RM COFFEE BLENDS
Project Development Process
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This 4,918-word document discusses a Project Development Process for a coffee house establishment. The name of the planned business venture is RM Coffee Blends to be located at Commercial Street in London, the main business street in the city. Commercial Street is a road in Tower Hamlets, East London that goes north to south from Shoreditch to Aldgate through the East End district of Spitalfields. Basically, this project came out of the need to provide the locals and tourists who come to London with a place to just sit back, relax and enjoy their caffeine fix prepared just the way they like it. Coffee houses located in London are in abundance. In fact, one such shop could be found in every second corner, but the demand for coffee serving is increasing in enormous number, thus the project for RM Coffee Blends. The business aims to establish competitive advantage through providing clients with a unique RM Coffee Blends experience each and every time they enter our coffee house, mainly through provision of a five-minute massage for every cup of coffee they order. The management team of RM Coffee Blends will be consisted of four highly-qualified and success-driven people who will lead RM Coffee Blends in its path to growth and sustainability.
The main target market for the company is the tourists who go to London to experience coffee in its finest in the region. The secondary target market will be the locals, who have sustained the growth of the coffee industry through their continued patronage of coffee houses in London. The financial projections highlight the feasibility of this business plan, as the business is forecasted to garner a net profit of £400,750 by the end of the first year alone. The business needs to raise £500,000 though, and this document aims to assist in realising that objective. Said capital requirement will be used for start-up and operating costs to last for three years, specifically for the purchase of furniture, equipment and raw materials to be used for business operations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………. 1
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………. 2
The Business ………………………………………………………………………. 3
Management Team and Stakeholders ……………………………………………. 4
General Manager ……………………………………..……………………. 4
Senior Staff & Senior Manager ……………………………………………. 4
Local Staff & Overseas Staff ……………………………….………………. 5
Customer …………………………………………………….…………….. 5
Company Structure …………………………………………………….………….. 6
Industry Analysis ………………………………………………………………..… 7
Target Market …………………….……………………..………………… 8
Marketing Plan …………………….……………………………………………… 9
Product feasibility and Strategy ………………………………………….. 9
Pricing Strategy …………………………………………………………… 10
Channels of Distribution and Promotion and Advertising ……………… 10
Operation Plan ……………………………………………………………………. 11
Financial Plan ……………………………………………………………………… 12
Payback Strategy ………………………………………………………….. 13
Critical Risk Factors ………………………………………………………………. 13
Management Risks ………………………………………………………… 13 Marketing Risks ……………………………………………………………. 14
Operating Risks …………………………………………………………… 14
Financial Risks ………………………………………………………..…… 15
Project Auditing and Completion ……………………………………………….. 15
Managing Obstacles to Success ……………………………………………………. 16
Appendices ………………………………………………………………………… 17
References ………………………………………………………………………… 23
The Business
The food-service industry in the United Kingdom, particularly the coffee shop sector, has witnessed an impressive growth in the past several years, in parallel with the growing number of tourists who go to London. The coffee market in UK has been markedly flourishing in the past decades, leading to the sprout of the number of coffee shops in the city.[1] The coffee drinking culture in the said country has been one of the most eclectic from ‘gourmet’ to the local blends served in coffee houses (2002). Currently, there are numerous numbers of coffee shops in the said area such as Costa, Starbucks and Caff but the number of consumers is still increasing (2002). To this end, this business project aims to establish the RM Coffee Blends coffee house in Commercial Street in London. The germ of idea of running a coffee shop came up when the author was drinking coffee in Commercial Street in London and saw the steady stream of people going inside the establishment to have their caffeine fix. This proposal will cater to the growing need of coffee shops patrons to find a haven where they can just sit back and enjoy their cup of coffee, either alone or with company. The business will be specifically designed to cater to the clients’ hearts desires and whims and make their RM Coffee Blends patronage worth repeating over and over again. The business aims to establish competitive advantage through providing clients with a unique RM Coffee Blends experience each and every time they enter our coffee house, mainly through provision of a five-minute massage for every cup of coffee they order. Currently, the business is still in its preparation stage, and is looking out for sources of funds which would finance start-up costs and running capital. The desired business logo, mission and objectives are attached in the Appendices section of this paper
Managing Team and Stakeholders
When running a business project, it is important to understand the values and issues that stakeholders have in order to address them and keep everyone on board for the duration of the project (2003). Stakeholders are not always keen to participate but engaging them at this early stage of the project will help ensure success.
