Business Case Analysis: Unique&#039s Sweet Treats

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UNIQUE’S SWEET TREATS

Business Case Analysis

P.E.A.K CONSULTING FIRM

400 N. North Branch St. Chicago, Il

P.E.A.K, a business case study consulting firm, was hired to perform a case study for

Unique’s Sweet Treats, owned and operated by Ryan. This process consisted of some of P.E.A.K

representatives interviewing the owner, Ryan, to gain knowledge of how the company is

currently operating and what is her overall goal for the company. Once this information was

received it was accessed to implement a plan of action to help her develop and grow her

company. Their first deliverable consisted of three different executions: the situation, the

objective, and how the objective will be approached.

1 THE SITUATION

Unique’s Sweet Treats is a locally owned Illinois based business specializing in baking,

catering and personal chef or nutrition advisor. The business is owned and operated solely by

Ryan. Currently she specializes in events for her church as well as a variety of other special

occasions for small and large groups. She has recently added the personal chef aspect of her

business to the table. Our client currently works from her home or church and will travel to

locations as needed.

Ryan is looking to better market herself to the public and make it known that she offers a

variety of service, not just baking. Currently there is a Facebook page as well as an Instagram

account for social media marketing. However, we could not locate her Facebook or Instagram

accounts only those of the same names in different states. The owner Ryan also mentioned that

she has a website but took it down to make updates, which she has not completed. Ryan has no

support staff and time management which can be an issue as well as budget constraints. Unique

Sweet Treats needs a marketing plan that will blend together her many service offerings as well

as making it affordable and manageable with her limited time.

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2 THE OBJECTIVES

Ryan has a very good concept going for her. She is able to accommodate many people’s

requests, such as food that is vegan/gluten free, personal chef, catering and baking. Although, she

has these aspects she is able to improve herself, she has a few things that she mentioned she

would like our help with. Our goal is to help her improve her business by accomplishing the

following objectives:

– We would like to help Ryan grow her business. We intend to help her develop a better

marketing strategy that shows her passion and talent to her customers.

– Her logo and social media website need some updating to show her personal style. Her

Facebook page will be updated as well as creating a personal website for her showing an

example menu and the ability to place orders or personal cooking requests. Creating a

website will potentially get her marketing capabilities through search engines such as

Google.

– Ryan mentioned she does already have a website, so one of our objectives will to get it up

and running again.

– We also proposed a possible name change. Something that is unique and easy to find

through search engines. Unique’s Sweet Treats provides a lot of different search

responses, especially through Facebook, so we want something that stands out. We will

also have to get her a domain name.

– We would like to broadcast her motto healthy, delicious cooking. She is mostly known

for her baking, so we would like to show her clients that she also has talent with personal

cooking.

– Ryan admitted to having poor time management, so we would like to create a schedule

that will help her meet deadlines and work more effectively.

– Another possible objective would be to get her products into small, local grocery stores.

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– We would like to find out what about Ryan’s business keeps her customers from coming

back. She provides high-quality food and a positive attitude, but seems to have a small

following of mostly church members and friends. We would like to help her expand this

following.

3 THE APPROACH

The end goal of this case is to grow business and better market the company in all

aspects. We have identified the core problems, the consequences that could be if the case is not

addressed, and the benefits to be gained by addressing the case. In order to achieve the

objectives/goals we plan to help create more aggressive marketing strategies that will also help

change the company’s image. We also plan to revamp the company’s online presence to make the

company more appealing and professional. This will include redesigned logo, social media, and

website. In an effort to change the company’s image, we will also look into possible name

changes to better represent baking and personal chef service.

With the information that P.E.A.K consulting firm has received from Ryan they have

identified the situation and developed a plan to help her redefine her company. The objectives

will definitely help with the expansion of Unique’s Sweet Treats. Ryan is looking to expand her

customer base and expand her product variation, beyond the baking capacity. P.E.A.K will help

her with this by advertising her product through social network, and other media outlets. The

overall goal for P.E.A.K is to make their customers happy by providing a great quality service

that will be beneficial to both them and their clients.

