Business and Entrepreneurship

New Product Line

Majority of office workers have neither the time to pack snacks or food before leaving for office nor the budget to afford restaurant meals on a daily basis. Usually, the workers rely on box lunch deliveries for food. Unfortunately, some of the foods served in the office are greasy and unhealthy. Fresh Farm Catering Services recognizes this fact and extends their ideology of healthy eating to provide delicious and well-balanced meals for office workers in Miami, Florida. The company will offer innovative catered lunch, without needing the workers to leave the office for the food. In order to achieve this, the company will develop Fresh Food mobile application. Ideally, in modern day business world, technology touches every aspect of people’s lives, in particular with the advent of smart phones. Fresh Farm realizes the latest trend in the market and the importance of a well-designed mobile application. The company understands that in order to survive the aggressive competition, mobile marketing is a must have for the business to thrive. With the help of a mobile app, a variety of users will easily choose their preferred recipes of the day and place orders as per their convenience. In terms of service, Fresh Farm will start with a small service where the current number of employees can comfortably cover between 11 a.m and 1 p.m. The food will be delivered in disposable food trays to ensure workers enjoy a hustle free meal. The menu will also be available on the app, where clients will be able to choose from a variety of five dishes, with a complimentary fruit of their choice. It is also expected that the customers should place their orders before 10 a.m, for adequate preparation and timely deliveries.

Customer Base

A customer base is the primary sources of business and consists of the current clients and the potential clients who are likely to become customers (Information Resources Management Association, 2015). Normally, companies rely on their customer base for sales, development of new products, and advertising. A customer base is also defines based on demographic such as location and gender and can change from time to time. In the case of Fresh Farm Company, the current customers constitute college students, in need of the company services for organizing birthday parties, campus parties, or young people who need romantic catering. Other current customers include families who want to throw parties for their family or children. Similarly, older adults and religious bodies are also some of the current customers at Fresh farm Company. Typically, the new product targets office workers. Unfortunately, the majority of the current customers do not fit in the target clients of the new product line. Nonetheless, the company will still introduce the new product line to the existing customers, especially parents who hold birthday parties. In essence, the new product line will be offered to the existing customers as well as new clients.

Competition

Alongside Fresh Farm Company, there are four other catering businesses offering the same services like the newly launched product line. To some point, these companies will offer competition to Fresh farm more so because they have been in existence for a long time. On the other hand, the caterers also compete among themselves. For instance, the quality of food is one of the areas where they compete most. Precisely, two of the companies who will compete with Fresh Farm, do not offer high-end services, despite serving in upper markets, and business has been declining over the years. The companies also do not present a major threat due to their overpriced services, since Fresh farm will consider offering lunch boxes at cost-friendly prices. The other two competitors have been in existence for the past two years and have a solid customer base. However, customers have complained about the taste and freshness of their food. Similarly, due to the large customer base, the companies have been unable to meet all their client demands and most of the times end up not delivering to the customers. In a close analysis of the strengths of the competitors, it is evident that the companies have a strong relationship and enjoy high loyalty from their clients since they have been in existence for a longer time. Secondly, they also have excellent staff who are also highly trained with effective customer skills. Along with that, the companies are also financially stable and enjoy stronger relationships with financial institutions for business support.

Company and Management Structure

Currently, the company has six employees together with the managing director, who also doubles up as the owner. The general manager personally selects each candidate through an interview process to select the highly qualified person for each position. A part-time business manager is also hired for business advice. The two professional chefs are also consulted from time to time to assist the management team when making decisions about the firm operations.

Management Team

The hotel owner is also the managing director and has a 10-year experience of working in a quick-service outlet. The MD has also worked in various regional restaurant chains, where he held positions of supervisor and assistant manager. The two professional chefs have each three years of experiences working in a busy fast food outlet. The part-time business manager is pursuing their Master’s degree in Business and helps from time to time with innovative business ideas.

Management Gaps

Initially, the MD filled the management gaps and played the role of sales director, general manager, and kitchen manager.  In order to fill the gap associated with payroll, inventory, and cost –accounting that comes along with the new product line; the company will purchase a Point of sale System that simplifies communication between the kitchen staff and the employees doing deliveries. From the mobile app, orders will then go through the computer, directly to the kitchen printer.

Cultural Impact

Ideally, development and commercialization of new products are vital if businesses are to maintain a lasting competitive advantage over its competitors. It is also widely held that organizational culture is a key determinant of the success of a new product. In fact, as Naranjo-Valencia, Jimenez-Jimenez & Sanz-Valle (2017) note, culture has a positive effect on the proficiency of new product development process, which is one of the reasons it affects its success. Unfortunately, although culture is considered an important factor in new product success, it has not been broached empirically. Virtually as Baporikar, (2016) elaborates, a company’s culture constitutes the mission, vision, and values and employees should embody the company culture for the organizational success. For new products to be successful, they must compliment the company’s culture. Ideally, Fresh Farm company mission statement is focused on providing quality, delicious, and fresh food to all our clients, and making it better every day. The vision statement is based on being an industry leader in innovative design and outstanding customer service that values teamwork and creating an environment that is fun to work. The company core values seek to exceed the client expectations in their satisfaction. To the community, the company commits to supporting the community in recycling, compositing and ensuring a green environment always. To the employees and culture, the company recognizes the importance of teamwork and always creating opportunities for the employees to be better. To the business, the company will always strive to be fair, doing business with honesty and integrity, and accountability for increased profitability. In the context of the company culture, it is flexible enough to accommodate the new product line. In essence, the new product conforms to the company culture that encourages innovation of new products in a bid to make it better every day for the enterprise. Similarly, it also matches the company value that seeks always to create opportunities for the employees to be better. Along with that, the new product compliments the existing product in that; it provides an opportunity for the company to grow the catering business to new levels, and explore more business opportunities.

Financial Support

Financing a business is sometimes hard, especially with the current economic times in the business world. Nonetheless, Zwilling (2010) notes that entrepreneurs have several options as sources of business capital. Such funding range from friends and family, small business grants, commercial bank loans, and crowd funding among others. Ordinarily, the new product line launched by Fresh Firm will be part of the existing company and will, therefore, rely on the current business for funding. However, management may opt for a small infusion of cash from a commercial bank loan, which will be secured by the existing business.

References

Baporikar, N. (2016). Handbook of research on entrepreneurship in the contemporary knowledge-based global economy. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.

Information Resources Management Association. (2015). Marketing and consumer behavior: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.

Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jimenez-Jimenez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2017). Impact of Organisational Culture on New Product Success: An Empirical Study of Spanish Firms. European Management Review. doi: 10.1111/emre.12116.

Zwilling, M. (2010). Top 10 Sources of Funding For Startups. Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/12/funding-for-startups-entrepreneurs-finance-zwilling.html