General Manager (GM)
The GM is the founder of RM Coffee Blends, his management style should be likely as most traditional London family business with centralised decision making and supporting paternalistic regulation. He should always emphasize that a successful company need have competitiveness in the market and maintains a certainly high level of efficiency, effectiveness. Since coffee company is both product and labour intensive, the cost of employee is in high ratio of total expense. On his role of general manager, he should have to balance between the profitability of shareholders and the loyalty of employee. The GM is neutral on the scheme, we do keep communicate with him to understand his intention and raise his faith.
Senior Staff & Senior Manager
They are advocates and supporters on the scheme, evidence collected with them which are:
Ø They should adjust working hour to accommodate with clients
Ø They should subordinate & themselves have a adaptive resting time for increasing energy and creativity
Ø It can achieve a healthy work-life balance, such as they can have breakfast with elder in the morning, foster children, send and pick up in-studying children
Ø They estimate it can boost their loyalty, productivity and collegiality, and enhance overall company’s image
Ø They are the key stakeholder group in the scheme, there should be a good relationship with them to motivate them supporting and advancing the scheme. Involve them in each stage and decisions.
Local Staff & Overseas Staff
Dispersed aptitude and opinion should be observed in this group. Some critics argue that:
Ø It can reduce their autonomy on their working time
Ø It cannot solve the problem of the long overtime working hour which is underestimated by managers
Ø increase their workload and affect their own performance if other colleague do not have good discipline
Ø Some of them can become our allies to influence others and neutralise the opposition.
Customer
The market can be segmented into three target populations:
- Local Individuals: people of London that love coffee products.
- Families: a group of people, either friends or a group of nuclear relatives who love coffee drinking together.
- Tourist: people that are not locally from London but prefer and enjoy to drink coffee products.
The RM Coffee Blend’s customers are coffee lover individuals between the ages of 21 and 50, making up 53% of London. Age is not the most defined demographic of this customer base; all age groups except for kids less than 10 years of age enjoy coffee products. The most defined characteristic of the target market is income. RM Coffee Blend’s stores have been very successful in high rent, mixed-use urban areas. These areas have a large day and night population consisting of business people and families who have household disposable incomes over £10,000.
Combining several key demographic factors, RM Coffee Blend’s arrives at a profile of the primary customer as follows:
Ø Sophisticated families who live nearby.
Ø Young professionals who work close to the location.
Ø Coffee lovers who patronise the great blends of coffee.
Company Structure
RM Coffee Blends developed the company’s organisational structure to reflect the company’s dedication to maintaining organisational morals, culture and processes. The RM Coffee Blends organisation will serve as the base of its corporate activities. As seen in the organisational chart, (see Appendix 4 for the organisational diagram) there is no line pointing down, indicating that the lines of communication can go in both directions (upward or downward), which implies that the organisation intends to adopt a culture in where communication doors are always open. Also, the chart is a defining figure of how the lines of authority should be followed, and its simplicity would enable all organisational members to comply with it easily. This hierarchical-oriented organisation will promote unity to all RM Coffee Blends management people and employees through adoption of a structure with hierarchical relationships between organisational members with the intention of disseminating corporate policy effectively and efficiently throughout the firm so that we could move in the same direction.
The organisation form will be a limited liability company, in where the owners would have limited personal liability for business debts, fringe benefits can be deducted as business expense and owners can split corporate profits among owners and corporation and overall tax rate is lower, as compared to other organisational forms. The management team is currently applying for the RM Coffee Blends trademark, for it has immediate plans of expansion outside London, and the UK, and it would not want to infringe any legal requirements of the law regarding the business. Also, the business logo, which will be the image representing RM Coffee Blends, will be applied for copyright, as the management team would like to preserve the image as solely belonging to the RM Coffee Blends corporation.
