Gourmet Foods Essay

Introduction: Gourmet bakers and sweets is the top food retail chain of Lahore. Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan fabled for its customer aliment and amorousness for eating. Gourmet is the number one brand in the market of bakers and sweets due to its quality and valuable services. Before 1984, Mr. Nawaz Chattha was the employee of the Shezan bakers at the post of manager. While he was doing his job, he decided to start his own business separately because he was proficient dealer, a technical supporter and maintained check and balance in every branch. Mr. Nawaz Chattha started his business from one out let in Muslim Town with bakers in 1987. After seeing the profitable result he decided to introduce new product like sweets, milk, and ice-cream and gourmet cola. In continuous success of gourmet in providing quality service and products for the health and happiness of all family, Gourmet also started a family restaurant. Since the emergence of Gourmet bakers, it has shown explosive annual growth of more than 25% in its business. It has 1700 employees working in its all departments. It has around 95 branches and will enhance its coverage to One hundred branches making it The Largest Bakers and Confectionaries of the city as well as the country. Company Name- Gourmet Bakers & Sweets (PVT) limited. Gourmet is a private limited liability company and the information regarding its share is as follows: Registered office address: 9/D Faisal Town Lahore. Authorized Capital: 20,000,000. Paid up Capital: 50,000. CEO name: Ch. Muhammad Nawaz Chattha. CEO Address: 9/D Faisal Town Lahore. Incorporation Date: January 9, 1996. Authorized Capital Share: 200,000. Paid up Share Capital: 500 Authorized PER Value: 100 Paid up PER Value: 100 Vision: â€Å"We are a bakery company with one goal in mind to meet the needs of our customers we focus on our customers as our clients.† Mission Statement: â€Å"To provide delicious, wholesome baked foods without sacrificing health and well-being.† Company Objectives: Objectives are the guidelines which direct toward the chosen destiny. The objectives of the Gourmet are marketing objectives which are as under: 1. To build profitable customer relationship by delivering superior value. 2. To provide such products those can increase targeted markets. 3. To become a leader in the bakery and confectionary industry. 4. To provide the quality products to the target market. GOURMET Logo: Organization Structure of Gourmet: Business Portfolio of Gourmet: Portfolio Analysis (B.C.G. Matrix): Star: Gourmet bread and other bakery Pro ducts come under star as they have a high relative market share and high growth rate. They are in maturity stage of its product life cycle. Cash Cow: Gourmet Cola, Gourmet Water and Dairy Products are Cash cow products for Gourmet as they have a low market Growth rate and a high relative market share. Question Mark: Gourmet new products like Dry Milk and the same for Tea as well come under Question mark. Or any other new product that Gourmet offers or is planning to offer will come in question mark category. Dogs: Gourmet Roll and Samosa Patti have a low market Growth rate and a low relative market share therefore, these products come under Dogs and therefore Gourmet has discontinued the production of these products. Marketing Planning: Gourmet follows the company strategies which are inline with the company’s goals and recommendations. It position it self as a leader in bakery products in Lahore. Before making any plan it considers its impact on its current customers, environment and competitors’ response. It also considers current threats with in the market like loosing market sale, brand image etc before making any plans. Gourmet focuses on all the available opportunities in market related to its business like launch on gourmet cola, milk ice-cream. Once it decides its main objectives and issues then it steps forwards to the action plan which consists of detailed schedule of the entire task and their budgets. Once Gourmet finalizes its plan it implements its plan and keeps on checking its performance to control its out come. Marketing implementation: After having a detailed discussion and planning gourmet comes towards the implementation phase of their marketing strategies. In implementation the company’s formal organizational structure plays and important role. Managers not only focus on short term profits but they also consider long run market building objectives. On the other hand company also considers its culture in implementing a plan. Marketing Control: Gourmet focuses on two types of marketing controls operational and Strategic. In operational controls it checks that all the operations are in line with the current marketing strategies. Where as strategic controls focuses on long run and check the long run performance of the company. It also have an internal audit department which keeps a strict checks not only on its financial performance but also on its procedures and controls which effect in every day performance. The Marketing Environment: The Company’s Macro Environment: P.E.S.T. Analysis Political – meeting all the policies and working under the political stabilities Economical – focusing the income levels of targeted customers Social – the social class we have targeted are: Technological– accepting and using the innovations in