MKTG 3401 Marketing Principles

MKTG 2401 - Dr. Nik Tehrani

Group 3

BUSINESS PLAN

I. Executive Summary

A. Company name, address, phone number

TastyExpress

Address: 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542

Phone Number: 1-800-258-0000

B. Name, address and phone number of a key individual

CEO

C. Brief description of the business

TastyExpress is a young lunch delivery company base in Hayward. Started by a group of food enthusiasts in 2013, TastyExpress has delivered thousands of freshly made meals to many businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area daily. We contract with the best restaurants in the Bay Area to bring the highest quality meals to each of our customer’s doorsteps at an affordable price. All of the food is prepared daily with the freshest ingredient to ensure the nutritional value in each and every meal. We strive to present our lunch options in the most convenient way for our customers to choose: weekly updated online menu with beautiful photos, coupled with description, ingredients and ratings of all the dishes. With a fast and reliable delivery team, our customers will never know of a “late lunch”.

D. Brief overview of the market for your product, management and technology.

E. Brief statement of what the financial needs are, what the money would be used for, and what is the ROI

II. Detailed Business Plan

A. Industry Analysis

1. Industry background and overview

Our company specializing in delivering quality meals to workers and employees of businesses in Alameda county. We strive to provide our customers, hard working yet time-constrained individuals with excellent food prepared by local restaurants with highly positive reviews.

The food delivery service was first employed, according to Horace Tait of EzineArticles.com, during World War II by the British Women's Volunteer Service to bring meals to households that had had their kitchens sabotaged. After the war, the idea of serving food to residential and business units appeared to be lucrative and since then has spread to other countries as a fast growing industry.

Today, though many delivery businesses offer frozen pre-cooked and pre-packaged food to customers, many others, like our company,choose to bring carefully crafted meals, prepared by local chefs and cooks to the convenience of your office or business doorsteps.

As the writing of this report is being prepared, we have no knowledge of any other company in or around Hayward that provides our service. This thus allows our company to pioneer in bridging the gap between quality meals and our clients' employees.

2. Trends

Living in a busy society like America, many working people find it difficult to have a decent freshly cooked meal to eat during their one-hour lunch break. Because most of the restaurants or companies’ cafeterias are packed during lunch hour, the wait time for the customers to get seated, order the food and get served with the dish that they have ordered could total up to half an hour. As a result, people have to rush through their meals just to fill up the stomach without actually enjoying the flavors of the food. With the new delivery services, working people can pre-order the dishes that they desire from over one hundred restaurants in the Bay Area in advance, and have lunch delivered to their workplaces right on lunch time. Thanks to food delivery services, now consumers can have more selections of fresh restaurant food delivered faster without having to deal with the long lines. Moreover, supported by advancing technology, all of the orders can be made online. Consumers can also see the face of the delivery driver and know almost exactly what time their delivery would arrive. There is no doubt that consumer’s demands for a large selection of nutritious fresh food, conveniently delivered to them at lunch time, is the new trend.

3. Growth rate

We are now living in the technology era, with the internet that connect people and businesses, not only in the local area but also around the globe. Food delivery industry focuses specifically on those who work in the office that don’t have much time to shop for their lunch but want to enjoy their lunch with real food, real dishes from restaurant.

In recent report from food delivery industry, 350 million dollars was invested in food technology during 2012, up 37% from 2011. In the bay area, there are many opportunities cities with high volume of workforce such as San Francisco, Oakland, Cupertino, and the Silicon valley. Those cities are expected to have high income employees. Also, with a diversity of local restaurants from many countries, and tastes, this is an advantage place for our company to delivery good food to people who are willing to pay for service.

According to PRNewswire, The top states by restaurant sales volume in 2009 will be California at $58.0 billion (2.3 percent growth); Texas at $34.8 billion(2.7 percent growth); New York at $29.0 billion (2.7 percent growth); Florida at $27.6 billion (2.4 percent growth); and Illinois at$18.7 billion (1.9 percent growth).

Overall, The eating and drinking segment in the economy is expected to grow stronger, followed by the food delivery industry, which will continue to rise constantly at 3 to 5% every year or more.

