Essay about The Sysco Company

into a product ready to be sold and bought out to the market. In order

§ Non-food business: We now have a 6% market share. Our goal is to be

Trader Joe’s is in the broad market of grocery retailers, a market where the top 10 revenue-generating companies accounted for over $360 billion in sales in 2011. This market is saturated with supermarkets (Publix and Kroger), large discount retailers (Wal-Mart and Target), premium retailers (Whole Foods and Fresh Market), warehouse clubs (Costco and Sam’s Club), and “hard discount” retailers (Dollar General). With this large variation in grocer strategies, the market is heavily penetrated and competition is fierce. Supermarkets are continually losing market share in grocery sales (51 percent in 2011 as opposed to 66 percent in 2001) as players like Wal-Mart and Costco continue to generate more revenue. Although the supermarket share is decreasing, the overall grocery market is steadily increasing as the population of the United States increases. People always need to eat, so there will always be a

Texas Roadhouse may create a supply chain with all their franchises buying from one central supplier. Because of the economies of scale, prices will go down drastically by the bulk orders. In addition, this will aid the consistency of their standardized food recipes producing desired taste in

1. The grocery industry is a commoditized industry, which makes it difficult for grocers to sustain through differentiation. Buyer power is high and thus, cost leadership and operational efficiencies are critical. There is fierce competition amongst various grocery stores, with the main players such as Loblaw and A&P holding multi-banner stores in various market segments. Traditional grocery stores also lose some of their market share to drug stores, convenience stores and other retailers who have entered the industry. Threat of substitutes from fast-food and take- away outlets is not as prevalent, since many grocery stores have started stocking ready-to-eat meals and have deli services available for consumers. Competitive

In the United States, the food retail industry is absolutely massive. According to Statista, this industry brings in nearly 5.27 trillion dollars annually and 594.4 billion of that is from grocery store sales. In this market, the 20-ton gorilla in the room is Walmart, racking in nearly 20% of the entire market at around 118 billion dollars in 2013 according to the Harvard Business School case study. Following Walmart, Kroger and Costco own the biggest next largest slices bringing in 76 billion and 71 billion respectively. In this highly competitive market that has some of the smallest margins of any industry it can be tough to get ahead and even tougher to grow. However, Trader Joe’s has managed to pierce what was once a very small world

Trader Joe's faces several threats to its business, as competitors try to invade the company’s niche and attempt to imitate the company’s core strategies. The supermarket industry itself faces a major threat, as larger chains such as grocery retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun to open small-format stores that mimic the Trader Joe's approach. This invasion results in additional cost pressure for incumbents like Trader Joe’s, which had to let go employees in order to become more cost competitive.

The threat of substitutes in the food retail industry can be high among the ‘Big Four’ as switching costs are relatively low and products can be similar. However, most have their own private labels and also target slightly different markets, such as Sainsbury’s having more upmarket positioning and Tesco’s cost leadership. Waitrose offers unique and differentiated products, which are, in the eyes of the consumer, significantly superior. No other supermarket offers such premium quality products with great service and such a large range of organic products as Waitrose, so this makes them extremely difficult to substitute. (Euromonitor, 2008).

Times have been tough when it comes to the economy but fast food franchises stocks are at an all time high. These fast food restaurants make it incredibly easy to get plenty of cheap food but with very low quality. They offer incredibly deals to lure people in while giving them basically “empty calories”. These calories are from solid fats or added sugars. Solid fats and added sugars add calories to the food but few or no nutrients. Empty calorie foods give short bursts of energy and hardly fulfill appetites which in makes a person eat much more than if they had eaten food with nutritional value. Little Caesars offers a pizza for 5 dollars while Mcdonalds Mcdouble cheese burger is only a dollar. It’s incredibly sad that you can buy a hamburger for cheaper than buying an apple.

Nevertheless, the majority of customers are very satisfied with the amount of serving along with the quality of their meal as well as the price paid. The strategy of being a low priced high value added has seen problems due to lack of customers which is affecting the bottom line drastically. This inevitable circumstance has put a hold on operations and started an investigation upon various neighboring competitors and their own strategies.

For the analysis the packaged food company ConAgra Foods, Inc (CAG) was chosen. According to ConAgra 2013 Annual report, ConAgra Foods, Inc. is one of the USA’s leading food companies. It has a strong brand recognition and consumer loyalty. ConAgra 's products are sold both in large supermarkets and convenience stores. Company operates in Commercial and Consumer Foods segments. The food industry is especially interesting for the research as the demand on food will stay relatively stable even during economic crises and is continuously growing.

Tesco is one of the most famous stores in the UK with it being our biggest sales retailer earning billions in profits. The statistics of the supermarket are extremely impressive with over 330,000 staff employed, being the third largest supermarket, over 16 million Clubcard users in the UK and it being said that one pound in every seven has been spent at Tesco. All of this used to just be a small stall in East London when it was created by Jack Cohen in 1919 simply selling groceries making a profit of just £1 on the first day. Five years later, Cohen purchased a shipment of tea and Tesco became a brand with its first store opening another five years later, in 1929, in North London. Tesco is now not only just a grocery store, it also sells petrol (becoming the largest independent petrol retailer in the UK), insurance, has its own bank, credit cards, loans along with products such as its own clothing line F&F, games consoles, televisions and sports equipment. However, in 2014 Tesco had a shocking downfall when it had been revealed that they had exaggerated their half-year profit forecast by a massive £250 million.

Changes in customer preferences, general economic conditions, discretionary spending priorities, demographic trends, traffic patterns and the type, number and location of competing restaurants have a moderate effect on the restaurant industry (Chipotle, 2010). One example of customer preferences being a driver in the industry is the “Whole Food-ism Movement” which has put a large focus on organic, antibiotic-free, and non-processed foods (Mansolillo, 2007). Consumers now look for healthier options when eating and an overall healthier lifestyle. Chipotle has been able to benefit from this movement by carrying on their “Food with Integrity” mission (Chipotle, 2010).

The organisation I have chosen to examine from an operations management and decision making standpoint is McDonald’s, a worldwide chain of fast food restaurants, which are run either by a franchise, an affiliate or by the corporation itself. There are over 31,000 branches of McDonald’s worldwide1. It is estimated these restaurants serve a collective 47 million customers daily2. The restaurants mainly sell customers traditional fast food fare such as burgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, fizzy drinks and milkshakes, in addition to breakfast, dessert items and (in response to growing health concerns in the consumer marketplace) healthier items such as salads and

The case of Euroland Foods S.A. is about a multinational company that produces high-quality ice cream, yogurt, bottled water, and fruit juices. Euroland Foods was founded in 1924 by Theo Verdin. The performance of the company was steady over the years, but since 1998 to 2000 the company had no growth. The management team thought that was because of the low population growth in northern Europe and market saturation in some areas. The management team hoped that increase in market share and sales would help company growth.