Executive summary
Southern Maryland has a new ice cream shop called Sweet Sundays. The business wants to give its customers superior Sweet Sundays products. The company’s founder is Jayson, a talented cake decorator, businessman, ice cream baker, and cake baker. As a Marylander by birth, Jason is familiar with the intended audience. The company has a better chance of surviving in a cutthroat environment thanks to the founder’s experience, business savvy, and zeal. Because the word “sweet” connotes sweetness and delectability, it is a brand name that would appeal to a broad audience. The company will have its headquarters within 100 radii of the owner’s home. For its customers, the business will manufacture high-end products wholesale and retail, including baked goods and ice creams. The company will sell pre-made goods made with local ingredients and confections made to order. The company will provide services like ice cream parlor goods for celebrations, vacations, parties, and decorating classes. Our ice cream parlor’s main offerings will be cupcakes, ice cream, and cookies. We will deal with other ice cream parlor products as the business develops, including cakes, queen cakes, black and white forests, and loaves of bread. As the firm progress, it will also offer services such as cake decorating classes wedding planners, country clubs, and catering services.
The company’s mission is to provide Maryland and a larger community with unique confectionery Ice-Cream products and services at competitive prices. We sell delectable treats in retail and wholesale markets and host workshops for treat design. Sweet Sunday’s ice cream shop aims to give its many patrons delicious desserts. We strongly emphasize our strategic position as a differentiator in the food and snack industries while focusing on premium products. The firm competes with firms such as Bluegrass ice cream bakery and Magee Ice cream bakery. Donuts, pastries, and freshly baked bread are the main focus of the Magee Ice Cream Bakery. They also have pot pies and sandwiches on the lunch menu. From Wednesday through Saturday, breakfast and lunch are available at Magee’s Bakery. In addition to curbside pickup or delivery, they also provide online ordering. The independent Bluegrass Bakery sells baked goods every morning. They serve a range of clients, selling artisan pastries and loaves of bread. The Bakery specializes in artisan pastries and European pieces of bread infused with magic. The Bakery, which started as a small business 28 years ago, is owned by Clement.
By the end of the second year of business, the company hopes to increase sales to one million. The company will create a SWOT matrix, marketing plan, operation plan, and financial plan to meet this goal. The firm management will perform a swot analysis to assess the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to determine the operating environment. Without understanding its strategic position and target market, a company cannot operate profitably or effectively; as a result, the company requires a marketing strategy to raise awareness of its goods and services. The marketing plan will entail market target and segmentation, industry trends, competitors, marketing strategies, and value propositions. The firm’s operational project will involve a production process, technical program, organizational goal, and corporate social responsibilities plan.
Company Overview
Company Background
Fast food, snacks, and beverage industries are expanding globally today, attracting many investors to this sector. Jason, as a result, established Sweet Sundays, a snack food company in Maryland, 100 miles from his home. The company’s founder has years of experience in the snacks industry and is a savvy businessperson. The company provides baked goods like cakes, services like cake decorating, and unique events like birthday celebrations to its clients on a retail and wholesale basis. Jayson chose the name Sweet Sundays for his Bakery to lure and attract more customers because it suggests sweetness and delicacy. Cupcakes, ice cream, and cookies will be our ice cream shop’s three main menu items. As the business expands, we will deal with additional ice cream parlor goods like cakes, queen cakes, black and white forests, and loaves of bread. As the business develops, it will provide extra services like catering, wedding planning, and cake decorating classes. The company aims to offer distinctive confectionery Ice-Cream goods and services in Maryland and the surrounding area at reasonable costs. We host workshops for treat design in addition to selling delicious treats in retail and wholesale markets. Sweet Sunday’s Ice Cream aims to provide its many customers with delectable desserts. The primary firm competitors are Bluegrass ice cream bakery and Magee Ice cream bakery.
Sweet Sundays Strategic Position
In Naderi, (2017) opinion, a positioning strategy entails selecting a distinct market segment that illustrates to all potential customers the business that might seek to serve them. Choosing a differentiating advantage detail how it will compare to all its competitors in the same segment. The firm will develop a strategic plan that will offer guidelines to help in efficient and effective service delivery. The first step should involve updating the organization’s mission, vision, and objective statements to more accurately reflect the company’s values and make them more marketable (Naderi,2017). For instance, the company’s image will focus on providing a range of snacks to accommodate its cultural diversity. The mission statement also needs to be updated to pursue the new vision. The market analysis will help evaluate sweet Sunday’s expansion viability by opening new stores.
