Special Events Proposal the Main

Special Events Proposal

The main topic of this paper is to analyze the options of launching on the market a new product: Kudler's Fine Foods Far East Salad. The paper begins with a short description of the company as well as the product's, to continue with a marketing research, the suggested promotion techniques for selling the salad and a special event during which the producers hope to prove the effectiveness of their new product.

The Company

Kudler Fine Foods is a relatively small, but rapidly expanding business founded in 1998 in Southern California; it sells quality gourmet foods for a wide range of customers in three stores, currently working on the opening of a forth store. Kudler's policy is to offer their customers high quality products at competitive prices through which they would maximize their profits. (http://www.slashdoc.com/documents/94220)

Another objective on the developing agenda regards the launching of the online service which would offer customers several benefits and for the company it would assure prestige, international recognition and finances.

3. The Product

Kudler is now focusing all their efforts towards promoting on the market their new product Far East Salad, also know as Asian Salad. This product is a combination of several vegetables and ingredients renowned world wide for its unique mixture of flavors. To those customers who wish to enjoy the salad in the Kudler stores, the personnel would serve it in special dishes imported from the Eastern countries, but one could also state his preference to eat it at home and the personnel would pack it to go or even deliver it to the mentioned address.

The costs of the Far East Salad would be around 9 $ a portion to which Kudler adds taxes, salaries for its personnel, rent for the stores and profit, the retail price of the salad becoming about 17$ a portion. The relatively high price of the salad helps make a selection of the target audience: people with above medium incomes who wish to consume healthy products.

4. Marketing Research for the Product

The value of the product

The actual value of the product refers to the costs of producing it and its retail price, its quality and its importance for both consumer and producer.

The value in money of the salad shows the amount of money the producer spends to prepare the salad, 9$ a portion, and also the price a client has to pay to acquire the salad, that is 13$ a portion. This financial value of the product is differently regarded by the two parties. The producer finds it rather satisfactory as it is a special product mostly common in Asia, renowned for its excellent taste and low calories, and therefore bringing it to California should be a success, even if producing such a product is more expensive than producing one common to the United States. On the other hand, a regular consumer might compare the high price of the salad with the need it applies to and declare himself unsatisfied.

The high quality of the salad makes the product of great value. Healthy food consumers would most definitely appreciate the tasty mixture of ingredients and oriental seasoning in a low calories salad.

When measured in terms of importance, the value of the product is relative: for those people who regularly consume healthy or oriental food, the Far East Salad would have a great marginal utility, but for fast food consumers, for example, the marginal utility an Asian salad gives them is insignificant.

The value of the product, from all three points-of-view - money, importance and quality - gives a clear understanding of the target audience: they are represented by the middle age population in California or outside California, people who focus their eating habits around healthy products and register incomes above medium.

The services offered

The Far East Salad is a product meant to appease one's hunger and it can be served in the Kudler stores, taken home or even delivered to a requested address. The company promises friendly and polite serving and promptitude with deliveries and solving complaints.

Demand for the product

After having conducted a study among the potential customers and having identified the target audience, Kudler Fine Food came to the conclusion that there was a great demand for healthy products among those interviewed. The target audience stated that they were constantly searching for new healthy food products on the market and believed the combination between health and Asian ingredients to be a much desired one.

The company thought it would be most cautious if during the first month they only produced half the requested quantity of salad and further on, based on the selling of the first month import more ingredients and place more salad on the market.

Competitive products on the market

According to the studies conducted by the marketing department at Kudler, the company found out that the most important competitors on the market would be "Sinjan's Kitchen" and "Indidam," but both competitors had weaknesses Kudler could easily overcome. The first, Sinjan's Kitchen, offered customers high quality products at very expensive prices but the location of the restaurant was in an area outside town, therefore hard to reach. The second, Indidam, had a good location of the store, but a rather low quality of the products served.

Given the central location of Kudler's stores, its high quality products and rather low prices, especially when compared with the prices at Sinjan's Kitchen, Kudler's Far East Salad could rapidly become a strong and powerful competitor and even gain monopoly over the Asian food producers in California.

5. Sales promotion

To promote their salad and increase sales, Kudler would offer discounts on several occasions, such as birthday of the customers or groups of clients, fidelity bonuses, free delivery for an order above a mentioned limit, free additional products, such as water or juice, organize contests with special prizes, 30% discounts a day of the week.

After having discussed all these possibilities of promoting the salad, Kudler employees voted in favor of a day a week in which consumers could buy the salad at lower prices.