Kudler Fine Foods
Introduction
“Kathy Kudler decided to open her own gourmet food shop, because she was frustrated at having to travel all over town to gather the ingredients for one simple meal. Her idea was to create one store that would stock a wide selection of the freshest ingredients as well as all of the tools a gourmet cook could ever want. Kathy was certain that combining the convenience of one-stop shopping with reasonable prices” (University of Phoenix, 2007).
Kathy first store was in La Jolla, California which opened in 1998. Two years later, Kathy expanded her vision and open another gourmet food shop in Del Mar, California. In 2003, Kathy opened another store in Encinitas California.
Business Process
Kudler Fine Foods mission statement “is committed to providing our customers with the finest selection of the very best foods and wines so that your culinary visions can come true. Thank you for your patronage and giving us the opportunity to serve you” (University of Phoenix, 2007). Kudler Fine Food uses the practice of competitive intelligence, which closely monitors the performance of its competitors (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002, p.13). The Internet plays an increasingly important role in supporting competitive intelligence. Using Internet tools, a company can implement specific search strategies to gather competitive intelligence easily, quickly, relatively and inexpensively (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002, p.15). Each department has its own manager and mission statement. “The three department managers in each store determine requirements for the items their department sells and places purchase orders directly with suppliers using a purchase order form that is standard between the three stores. It is the responsibility of the Department Managers to obtain the best price, quality, and delivery possible. The three department managers are encouraged to check with their counterparts at the other stores on the pricing, quality, and...
View Full Essay