4. Outlook for the future

Even though, we are still in the economy recovery stage, people still spend their dollars tightly. The food delivery industry is a very promising field that can grow steadily. According to the National Restaurant Association's 2010 Restaurant Industry Forecast, the demand for food delivery will expand as customers continue to seek value, convenience and menu options.

Advertising and social media are critical to customers. Spreading the menu and services to other people now is the main factor that keeps business alive. Now with the technology, not only can customers order food from their computers, but they can also use smartphone apps to order wherever and whenever they want.

Our goal is to help people who have less time for their lunch in the office to enjoy their meals with real food, and good taste. We want people to think about eating healthy, organic everyday and forget about fast food habit. We also encourage local restaurants to make more variety dishes available to customers.

B. Background of Your Business

1. Brief history of the business

Our company TastyExpress was founded in September 2013 by Luan Truong, Vi Nguyen, Stephan Barlog, and Khoi Do. The idea of a food delivering service company stemmed from our realization that workers and employees in the Hayward area had such few options when it comes to quality and convenient lunch meals despite the presence of many small businesses. We decided to meet this challenge by setting up a network of dependable drivers and a number of high-rating restaurants with reasonable price range as our suppliers. We then contacted different businesses and offices to assess market needs along with any unique requirements.

At the beginning of operation, we had a fleet of 12 trucks serving 30 different businesses in Hayward. The numbers have now grown to 15 trucks with a client base of 50 businesses among 322 big businesses spanning across Alameda county.

We still strive to broaden our customer base by actively seeking any businesses with a demand for freshly prepared food. At the same time, we constantly contact our suppliers to make sure that they meet the standard that we have set for our customers. Our business is new but there is lots of potential for growth in the future.

2. Current situation

As a new company, the marketing aspect comes first. To put our products on the market, we have to prove our skills to our customers. As a new and especially young company, it is our duty to remain consistent. That is a really important step when starting a new business. If our company always shows constant quality, good prices, and of course closeness to customers; we will be able to gain loyalty of our customers, which is definitely most important for a business. Many new businesses initially have great economic success at the beginning, but unfortunately not for long. Our goal is to avoid such situation and being constantly successful.

3. Your company’s mission statement

“TastyExpress feeds your hunger with the best food in the fastest way possible.”

TastyExpress’s mission is to create a convenient way that allows the working individuals to allocate their time more specifically to fulfill their jobs at work, rather than going out to fetch a meal. We will act as the platform for them to get their food-related needs.

4. What makes your business unique: sources of competitive advantage

Our vision is to be the leader in delivering the best food in the Bay Area. Through close customer contact and excellent relationships, we will meet the needs of our customers wherever we can. We will add value to our community by maintaining a friendly, familial work environment. If we are in need of something, we support local markets in the whole Bay Area.

5. How your company creates value for customers Since our company only contract with restaurants that are rated 4 or 5 stars on Yelp, or restaurants that are personally recommended by the customers; we guarantee to deliver high-quality and nutritious food in every meal. We rotate the restaurants and menu every week, so that our customers can enjoy more variety of food.

Excellent customer satisfaction is our main goal; therefore, we are willing to go extra miles to make our customers happy. We offer promotions with big orders. For example,we include 1 free dish of customer’s choice or free desserts for every group order of 12 or more. Our company takes our customers’ food preference and allergy very seriously; thus we always make sure that our food providers include all the ingredients in each meal. Besides the list of the ingredients under the meal description, we also carefully label each dish as whether it "contains nuts", “gluten free”, "spicy", “vegan”, "vegetarian" and "grande". Customers can also specify their food preference, such as vegetarian, or no pork or beef in their order forms, and our food providers will prepare the food accordingly.

We understand that having lunch on time is very important to our time-constrained customers; thus we always try to deliver lunch as fast as we can. Our delivery process starts at 10:30 AM and ends at 12:30 PM; and customers will be notified by text messages or e-mail when their lunch arrives or, in rare cases, a delay occurs. We also e-mail our customers a picture of their designated delivery driver for ease of recognition and security. As we grow, we are continuously updating our system and menu to make it easier for our customers to find their perfect meals.

