Summary

Discuss about statement of Need and project Description?

This is an essay that will be written in the form of a business proposal. This will be a plan on starting a new bakery in the Business Improvement Area of Washington DC. This report will reflect our understanding on various subjects of management as it will discuss all the details an entrepreneur needs to focus on while starting a new business. It will highlight the financial requirement so as to attract investors. It will also highlight the USP of the enterprise so that the company can attract the target customers in good numbers. The proposal will exhibit the understanding of the marketing related topics such as segmentation, pricing, targeting, etc.

Sweet Tooth will be a startup bakery and dessert bar. We are planning to locate the store in the Washington DC since it would be a strategic location given the number of tourists visits Washington DC every year. We have chosen to open up the store in the Business Improvement District of DC as it provides tax incentives and also have great traffic because of MCI center (Asghar & Abbas, 2012). Also, BID is expected to grow as new businesses will open up here in the coming years which will boost the footfalls in our bakery in future. Because of this we can plan for aggressive marketing to increase the sales by 40% by the second year of the business. Since Washington DC has been reported as the national leader where people spend huge amount of money in eating out and bakery products, thus this will be an optimum location for our store. The main concept of our store will be to create a restaurant as an experience by letting the customers watch their desserts being made right in front of their eyes. We will position ourselves as a quick service restaurant where people can be seated at the bar, view their desserts being prepared, pay and leave without having to wait for long duration for their food to come. This would be the unique selling proposition for our store (‘Bar in Questionnaires’, 2013). We will try to maintain the feel of an old fashioned restaurant while bringing in this new concept to titillate the local customers as well as to serve the tourists with utmost zeal. The company can plan to boost its sales by 70% within three years of its establishment, considering the location advantage, future prospects, and lifestyle habits of the local consumers.

Statement of Need

Since we will be a management graduate, we must know how to start a company and run it. Development of this plan will help us to understand how to create a new business, develop appropriate strategies to run the company, effectively market the company at least costs and to adopt promotional strategies which can improve the footfall in the bakery while boosting the sales therefore generating enormous profits (Børresen, 2013). This business proposal will require us to put all our theoretical knowledge on management to practice. In this plan, we also need to identify how many people will by store require, how we can procure skilled workforce, maintain them. It will describe on how can we connect with our consumers and fulfill their needs and demands. Thus in a nutshell it can be said that this proposal will help us to polish our entrepreneurial skills.

This report will have a brief detail about all the aspects of the business. By opening this store, we will be able to create employment opportunity for ourselves and other too (Chang, 2014). The local consumers can enjoy the delicacies at a reasonable rate while having a restaurant as an experience. Since the store will be a start up, it will have little impact on the economy. But it will contribute towards the expansion of the BID area, and also we aim to become a popular tourist’s destination that surely have the little impact on its way.

This project was necessary so that we can put theory into practice and learn from our mistakes so that we are fully prepared to face the challenges in the real work setting. Thus, now we will discuss the mission of our company.

The mission of the Sweet Tooth Bakery would be to offer the best quality desserts in a very appealing and comforting ambiance to consumers who search for fun gourmet experiences without visiting the restaurants (Danes, Craft, Jang & Lee, 2012). The company plans to generate desired amount of profits so that it can provide reasonable return to the investors and to be committed towards the continual growth and development of the business and continuously improving the quality of the products. We also aim to sustain a fair, friendly and a consistent work environment which will encourage creativity, welcome new and innovative ideas, and respects and balances diversity and motivate the people to reach their potential to achieve the organizational objectives.

Project Description

The key to success for our business would be our commitment to using the finest quality ingredients in all our products and providing superior customer service so that they become loyal and long-term customers for us (‘Dessert Dilemma’, 2014). Our commitment to became a learning organization and encourage employee education program so that we can add a new touch to our products now and then. Adopting recognition programs would also help us to retain the talented employee as the success of the bakery is highly dependent on their skills and innovative ideas as they have the potential to keep the customer interested and satisfied. To succeed in our endeavor, we also need to give also need to give back to the society that helps us to create goodwill in the market (‘Using Wheat Futures to Stabilize the Cost of Raw Material in Bakery Sector’, 2012). We will provide employment opportunities that will in turn, improve the standard of living of the local people.

