Business report - Sophia restaurant
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SampleBusinessReports.docxInvestment in The East Aurora Co-op Turns Healthy Heads
MGG 303: The Business Report
By: Mindy Lahiri
Executive Summary
Background
Reputation and support determine the destiny of any cooperative market; the East Aurora Co-op is prevailing with their noble status, and almost endless support. Substantial financial backing was received to support the development. There are many dedicated owners and contributors who made, and will continue to make the company prosperous. The East Aurora Co-op needed $2 million to be created, and they were still seeking about $200,000 to improve the establishment in 2016 (Schanz, 2016). The construction phase costs almost doubled from the initial estimate. R&P Oakhill was one of the contractors which stood out from the rest, and was a huge reason the market was established (Investment, 2018). The East Aurora Co-op also earned its success by having a large enough store to occupy the essential consumer foods, so during peak purchasing times, items do not run out. One of the most powerful quotes gained from the Ohler article, was from Shelia Conboy, who is the Business/Project Manager at the East Aurora Co-op, stating, “We’re coming back around to a time years ago when consumers understood where their food came from, when they understood that a dollar spent on local food not only fed their family well but benefited the local and regional economy” (Ohler, 2018). This statement is the forefront to the business plan and idea of why the East Aurora Co-op was initiated. Other than the knowing of the quality of the produce, and where it comes from, the investment and member benefits, are also a strong motivation for citizens to join this company’s community. The Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) has a website explaining their organization, which is non-profit, and recognizes awesome cooperative market success from around the United States. The seven principals to be acknowledged of the FCI are; 1) Voluntary and open membership, 2) Democratic member control, 3) Member economic participation, 4) Autonomy and independence, 5) Education, training, and information, 6) Cooperation among cooperatives, and 7) Concern for community. These seven principals are seen to be highly respected as it was additionally used in the Buffalospree.com article. The East Aurora Co-op was granted the “Startup of the Year’ award for 2017, being one of “new food co-ops that have done an outstanding job of organizing their communities, building ownership, and following strong, viable business plans” (Food, 2017). The leadership that the East Aurora Co-op has demonstrated gives inspiration to other co-ops to follow their standards. The FCI started 10 years ago, and has contributed to 10 co-op’s being started, however they are planning on contributing to 135 more co-ops in 2018. These contributing details gives a scale, for which the FCI has experience with other startup co-op’s (Food, 2017).
Consistency Looks Good for Investment
Keeping proactive to maintain reliable increases in revenue, requires members who will stay loyal purchasing goods from the co-op, and a continuous supply of those desired goods available. Investors have the chance to capitalize with their own money, and help keep the currency in their own community, moreover letting the local’s benefit. The sales for the first year marked $2.34 million, which was way beyond what was expected (FCI, 2017). This fact is supplemental to the investors’ projections, and is reassuring to any consumer that the anticipated growth will succeed as long as consistency remains. Unsuccessful co-ops usually do not have a large enough store, or enough monetary support to start or operate productively (Reid, 2016). Having a larger than usual floorplan, ensures the co-op’s probability of success. Shelia Conboy stated that items were “flying off the shelves,” and that she wants “to be able to restock that and just have a really solid beginning so that we can sustain this great, great store” (Schanz, 2016). Not continuously restocking items available to customers may promote loss of trust and revenue, which could be detrimental to their future. Satisfying adequate management which encourage building relationships with clients may be essential for co-op achievement. Without steady forthcoming revenue, stock could be doomed. Realizing the statistics of a publicly traded entity makes financial investment results sensible.
Local Consumer Reactions
Consumers seem to be tremendously satisfied with the result of the East Aurora Co-op, anticipating continuous support to the newly developed society it has created within the community. Being able to be a shopper, and investor to the store in which you eat from, has created the upmost loyalty and appreciation for the co-op marketplace by the local citizens. The East Aurora Co-op is making it easier and more reliable for customers to obtain the healthy and organic foods they want, rather than going to a large supermarket. Super markets are not as trustworthy when it comes to healthy foods, because they offer an array of different types of foods that aren’t as easy to decipher which ones are healthy, and which are not. A “busy mom” named Suzanne Lewke told the reporter from News 4, “We pay attention to all the ingredients that are in our food, so we like to be able to have a choice, have a say in what’s being provided for us to eat.” The co-op seems to be much more satisfied with local producers, rather than profit margins, and lets the members decide what should be on the shelves. The East Aurora Co-op has persisted with being an inspiration to their local community, and have created incentive for other towns with a similar vison, to gain comparable accomplishment’s. This impactful, thriving cooperative market, has dominated the anticipated revenue prediction and should keep the consistent growth flourishing. Consistently improving trustful connections with local producers and consumers will forever be crucial for success.