A market analysis is necessary to determine whether expanding by opening a new store is viable. The project’s main element is the expansion plan which covers the marketing plan and several other crucial new business elements. The company will use produce advertising to promote marketing strategies to ensure that the product can successfully compete in the market. Another method the company will use is to give customers who make large purchases discounts. After assessing the production risks, we plan to implement strategies to guarantee a steady flow of customers. Positioning will aid in functional, symbolic, and experimental ways to keep the business competitive.
Sweet Sunday’s distribution channels
The firm needs to identify distribution channels to ensure a flow of product distribution to its customers efficiently and effectively. The distribution channels will aid in providing Sweet Sundays products to the market at all times. Wholesalers buy in large quantities to resell to other customers; as a result, they would aid in spreading Sweet Sunday’s market throughout Maryland (Ozturk & Tereyagoglu,2022). The cost of shipping wholesale goods to wholesale locations is in the product’s price. Wholesalers can sell to retailers to reach consumers with their products. The customer can choose to pick up the retail items in person or, for a small fee, have them delivered. Customers can access our products and services directly from our Maryland Center shop. The diagram below displays the discussed distribution channels.
Sweet Sundays Matrix
Strength
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Weakness
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Opportunities
The firm has a chance to advance its marketing strategies to create brand awareness and increase sales.
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Threats
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Marketing Plan
Market Trends
A company must assess the current market trends to operate profitably and satisfy customer needs. Due to shifting economic and social patterns, rising snack, ice cream, and beverage spending increased awareness of healthy foods, changes in meal schedules and eating habits, and a desire to try new foods, bakery products are experiencing a fascinating trend. One of the world’s biggest markets for convenience foods is the US (Patrick,2019). These busy lifestyles lead to increased on-the-go snacking, particularly among the working population, teenagers, hostel residents, and bachelors. Snack products are growing in popularity because they are simple to consume and come in disposable packaging that keeps the snacks clean so they can continue functioning. Due to the popularity of some of the snacks this company sells in Maryland, one of the US states, Sweet Sunday has a good chance of becoming a significant business.
Market Segmentation
Sweet Sunday should decide which market is best for its products. For the company’s marketing strategies, determining the target market is essential. Sweet Sunday’s market segmentation will aid in determining its target market. The company will be able to determine its market using market segmentation. Sweet Sundays may determine its market target based on demographic, psychographic, and lifestyle factors (Samkova et al.,2019). Age and gender are crucial in determining the market for the company based on demographic segmentation factors. As they prefer junk and fast food compared to those over 35, the marketing team for Sweet Sundays will concentrate on 12 to 35 years of age. Dealing with women would increase sales for the company because, compared to men, most women prefer fast food and snacks (Wojciechowska-Solis,2020). For more accurate targeting than before, it would be necessary to determine the target market’s demographics. For instance, families may visit a bakery to purchase rolls and slices of bread, while younger clients may order pastries. Tier cakes may be requested for birthdays and other special occasions by high-income households. Location and the competitive environment would affect the product mix and pricing strategy.
The company’s marketing division will categorize its customers into groups based on aspects of their lifestyles, worldviews, and values that are likely to affect their purchasing decisions (Kumar et al.,2021). The psychographic method determines the reasons behind behavior rather than just observing it. Psychographics and demographic segmentation go hand in hand. Women, for example, enjoy eating treats like ice cream and cupcakes.
| Demographic profile | Psychographic Profile |
| Gender | 70% of Females enjoy snacks and junk foods such as cupcakes and ice-creams |
| Age group | People below 35 years enjoy taking fast foods and snack foods. |
| Couples | They regularly visit Sweet Sunday Bakers to buy snacks for their kids if they have any. |
| Household earnings above $100k | Tier cakes may be requested for birthdays and other special occasions by affluent households. |
| City dwellers | loves to go out with girlfriends and buys their partners snacks. |
Market Competition
Just like any other firm, sweet Sundays are subject to competition from other bakeries. The primary firm competitors will be Bluegrass and Magee ice cream bakeries located near Maryland, where it operates. The Magee Ice Cream Bakery specializes in donuts, pastries, and freshly baked bread. On the lunch menu, there are also sandwiches and pot pies. Magee’s Bakery serves breakfast and lunch from Wednesday through Saturday. They offer online ordering in addition to curbside pickup or delivery. Every morning, baked goods are for sale at the independent Bluegrass Bakery. They sell artisan bread and pastries to a variety of customers. The Bakery specializes in magically infused European slices of bread and artisan pastries. Clement is the owner of the Bakery, which he founded 28 years ago as a side venture.
