Custom Coffee & Chocolate Essay

According to the everywhereview of Custom Coffee & Chocolates tune, clean brewer and Stacy Kim run a tiny caf where they serve comical coffee, chocolates and greattain a shop. The caf is located near a univer mouldy, where students, faculty, staff, and local anesthetic residents are the main customers. They redeem run the business successfully, working together without any employees and selling their products exactly in the caf. They ache started to think about further sirement. The main call into question at this point is what strategies they should launch to achieve that aim. The first step to reaction on that question is analyzing the companys internal purlieu and identifying it strengths and weaknesses. The undischargedest strength is undoubtedly greetledge acquired by the owners during business and securities industrying courses and on that point experience gained at work.The owners also chose an interesting location with many students who they get by and unde rstand very well, which combined with the offer is strength of their business. Customers great deal sit in comfortable chairs, on couches, and at coffee tables, and chat or read newspapers between classes. As we consider weaknesses, we bay window identify a few problematic things. The largest of these is the limited access to swear outs due to the small space in the caf. More everyplace, lack of employees makes it im workable for the caf to open longer, be realize the owners also have to handle the finances. There is also no possibility for customers to order goods over the phone or online, and for the caf to deliver service to locations on campus, much(prenominal) as dorms and lounges where students are studying.Anformer(a) weakness is quite poor menu, which should be blanket(a) by new products. Additionally, too little attention is paid to favorable inclusion by organizing events much(prenominal) as poetry readings or watchword groups, and conducting a blog which could int egrate students around the caf. Lack of a radio receiver connection that customers could use is a significant drawback. The terminal weakness, which is really important, is a lack of financial reserve. The owners exhausted their savings and the sign small business loan, andtheir six-month lease is up. The second step is analyzing the companys external environment and identifying it opportunities and curses.The greatest opportunity for the development of the company is the ability to reach a wider range of customers who are potentially interested in exploitation the service of the caf. Custom Coffee & Chocolates business plan bases on purchasing only fair trade coffee and chocolates made by a few local suppliers. It is worth considering the possibility of obtaining a break down price from producer in exchange for promoting their brands. It is also possible to bound the number of potential suppliers, which is likely to enable the caf to purchase products at overmuch better pric es. An opportunity for the development of the company is the application of new technologies such as online shops, websites or blogs, to exit better contacts with customers on the Internet.Unfortunately, threats also can appear in the companys external environment. It could be a decrease in the number of students at the University or changed location of classes. The biggest threat may be the emergence of competitors offering similar services at lower prices or better quality. The strategy adopted by the company, which consists of buying products from local suppliers and ordering only fair trade coffee, may cause a risk of introduction of cheaper substitutes on the market by competitors. The last but not the least threat is connected with the need to maturation the cafs debt by taking extra loans for further development.After find out the strengths and weaknesses of the companys internal environment as well as the opportunities and threats of the companys external environment, it is necessary to propose some strategies that wreak into account the interdependencies between particular elements of SWOT analysis, which will help to develop the company in the right way. One of the ideas is to acquire new customers by increasing the availability of products. Arranging a sale of products through the online enclose and allowing customers to play orders by phone, organizing appropriate marketing campaigns on the website or in local media, gives opportunities to achieve that goal. Ordered goods would be delivered by courier.At the initial stage, the range of delivery might be limited to locations on campus, such as dorms and lounges where students are studying. This strategy would be built on opportunities of using the Internet and growing the customers base without the necessity of expression for larger premises to runa caf. It is necessary to hire employees to allow the owners to focus on strategic management activities in the caf. It would give Bonnie Brewer an d Stacy Kim opportunity to use their knowledge and experience and take over more of the finance and marketing activities. Another interesting strategy that can protect the company against the loss of customers is build social cohesion by turning the caf into a cult meeting place for students, faculty and other staff of the University. Organizing poetry readings or discussion groups could be a great idea.Moreover, those activities would be supported by a blog which would be moderated by the cafs owners. This way, drinking coffee or eating delicious chocolates would be only a natural addition and benefit during meetings. In that case, the main strength is the specific location with students, faculty and staff whose the owners of the cafe know and understand well. Having loyal customer groups may be particularly important when some competitors appear on the market. This way, the company could significantly reduce this conformation of threat. A very effective strategy which could be u sed is building a recognizable brand of their own products.They should be presented as unique and not available from other competitors. In addition, it might be possible to prepare a wider range of products which could be better suited to the local customers needs. This strategy should be based on the promotion of local products and suppliers of products and spirited quality fair trade coffee. It could be an opportunity to get additional money from sponsors of the cultural and community building mission carried out by the owners of the caf. The above strategy is based on the strength connected with senior high school quality products which take a niche place on the market and cannot be easily replaced. It protects the company from the threat of competition and improves its competitive advantage.