Works Cited
"East Aurora Co-Op Market Named 2017 Startup Of The Year | Food Co-Op Initiative." Food
Co-Op Initiative, 2017, https://www.fci.coop/east-aurora-co-op-market-named-2017- startup-year/. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
Haugland, Sven A. and Kjell Gronhaug. "Cooperative Relationships in Competitive Markets."
Journal of Socio-Economics, vol. 25, no. 3, Sept. 1996, p. 359. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9610242986&site=ehost- live&scope=site. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
"Investment Details - East Aurora Co•Op Market." East Aurora Co•Op Market, 2018,
http://eastaurora.coop/capital-campaign/investment-details/. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
Ohler, Rick. "East Aurora Cooperative Market." Buffalospree.com, 2018,
http://www.buffalospree.com/Buffalo-Spree/April-2011/East-Aurora-Cooperative- Market/. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
Reid, Stuart. "Why Some Co-Ops Fail | Co-Op Grocer Network". Grocer.Coop, 2016,
https://www.grocer.coop/articles/why-some-co-ops-fail. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
Schanz, Jenn. "East Aurora Welcomes Co-Op Market." Wivb.Com, 2016,
http://wivb.com/2016/06/11/east-aurora-welcomes-co-op-market/. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
Spencer Hastings
Ms. Kellie Sharp
MGG 303: Communication Literacy for Business
05/05/2018
Business Report on The Martin Group
The Martin Group
Report Question:
Should “The Martin Group” expand beyond Western New York such as southern states of America, in order to explore new territories and cultures?
Executive Summary
The Martin Group is a private branding and marketing agency with its headquarters situated in Downtown Buffalo, New York. The Martin Group was founded by Tod D. Martin in 2001. It is a well acclaimed agency in Western New York, with two locations, one in Buffalo and the other in Rochester. The Martin Group has a wide variety of departments ranging from Research Strategist to Public Relations, Web Development, Social Media and Operations. The creative layout of the agency attracts their client base. It lies in the layout of the company as it offers a variety of fields to explore in the marketing agency. Upon taking a look at their website, it becomes clear that they have been up-to-date with current matters and flexible with creativity in their content.
They have a wide network of client base such as Insurance Companies, Medical Groups, Housing, Banks, Eateries, Fashion and even Athletic clubs. This wide range of variety speaks a lot about their diversity and ability to juggle different work cultures and meet the needs of varied disciplines. They toil with ideas that inspire action, emotion and loyalty; which is a healthy combination of creative liberty as well as adhering to workplace and cliental ethics. This is portrayed by the numerous awards that the group has received on a local as well as global stage, in respect to their work and client base.
As Martin Group is expanding to the next stage of operations, this report is suggestive to the same cause and promotes out-house expansion rather than using resources for in-house improvement as that has already been well accepted and awarded by their clients.
Introduction and Accomplishments
In 2013, The Martin Group moved to a newly renovated building at 620 Main Street in Buffalo. They completed the project for 2.3 million dollars, which speaks a lot about their importance to an updated work environment. The vision of The Martin Group lies in the power of creativity that is well-executed with strategic communications. In the recent addition to two locations, The Martin Group has launched their non-profit vertical. They aim to combine their efforts of strategically branding and fundraising for regional non-profits.
· The Martin Group has won several awards in the past such as five golds and twenty silver awards in the local Addy Awards. Addy Awards are America’s advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition award for the best marketing industry locally and globally. (American Advertising Awards)
· Furthermore, the Vice President of the group was presented with the Buffalo Business First’s 2017 “40 under 40” award, which is a local Rochester award. (Fink)
· They also received professional and community recognition from Perry’s Ice Cream, as it selected “The Martin Group to be there “Agency of Records” for the company’s 100th anniversary promotional campaign in 2018. (Hunter)
· The Martin Group is widely acclaimed for its non-profit wing of work and they believe in the motto “community work for community benefit” (Hanks). For example, they have paired with Catholic Charities, WNY Women Foundation the YMCA and many more. Combining strategic fundrasing and branding has been a rewarding experience for The Martin Group.
· In June 2017, they also won thirty-one PRSA Buffalo Niagara’s Excalibur Awards for Public Relations. It is rightful to say that The Martin Group is one of Western New York’s “Fastest Growing” and “Most Admired” companies, with the tagline “a different brand of thinking” that accurately encompasses the work of the agency. (Fink)
What Next for the Martin Group?