Marketing Strategy
Sweet Sundays, a new company, must establish persuasive marketing techniques that would help them attract more customers. After the target market analysis, the Bakery is ready to take on new challenges and outperform its competitors. One must take a risk to be entrepreneurial. Sweet Sunday must make reasonable investments in both sales and marketing if it hopes to reach a million sales (Palulun et al.,2021). Promotions will be handled by the division in charge of sales and marketing. Utilizing social media platforms would help customers remember company information. The marketing department may run product campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook and Pinterest to increase brand awareness. Social media is always helpful for establishing direct contact with customers (Ratnadianti et al.,2020). Additionally, production consistency is crucial to avoid some products’ structural and flavor variations. This is noted during the premium production of Sweet Sunday. Direct delivery of goods from the company effectively discourages customers from using alternative options.
Operational Plan
Sweet Sundays will be located in Maryland,100 radii from the founders’ homes. Being a new firm, the management will lease a building where all operations will be carried out. The firm management will lease a 3000 square foot room in Maryland where they will be paying a rent of 1500 dollars per month. The rented room will be furnished and decorated to appear like a bakery. To furnish this room will cost 1000 dollars. The furnishing of the room will involve purchasing all equipment that is essential for production. To help the business increase online sales, all of Sweet Sunday’s products are tested on this website, and customer feedback is tracked in real time. Customers will use in-store touch displays to place orders for mixes online.
Because he cannot perform all duties and tasks alone, the bakery owner must employ a variety of people to help increase productivity and efficiency in producing goods and services. Personnel from the sales force, manufacturers, caterers, customer service, project managers, procurement officers, suppliers, and accountants will all be employed by the human resources department, each with a specific role to play. The company will pay these employees 35,000 dollars.
Technological Plan
The success of the Bakery—or any company—in the modern, quickly evolving business environment depends on its capacity to boost profits, cut costs, and boost efficiency by implementing cutting-edge technology. Technology has so far altered how innovative businesses function. Organizations of all sizes use technologies like software, hardware, servers, and artificial intelligence to make their jobs easier (AI) (Ahsan,2019). These assets might provide them with the crucial competitive advantage many businesses seek. Therefore, technological advancement is necessary for Sweet Sundays to reach its sales targets. To help reduce the amount of manual labor, the Bakery will need to invest in various hardware, such as computers, monitors, and desktops. Technology use encourages creativity. In its endeavors, the company will use cutting-edge technology. For instance, the business will evaluate blending, graphic design, and packing using computer programs instead of manual labor. The company sells presentation software and tools for engraving names on beverage bottles.
Additionally, Sweet Sundays will work on two PCs to produce and keep track of organizational data. The company will run its business operations more efficiently by implementing accounting programming, inventory control, and a database system (Hui et al.,2008). The Bakery will open an online store where customers can place orders and deliver items to their preferred locations to boost sales. The Bakery will bug technology like phones, the Internet, fax machines, and mobile phones because technology has simplified communication methods. The implementation of the technology plan will cost 3000 dollars.
Management and Organization plan
According to Fredrick Taylor, failing to practice management within the organization will fail because there is no central authority to provide direction or order, and each employee must rely on their instructions. To enhance the efficient operation of the Bakery, Sweet Sundays needs a management and organizational plan outlining their positions and roles within the company. Sweets Sunday wouldn’t sell a million copies the following year if nothing if there is no planning (Garina et al.,2019). To have a sound management strategy, Sweet Sundays will hire key personnel such as the CEO, project manager, human resource manager, and caterers. The CEO will oversee the company’s growth, so they must act as a mediator, liaison, leader, communicator, and authority figure. To realize that concept, internal and external stakeholders must work together to define it and establish a process. A thorough project plan, determining the project’s scope, setting and managing customer expectations, and assigning team members to specific tasks are all a part of this process (Torppa., & Smith,2011). Consultants who offer strategy, marketing, and financial advice will provide consultancy services to Sweet Sundays.
Sweet Sunday’s Social Responsibilities
The company will consider its stakeholders’ priorities and interests as it develops this plan. The company’s management will know the link between CSR strategy and moral conduct. The organization has a variety of methods for addressing social and moral issues. The business should include components in its ethics and CSR strategy that will allow it to address several moral and social responsibility issues at once (Brin & Nehme,2019). Employees are most likely a company’s most important asset. In other words, the entire business suffers if something makes it difficult for the employees to perform. If a financial manager wants to produce a superior product quickly and effectively, they should ensure their workspace is safe and interesting. A business can reduce costly legal fees, employee accidents, and downtime. Getting involved with after-school programs, homeless shelters, and charities that assist veterans and the less fortunate will be the first thing Sweet Sundays does (Lindgreen & Swaen,2010). Therefore, the business will continue to support ecotourism and collaborate with suppliers supporting our objectives for corporate social responsibility and business.
