Description of the Company
Sweet Sundays is an upcoming ice cream and bakery firm that will be situated in southern Maryland, and its main focus is to provide good and sweet Sunday products to its customers. Jayson, a skilled baker, ice cream maker, cake decorator, educator, and businessman, founded the company. Jayson is a native of Maryland and has firsthand knowledge of the target market. The founder’s experience, business savvy, interpersonal relationships, and enthusiasm underpin the company’s competitiveness. The company name means sweetness and delicious, and it would be a technique to attract more customers to shop. The firm will be operating around 100 radii near its home. It will produce premium ice creams and baked goods for its customers’ retail and wholesale markets. The firm will not only deal with made-order confections but also sell pre-made products using local ingredients. The business will also offer services such as bakery products for birthdays, vacations, decorating classes, and parties. The main product for our bakery will be cupcakes, ice cream and cookies. As the business progresses will deal with other bakery products such as cakes, queen cakes, black and white forests, and loaves of bread.
The retail portion of the enterprise will service walk-in clients Monday through Saturday from 8 am until 7 pm. The goods offered at retail services include cupcakes, queen cakes, cookies, and beverages such as milkshakes, ice creams, fruit juices, and fresh milk. All these products are made on either made-to-order or pre-order. Our retail location will host decorating classes in addition to offering high-quality products. The wholesale customer services provide cakes, cupcakes, pies, beverages, and seasonal services such as wedding planners, country clubs, and catering services
Company Mission Statement
By selling delicious treats in retail and wholesale markets and holding treat design workshops, our goal is to offer Maryland and the larger community distinctive confectionery bakery services and goods. Sweet Sunday’s bakery is committed to providing high-quality desserts to many customers. Our primary focus is on premium products, and we pay close attention to our strategic position as a differentiator in the food and snack industries. Our products are expensive because they are made with premium ingredients, have exceptional flavor and taste, have a distinct design, and provide excellent customer service. We maintain a welcoming, innovative, and fair work environment that values diversity, hard work, and new ideas. We want to make money so that we can expand into neighboring communities and give our investors a reasonable return on their investment.
Industry Trends
Trends are essential components that aid in forming culture because they instruct people on how to behave and what is in style at a given time. Food and snacks are one of the most fascinating trends. Convenience food demand is rapidly increasing globally as a result of changing economic and social patterns, rising snacks, ice cream and beverage spending, augmented awareness of healthy foods, variations in meal schedules and eating habits, and a desire to try new foods (Naderi, 2019). The US is one of the world’s largest markets for convenience foods. Because of their hectic lifestyles, on-the-go snacking is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among the working population, teenagers, hostel dwellers, and bachelors.
Additionally, the concept of on-the-go snacking is closely linked to products that are simple to use, consume, and handle, such as frozen snacks, piquant snacks, confection snacks, bakery snacks, and other snacks (Naderi,2019). As a result, the popularity of snack products is rising due to the convenience of consumption and the availability of disposable packaging, which keeps the snacks clean so that they can continue to function. Since Maryland is one of the US states where people love some of the snacks this company offers, Sweet Sunday has a good chance of growing to be a significant business.
The Strategic Position of the Company
The business is making a lot of effort to increase sales while providing customers with high-quality products and services. Without a strategic plan, which would offer a framework to serve as a guideline on how they should ensure effective service delivery within the firm, this would not be possible. The first step is to revise the organization’s mission, vision, and objective statements to reflect the company’s values and make them more relevant and marketable. The company’s vision will centre on providing various snacks to accommodate its clientele’s cultural diversity. To pursue the new vision, the mission statement must also be revised.
A market analysis is necessary to ascertain the viability of expansion by opening a new store. The project’s main component is the expansion strategy. This will involve the marketing plan and several other crucial elements relating to the new business. To ensure that the produce competes effectively in the market, the company will promote marketing strategies through produce advertising. Another strategy the company will use is to offer discounts to customers who buy in bulk. After assessing production risks, we intend to implement strategies to ensure a continuous customer flow. To ensure the company is competitive, functional, symbolic, and experimental positioning will be used.