Industry Analysis
The coffee shop industry in the London is continually flourishing, as evidenced in the wealth of said establishments in the area. There are more coffee shops in London than in England and Wales, in fact, there are few coffee houses in the latter.[2] The report also justified that the growth opportunity with specialty coffee distributorship is phenomenal. Basically, in United States of America, coffee is the second largest commodity, and it represents over billion in annual sales. Meaning to say, if RM Coffee Blends sustains its development in London market, the company can also achieve similar growth to coffee businesses in USA. Actually, an online encyclopaedia stated that the specialty coffee portion is almost billion and coffee is the number one beverage consumed in the world and it is a “recession proof” product.[3]
From the given report and researches, RM Coffee Blends still needs to create an effective project plan for the business. In RM Coffee Blends, the leadership of project managers always involves attempts on the part of a project leader to affect the behaviour of a follower or followers in situation. In addition, their management abilities focus on the techniques and expertise of efficient organisation, planning, direction, and control of the operations of a business. In this ever changing global business environment RM Coffee Blends must be competitive and do everything it can to counter any threat from its competitors. Having a good project leader gives the company some edge in facing competition in the global business environment. Companies take part in strategic alliances to attain advantage over their competitors and for both companies to acquire benefits from each other. These strategic alliances won’t be successful if there is no leadership. Leadership gives many things to the company. It is an important aspect of a company. Although leadership can come from core intellectual assets practical application is also vital for the success of the company and for the company to be competitive in the global business environment.
Target Market
The main target market for the firm is tourists who go to London to experience coffee in its finest in the region. The secondary target market will be the locals, who have sustained the growth of the coffee industry through their continued patronage of coffee houses in London. Specifically, the demographic profile of the market to RM Coffee Blends will be the middle-aged generation of customers, from the 25 to 40 age bracket, as middle-aged people are known to have the most passion for coffee drinking and experiencing new specialty coffee flavours in the market. The beverage has been served in various ways thus making the market rather varied as well. It is also proposed that the target market on this context would also include the younger generations of coffee drinkers. Particularly, the drinkers from the age bracket of 21 to 50 years old should be taken into consideration. A need to cater to a specific demographic has spawned the need to acquire a competitive advantage with the rest of the players in the market.
Marketing Plan
Product Feasibility and Strategy
The product that RM Coffee Blends will offer is coffee served in cups, which will have a starting eighteen variants (see Appendix 5 for a full list of the variants) and will increase in number as time passes. The names of the coffee variants are unique, so that customers may know that the products are uniquely RM Coffee Blends’. Before the variants were formally included in the official list of the business’ offerings, there were taste tests conducted in local supermarkets, and those that passed initial testing were given official names to establish identification. The cups were likewise pre-tested for their functionality and durability to withstand water heat (in case the beverage belongs to the hot variation. The tissues and utensil which would be used are manufacturer-guaranteed to be environment-friendly and safe for human use. The brewing machines and equipment to be used are likewise tested in order to bring only the best-tasting coffee that is worth every pound.
Pricing Strategy
The price of each serving of coffee will depend on the variant (see Appendix 5 for a full list of RM Coffee Blends prices). The prices would be in par with those existing coffee shops in London, with the business relying on the shop ambience, quality of service, coffee taste and free massage to gain competitive advantage from rivals in the area. Using all the available information in this business plan, the pricing objective of RM Coffee Blends would be to offer the best-tasting coffee in London at relatively affordable price ranges. With that in mind, the pricing strategy included the cost of providing coffee to the customer (electricity costs, labour costs, raw materials cost, etc.)
The management team believes that RM Coffee Blends products have unique and defensible attributes which could support a high price. However, since a sector of the target market involves young people, who commonly do not have a source income of their own, RM Coffee Blends will strive to keep costs at the lowest level in order to maintain a cheap price offering for all their coffee variants. Also, since the RM Coffee Blends aims to promote an image of affordability and quality all rolled into one, this pricing strategy would definitely help build and sustain that target image.
Channels of Distribution and Promotion and Advertising
On start-up, there will only be one coffee house located in Commercial Street, London where clients could go to have their satisfying caffeine fix. This is the main and only channel of distribution for the initial months of the business. However, if financial statements forecasts prove true, customers will soon see a number of RM Coffee Blends bistros lined up in the thoroughfares of London City.
The main promotion and advertising objective of the business is to be able to spread the RM Coffee Blends word without allotting too much on marketing costs. After all, what works well and what does not work at will depend mostly on the business, the product and service accompanying it, the community, the competition and the skills in how the marketing director will promote the business. As soon as possible, the new coffee shop sign will be put up (including the name, type of shop, hours of operation and the opening date) in order to promote the business well before its opening. When the employment ads are posted in the local papers, the business will make sure to include RM Coffee Blends’ name and location, as this inexpensive classified advertising will help promote the business.