6. The key factors that will dictate the success of your business (e.g. price, competitiveness, quality, durability, dependability, technical features)

The key factors that distinguish us from other businesses are the high-quality restaurant food, outstanding customer service, and speedy delivery at a competitive price. We charge the customers a modest flat rate of $3.60 per dish delivered, plus the costs of the dishes provided by the restaurants. We use advanced technology to constantly update our customers on their delivery driver and time. Customers can rest assured, knowing that they will have their meals delivered to them on time. Our company also offers promotions to make our customers happy, because customer’s satisfaction is our goal to succeed.

Our company is also an asset to our restaurant partners because the restaurants would get more customers without having to worry about advertisement. As a food delivery service, TastyExpress constantly looks for new customers. We help to advertise our restaurant partners by listing their names and dishes on our menu. Our company also hires drivers and fulfills the delivery service. Therefore, restaurants would rip a lot of benefits just by being our partners.

C. Market Analysis

1. Who are the potential buyers for your products? (be specific)

The potential buyers for our food delivery service are all working individuals in Alameda county, including Milpitas and San Jose, who desire a healthy and delicious lunch delivered to their workplaces.

2. What is their motivation to buy?

Even though we are a startup company, we try our best to provide hot lunches to our customers as fast as possible. We strive to become a reliable lunch source for our time-constrained customers. Our speedy delivery, delicious food and excellent customer relationship are the biggest motivations for our clients to keep using our service.

3. How many customers does the market contain? (How large is the market?)

As long as the corporate world expands its business, the market for delivering quality meals would grow equally. According to the census data collected by the Employment Development Department in September 20, 2013, the employment rate in Alameda county is 92.6% of the total labor force of 777,400. This means there are approximately 719,600 working individuals that make up our potential market. This business is globally vast as there are many busy working individuals who would love to try out new food without any effort of cooking.

4. What are their potential annual purchases?

According to a survey in 2009 by PRNewswire the top restaurants in top states the sales volumes were recorded as below. California at $58.0 billion (2.3 percent growth); Texas at $34.8 billion(2.7 percent growth); New York at $29.0 billion (2.7 percent growth); Florida at $27.6 billion (2.4 percent growth); and Illinois at$18.7 billion (1.9 percent growth). As every meal is purchase for the vendor or the supplier, hence he expects an increase of at least 3 to 5% annually if he tries to competes with the others.

5. What is the nature of the buying cycle?

a. Is this product a durable good that lasts for years or a product that is repurchased on a regular basis?

As a food delivery company, we are determined to provide fresh meals to our customers everyday. Since our online menu changes every week, customers can either order lunch delivery service daily or weekly.

b. Is the product likely to be purchased at only seasonal periods during the year

Our company offers delivery service year-round. Therefore, customers can purchase our service any day, except for holidays and weekends.

6. Specific target market: What do you know about the potential customer you are likely to sell to in your geographic area?

a. What are the product features that influence the customer’s buying decision?

The features that distinguish our company from other competitors are our accurate ordering system, quality control checks during preparation and before packaging, fast and reliable delivery, healthy and delicious food, superior customer service, and genuine care for our customers. Since consumers are more aware of “eating healthy”, they become more picky about what they eat. Customers would like to know how much calories they consume in every meal, or whether the dishes are too fattening and bad for their health. Therefore, our company provide the ingredient list, allergy label warning (e.g. contain nuts, dairy...etc), and calorie count. We try to make it easier for our customers to choose the right meals that suit their health status and preference.

Food safety and packaging is another important matter that concerns the consumers. If the food is not packaged well, it can easily become spoiled before arriving at its destination. Thus, our company always make sure to package the food well prior to the delivery. We usually pack cold food separately from hot food, so that our customers will always receive“hot food hot, cold food cold”. When the customers know that their need is well taken care of, they would trust us more and continue using our service.

b. What, if any, research supports your conclusions?

According to Monica Parpal in Running Successful Take-out and Delivery Services, “Food safety can be compromised if temperatures vary or fall into the food Danger Zone.” Thus the food packaging process is also crucial. Parpal also mentioned that “quality control checks” during the food preparation is important to ensure the food being made correctly according to FDA standards.

c. Do the customers have a preference in where they purchase comparable products? How strong is this preference?

