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Strategic Planning |
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The Owner: In order to become an entrepreneur in the food industry, Amy Scherber enrolled herself at New York Restaurant School to learn various culinary expertises. During this time, Amy also worked at Bouley Restaurant as a line and pastry cook; this hands-on training allowed her to become accustomed to the food service business. Before opening Amy’s Bread, Amy also went into three intensive training in France as well as in Mondrian Restaurant in New York; these trainings allowed her to learn more about making breads. After these experiences, Amy eventually opened her own bakery in 1992. Her preparation in becoming an entrepreneur generally involves education and sufficient training (“Amy’s Biography”, 2006). The Products: Low-cost breads are typically products that are made by machines; these products are cheaper since they can be produced in greater numbers at a short span of time. However, the products of Amy’s Bread are all made from scratch and by hand. The entrepreneur and the rest of her staff believe that better breads come out of manual bread making since the good texture of the dough is maintained. Moreover, bread making by hand helps in keeping the good flavors of the product. Amy’s Bread are also different from other similar products because of the ingredients used for their production. Whole grains and unbleached flour are the main components of their bread dough; health-conscious consumers also find Amy’s products better than any brands as most of their breads are low or free from fat (“Location in Manhattan”, 2006). The Media: Several publications had made positive reviews about Amy’s Bread, its products and services. An article in Sante (2003) noted that one of the distinguishing features of Amy’s products is its treatment of bread as works of art. Indeed, non-artisan breads are cheaper than their artisan counterparts, however, Amy’s Bread offers flavors and nutrition, making the higher price worth it. A an article from Delta Sky (2003) noted that the goodness of artisan breads, such as those made by Amy Scherber come from the goodness of the ingredients used as well as the creativity of their makers. Most importantly, the entrepreneur’s constant passion for bread making and intent for making consumers happy are the best components of Amy’s Bread as compared to other bakeries. The Location: Amy’s Bread is found in three stores in New York. The first store, hell’s Kitchen, is found at Ninth Avenue in New York. The store’s environment features a kitchen-style feel, which makes consumers feel right at home. Hell’s Kitchen has a total of 12 seats and serves delicious breads from Mondays to Saturdays until eleven in the evening, and on Sundays until six. The second store location is found at the Chelsea Market. While Hell’s Kitchen is exhibits a cozy home-style service, the store at the Chelsea Market is more after consumers who are mostly on the go. The location is a lot busier than Hell’s Kitchen as several food stores, wine shops and florists are found in the area. Amy’s Bread at Chelsea Market also allows consumers to see its bakers at work as the walkway is lined with glass windows. The second store has 12 tables for dining consumers, making it a bigger place than Hell’s Kitchen. The Village at Bleecker Street in New York is the newest store of Amy’s Bread. The new store is more similar to Hell’s Kitchen as it mostly serves people who want to eat and relax. It also exhibits a cozy feel for customers. The Competition: Amy’s Bread actually has a number of competitors within Manhattan. For the bread category, Amy’s has around six major competitors, which include The Cleaver Company, Eleni’s Cookies, Night Bagels, Ruthy’s Cheesecakes, Grandma’s Recipe Rugelach and Sarabeth’s Bakery. Competition is great at the Chelsea Market since other food businesses are found in the area. These include Hale & Hearty Soups, The Lobster Place, Manhattan Fruit Exchange, Ronnybrook Farm Dairy and Buonitalia. These stores are considered competitors as they offer food products for main meals and snacks. Similar to Amy’s Bread, the competing stores also offer products that are good for gift-giving. The Customers: New York City, where Amy’s Bread stores are situated, is the largest city in the US. In 2002, the population of the entire city is around 22 million; 8 million of which lived in the city proper. It was even ranked as the fifth location in the world with the largest population. With this population size, busy pedestrian traffic is observed at all times. People living in the area are culturally diverse; hence, stores selling foreign goods are typical. The large amount of people in the area encouraged others to put up small businesses in the neighborhood; this makes it easier for shoppers to walk their way from one store to another. As a shopping hub in the US, tourists and local residents of the city are mostly found in malls and neighborhood stores. Moreover, most city dwellers live in apartments and condos as owning a house can be expensive; the people also prefer to live in areas near their work site (WikiTravel, 2006). With these features, consumers of the city are typically after ease in shopping. Apartment tenants prefer foods bought from stores as they are available and ready to eat. 1. Strategic alliance is a collaborative partnership between two or more organizations in order to achieve a common goal. This business strategy has a number of advantages. One of which is that it allows business to overcome threats of competition. In addition, strategic alliance helps businesses achieve certain goals as well as create sources of competitive advantages. This strategy also opens various opportunities for the companies and helps in controlling significant business risks. This strategy however has disadvantages as well. For instance, the success of this strategy is not assured especially. This happens if the companies lack accountability and trust. If poor governance between the companies is observed, the alliance is also subject to failure and great company losses (Wakeam, 2003). 2. It was ten years ago when Irwin Cohen bought the Chelsea Market and place over 20 retail and food related businesses. Businesses found in the area include wine shops, bakeries, flower shops and restaurants. 3. From the list of Chelsea tenants, Amy’s Bread would probably create a good alliance with restaurants found in the area as well as with gift shops. For restaurants, a strategic alliance is good since both are working in the food sector; it is then likely that their business objectives are similar. Joining together with another food company can help Amy’s Bread overcome other competitors. The company can also form a strategic alliance with gift stores like the flower shops since Amy’s Bread have similar target markets. Moreover, both shops can use their product brands to promote their goods and increase sales. 4. A grocery or ingredient food store may be a good alliance for Amy’s Bread. This will help the business in times of cooking emergencies or supplies. The grocery on the other hand, can benefit from the business as it will have access to regular and large retailers. 5. Tenants for small hotels or office buildings can be a good addition to the Chelsea Market. One advantage of adding these tenants is that it will be good for the retail and food companies to have regular customers from the new tenants. The tenants on the other hand can find it beneficial as it will be convenient for them to have retail and food stores nearby. As the site is good for dining and shopping, both old and suggested new tenants can benefit from each other as they operate at Chelsea Market. |
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