There will be a card awarded free to the first fifty customers of the shop on the day that it opens. This card will serve as their RM Coffee Blends Advantage Card and will avail them of all the benefits of being a RM Coffee Blends Advantage Card holder. Discounts and freebies will be given on designated periods to all cardholders. However, those who were not able to avail of the card for free could still own one given a minimum amount membership fee (£50). The advertising part of marketing will consist only of a free taste booth in front of the coffee house during the first week, half dozen streamers around the area and a hundred flyers to be given away at supermarket doors. Also, one hundred business cards will be at hand, as they are a great way of advertising. The management believes that this is sufficient to advertise the business, and the rest will be left to word-of-mouth.
Operation Plan
The service blueprint diagram is a simple representation of the flow of service delivery of the RM Coffee Blends. The blueprint presented in Appendix 6 presents the areas of operations of the coffee house. Specifically, it presents the areas of operations in which the customer could see as well as the unseen areas. This marks down the areas in which the coffee shop should look closely. Similarly it also provides the operational plan that the organisation should acquire the moment there are malfunctions in the operation. This is particularly seen in the delivery of the beverage to the customers. At this instance of failure, a return to the brewing step is in order. The diagram provides a representation of the process flow that the organisation intends to establish in its daily operations.
As of 2008, the economy is one of the strongest in Europe; inflation, interest rates, and unemployment remain low (2008). From this details, RM coffee Blends will hire employees from developing countries. This people will form part of the potential employees of RM Coffee Blends (see Appendix 7 for list of employees required by the business). Customer support will be one of the main responsibilities of the store manager. Complaints and suggestions regarding the service or coffee quality could be made directly to the manager or written in a slip and dropped at a Suggestion/Complaint box in the cashier counter.
Financial Plan
Each year, thousands of potentially successful businesses fail because of poor financial management. Identification and implementation of policies that will lead to and ensure that the business will meet its financial obligations is a must. To manage the RM Coffee Blends’ finances, the Chief Financial Officer forecasted a sound, realistic budget. The capital requirements for the planned business are to be found in Appendix 8. The assumptions below were made based on current industry standards and are in pound currency.
Ø Occupancy is paid every four months, and whose amount is fixed.
Ø Shop and office furniture depreciates 10% annually.
Ø Cost of sales is 15% of gross sales.
Ø Bank Loan should be paid an amount of £123,700 during the first year.
Ø Laundry and Linen Expense to be paid every four months.
Ø Insurance is fixed at £2000 annually to be paid at the start of the year.
Ø Salaries and wages is an approximate of 20% of gross sales.
Ø Advertising and Promotional Expense is £2,000 during the 1st year, and to be used during the first four months.
Ø Operating Expenditures are allowed £11,000 for the 1st year.
Payback Strategy
The payback strategy would be to focus on selling a broad range of categories to a limited group of markets. This is exactly what Coffee House has in mind. According to (1996), Heinz takes this approach, deriving about two-thirds of its international revenue from just four markets. Operating in an already dynamic home market will entail managing an organisation to encourage innovation. That means the right people in the right jobs, the right management processes, and the right environment to foster growth. At the bottom of the scale, opportunistic or inconsistent strategies seem to reap the worst rewards. Evidence suggests that many of today’s companies are simply not equipped to exploit opportunities for growth. Often, they spend their limited budgets ineffectively; in some cases, as much as 40 percent of a development budget was expended on unproductive products. This business plan aims to payback the £500,000 bank loan within three years of the start of operations.
Critical Risk Factors
Management Risks ~ As the management team is a highly qualified pool of dedicated people driven to assist in the growth of the RM Coffee Blends business, there is little or no risk at all associated with management. The management team of RM Coffee Blends may have difficulties regarding general management of the business, which is expected of all start-up ventures, but with the cooperation and contribution of the knowledge and skills of management team members and their future employees, these difficulties would serve as enlightening experience which will further strengthen the business. These hindrances may come in the form of: (1) a minor disagreement with a particular shop system; (2) lack of ample time dedicated to overseeing the business; and (3) personal issues between organisational members.
Marketing Risks ~ There is the big risk that the marketing strategies adopted by RM Coffee Blends would not click with the target market segments, which would result in the loss of money for the business spent uselessly on ineffective marketing strategies. But as the marketing schemes planned for the coffee house are tried and tested formulas of already successful businesses, there is a marginal chance that marketing failure will occur. The issuance of advantage cards for regular patrons is already done by Seattle’s Best, one of the more prominent coffee houses in the world market, and from an observer’s point of view, the marketing tactic is working for the firm.
