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Executive Summary
Sophia’s at Walden in Mechanicsburg offers the perfect neighborhood restaurant
for a têteàtête, coffee catch, lunch date or evening meal. It’s also the place to
head for local bakery items, catering and onsite private parties.
At Sophia’s at Walden, food and drink are carefully crafted by chefs who have
trained at culinary schools. Like every member of the team, they have a true
passion for bringing patrons cuisine made from scratch. By using the freshest
ingredients, they help the company create incredible delicacies that change from
day to day. With this kind of attention to detail, it’s easy to see why Sophia’s at
Walden has become the preferred place for breakfast, lunch and dinner for
individuals, groups and families.
The restaurant offers incredible cuisine and mouthwatering baked goods, and they
invite men, women and children to visit Sophia’s at Walden. There, one will be
greeted with a warm smile and treated to the exceptional service one deserves.
Sophia, the owner, at Sophia’s at Walden always feel at home at your favorite café
and bakery.
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Situation Analysis
Company Analysis:
Business owner, Sophia, began her restaurant experience working at the Broad Street
Market in Harrisburg. She then moved into running her own business by creating the famous
Sophia’s on Market. As this restaurant expanded its business and gained revenue, Sophia decided
to open another café. Sophia's at Walden, the second Sophia's restaurant, opened at the Charter
Homes & Neighborhood at Walden in Mechanicsburg on February 1, 2013. At Sophia's, they
have been calling themselves the neighborhood cafe and bakery since its inception. Sophia's at
Walden truly is an integral part of the neighborhood as part of Walden Crossroads, the village
area inside Walden, where shops and our restaurants line the cobblestone streets. Sophia's at
Walden serves breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week (MondaySaturday) and brunch on
Sunday. At Sophia's at Walden, they continue our tradition of providing our customers with
madetoorder meals combining fresh, quality ingredients with our madefromscratch bakery
goods (including assorted breads, rolls and sweet treats), homemade sauces & salad dressings,
and homemade soups for a delicious and enjoyable dining experience. In addition, customers are
able to order and pickup the same delicious bakery items birthday cakes, whole cakes & pies,
breads and other sweets at Sophia's at Walden that are found at Sophia's on Market, where the
bakery is operated. The mission statement for Sophia’s at Walden states as such; Sophia’s at
Walden provides excellent customer service and fresh baked quality, fabulous food, freshly
made.
Company resources:
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Sophia's at Walden would not be able to produce its products without its parent business,
Sophia's on Market. This indicates the mass production of baked goods is made at the location on
Market. Many people are required to help run the business and are valuable resources. The
human resources department at Sophia’s at Walden includes; chefs, line cooks (both of which are
positioned offered to trained professionals), “runners” (waiters who serve tables during the day
and night), hostess, marketer and organizer, as well as managers. The emphasis on working as a
team is stressed at both locations of Sophia’s restaurant. They also must hire reliable staff
members, because if someone cannot come into work, the restaurant cannot simply shut down.
The financial resource pulls from the overall business the restaurant attracts and makes every
day.
Marketing strategy:
The marketing strategy for Sophia’s at Walden is to achieve the most business in the area for a
bakery and café. Their marketing plan is word of mouth, customers coming to the bakery, dining
and enjoying their time, then recommending their restaurant to their friends and family.
