First in Show Pet Food Case Analysis

If the company decided to sell the new product at price of D.Cr. 8.20, that means the full fixed expense of 1.20 is covered and the company will make high profit. However, the selling price of D.Cr. 8.20 is very high and under this price the company will sell the new product at a lower volume than what the company planned sale volume in the budget and that will affect the company in the market as a strong competitor in the food manufacturing. According to the case, the company sales volume drop to 30 tons when the product was sold at the price of D.Cr. 8.2. Thus, my recommendation are as follows:

Breakeven Analysis for Product Tylenol Approach 1 - Same price as Tylenol Approach 2a - Cheaper than Tylenol Approach 2b - Cheaper w/lowered trade cost $ $ $ $ Unit Cost (Variable Cost) 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 Trade Cost (Selling Price to Retailers) $ 1.69 $ 1.69 $ 1.05 $ 0.70 Fixed Cost (Advertising) 2,000,000 6,000,000 6,000,000 6,000,000 Break-Even Quantity [Fixed Cost/(Trade Cost-Unit Cost)] 1,834,862 5,504,587 13,333,333 60,000,000 Contribution Margin (Unit) 64% 64% 43% 14%

Although the financial goal is to create profit, we need to calculate the breakeven point to get started.

The product will be sold at the store in Little Rock, Arkansas, focusing on the zip code 72212. Considering the small size of my city, the geographic segment will focus on those individuals that live in the suburban neighborhoods in the area. Most of the people in this area are millionaires in their mid-50s without children so they treat their pets like they would their children because they consider them an extension of their family. Since these individuals love their pets much like they would their family members they will spend a great deal of money on them to ensure they have the proper care and treatment. This will hold especially true when it comes to their pet food. From my personal experiences, wealthy individuals have a tendency to purchase the most expensive items on the shelves for the simple fact they think it is better than all the rest. Needless to say, they will not have an issue paying expensive prices for an all-natural pet

Fixed costs in 2004 are lower that of 2003 and contribution margin ratio is higher in 2004 than that of 2003. Hence, the break even point is lower for 2004.

The Smackey Dog Food, Inc. is a family owned business. It was started by three sisters, Sarah, Kim and Jillian, in the kitchen of their home. They lived in a suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. Their business is making all natural dog food. After using their own dogs and the neighbor’s dogs as test subjects, it was discovered by local vets, pet stores and grocery stores. These local places began to distribute the dog food. The demand for their food began to increase and they moved their business to a larger facility and hired additional workers. As compared to competitors, Smackey Dog Food, Inc., began to rise

MLF is losing market share due to proliferation of unsuccessful brands such as _Beef Dogs_, _Lean 'n Lite_ and _Burns_. Having too many brands has spread corporate resources thin and has underutilized the Maple Leaf brand name leading to lack of a national identity of their hot dog segment, productivity problems and rising costs, both operational and production.

As this was Keller’s first audit on a dog Foods company, additional research was conducted to gain insight on some the most common risks that occur in the dog Foods industry. The audit team also went to visit the client prior to the audit to gain a clear understanding on how their business works. The audit team consisted of the audit manager Pete, and two audit staffers Maureen and Ben.

Unit Break-even Volume = Total Fixed Costs/Contribution per unit = $525,000 - $6.40 = 82,031.25units

Representatives have approached breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. from Marketing Momentum Unlimited, a marketing and advertising consulting firm. The reason for the meeting was to discuss the company’s possible entry into the retail branded dog food market in the Boston market.

Breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. proposes to adopt a market penetration strategy due to having identified a growth opportunity in the dog food market, for its nutritionally balanced, high quality dog food brand, Breeder’s Mix. This premium product has been sold traditionally, to the show dog kennel market, but company executives are now convinced it can be repackaged and offered as a frozen premium product, to picky pet owners via general retail distribution channels. Since the product is considered premium, it should fetch premium prices because of its ingredients and its claimed benefits to

The over-arching problem that Breeder’s Own Pet Foods has is which marketing-strategy would best serve as a vehicle for entry into the dog food retail business. Additionally, it has to select the most prominent geographic location (s) for distribution of its product. Another root problem component is how to get the supermarkets to stock and distribute this dog food since it is in the frozen category and may not appeal to traditional dog food buyers because they don’t readily associate dog food with frozen goods.

Smackey Dog Foods, Inc. is a familiar story in terms of small business start-ups. They started in a family kitchen, experienced explosive growth, and have had some troubles handling the accounting and business side of the business. My firm, Keller CPA’s, does not have specific experience with auditing a dog food manufacturer, but we certainly have a good bit of experience with similar small business accounting and auditing issues.

Caninantics’s mission is to be the leader in introducing innovative, dog food dispensing product to the market. Through close customer contact and excellent relationships, Caninantics, will meet the needs of the customers. Caninantics, LLC, is a privately-held corporation and maintains an office and a small warehouse in a mixed-use area of North Beach. Three of the four investors in the company have full operational responsibility, the co-founders, have both entrepreneurial and industry experience to brings operational management, marketing, and financial skills

|Weaknesses: •   Lack of availability in all stores •   Lack of appeal to consumers due to thawing time / freezer space (convenience) •   Lack of appeal to supermarkets due freezer location •   Lack of brand equity in retail market •   Premium price | Threats: •   Store Location - Consumer must be educated to find product in different area of store •   Saturated market – sales top 14 million in 2011.   Dog food is also heavily advertised, so the challenge is to entice the consumer to buy Breeder’s Mix. •   Competition - 5 major brand name dog food companies dominate market with 75% of US dog food sales •   Challenge to get supermarkets to give up valuable freezer space for dog food |Evaluation of AlternativesBreeder’s Own Pet Foods product development strategy should be evaluated.   Currently only 1 out of 10 dog owners regularly buy frozen or refrigerated dog food and ¾ of those surveyed expressed no interest in purchasing frozen dog food (Kerin and Peterson, 2013).   This indicates that there is a limited market for dog owners who would be interested in a product such as Breeder’s Mix. Research does suggest however that frozen dog food dollar volume is increasing annually indicating there is a strong opportunity for Breeder’s Own to be the first to tap into the frozen dog food market in the Boston area.   Breeder’s Own Dog Foods needs a strong marketing campaign to convince consumers their brand is superior to