Kff Problem Statement

Kudler Fine Foods Problem Statement

Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) was started by Kathy Kudler 1998, a previous VP of a large defense contractor, who had a passion for gourmet food. Kathy was unsuccessful in locating gourmet food stores in her surrounding area, so she decided to start her own. KFF is a premiere grocery store specializing in fresh and fancy meats, produce, cheese, and wines. Kathy currently has three stores operating in metropolitan area of San Diego, California: La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas, with a fourth to open in Carlsbad (Kudler, 2003).

Situation Analysis

Since starting KFF, Kathy bulk orders all the inventory for each store. While continuing to expand and opening new stores, being in sole control of orders has become a time consuming ordeal. The lost time results in less customer interaction, and it prevents Kathy from maintaining and facilitating daily operations and planning.

Problem Statement

KFF as an organization has continued to expand, and under Kathy's guidance expansion will continue. As an organization grows its management structure most grow along with the company, however; this is not the case with KFF. Kathy has maintained herself as the primary manager for the entire organization. Kathy has hired managers to help her maintain each store, but the amount of autonomy the managers received is limited. Kathy still performs the tracking and ordering of inventory. This behavior results in KFF facing a management issues because its management team being too small.

Alternatives

Kathy is spending a large portion of time tracking purchases and bulk ordering for the stores, when her time could be better spent planning for KFF's expansion, and meeting customers. To free Kathy's time an automated purchasing system could be implemented to make inventory orders. Kathy could also allow her managers to order inventories for their stores.

Alternative Analysis

By implementing an automated purchasing system Kathy's...