Marketing programs:
The goal of Sophia’s at Walden is to be the leading name in bakeries and cafes in the central
Pennsylvanian area. Sophia’s at Walden is located on Walden Way and Woods Drive, in
suburban Mechanicsburg. The distribution method utilized by the company is through many
local wholesalers and farmers’ markets. Cisco foods and John Gross in Mechanicsburg supply
the café with coffee and dried goods. Flour products are distributed from Lentz, and chocolate
and desert products (nuts) are supplied from J Zimmerman’s. Seafood products are supplied from
Kepler’s Seafood in the West Shore Farmers market. The product component of the marketing
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program of Sophia’s at Walden includes the bakerymade goods, breakfast, lunch, brunch and
dinner items as well. The breakfast menu consists of breakfast sandwiches to omelets, as well as
French toast and pancakes. The lunch menu consists of cold sandwiches, salads, wraps, hot
sandwiches, burgers and soups. The brunch menu includes an exclusive Eggs Benedict
collection, French toast, pancakes and waffles, eggs and omelets, as well as sandwiches and
salads. The dinner menu has items such as; appetizers, sandwiches, entrée salads as well as
regular entrees, burgers and a children’s menu. Sophia’s at Walden has guest performances on
Wednesday nights, as well as table side magic tricks on Friday nights from David Pepka. The
bakery section of Sophia’s at Walden includes specialty cakes, desserts, cookies and breads. The
desserts include chocolate mousse cake and coconut tarts. Pastries include “Bear Claws” and
mini sticky buns. The cookie selection at Sophia’s at Walden quite varied, with options such as
“Jumble” cookies, “Russian tea” cookies and Amaretto cookies. Other selections of cookies
include; crackle, coconut macaroons, peanut butter cup and Grammy’s. At Sophia’s at Walden,
professional pastry chefs enjoy getting creative for the holidays and for special events such as
birthdays, anniversaries, baby and bridal showers. For corporate catering, Sophia’s at Walden
combines quality foods with individualized customer service to create catered meals. The owner,
Sophia, has designed menus to make ordering and budgeting easy, however, if a company would
like to customize their order, the staff at Sophia’s at Walden is happy to work with these
corporate companies individually to meet their specific meeting and dietary needs. The bakery
bake all breads and desserts in their own facility and use fresh, quality ingredients to create their
sandwiches, salads and entrees. Making the customer aware of Sophia’s at Walden and their
products through promotional efforts is to be done by word of mouth as well as flyers in the
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on inefficient products or marketing strategies. Sophia’s at Walden prefers to be a café and
bakery as opposed to being a fast food restaurant. The social responsibility and environmental
responsibility felt by the owner is quite extensive. The owner, Sophia, believes the company
starting to produce reusable cups will cut costs and environmental harm with Styrofoam cups and
will bring returning business back to the restaurant as these reusable cups could be refilled at any
point of the customer’s return visit for free. This is a very good incentive for repeat customers
and repeat business. Sophia takes pride in her ability to help the environment with her business
and is very environmentally aware of her contributions. At Sophia’s at Walden, the cooks try not
to waste food, as it collects in garbage bags and ultimately loses them income. Some of the
major constraints the business faces is their lack of staff members to produce their products,
which in turn constraints the amount of locations the store can open. The competition for a
bakery and café within the central Pennsylvanian area is quite strong as well, leading to
constraints in business expansion. The ability to spread the word about Sophia’s at Walden is
rather difficult for the business to pursue. Poor service along with poor food is hard to overcome,
so the restaurant tries to work with their staff to prepare them for any obstacles within the
production line. As Sophia states, “Once you scare away a customer, it’s hard for them to come
back.” Wordofmouth is a big factor in the business’s success level.
Customer Analysis
Sophia's on Walden is a medium sized cafe with a comfortable atmosphere. Customers
usually choose Sophia's when looking to spend money for a quality meal in a nice setting. The
target market used to be 25 years and older, but recently they have noticed a potential increase in
children and teenagers as customers. Customers commonly come in as couples or individually.
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Sophia's on Market has been in business longer, so this location has more loyal customers. It
took a couple years for the Market location to gain loyalty, but now there are many customers at
the Market location that come in three to four times a week. The location at Walden is relatively
new, so the typical customer is there for the first time.
The business of Sophia's encompasses the area of Camp Hill and Mechanicsburg which
have a total population of 16,839. This is a large number of people to work with, but Sophia's
tries to target them all. Based on the US Census Bureau of Camp Hill in 2010, 22.3% of people
were under the age of 18 and 17.4% were over the age of 65. This leaves 60.3% to be middle
aged, which is Sophia's target market. Sophia's atmosphere is more on the "pretty and cozy"
side, which appeals more to women. This is a positive factor, because the population of females
in the area is slightly over 50%. The vast majority of people are white (88.8%) with 6.7% being
Asian and 2.7% being Hispanic or Latino. This works in the favor of Sophia's product
assortment, because the food is of American culture. The average persons per household is 2.27,
which means it is unusual for someone to live alone. Sophia's recognizes this by providing
tables for groups of people from 28, which encourages customers to bring another person. The
median household income is $62,158, and the persons below poverty level is 4.4% of the entire
population. These statistics show that the population is generally wealthy and has extra money
to spend on going out to eat.