There are a few other food delivery services in the Bay area such as Evolution Meals, ZeroCater, OneLessThing, or Simply Delicious. Most of these caterers only serve the San Francisco, or Berkeley and its local areas, which might be inconvenient for the customers located in Hayward and the surrounding cities. Moreover, there are not many delivery services that provide the ingredient list and calorie count on their menus. Therefore, customers would have more difficulty in selecting the perfect meals.

7. Pricing strategies

a. Cost structure: fixed and variable

The cost structure would initially be reasonable. As and when the business expansion starts, and the need of more investments crops up, the prices would vary. It can be assured that the price of the product might increase very nominally keeping the affordability of the customer in mind. And the variable costs are those incurred as demand for quality meals increase. Also, variable cost depends on the number of drivers that we hire, cost of gas, and numbers of delivery cars that we buy. The fixed costs are those that are already installed in the form of assets, such as office rental payment, office equipment, and administrative costs.

b. Desired image in market

We would like to introduce to our customers the professional images of the food delivery company. Our team commit not only to deliver food to customer on time but also professional services and friendly employees.

c. Your prices versus competitors’ prices

At first, we strike to set the price with low margin profit after calculate all the expenses and fees. Our price should not higher than our competitors. As a matter of fact, our company charge the customers a modest flat rate of $3.60 per dish delivered, plus the costs of the dishes provided by the restaurants. When compared to the delivery service fees charged by other companies (approximately $4.75), TastyExpress’s fee is very affordable. More importantly, we promise to deliver greater food quality and more choices on menu. We want our customer to have the best experience above all.

8. Advertising and promotion strategies

a. Most effective media in reaching your target audience

Initially, contacting the corporate office, having a signed contract would help the business to expand. Lately, going along with the present technology, mobile apps are the most appropriate and reliable source of media which also help in placing an order instantly.The best way to reach the market is through a very simple integrated market communication technique of the service though users and existing customers.

b. Media costs

The media costs totally depends on which source a customer is comfortable to reach out the vendor. While the advertisement on televisions and newspapers would be costlier when compared to mobile apps which the generation is more depended on. The media cost for a mobile app is more appropriate cost wise because, it is just a one time investment. Once the app is released, there is no need of any re-advertisement.

c. Frequency of usage

The frequency of usage of the opted source of media depends on the number of customers choosing for the service we are rendering. Once the customer is comfortable ordering online using the app, it would obviously or automatically gain advertisement by just a word of the customer to his friends. This increases the frequency of usage of the source.

d. Means of generating publicity for your business

There are wide range of means for generating publicity like the social media, advertising, releasing an app, online advertisement and so on and so forth. Mainly the supplier should be sure that he is not ignorant or he has any kind of overconfidence on the quality that he should be maintaining for the product which is supplied to the customers. Normal practices should be entertained with just an intention to expand the business. Once the desired quality is maintained the business automatically gets publicity as the customer himself would spread the word in his own circle which helps the vendor in many ways.

9. Distribution strategy

a. Channels of distribution

As a small start-up food delivery company, we might not have many of channels of distribution at first. We directly contact with our restaurants client and customers in order to cut the cost and unnecessary expenses.

b. Sales techniques and incentives

As a delivery company, we are not directly sale product to customer. We are negotiating with the local restaurant and the people who order lunch delivery.

10. External market influences

a. Economic factors

(1) Inflation

Since late 2010, U.S. food price has been at its lowest growth rates with an inflation of 1.6 percent (based on food and beverage Consumer Price Index). However, due to a severe drought in the Midwest last summer, food price will most likely increase up to 3-4 percents nationwide (according to USDA’s food CPI forecast for 2013). Consumers will be expecting a surge in food costs in 2013-2014. As a matter of fact, food inflation increased 1.3 percent last month; almost double the 0.7 percent overall CPI.

Consequently, restaurants would have to raise their price to accommodate the food inflation. This leads to an increase in home-cooked food and dramatic decrease in demands for eating out. According to USDA, home-cooked food will actually grow faster in 2013: 3-4% vs. 2.5-3.5%.