The company’s distribution channels
The firm will establish distribution channels to deliver customers effective and efficient products and services. The firm can use wholesalers and distributors as one of its distribution channels. These channels will be more useful in aiding the availability of products in markets located in various positions. Wholesalers purchases well in bulk to go and sell to other clients; thus, they would help make sweet Sunday’s market spread across Maryland. The fee for delivering wholesale products to wholesale locations is included in the product pricing. The wholesalers can also sell to retailers to deliver the products to the consumers (Ozturk & Tereyagoglu, 2022). The retail products can be picked up by the customer at the retail location or delivered for a small fee. Additionally, consumers can directly access our products and services from our shop at the Maryland centre. The diagram below depicts the distribution channels that have been discussed.
Channel 1: Producer Consumers
Channel 2: Producer Retailers Consumers
Channel 3: Producer Wholesalers Retailers
Channel 4: Producer Wholesalers Retailers Consumers
Marketing strategies
Being a new firm, sweet Sundays needs to establish a suitable marketing strategy that would make it attract more customers and increase sales. The firm can consider using networking and the Internet as marketing strategies. The Internet aids in the sale of products to markets other than the companies (Bragg et al., 2020). Because the company is working to ensure a successful expansion within the first two years, using the Internet will aid in making products known in various markets. It will also aid the company’s entry into the global market and promote online sales of goods.
Additionally, the firm can consider the use of direct sales. For starters, because the company is new to the market, this channel will be more relevant. Salespeople will be responsible for two tasks: promotion and marketing. Their efforts will be significant because they will assist the company in winning the local market. The other channel will be the consultant. This channel will aid in the enhancement of product quality. It will also aid in determining current market demand for a smooth supply (Bragg et al., 2020). The company will collaborate closely with retailers who are always attentive to their customers. The firm will be able to recognize its strengths and weaknesses through retailers, which will aid in the promotion of growth. Successfully integrating various channels will ensure the company’s secure growth and development.
Sweets Sundays SWOT Analysis
| Strengths
1. The firm has a strong brand name that would easily attract customers. 2. Customer service is useful because the human resource department has experienced personnel (Gürel & Tat 2017). This is a strength because it will help the company gain more customers while keeping the ones it already has. 3. Excellent distribution channel 4. Personal care professional with prior experience |
Weaknesses
1. One of the company’s main weaknesses is its reliance on local suppliers. Because our products are local, they have yet to be sold globally, resulting in the firm’s limited sales. Furthermore, the firm has no branches, even in the local areas, so there will be fewer clients, resulting in a low-profit margin. 2. Another issue is funding. Sweet Sundays have a limited range of financing activities because some financial institutions may refuse to grant them funds to fund their businesses. Due to its lack of credibility, the firm may struggle to obtain funds (Gürel & Tat 2017). 3. When raw materials are scarce, high production is hampered. The company relies heavily on local suppliers, who sometimes fail to meet the requirements. |
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| Opportunities
1. The availability of local and international markets is one of the possibilities. Currently, there is a high demand for snacks and readily available food in Maryland and around the US, so the company may open additional branches in Maryland and elsewhere. 2. Effective and efficient advertising methods can assist the enterprise in increasing sales and success by raising client awareness of the firm’s new product and service offerings. 3. The corporation has the potential to use cutting-edge technology in its manufacturing snacks and beverages, which would help to reduce production costs, allowing the company to offer products and services at lower prices, attracting more customers. |
Threats
1. The firm faces stiff competition from the existing snacks industry, making it difficult to gain a competitive advantage. 2. Harsh government regulations that the firm may not be able to adhere to. 3. Another risk is a short supply chain. This restricts the company’s ability to reach a large number of customers. |
References
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.
Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT ANALYSIS: A THEORETICAL REVIEW Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi the Journal of International Social Research.
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.