Competitor Analysis:
The nature of the current competition for Sophia’s at Walden would include any restaurant or
bakery in the central Pennsylvania area, including but not limited to, Panera Bread, Pennsylvania
Bakery and Starbucks. The main competitive business for Sophia’s company is Panera Bread, as
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both companies offer similar baked goods as well as market from a café inspired theme. The
current strategy for Sophia’s at Walden is to keep current customers coming back as well as
continual coupons and promotions for special prices at the bakery. They also focus on serving a
superior product to their competitors. Chain companies such as Panera Bread and Starbucks have
a strong following as well. But as stated by Sophia, Panera Bread is created as Panera but then
sent on trucks. Basically, the company makes their breads and pastries at their factories and then
ships their products to their stores. At Sophia’s at Walden, all baked goods and general products
are made and sold at the bakery, hot and fresh for the consumer. Price of the goods at Sophia’s at
Walden is the biggest barrier to the company. Corporate companies say what the bottom line is,
and they go for price rather than quality. At Sophia’s at Walden, quality is their leading attribute
for return business, so the price is higher for this higher standard of product. The perception that
Sophia’s at Walden is an “overpriced” company is a difficult perception to address for the
company, as quality comes with a price. The customer can simply go to a competing business
that sells their product at a cheaper price, and immediately Sophia’s at Walden loses that
business. The quality level at Sophia’s at Walden is their competitive advantage over other
companies.
ANALYSIS OF MARKET CONTEXT
ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT:
The economy in 2014 has passed the 2008 recession, which was the longest and deepest
recession since the Great Depression. Business conditions are beginning to improve, consumers
are starting to spend more, and unemployment is lowering. Capital flow is increasing, and
lenders are more willing to pursue new debt facilities for borrowers. Businesses should expect
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an increase in sales levels, consumer spending, restaurant traffic, and transaction counts. The
restaurant industry sales are expected to hit a record high of $683.4 billion in 2014. With a
workforce of 13.5 million, the restaurant industry will remain the nation’s secondlargest private
sector employer. Companies should not expect the economy to rebound to pre2008 levels,
because customers and companies are still cautious. The trends for 2014 show that companies
with a strong local presence and the ability to differentiate their brand from national competitors
will do well. Sophia’s on Walden achieves this by being a local business to Mechanicsburg and
Camp Hill, and their freshlymade food sets them apart from other competitors. According to
the 2014 Pocket Facebook, nine in ten restaurants in the United States have 50 or fewer
employees, and seven in ten are singleunit operations. This shows that small businesses, like
Sophia’s, are still the majority and still successful. In the recession, many companies shut down
operations, so some will start coming back and new groups will emerge. Businesses that want to
be successful should embrace new companies to create growth. Now there are new, stricter
standards in loan underwriting and credit management, because of the recession. In general,
borrowers should expect higher interest rate spreads, increased fees, and tight covenants. In the
current economy, it is important for to run business with a solid team and make the brand an
obvious choice for the current cautious customers.
Differentiation and Positioning: Sophia’s at Walden wants to see their bakery as a unique and
highquality bakery. Sophia hires respectful and hardworking employees. Most of the staff
members at the café are young; high school aged through their 30’s. The café hires culinary
artists to produce their goods. The bakers at the bakery have been working for 5 to 7 years, so
they have a true investment in the company and want to produce highquality products. The
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cooks are very highquality and work diligently day and night to add creative items to the menu.
The signature items at Sophia’s at Walden include the baked goods and cake items. All products
are freshly made and come from quality suppliers. Feedback from the customers is usually very
good. One customer, Claire from Mechanicsburg, PA, commented on the bakery, stating “We try
to eat healthy, clean, fresh meals and Sophia's fits the bill! Great high quality ingredients
prepared fresh. We appreciate the option of eating healthy when we eat out. Not that the desserts
are healthy, but they are so yummy! They are worth the splurge :) Love the décor”! The market
offering will be positioned as the highquality bakery and café that produces healthy yet tasteful
food at an affordable price.
CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT:
The social environment at Sophia’s is very positive and it focuses on teamwork. There
are many employees at each location, and they are all valuable resources to help run the
business. As stated earlier, the human resources department at Sophia’s at Walden includes;
chefs, line cooks (both of which are positioned offered to trained professionals), “runners”
(waiters who serve tables during the day and night), hostess, marketer and organizer, as well as
managers. Each of these employees have to communicate and work toward one common goal:
to make the customers satisfied and happy.
The social environment of any business is extremely important and integral to its success
or failure. Cooperation and teamwork are more likely to exist in a positive social environment
where employees get along and are generally positive in their relationship to one another. In
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general, a job environment where employees are constantly in conflict with one another will
more likely lead to the workers dreading work and not having a positive assessment of their
employer. When employees are positive, upbeat and cooperative, customers are more likely to
appreciate the atmosphere they experience. Leaders in the business who emphasize positive
reinforcement, selfimprovement and education of employees will have a stronger business.
From the information we gained from the manager of Sophia’s, the social environment is
very positive. When Aeliana and I visited, we were greeted very kindly and the employees
seemed to communicate very well. Everyone was in a good mood and smiling, so the
atmosphere was definitely positive. Online reviews say Sophia’s on Market have good to
average service, so there is still room for improvement.
Organizational culture refers to an organization’s own values, beliefs and learned ways of
doing business. This is reflected by the structure of the business and the employees that work
together. The culture is derived from its aims and purpose, its past, its present and its current
ways of managing. Each business is unique in its culture, because each business has different
features and resources. The purpose of Sophia’s is to provide quality food and service in a
neighborhood community. The culture of Sophia’s is very personal, because it is in such a quiet
and calm community in a neighborhood. The environment is very personal, and the employees
connect with the customers at the same level.
TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT:
Emerging technology is more important than ever in the restaurant industry. Many
companies are using iPads, iPhones, tablets, forms of online reservation systems, social media,
and new software to make their businesses better than ever. Sophia’s uses technology as an
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important part of the company, but there is more they can do (which will be explained in the
recommendations). Sophia’s uses a POS (Point of Sale System) known as Digital Dining. This
system is where the customer’s orders are entered, then sent to the kitchen to be made. The
employees also run credit cards, daily reports and access our cash drawer through the POS. The
main source of technology for Sophia’s is the system known as Quick Books. This is a system of
accounting software, where corporate caterings are ordered. Quick Books also keeps track of
invoices and other bills needing to be paid. Sophia’s also runs a website that is very valuable to
the business, because it promotes the products and is very informative. The website includes all
menus, catering options, directions, bakery information, and future events. The website is easy
to use and is a great resource to customers searching online. Technology is an essential aspect of
this business, but there are technological opportunities they have chosen not to pursue.
POLITICAL AND LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
A well thought out political and legal environment is essential for a successful business.
There are many political obstacles that can hinder customer spending, thus influencing a
restaurants income. When people are worried about the national budget, they are more likely to
be worried about their own, which means less dining out and less money to spend. With a
national debt of 17 trillion dollars, customers have the right to be worried. The restaurant
industry boomed after widespread smokefree legislation increased, because restaurants in states
providing cleaner environments with no smoking increased revenue. Sophia’s is a part of this
legislation, because smoking is prohibited in their buildings. This creates a cleaner and safer
environment for customers.
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One of the most important areas of political issues is workforce proposal. In general, restaurants
are affected by the Americans with Disability Act, mandatory health care, paid/unpaid leaves/ tip
allowances and union organizing. The top political issues for restaurants include childhood
obesity, food safety, menu labeling, dietrelated disease, and allergen concerns. There are new
tax laws and financial regulations including creditcard swipe fees, sales tax, rules for food
donations and restaurant depreciation writeoffs, and these need to be thoroughly understood by
the company. More and more businesses are becoming involved with organizations such as
“Kids Live Well” and the “Campaign to End Obesity” and are taking steps to provide more
healthy menus. The business of Sophia’s did not provide information about their association with
these issues, laws, and organizations, but they strive to provide a safe, healthy environment for
their customers.