Such increase in demand for home-cooked food will negatively affects our business as a restaurant food delivery service. Since not many customers will eat out, the sales rate of restaurant food will decrease. As a result, some small restaurants will try to cut costs by not using delivery service. In addition, customers who do not have time to cook at home will try to save money on delivery service by going to the restaurants to eat or picking up their own take-outs.

(2) Recession

During the recession, the unemployment rate and the food price increased. For instance, the prices of milk, eggs, corn, wheat, and oils all increased as an effect of the recession. Though food has proven to be “rescession-proof” because everyone has to eat, what and where people eat change. Working people will start to bring home-cooked food to work instead of eating out. They will even choose to eat less healthy food, such as fast food, because it is much cheaper than restaurant food. As a result, there will be less demand for our restaurant food delivery service.

(3) High or low unemployment

Since our company’s target market is working individuals, high unemployment rate will negatively impact our business. The growth rate of our restaurant food delivery business is inversely proportional to the unemployment rate, because as less people are employed, our target market will shrink. As of September 2013, the unemployment rate in California is 8.9%. Specifically, Alameda county’s unemployment rate (UR) is 7.4%, Santa Clara county’s UR is 7.1%, and Contra Costa county’s UR is 7.7%. Given that our target market lies within Alameda county and some cities in Santa Clara county (Milpitas, San Jose), our company will most likely experience extremely slow growth rate.

(4) Interest Rates

Interest rates have typically been low ever since our company started its operation in September 2013. In theory, the condition should allow for more individuals and businesses alike to obtain loans from banks, thereby increasing spending in the population as a whole. However, this trend has not been observed, except for a rise in home values, due to the slow recovery of the US economy from the recession, which is accompanied by still-substantial unemployment rate and tightened budget-spending from both households and businesses. With no recent significant change in the direction of the economy, it remains difficult to determine and assess the effect, if any, the interest rate has on the market that we serve. However, we do anticipate that, as the economy picks up its pace, more businesses will come to the Hayward area, creating a more vibrant market with attractive opportunities, both for our business and the community.

b. Social factors

(1) Age of customers

Our target market consist of employed and self-employed individuals around the Alameda County, with a focus on the city of Hayward. Naturally, this entails that most of our customers will be in the range of 18-65 years old. Data from the 2010 census reveals that this group makes up a large portion of the Hayward population at 65.3% (94,165). With the unemployment rate then at 11.5%, we are looking at a potential market size of around 80,000 though certainly not all segments of this market are accessible to our business. It should also be noted that, the unemployment rate has dropped slightly since 2010, thus having an incremental effect on our total market size.

Serving customers with such a wide range in age is no easy task as each age group has different nutritional needs and preferences. With each and every of our clients, we always exert our best effort to understand the individual employees at the firm, taking into consideration many different factors such as age, diet restrictions, nutritional requirements, health conditions, etc. to better accommodate their need for quality meals.

(2) Locational demographics

Another element that we also look at when considering our clients' needs is the ethnicity of the individuals whom we are serving since people from different background also have different preferences and constraints in the food that they consume. Hayward and the Alameda county, like many other cities in California, have a fairly diverse population in terms of ethnicities. One notable trend that we have observed is the increasing number of the Hispanic population in the area while the white population exhibits the opposite tendency. The Hispanic community made up only 34.2% of Hayward populationin 2000 but that number went up to 40.7% in 2012. Within that same period, the white population went from 43% to 34.2%, a declining rate of almost 1% a year. Knowing our customers and their demographic characteristics certainly will aid our business in better serving quality products.

(3) Income levels

Due to a lack of more recent data, we base our analysis on the employment information from the 2010 census. The unemployment rate from this report was at 11.5%, slightly lower than the California average at 12.3%, but also slightly higher than the national average at 9.5%. Combined with the data above indicating a lower per capita income than the national average, we can conclude that Hayward has plenty of employment opportunities, but these jobs often offer low salaries or wages. Keeping these factors in mind, we work hard to make sure that the cost of meals and service we provide are kept as low as possible without compromising quality. By equipping ourselves with the knowledge about our customers' levels of income, we can determine and offer our products at a reasonable and affordable price to our valued customers.