technology for production Demography – gourmet deals with a variety of demography. It caters all kind of age groups starting from children to adults. Culture – Gourmet keeps it self in line with the local culture of Lahore. It provides different products according to local festivals events and Religious days. Lower medium Middle medium Upper medium Lower upper Upper upper The Company’s Micro Environment: Market Intermediaries Gourmet does not have any major market intermediaries as it produces and sale it products it self. It does contact market intermediaries for supply of raw materials, and products like Coca cola, Jams, Ketchup, and Juices etc. Competitors If you look at Gourmet Foods, it is a clear market leader but still Gourmet has competitors. Nirala and Shezan bakers are the competitors of Gourmet as these are the only few stores who are catering the same market as gourmet is going. They also have well established brand name and image. They are fully equipped with latest technology and manufacturing plants, but these competitors are only targeting small segments of the market. They are not upgrading themselves that is why in the race of capturing market they are staying behind the market leader â€Å"Gourmet†. Suppliers Local dairy Farms. Whole sellers. Market intermediaries. Customers Customers of Gourmet are End user of the product mostly. They buy to consume the final products and services. Customer Relationship Management The Product/Market Expansion Grid: Marketing Objectives: Goals and targets have to be monitored and met, competitor strategies analyzed, anticipated and exceeded. Through effective use of market and marketing research an organization should be able to identify the needs and wants of the customer and try to delivers benefits that will enhance or add to the customers’ lifestyle. Marketing Strategies: Gourmet bakers adopted customer’s oriented marketing strategies to attract customers as much as it can. Gourmet bakers follow differentiation strategy such as strategy emphasizes the product that is unique in the industry provides distinct advantages to the bakers. One of the prominent marketing strategy of gourmet bakers is focusing on special classes of customers like gourmet bakers is focusing on upper class, middle class as well as the lower class. Marketing Channels and Supply Chain Management: The gourmet sell there goods directly to the final user. Gourmet channel decisions directly effect other marketing decisions. Due to using on marketing channels it reduces the cost. Gourmet sales force and communication decisions depend upon how much persuasion, training, motivation and support its channel partner needs. Monopolistic Competition: Gourmet faces Monopolistic Competition in the market. There are many buyers and sellers who trade over a range of prices rather than single market price. Every Seller tries to differentiate its product to gain competitive advantage and to justify its price difference. Budgeting: Budgeting plays an important role in any plan. If a plan is not financially feasible there is no benefit to be gained from all other procedures. In Budgeting process Gourmet spends 40% of its target budget on the refurbishing of the bakery. 55% of the budget is allocated in the manufacturing of its products. 5 % of the budget is allocated to promotional activities. Gourmet focuses on an affordable budgeting method. Control: Controls are very crucial for the success of any project. Gourmet implements high quality controls through its total quality management department. Gourmet uses team based approach for new projects by using these approach tighter controls will be implemented and performance can be monitored on every step. Critical Issues: Political instability and economic conditions of the country are immensely affecting the business sector in the country. Threat of Bomb attacks in any crowded place due to Terrorism also imposes an effect which leads to decreasing sales of the business as people now think before coming out of their homes. Furthermore, terrorist activities are weakening the Pakistan economy day by day. Such kind of issues may impose a bad effect on the Gourmet business in the future Recommendations: Gourmet must use new technology like Information system to centralize its Database as its service and data requirement will greatly enhance it will need processes like Data ware housing and data mining. It can also improve its security measures by implementing security cameras Up to date scanners radio frequency bar code readers (RFID’s) will improve its departmental services efficiently and effectively. Gourmet should also work for enhancing the parking area. Gourmet should also do work for innovation in products and for the atmosphere of its stores. Gourmet Bakers have their branches only in Lahore which is the drawback of their marketing strategies. The company should also open its outlets in other major cities and spend capital on advertising the company in those cities. The company is not planning for the loyalty of its customers. They should give discounts to its regular customers in this way the customer sincerity with the company will grow. Gourmet has not advertised themselves through media; they should have adopted some other sources of advertisement such as banners, newspapers, TV channels to cater the market. Recently it has started its promotion on â€Å"City 42†.