Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale specialty gourmet food company. Their goal is to provide every customer with the best food products from wines, domestic products, and fresh organic foods. Kathy the CEO of the company wants to expand their business by contracting with local growers so they can provide Kudler Fine Foods with the best available organic products out there. By being able to have a huge organic section in all three stores will increase the company’s operational efficiency and retail sales.
These changes will affect their supply chain with the local growers.This will also allow Kudler Fine Foods to develop a healthy relationship with the suppliers (local growers). They will be able to have better control over their quality and performance measures. They will be able to set quality standards and to provide good quality product to the customers that will allow them to increase their business and customer base. Kudler Fine Foods is in a position to be a competitive company against other similar companies that have not made the necessary changes to grow as a company.
Kudler Fine Foods objective will be to offer the best of organic products to the customer so they can build a loyal customer base and to be able to build a long and strong relationship with the local organic growers, but many changes within the company will affect the way they position themselves to move forward for the future (Apollo Group, 2004). Kudler Fine Foods as a company will take a major change when purchasing directly from the local growers. Kathy the CEO has all three-department managers managing their own inventory and purchasing what they need for their store.Their process now is to fill out purchase orders to be mail or faxed.
The managers order off inventory and customer requests. With the new changes, the managers will be able to have a better control through the local growers and it would be beneficial because they are able to purchase through local growers that would give them a better processing flow and a cost savings for the company. Kudler Fine Foods new inventory system would allow them to build a good sound business relationship with the local growers and give them a better inventory system from the local growers versus the other supplier, which can be unpredictable at times.With the local growers, there will be more stable inventory and purchasing power from the local growers that would be more consistence. With Kudler Fine Foods buying organic products from the local growers, they will be able to meet the demands from the customers and be able to provide fresh product to the customer. The old system Kudler Fine Foods was using, sometimes put them in a bad position to where they had perishable in the store too long and they spoiled.
Those signs where a negative look on the store when the customer came into purchase organic product.With the new system they can increase their chances to satisfy the customer on a visual stand point (Perception is reality). Kudler Fine Foods wants to make sure the customer is satisfied when they make a purchase. Currently Kudler Fine Foods operating system will not be able to meet the new changes the company is about to start. Their computer system, inventory tracking, purchasing, equipment training, communication, and quality control system will need to take a major shape up in the three stores.
Implementing the new changes to the process will allow the mangers to forecast better when purchasing product from the local growers throughout the year. They will be able to look a back historical data from the inventory tracking system. Their computer system will also be able to handle muti-tasking during operating hours and handle every responsibility’s during the day. Most important they will be able to view other store activities and be able to support each other during unexpected occurrences.Kudler Fine Foods will also need to develop a quality team that will be able to perform quality inspections with the local growers to insure the customer is purchasing quality product.
The team will need to work closely with government officials. The communication will need to improve from store to store and with upper management to ensure every associate who is a decision maker is on the same page. Kudler Fine Foods will also need to venture into some type of lean processing practice and implement the just-in-time system.The lean process procedure will help the stores from having wasted associate activities that are redundancies in the company.
It will also improve the training and give you different views on how to lower your labor cost. The just-in time system will enable the company to provide the customer with the organic product when the customer needs it. This system can also put the stores in a position if sales all of a sudden pick up during an unexpected week the stores may not be able to meet the customers demand (University of Phoenix, 2010).Conclusion With all these new changes, Kudler Fine Foods has committed to investing in new technology to ensure they put the company in a position for growth that will allow the company to compete and stay competitive in a consumer driven market. As Kudler Fine Foods transition into their company into a new organization change, they will need to take small steps to ensure the changes are streamline through out the three stores.
The changes will help the company to reach its goal for growth and success.