(4) Size of household

According to the 2010 census, the average household size in Hayward is 3.08. As a company that caters to other businesses, we deem this information of little useful value. However, we are currently searching for more specific information, such as the average number of working members in a household to help us better understand our customers and meet their needs. For example, people from a small household size where all members have a job would be less likely to have someone else preparing and packing their lunch, therefore, more inclined to relying on companies like ours to provide lunch meals.

(5) Social attitudes

Our business model of delivering meals from quality restaurants to businesses and offices is not incredibly new, but it still is uncommon, and therefore unfamiliar to most Hayward residents. It presents an opportunity, as well as a challenge for our company, which is to make our name more widely recognized and remembered by a larger number of people. Indeed, when it comes to the many options that people consider for lunch meals, most people are still accustomed to two ways of eating: leaving their workplace to buy food, or pre-packing meals from home, with the exception of big companies which may have their own kitchen staffed by their own cooks. The only type of business that most closely resembles our line of operation is the numerous lunch trucks available throughout the Bay Area. However, these lunch trucks offer a far fewer variety of food and oftentimes each of these lunch trucks also remains at the same location for months or even years, making it more similar to a fast food joint than a food delivering business. We aim to make our delivered, quality food another popular option that people can consider utilizing when it comes to everyday lunch time.

c. Technological factors

Since we do not cook our own meals but rather order have them prepared by local restaurants, and subsequently delivering them, one of our focuses is on the type of vehicle to be used in our operation. Because of the nature of our business, a full size minivan is understandably an easy choice. But in considering which brand to purchase, we take into consideration factors such as capacity, safety evaluation, and gasoline efficiency. In the end, we equip our drivers with a fleet of 15 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter because of its many superior features and design.

On the technological field, we are also considering updating our CRM system to better track our customers' preference, behaviors, and habits. However, this process is still under review and is expected to be undertaken in early 2014.

D. Competitor Analysis

1. Existing competitors

a. Who are they? List major known competitors.

As stated above, as the writing of this business plan is being complete, there is no known existing business in the Hayward-Fremont area that’s specialized in delivering lunch meals. Although we have no direct competition, the size of our market share is nevertheless affected by the presence of other traditional casual dine-in restaurants, as well as many fast food locations scattered all around the Bay Area. Therefore we can list our competitors into the following categories:

1. Fast-food joints: any of the fast food restaurants operating in the Hayward area, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, In-N-Out, etc. It is also noteworthy that many of the pizza chains (Pizza Hut, Dominos,...) also offer delivery service. However, their menu is very limited in terms of variety.

2. Casual dine-in restaurants: any of the restaurants in the area that stays open throughout lunch hours. These include authentic Mexican food or Chinese restaurants, Olive Garden, Chili’s, Red Lobster...

b. Why do you believe the potential customers in your target market buy from them now?

The restaurants listed above have traditionally been people’s first choice when it comes to lunch time dining. Besides packing up their own food, people have typically been spending their lunch time at these locations, thanks mainly to their ability to serve quickly and at fair prices. These are important characteristics because most businesses only allow lunch time for less than an hour and a lot of these customers have relatively modest income.

c. How will they affect your business:

These businesses, though not directly in a competing position with our company, still operate in a relatively identical target market as ours. As a result, they still present a microenvironmental factor that we have to consider when making our decisions. Furthermore, many of these existing restaurants are quite capable of expanding their scope of operation and starting their own delivery service. Our policy is to assess and analyze our strengths and weaknesses against our competitors’ to determine the best value offer for our customers.

2. Potential competitors

a. Who are they, and when and why might they enter the market?

As we mentioned, we are operating in a market that has great potential for growth. With the economy showing vital signs of recovery, businesses across the nation will once again have the opportunity to develop and expand, with the population attaining higher income. The lack of competition in our target market may mean that it is not deemed as profitable enough to attract other businesses. But our company is growing and soon it will draw attention from others. The potential competition may come from two groups: restaurants with the intent to offer delivery service, and food delivering service from neighboring areas with the intent to expand to Hayward. Depending on the market size in the near future, the number of competitors may grow to a significant number, thus requiring our company to adjust our strategy accordingly.

b. What would be the impact in your target market segment if they entered?