Sweet Tooth will be located in Business Improvement Area of Washington DC, which will be based on the concept of the dessert bar. The USP of the bakery would be that the consumers will able to see their desserts being made in front of them in a very artistic way. This will be a sole proprietorship firm that will require funds from investors (Fischer, 2015). The startup cost for this project would be $320,000. That will be exhausted on the furnishing and construction of the outlet, equipment for the kitchen, the initial investment on start-up inventory and other miscellaneous expenses that will be incurred while setting up the new store.

Description of our products and services- The Sweet Tooth will offer gourmet desserts that will be combined with superior customer service and all efforts will be directed towards creating a rich experience for the customers while they are in the store (‘How to get the most dough from a bakery’, 2006). They will enjoy the facility of dining in while watching their desserts being prepared. We will also take orders for special cakes for every kind of celebrations.

We also plan to offer baking classes by our senior most chefs to our customers at very reasonable rates. This way, we can be transparent on the use of fine ingredients in our products. We will run special promotional campaigns that will target the mothers and encourage them to get their kids to our store help them in preparing milk cookies. This way, they will get to spend some fun time with their kids in the most creative way (Lee, Moon, Cho, Kang & Jeong, 2014). Another way we are planning promote our stores is by pre-booking large tables for special celebrations and giving a complimentary cake to our guests on bookings for tables for birthday or anniversary celebrations.

Market Analysis

All this efforts are guided by our mission to attain loyalty and create long-term relationship with our customers while providing them with best of our services.

Market Analysis- The bakery will target the local market of DC while targeting to attract the customers of ice cream and restaurant (Smith, 2014). Washington will be a strategic location for us as the local people spend a lot of money on eating out as compared to other parts of the country. We have divided our consumer into four main segments namely, gourmet wannabes (they look out for new experiences and experiment with food, they will easily sign up for the classes and they would love to see the preparation of their desserts), celebrators (these are those people who celebrate all the special occasions and would have a gathering with their family and friends), comfort seekers (they are driven by success and comfort yet they need comfortable atmosphere to relax and enjoy the feel of homemade food) and soccer mothers (to attract the families at our store). We have created this division based on their similar consumer behavior, and this will help us to cater to their diverse need in a better way (Paris, 2015).

Our competitors would include all the restaurants that offer desserts, ice cream parlors, coffee and donut shops, supermarkets that offer frozen desserts and full-time traditional bakeries. Since we will operate in a competitive market, we will try to gain an edge by highlighting out USP (Pearce, 2012). The consumers who eat regular ice cream scoops at five dollars would not mind shelling out little extra to have quality dessert in a welcoming ambiance. We need to present our products in an innovative way to attract the customers and encourage them to spend on our products that are coupled with excellent customer service and warm environment.

We will further plan to reinvest the profits into the expansion of the organization by opening up new outlets each year for the next five years (Tebben, 2015). We need to scout and develop partnerships with best chefs so that even they can invest money while bringing in their knowledge and talent within the organizations.

Conclusion

Thus, the business “Sweet Tooth” aims to become profitable during the first year of its establishment considering the spending power and eating habits of the local people. We seek to improve the profitability of the firm to provide desirable returns to our investors. We also seek to develop strong brand loyalty among our customers while offering them a wide range of services and best quality products. We are also committed towards the growth of our employees as they will be assets for the company. We will have internal promotion system and increase the accountability and responsibility of each of them so that they are satisfied with their job.

References

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Lee, D., Moon, J., Cho, J., Kang, H., & Jeong, J. (2014). From corporate social responsibility to creating shared value with suppliers through mutual firm foundation in the Korean bakery industry: a case study of the SPC Group. Asia Pacific Business Review, 20(3), 461-483. doi:10.1080/13602381.2014.929301

Paris, H. (2015). Origin and emergence of the sweet dessert watermelon, Citrullus lanatus. Ann Bot,116(2), 133-148. doi:10.1093/aob/mcv077

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