The Martin Group has made an active decision in establishing a new Albany office for the agency. The last words on this are still in process by the firm as they tackle the red tapes and make an official announcement. It would be very surprising to learn the fact as the company recently invested 2.3 million dollars for their Buffalo office renovation. The next new project that The Martin Group is an active participant in social moderation, which means they are flexible in changing their layout in respect to modern requirements. This culture of the company has led them to amend their company’s motto from time to time, to be the most appropriate with the current societal trends of creativity. They have been working on their growth by expanding to Rochester, acquiring Travis Collins and merging with Martin Davison Public Relations. (Fink) With all the new accomplishments, the group now looks forward to building an even stronger brand identity as they work to “uncomplicate a complicated business”. They are working on making their business flexible for the smaller business downtown to the larger clients across the country.
Recommendations
According to the past accomplishments and the newer projects that The Martin Group is looking to invest in, I believe some of these recommendations would create a stronger brand positioning and a better brand awareness for the group.
1. Expansion to newer location: If the Martin Group focuses on expanding to a new territory, apart from Western New York, I believe that this would foil new experiences for the group as it has been well accepted in the Western New York Territory and does have the clientele in vast fields of work. Hence it could be a profitable investment on their front as most of their client base is located in southern states of America, and to be closer to the client would increase their business.
2. Strengthen Brand awareness: With social media advertising it is needless to say that advertising has a whole new zone of promotion, and according to my research, most of the agency’s cliental are brand loyal and have been working with them for 20 plus years. This highlights the fact that to gain the attention of newer business and reach out to a wider audience, they need newer strategies to improve their brand awareness upbeat.
3. Benefits of a Public Company: As the Martin Group is a successful private limited firm, it is missing out on the merits of having a public recognition on the financial stands. If they were to convert to a public holding, they could list on the stock market, which is a better access to capital from internal and external investors and the shareholders would be able to buy and sell their shares. Hence assuring a wider presence in the industry. For example, Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global marketing and corporate communications holding company. They went public in 1996, and that was a huge step as now their revenue is over 15 billion dollars and are at an all time high of 75 dollars. (The Wall Street Journal) This has proven to be very important and profitable step for this advertising group and could also help The Martin Group in making a global presence.
4. Benefits of shifting focus to Southern Territories: This can prove to be a very important initiative on behalf of The Martin Group. It is suggestive to expand into newer locations in Southern America such as Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and so on. This would be very cost-effective as well give the agency a newer platform to spread its roots. One of the reasons to expand in these states is that they have majority of their clients from these areas, which would give them an opportunity to work in close proximity with their clients.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, from all the information provided and inferred to us that The Martin Group, is in fact a thriving marketing and advertising agency in Western New York. It is one of the highest earning, privately owned company. It has built a reputation, which is very transparent in their relationships with their clientele. We have seen brand loyal clients such as Perry’s Ice Cream, Canisius College and several bigger brands around Buffalo and Rochester. The fairly new Non-profit wing does a great justice to brand development, as it is one of the very few marketing firms that invest in a non-profit strategic branding program. The Martin Group is a very well-established firm, but it does need to challenge their geographic positioning, and also indulge in newer ways of advertising, which could deem to be profitable in the future. Therefore, keeping the recognition and recommendation in mind, The Martin Group can feasibly reach newer heights with their vast networking and client base.
Work Cited
American Advertising Awards, 2016, http://www.americanadvertisingawards.com/ .
Accessed 12th February, 2018.
Dairy Business News, 8th November 2017,
www.dairybusiness.com/perrys-ice-cream-selects-the-martin-group-as-strong-strong-agency-of-record-for-companys-100th-anniversary-communications-campaign/ . Accessed 12th February 2018.
Fink, James. Buffalo Business First, 2016,
www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2016/02/17/the-martin-group-closes-on-620-main-deal-for-new.html?s=print . Accessed 13th February 2018.
Hanks, Kelsey. Martin, 18th November, 2017,
https://www.martingroup.co/answering-great-need-great-ideas/ . Accessed 12th February, 2018.
Hunter, Meg. Martin, 2001, www.martingroup.co/expertise/ .Accessed 12 February 2018. Mcdonnell, Meghan. CannonDesign, 1947,
www.cannondesign.com/our-work/work/the-martin-group/ . Accessed 12 February 2018.
The Wall Street Journal, 2018, https://quotes.wsj.com/OMC . Accessed 7th May, 2018.
www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/morning_roundup/2014/05/martin-group-expands-to-rochester.html . Accessed 12th February 2018.
