However, there are other trends that are recently emerging that include some mix of the two divisions. Panera Breads and some other organizations worked to pioneer this service delivery method.

Spoon and Sprout has the potential to compete with other business in this market segment in the local market. Furthermore, its core competency will be that it offers many food specialties that are not found in other restaurants such as vegan items, organic items, and items sourced locally -- all of which represent a growing consumer demand in the industry. Thus Spoon and Sprout is prime position to be competitive within this specific market niche.

It is recommended that Spoon and Sprout consider a tribal marketing approach to help develop the business in the local market. Catering The catering business also fills a specific consumer demand in a niche that is steadily growing. The demand for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, locally produced and organic foods are steadily increasing in the market place. For example, the organic and natural food segment has been increasing over the years at an average rate of 8% to 10% with the growing demand from customers to have healthy and ethically produced food.

There has been consumer demand for a greater range and variety of organic food at the local grocery stores owing to this awareness increase. Thus in the catering industry, it is reasonable to suspect that the demand for such foods will grow in proportion to the overall demand. Another aspect to the catering business is that it is possible to achieve scalability. For example, in times of peak demand for services, temporary employees can be hired to provide meet the extra demand.

In this way, the catering business is complimentary to the restaurant given its scalable nature. Chips/E-Commerce The chips and the e-commerce platform also has a lot of potential for growth -- possibly more than the other two businesses combined. Simply put, marketing channels are the various ways in which goods and services find their way from the provider to the consumer, and the payments generated find their way back to the provider (MBA & Company, N.d.).

Although the ecommerce strategy is solid, there is also the opportunity to pursue other distribution strategies as well. For example, if the brand could partner with a specialty distributor of healthy foods, then it could have the opportunity to gain mass marketing through distribution channels such as Whole Foods or many other locally own natural food retailers.

Changes to the channel system are among a firm's most critical decisions and has even been shown to be able to influence the overall firm value in several industries and geographies (Homburg & Vollmayr, 2014). Although the website could be an integral marketing tool, it is recommended that other distribution channels be considered for this business. There are also additional options for the company to be able to create various ecommerce partnerships online that could also bring the chips and snack products to a larger market.

Thus such a strategy could also be consistent with a dual distribution strategy. The company could partner with Amazon for example and have its products appear on this popular ecommerce platform. There would also be the opportunity to partner with various specialty ecommerce sites.