Running head: STRATEGIES: KUDLER FINE FOODS
Strategies: Kudler Fine Foods
Week Six
Jennifer
MBA/ 502 Managing the Business Enterprise
University of Phoenix
August 20, 2007
Strategies: Kudler Fine Foods
Kudler Fine Foods is a gourmet foods retailer founded in 1998 by Kathy Kudler in LaJolla, California. Kudler offers a wide variety of fine wines and gourmet cheeses, European-style baked goods, organic meats, seafood, produce, and exotic herbs and spices. Appealing to connoisseurs of gourmet foods has enabled Kudler to grow steadily, adding stores in Del Mar in 2000 and Encinitas in 2003 (Apollo Group, 2005). This report will examine Kudlers current management strategy as well as changes in technology and how this can create new opportunities for Kudler.
Technology
Current Practice
Kudler currently uses information technology to keep track of customer purchases. Accounting data is collected by the point-of-sale terminals (cash registers) that are used in each store at check-out to record all items, quantities, prices, taxes and totals for all daily sales transactions. (Apollo Group, Inc 2005). This allows Kudler to keep track of the number of items sold to help determine need while forecasting future ordering.
According to Kudler’s intranet site, Kudler keeps a database with several tables containing customer information. “The Customer Table contains demographic data for each of Kudler’s customers. The data in this table is used to access the name and address of customers for order processing and for special mailings for anniversaries and/or birth dates, etc.” (Apollo Group, Inc 2005).
Opportunities
Competitive intell ...