Case Study Of The Coffee Warehouse

The specialty coffee industry had seen steady growth for years and the trend was expected to continue until at least 2015. Of the various segments within the specialty coffee industry, most of the growth was attributable to beverage retailers “Coffee and kiosks”. In 1979 there were approximately 250 specialty coffee retailers. The number quadrupled by 1989 to approx 1000 outlets, and it exploded to roughly 15000 by 2002. Nationally, specialty coffee sales totaled over $ 10 billion in 2005.

While the leading drinks in 2004 were espresso-based beverages with sales averaging $50,395 per store, drip-brewed coffee beverages – which Expresso Espresso does not offer – came in second at $33,336 per store. It is understandable that Todd insists on providing quality products, but refusing to add drip-coffee beverages to his menu is the equivalent of refusing to cater to his customers’ needs. Unlike any of the local competitors, Expresso Espresso and the eventual Starbucks are the only Mobile coffee shops that offer a drive-through service. The drive-through contributes to 40 percent of Expresso Espresso’s total revenues, so needless to say, it’s a very important contributor to the business. If Todd hopes to stand a chance against Starbucks, his biggest competition, he will need to add drip-coffee beverages to his menu. Otherwise, it will be just as easy for a customer to drive off 400 feet east to Starbucks and request a drip coffee there instead.

With 11,000 plus coffeehouses worldwide, it is evident that their strategy of being passionate about their customer relation and their devotion to delivering a quality product goes beyond culture and language.

Portola Coffee Lab first started as a Portola Handcrafted Coffee Roasters in Irvine in 2009 by Jeff Duggan. Jeff and his wife created Portola Coffee Lab in 2011 with the goal of creating 100% single-cup craft brew coffeehouse designed and constructed as a nod to craft, quality, and freshness. There are four locations currently operates in Costa Mesa, Tustin, Santa Ana, and Old Towne Orange, while Huntington Beach and Mission Viejo are under constructions.

Kathy Kudler has shown to be a strong business woman in the face of the gourmet grocer industry. To maintain that reputation Kathy has decided to expand services by both location and offerings. Kathy has researched the growing gourmet grocer market and has found a need in Canada. By researching the market Kathy found the one key product lacking is gourmet coffee. Ms. Kudler as well as other stakeholders of Kudler Fine Foods must enlist the marketing department for the expansion to Canada with new gourmet coffee product to be successful. The marketing department will show the market needs, product description, growth potential and competition in

Because of their substantial growth over two decades, they have spent a considerable amount of time defending their image. Their “clustering” strategy put many small coffee shops out of business and many consumers began to wonder if there really was a need

In the inventories section, they are directed at the lower of cost (primarily moving average cost) or market. Starbucks records inventory reserves for obsolete and slow-moving inventory and for estimated shrinkage between physical inventory counts. According to trends, inventory reserves are based on inventory obsolescence, historical experience and application of the specific identification method. As of September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, inventory reserves were $33.8 million and $31.2 million, respectively. We see that the carrying amount (lower of cost or market) as of the balance sheet date of inventories less all valuation and other allowances. Excludes noncurrent inventory balances (expected to remain on hand past one year or one operating cycle, if longer).

By 2003, the number of retail specialty coffee shops, cafes, kiosks, coffee carts, and roasters in the United States reached over 17,000, equating to nearly $9 billion in sales. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, 16 percent of adults in the United States drink coffee from one of these specialty outlets daily. (“Organo Gold”, 2008).

In conclusion, the Broadway Café faces a strong buying power and rivalry among competitors due to the large volume of shops offering the same products and services. The threat of new substitute products and alternatives is also high for the same reasons for buyer power. The Café also faces the threat of new entrants due to the lack of insignificant entry barriers. One upside is the relatively weak supplier power. The coffee industry is huge as stated above and vendors are more than ample. With this information we can conceive our business focus. The Broadway Café is best suit for a focused differentiation strategy. We plan to achieve

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

The next exhibits show payroll structure and income volume per location in 2002 and product mix for North American company-operated stores. Exhibit 6 shows US retail coffee market predictions till 2005 years. It clearly shows changing in Americans’ coffee drinking style into specialty coffee. It is very important for Starbucks because company’s main market is specialty coffee. Next of the exhibits, shows positive customer snapshot scores for North America stores. Those snapshots suggest further company’s success. The only issue we can find is the product quality. According to the exhibit product quality went down during 3rd quarter of 2002.

Starbucks dates back from 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded by Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl and it

Starbucks first opened its doors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market with the name being coined from that of Moby Dick’s first mate (Schultz & Yang 1999). It has spread its shops across North America, all over Europe, the Middle East, Latin America as well as the Pacific Rim with an estimated 35 million customer weekly (Michelli, 2008). With tremendous growth from a small time coffee shop, the company has matured to an international icon that today it is one of the world’s leading retailer, roaster and brand specialty coffee (Story, 1971). The company offers whole bean coffees, espresso beverages, and confectionery and bakery items.

Starbucks inbound logistics comprises of the firm’s quality control specialist in selecting top-quality Arabia coffee beans from suppliers that maintain a sustainable approach. Starbucks supports ethical sourcing by operating “responsible purchasing practices, farmer support…” (Starbucks, 2016) also corporate social responsibility (CSR). Additionally, their tactic is utilizing the “Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices” (Starbucks, 2016), wherein this approach is the first set of sustainability benchmarks in the coffee industry and is certified by third-party logistics professionals. The C.A.F.E. Practices has assisted Starbucks in relation to generating a “long-term supply of high-quality coffee” (Starbucks, 2016) and influencing the lives of the farmers and their communities. Furthermore, Starbucks utilizes economies of scales in their inbound logistics activities by developing outstanding supply chain procedures by using C.A.F.E. and also includes collaborating internationally with managers discussing strategic alliances through suppliers for their products. Starbucks have recently

Starbucks then reorganized their supply chain – developing new cost-effective models, relooking into suppliers and reconsidering expenditures by ingredient instead of purchase price (Cooke, 2010). The supply chain was streamlined into 4 categories: Plan, Source, Make and Deliver, adopting a simplified system where coffee beans were manufactured in the same region where they are sold (Starbucks, 2012b, November 30). This was modeled by existing