The introduction of newcomers would undoubtedly create an impact on our target market and the way we operate. Competition would most likely drive down prices, and our market share would also be reduced. However, we would have the advantage of being the market pioneer, and at the same time, with more options to choose from, customers will ultimately benefit the most.

3. The strengths and weaknesses of each key competitor’s business and how they will affect your business

We have noted that our current competition comes from two categories: fast food chains and casual restaurants, each with its own strengths and drawbacks.

Fast food chains, as the name entails, have the advantage of capable of serving quick meals. People could easily get in any fast food restaurant, order, eat, and then leave, all within 20 minutes (not including time to get there and back to work), or they can even shorten the process by ordering to-go. “Fast” is an essential requirement because lunch time is typically anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and certainly people do not want to have to wait too long for food ordering and preparing. Most fast food restaurants are also relatively cheap with combos ranging from as low as $3 to less than $10 for most places, thus giving a fairly attractive option to working people. However, most items on a fast food menu do not constitute a healthy and nutritional meal. They are often high in calories, sodium, and saturated fat, all of which have adverse affect on a healthy lifestyle. The price advantage of fast food chains is also only relative since we offer discount of up to 30% for group ordering of 15 people or more making TastyExpress a far more attractive option. Most fast food restaurants also have a limited menu, which means variety is scarce.

Dine-in restaurants, on the other hand, offer more authentic and freshly prepared food. But these places are often packed during lunch hours, making it less appealing to people with a short lunch break. Higher prices also mean that not everyone can afford to eat at these places on a daily basis.

E. Strategic Analysis

1. Core competencies

2. Market position and image

3. SWOT analysis

a. Strengths

Riding high in the niche market in Food Delivery Service industry will help boost TastyExpress and raise reputation and turnover. TastyExpress will have an extensive customer base of working individuals, which is a major strength regarding sales and profit. Having little competition and being one of very few companies providing this service is a major factor in TastyExpress’s performance. The lucrative location of TastyExpress in the heart of the city of Hayward, where 39 businesses located and 283 other big businesses spanning across Alameda county, adds to its strengths due to its accessibility. Supplier relationships are strong at TastyExpress from many locations to deliver from, which can only be seen as strength in the overall performance.

b. Weaknesses

Not reducing costs in the same way as the competitors means TastyExpress is outlaying more of the profit. Having higher costs than competitors such as Domino’s Pizza is a major weakness. Over pricing, setting too high prices for TastyExpress services makes us uncompetitive, which is a major weakness. TastyExpress’a underdeveloped distribution chain has a marked effect on performance as it affects the distribution of the delivery services.

c. Opportunities

The changes in the way consumers spend and what they buy provides a big opportunity for TastyExpress to explore. New market opportunities could be a way to push TastyExpress forward such as other cities outside of Alameda county (e.g. Milpitas, San Jose… etc). TastyExpress has the opportunity to enter a niche market, gain leading position; and therefore boost financial performance. Reaching out into other markets is a possibility for TastyExpress.

d. Threats

Regulations requiring money to be spent or measures to be taken could put financial or other pressure on TastyExpress. Changes in the way consumers shop and spend, and other changing consumer patterns could be a threat to our delivery service. Extra competition and new competitors entering the market could cause TastyExpress to lose its market share and be a big threat. A slow economy or financial slowdown could have a major impact on TastyExpress business and profit.

4. Business strategy

a. Cost leadership

b. Differentiation

c. Focus

F. Strategic Action Plan

1. Specific performance goals and objectives and their link to your company’s mission

As a passionate food delivery company, we contract with the best restaurants in the Bay Area to bring the highest quality meals to each of our customer’s doorsteps at an affordable price. All of the food is prepared daily with the freshest ingredient to ensure the nutritional value in each and every meal. We strive to present our lunch options in the most convenient way for our customers to choose: weekly updated online menu with beautiful photos, coupled with description, ingredients and ratings of all the dishes. With a fast and reliable delivery team, our customers will never know of a “late lunch”.

2. Summary of your production and marketing strategies

3. How will you convert these marketing strategies into action

4. The control procedures you plan to establish to keep the business on track, including measures of performance