In this section of the Business Case we will go over in detail the objectives set forth in the

first deliverable. P.E.A.K Consulting Firm selected Social Media, Selling to Vendors, Updating

the Website and Re-branding as the focus of our case. These are areas where Unique’s Sweet

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Treats can reach a large customer base at minimal to no cost. We feel that the client will be able

to reach her goals of expansion and develop a solid marketing plan that is easy to maintain and

encompasses all her service offerings.

1 SELLING TO VENDORS

Unique’s Sweet Treats has been missing out on a substantial opportunity to reach their target

market by selling to local vendors. There is a good variety of small local grocers throughout the

downtown Chicago area in which our client can work with. Selling to vendors is a favorable

option because the client will be able to reach new customers and allow existing customers to

buy her product conveniently. These types of independent stores often host events like, pop-up,

a new style of mobile restaurant, demos and cooking classes. All of these scenarios offer the

client the ability to connect one on one with the customers, tell her story and create a strong

following. Working with these local vendors could also help build relationships that would be

beneficial in other aspects of her business like purchasing products. A local grocer in Ohio, The

Hill’s Market Downtown, will work with vendors to reduce their costs by ordering supplies for

them at wholesale prices. This lowers the selling price for the store which increases demand and

helps the vendor reduce their cost to make the product which helps increase supply. This vendor,

like many others, will also help market your events in their store via flyers, word-of-mouth and

social media (http://thehillsmarket.com/ohio).

In our research we found several local grocers that deal with small business like Unique’s

Sweet Treats. These stores specialize in a variety of options for their consumers such as; organic,

local goods, vegan, gluten-free, and co-ops’. Our client’s products are ideal for stores like these

since they too focus on the same principles. Examiner.com, an online news, media and

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entertainment hub, ranked one of the top 100 websites in the United States, had article about

some of these stores. Here is a list of some of the independent and organic grocery stores in the

Chicago Area:

Chicago Vegan Co-Op

True Nature Foods

Dill Pickle Pickle Food Co-Op

W. Grocer

New Leaf Natural Grocery

Bonne Sante

Kramer’s Health Foods

Fox and Obel

Treasure Island (8 locations within Chicago)

(http://www.examiner.com/article/independent-and-organic-grocery-stores-chicago). These

stores can offer Unique’s Sweet Treats the opportunity to reach a wider market of consumers and

help her develop her catering and personal chef business too. This window of opportunity not

only provides the client with the ability to sell her product, but it also brings the chance to meet

customers face to face, ask them their needs, see what they really like, and tell them about your

business.

The process of getting your product in the store is simple, it’s a matter of choosing a store

you like and sending an email inquiring how you get your product in the store. However, the

work that comes after may be challenging. The end result will be market growth and increase in

profits as well as networking opportunities. P.E.A.K reached out to several stores and Green

Grocer, Artizone, Local Foods and The Hill’s Market responded. Our objective was to obtain

more information about getting the client’s product in the store. Artizone and Local Foods are a

little different concept than the grocery formats listed above, they provide delivery services of

organic, local goodies. Kelly Holmes, the Marketing Director for The Hill’s Market Downtown

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explained to me that the most important thing she considered when carrying a local product is if

the vendor can keep up with supply and demand. Kelly explained, “From a marketing standpoint,

I am not going to market their product if I know they can’t keep our shelf full.” Ms. Holmes also

mentioned some other important aspects she looks for when considering local products; list of

ingredients (organic, local sources, gluten-free, etc.), good packaging and the company’s story.

P.E.A.K found these to be very helpful because she is speaking from a marketing standpoint and

our focus is to help Unique’s Sweet Treats marketing plan (K. Holmes, personal communication,

May 5, 2014). An email from Artizone requested that new vendors send the following

information; “Your name, the name of the company you represent, your email address, your

phone number, the market you would like to serve (Dallas or Chicago), and a brief description of

what products you could provide,” once this information is received it is forwarded to the

Marketing Director for further review. (Frances, personal communication, May 7, 2014).