S.W.O.T Analysis:
The strengths of Sophia’s at Walden include their respectful and hardworking employees.
Most of the staff members at the café are young; high school aged through their 30’s. The café
hires culinary artists to produce their goods. The bakers at the bakery have been working for 5 to
7 years, so they have a true investment in the company and want to produce highquality
products. The cooks are very highquality and work diligently day and night to add creative
items to the menu. The signature items at Sophia’s at Walden include the baked goods and cake
items. All products are freshly made and come from quality suppliers.
Weaknesses of Sophia’s at Walden start with the simple fact the competition for a bakery
and café are quite hard to surpass when the chain company, Panera Bread, is near their location.
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Once a customer realizes Sophia’s at Walden is a slightly higher price range than Panera, the
customer may want to dine at the lower cost restaurant. This takes away business from Sophia’s
at Walden. If a customer dines at the café, and they seem to not feel well or get sick postmeal,
they are likely to blame their sickness on the food. Once this association, that could be false, is in
place, the customer may then tell their family members, friends, coworkers, etc. that the
bakery’s food has made them very ill. Wordofmouth then becomes Sophia’s at Walden’s main
problem and weakness when it comes to addressing it. Despite this aversion to the company in
some circumstances, the café still maintains its loyal customers. But the overwhelming demand
for the company’s baked goods is another weakness, as they are starting to become unable to
keep up with the demand of their products.
Opportunities that have opened up within the bakery’s reach are an emerging youth
market that is choosing food produced by Sophia’s at Walden over unhealthy fastfood
restaurants such as, McDonald’s and Burger King. Sophia sees a promising new market segment
with the youth, as parents are willing to give their children what they like and even more inclined
to dine at Sophia’s at Walden based on their healthy food choices and Kid’s Meal. Sophia
believes there is an opportunity for an improved profit by targeting this age group. This is also
why Sophia has had numerous singers, performers, and even magicians and balloon artists
showcase their talent at her café, to promote the youth’s attendance. This live entertainment also
promotes increased revenue with senior citizens, an increasing opportunity within itself.
Threats to Sophia’s at Walden include the market competition, the wordofmouth
reputation tarnishing, the economic decline in the United States hurting business, poor service on
any given night, as well as poor food on any given night. Price is the biggest barrier when it
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comes to Sophia’s at Walden. Their price point can be expensive for some families within their
target market. Corporate companies state the “bottom line” but do not consider the quality of the
product, nor the expensive of the staff, dry goods, wet ingredients, electric and lighting fees,
cooking expenses, and business as well as marketing expenses.
Marketing Plan Objectives:
The marketing plan objectives are to broaden the gap between investment by the
company for product materials and the ROI in the quickest yet most cost effective manner.
Sophia’s at Walden must expand their company’s profits by supplying the overwhelming
demand of their products yet maintaining their over customer base. Promotional acts should be
appealing and worth the cost to invest in them.
Differentiation and Positioning (Recommendations):
Sophia's on Walden provides customers with madetoorder meals combining fresh,
quality ingredients with madefromscratch bakery goods, homemade sauces & salad dressings,
and homemade soups for a delicious and enjoyable dining experience. Anyone who enjoys
quality dining at an affordable price will be more than satisfied at Sophia's. Unlike other
bakeries, Sophia's makes all their products on location, so the customer receives the highest level
of freshness possible. The friendly, respectful atmosphere this company has is very difficult to
beat in the restaurant business.