References
Ahsan, S. M. (2019). Market Development Strategy of a Technology-Based Bakery: A Study on TechnoMagic.
Bragg, M. A., Pageot, Y. K., Amico, A., Miller, A. N., Gasbarre, A., Rummo, P. E., & Elbel, B. (2020). Fast food, beverage, and snack brands on social media in the United States: An examination of marketing techniques utilized in 2000 brand posts. Pediatric obesity, 15(5), e12606.
Brin, P. V., & Nehme, M. N. (2019). Corporate social responsibility: analysis of theories and models.
Garina, E. P., Romanovskaya, E. V., Andryashina, N. S., Kuznetsov, V. P., & Shpilevskaya, E. V. (2019, May). Organizational and economic foundations of the management of the investment programs at the stage of their implementation. In Institute of Scientific Communications Conference (pp. 163-169). Springer, Cham.
Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT ANALYSIS: A THEORETICAL REVIEW Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi the Journal of International Social Research.
Hui, Y. H., Corke, H., De Leyn, I., Nip, W. K., & Cross, N. A. (Eds.). (2008). Bakery products: science and technology. John Wiley & Sons.
Kumar, R., Chambers IV, E., Chambers, D. H., & Lee, J. (2021). Generating new snack texture ideas using sensory and consumer research tools: A case study of the Japanese and South Korean snack food markets. Foods, 10(2), 474.
Lindgreen, A., & Swaen, V. (2010). Corporate social responsibility. International journal of management reviews, 12(1), 1-7.
Naderi, R. (2019). Creating a Product Development and Launch Plan for a Snack Food Company (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Northridge).
Ozturk, O. C., & Tereyagoglu, N. (2022). Distribution Channel Relationships in the Presence of Multimarket Contact. Production and Operations Management, 31(1), 218-238.
Palulun, Y., Luhsasi, D. I., & Sitorus, D. S. (2021). Analysis of Readiness to Use Target Costing Method in Production Cost Efficiency Efforts at Risha Bakery. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal), 6385-6395.
Patrick L. 2019. 47 Snack Food Industry Trends and Consumption Statistics. Foodtruck Empire. https://foodtruckempire.com/news/snack-food-industry/
Ratnadianti, A., Fahmi, I., & Hannan, S. (2020). Digital marketing strategy of small and medium enterprises for snack in Bogor city. Jurnal Manajemen & Agribisnis, 17(1), 74-74.
Samkova, E., Hasonova, L., Kadlec, J., Smetana, P., & Kala, R. (2019). Young consumer preferences of basic food products depending on age and gender. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 20(2), 741-747.
Torppa, C. B., & Smith, K. L. (2011). Organizational change management: A test of the effectiveness of a communication plan. Communication Research Reports, 28(1), 62-73.
Wojciechowska-Solis, J., & Smiglak-Krajewska, M. (2020). Consumer education and food waste: An example of the bakery market-the case of young consumer.
Appendix
| Employee | Salary ($) | Role |
| Caterers | 6000 | They will oversee baking. |
| Manufacturers | 4000 | They will manufacture and label all products. |
| Suppliers | 20000 | They will help in supplying the bakery with the raw materials. |
| Marketer and Sales Force | 5000 | Promotes a company’s products and services. They develop tactics to improve sales and revenue while keeping customer and market needs in mind. |
| ICT manager | 2000 | I will help in creating the Bakery’s website and social media platforms and post all relevant information concerning the Bakery. |
| Customer Care | 500 | I will be answering all inquiries from the customers, picking orders, and handling customers’ complaints. |
| Procurement officer | 2500 | Procurement Officers oversee evaluating products, services, and suppliers, as well as negotiating contracts. |
| Project Manager | 6000 | Controlling all activities within the Bakery. |
| Accountant | 4000 | Accountants will oversee all financial planning, reconciliation, and verification of financial records. |
Figure 1: Employees roles and wages
| Item | Quantities | Costs per machine | Total Costs |
| Mixing equipment | 2 | $ 8000 | $ 16000 |
| Refrigerators | 3 | $ 4000 | $ 12000 |
| Burners | 4 | $ 3000 | $ 12000 |
| Ovens | 5 | $ 4500 | $22500 |
| Baking and drying machines | 2 | $ 5500 | $ 11000 |
| Utensils | $10000 | $10000 | |
| Tables | 5 | $2000 | $10000 |
| Ice cream bar | 2 | $3400 | $ 6800 |
| Snacks Extruded and Co-Extruded | 1 | $1800 | $ 1800 |
Figure 2:Items need for production
