Operations Managements At Kudler Fine Foods

Operations Management at Kudler Fine Foods
Kathy Kudler has big plans for 2007. Included in her strategic plan, is opening her fourth specialty foods store.   In order for her business to continue to flourish, she has planned marketing strategies to differentiate Kudler Fine Foods from other high-end markets.   In opening her first, and subsequent, gourmet markets, she created an alternative shopping venue for the consumer. There was little competitive rivalry; however, she will need to maintain her edge in the gourmet arena by continuing to improve her services and products at a competitive price while maintaining the quality that her customers have come to expect. As an owner and a supplier, Kudler will need to review her current operations management programs and capitalize on her growing chain status for purchasing power.

Current Operations at Kudler Fine Foods
Kathy Kudler has been in business for less than 10 years and had tremendous success as a business owner. She owns 3 gourmet food stores and continues to expand her company. However, Kudler has many opportunities to tighten her business processes and gain potential revenue. Kathy Kudler is the owner and president of Kudler Fine Foods. Sustaining the president's efforts to run the company are 3 key positions, the Director of Finance and Accounting, the Director of Store Operations, and the Director of Administration and Human Resources(UOP, Virtual Organizations Portal: Kundler Fine Foods: Human Resources).   She has depended upon these 3 directors to lead many of the major functions of her operation and develop policies and procedures of the 3 stores. There is a store manager in charge of each of the 3 stores. Their function is to manage the daily operations of each of the stores and those duties include everything from formulating pricing policies to locking the store at the end of the day. Theoretically, each of the 3 Kudler Fine Food Stores could be run differently or have different products (UOP,...