Marketing Strategy:
Overview of the Marketing Strategy The general direction for the marketing strategy for
the company is to produce the highest quality food for their target market at the most affordable
price without compromising the product’s taste and superiority over competition. The four P’s fit
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together as the Products (baked goods, fresh ingredients, and superior service) are Promoted
(Advertisement magazines, coupon books, road signs, billboards) as well as Priced (medium to
high) and Placed (Sophia’s on Market, Sophia’s at Walden, catering, trucks). The Products must
be promoted in a way to increase the volume of consumers while maintaining the Price for
quality. We started by evaluating the main Products of Sophia’s at Walden and recommended
that the café increase their volume for their baked goods, as these are the staple for the café. This
would include cookies, cakes, bread items, and other dessert products. Promotional efforts to
increase volume of the business should include the use of internet ads as well as billboard signs
and roadsigns found along the main streets of Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill and Carlisle.
Magazines ads and coupon book promotional efforts should be increased to further expand the
business and let people know of the restaurant. Place elements of the restaurant can be improved
by adding more catering trucks and distributional methods to supply the demand for the
increased business the company will see. The price of the products at Sophia’s at Walden is
slightly high for the product they make, as well as compared to surrounding cafes. The company
needs to evaluate their resources and the places where they get their products to see if they can
cut costs on their end to better suit the price for the customer.
Target Market:
The characteristics of the target market to be approached must include men and women
aged early twenties to elderly aged. As well, potential customers will include families with
young children and teens. These men and women must make a decent income to dine at the café
frequently. Incomes can range from $40,000 to $50,000. The target should also be affluent
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brands themselves as a high quality business, but their manufacturing aspect does not see a
strong ROI. To make customers aware of their homemade products and selfmade business, the
company can brand themselves to the public more overtly as the best homemade meal in town.
Even a catchy slogan or jingle could improve this. With the cookie products offered at Sophia’s
at Walden, these products are wrapped in goodie bags and distributed to the public tied with
ribbon. This promotional effort could be improved by using a value add method where they are
assortment bags and boxes for the public to purchase. Cultural sensitivity of the product at
Sophia’s at Walden can be made more prominent by adding more culturally different products to
the product line, not just the traditional Greek foods offered. The product line could be culturally
diversified more, and Sophia’s at Walden has the capability to do so.
PLACE (recommendations)
Currently, Sophia’s at Walden is located on Walden Way and Woods Drive, in
suburban Mechanicsburg. The company uses local wholesalers and farmers’ markets as their
distribution method. Cisco foods and John Gross in Mechanicsburg supply the café with
coffee and dried goods. Flour products are distributed from Lentz, and chocolate and desert
products (nuts) are supplied from J Zimmerman’s. Seafood products are supplied from
Kepler’s Seafood in the West Shore Farmers market.
We feel the location of Sophia’s at Walden is very secluded and does not stand out to
the customers driving on main roads. In order to drive to the Walden location, one needs to
travel through a couple small “back” roads first. This could be hindering the company’s
potential, because not as many people will feel motivated to search for this bakery, or be
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convinced to come inside. The Walden location is the first floor of a building surrounded by
other businesses including a spa and other exercise facilities. Sophia’s is the only restaurant
in this business area, so there is potential. In order to attract customers to come back the
small roads of Woods Drive, we would suggest investing in a visual advertisement on the
intersection of the Carlisle Pike and Woods Drive (explained more in promotion). With more
advertising and getting the word known to the public of where this restaurant is located, this
location will be perfect for Sophia’s. This new neighborhood of Walden has a large amount
of growth potential, and Sophia’s will benefit from this.
Sophia's is a direct channel of distribution, because the bakery makes its own products
on site of the business and sells it to customers directly. The wholesalers, such as Cisco or
John Gross, simply sell the materials needed to make the products. The marketing functions
of each of these sellers was stated earlier. The coordination through the company, channel,
and supply chain is used by the program Quick Books. This software organizes all payments
to other sellers, and provides accounting/budgeting organizing. Since Sophia's is a relatively
small business, a warehouse is not needed, since they can store all materials in the back.
Since Sophia's is in the food industry there are no returns, and if a product is recalled it can
simply be returned to the wholesaler. We suggest that Sophia's uses fuel efficient trucks to
transport their materials. This can save money a lot more than one would think. These are
the trucks running from Sophia's on Walden to Sophia's on Market, and the transportation
from the wholesalers to Sophia's in general.
In the future, this company may want to branch out to another city in addition to
Camp Hill and Mechanicsburg. In 5 years if the company is still thriving, there are many
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opportunities and potential growth in Carlisle and Harrisburg. These areas are far enough
away from the current locations, so there are new customers to be reached. Starting a new
business would involve great risk, because of all the investments in new employees, increased
product, and new buildings/materials. If the company wants to engage in growth, this would
be a great opportunity.
Promotion (Recommendations)
The current promotion methods for Sophia’s are very limited and based mainly on
regular customers and word of mouth. The only advertisement they use is email addresses from
new customers. They claim 55% of the emails are opened, while the industry average is 19%.
This is a positive statistic compared to the industry average, and customers can obtain a lot of
information through emails, including Sophia’s website. The downside is many people do not
open their emails or care about what they contain. Sophia’s holds special events occasionally,
such as magician night, and these events help grab customer’s attention. They have specials
every day, such as half a sandwich and soup specials for $8.50 and the hot sandwich special for
$9.50. This company has generally steady pricing, and rarely holds sales.
The promotion aspect of this business has a lot room for potential. In general, we feel
more advertisement could be used in most forms. The most important would be a billboard on
the Carlisle Pike, so that customers know where Sophia’s is. This could be on the intersection of
Woods Drive and the Carlisle Pike. The sign could express Sophia’s title, food image, address,
and phone number, so that people would have something to refer to. Billboards in this area
would attract all sorts of people in all different target markets, which would expand their
customer dimensions. If the customers that see the sign do not go directly to Sophia’s, they have
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the name in their head and can look it up at a later point. Also, advertisements in the local
newspaper would be very beneficial. This would attract more of the older class who enjoy small
cafes anyway. Newspapers can be referred back to and keep the company’s business in the
customer’s mind. We feel television/magazine advertisements for this business are not
necessary, since it is such a small business. We still agree that in this local setting, word of
mouth is the most important form of publicity. Sophia’s has one marketing planner, and she
handles all the sales promotion efforts. If there are possible finances, we would suggest adding a
second marketing planner, so there is one for each location.
All the managers, planners, and waitresses are considered the salespeople at Sophia’s.
They help customers find what they want to buy and they assist them with any help the
customer’s would need. We suggest that the employees receive a discount at Sophia’s of 25%
off and occasional giveaways for employees. This keeps the working atmosphere positive and
makes the employees appreciate their jobs more, thus appreciating the customers more.
As soon as one walks into Sophia’s on Walden, they see a wall of bagged cookies.
These include macaroons, biscotti, and ginger snaps. A good promotion for these products
would be occasional buy one bag, get one 50%. This would encourage the customers to buy
them now while they are still on sale, but Sophia’s would still make money. Sophia’s also has a
large case of cakes, brownies, pies, so the longer these products sit out, the more promotions
should be placed on them. After the second day, the treats could be buy one get one free. This
would encourage the couples at the store to buy. It is a very good thing that Sophia’s has daily
specials, because this is very popular to the customers. With these promotional improvements,
the business of Sophia’s will grow immensely.
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and on blog websites. The main marketing information system utilized will be the internet for
storing information about customers and the target market, such as their email address when they
are asked to receive discounts at the checkout counter.
Implementation and Control:
Special Implementation Problems to Overcome
The people and staff members required for this business to continue to thrive include
their marketing director, additional chefs to supply the demand, more waiting staff, and to
continue the chain of restaurants, additional managerial staff. The manufacturers will have to
increase their distribution efforts from their wholesalers. The financial resources that must be
acquired will come from the increase in business.
Timing:
Sophia’s at Walden must have a timeline for the activities and events of their company.
As of now, they are at the beginning of the market growth stage of the product life cycle.
Sophia’s at Walden has been open a little over a year. They yearn for customers to enjoy a
têteàtête, coffee break, lunch date or evening meal. It’s also the place to head for local bakery
items, catering and onsite private parties. At Sophia’s at Walden, food and drink are carefully
crafted by chefs who have trained at culinary schools. Like every member of the team, they have
a true passion for bringing patrons cuisine made from scratch. By using the freshest ingredients,
they help the company create incredible delicacies that change from day to day. With this kind