Operating Risks ~ There is the risk of equipment breakdown in the middle of business activities. This is remedied by having the contact number of maintenance people near the baristas. Additionally, there will be training for the baristas to accustom them to fixing minor glitches in the brewing equipment that they will use. There is also the risk of supply chain mismanagement, although having a management person specifically handle the said responsibility decreases the chance that such mismanagement occurs. Besides, the Supply Chain Officer is used to handling such business activity, and would therefore find little or no trouble at all in establishing a working relationship with suppliers.
Financial Risks ~ The financial risks are the biggest risks faced by the business. There is the risk of cash shortage, which would be handled through cash management techniques learned by the Financial Officer in his previous jobs. There is also the risk of not being able to pay the suppliers on time, which would destroy a good credit image, but the person assigned to handle company finances would make sure that it never happens. Lastly, there is the financial risk of bankruptcy, which is a gloomy prospect, but is the fact of business. The management team, therefore, sets their hearts and minds to seeing that this risk will be far-fetched.
Project Auditing and Completion
With regards to the project auditing and completion, RM Coffee Blends should do some evaluation regarding the completion of the whole project. The auditor should consider the implications of non-compliance in relation to other aspects of the audit, particularly the reliability of management representations. In this regard, the auditor reconsiders the risk assessment and the validity of management representations, in case of non-compliance not detected by the entity’s internal controls or not included in management representations. The implications of particular instances of non-compliance discovered by the auditor will depend on the relationship of the perpetration and concealment, if any, of the act to specific control activities and the level of management or employees involved (2002). The auditor should, as soon as practicable, either communicate with those charged with governance, or obtain audit evidence that they are appropriately informed, regarding non-compliance that comes to the auditor’s attention. However, the auditor need not do so for matters that are clearly inconsequential or trivial and may reach agreement in advance on the nature of such matters to be communicated. If in the auditor’s judgment the non-compliance is believed to be intentional and material, the auditor should communicate the finding without delay. The auditor may conclude that withdrawal from the engagement is necessary when the entity does not take the remedial action that the auditor considers necessary in the circumstances, even when the non-compliance is not to the financial statements.
Managing Obstacles to Success
Based on the previous details, planning is a key resource of the organisation, together with people, finances and material assets. Thus, it is accepted to state that project plan is a business issue. The discussion above revealed that through effective project planning management of the organisation’s resources and systems, organisation administrators can add value to the services delivered to customers, reduce risks in the organisation’s business, reduce the costs of business development and service delivery and encourage improvement in internal business processes and external service implementation. On the other hand, it is recommended that when developing a project, it is better to build a report that is ideal for a specific need then to make a report based on a predefined concession.
APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Business Logo
Appendix 2. Business Mission
The RM Coffee Blends aims to become the UK market leader in the coffee shop industry and to have a solid base of pleased clients who will eventually spread the word of the business.
Appendix 3. Business Objective
Ø To satisfy our clients’ craving for best-tasting coffee.
Ø To provide an atmosphere where clients could have a place with friends and loved ones to spend quality time while enjoying our coffee.
Ø To provide our patrons service with a smile.
Ø To be socially responsible in the carrying out of business operations.
Ø To contribute to the economy of London.
Ø To build an image that London has some of the world’s best coffee shops.
Appendix 4. Organisational Chart
Appendix 5. Full List of Coffee Variants and Prices
VARIANT
PRICE
Café Au Lait
£5
Columbian Express
£8
Smoky Guatemalan Brew
£8
Costa Rican Quencher
£8
Jamaica’s Best
£10
Lemonopia
£10
Ethiopian Blend
£10
Yemen Heaven
£12
Kenya’s Brightest
£12
Hearty Java
£12
Sumatra Whirl
£15
Sweet Sulawesi
£15
Indian’s Best Brew
£15
Cappuccino Delight
£15
Y Café Latte
£15
Ristretto Mio
£15
Brazilian Nutty Mix
£15
Macchiato Gusto
£15
Appendix 6. Service Blueprint Diagram
Appendix 7. Manpower Requirements
2 Store Managers ~ to oversee the day-to-day operations of the coffee house and to deal with customer concerns.
30 Baristas ~ to work behind the counter, concocting coffee variants as specifically ordered by the customer.
20 Massage Attendants (10 Masseuse and 10 Masseur) ~ to work in two alternating shifts, one during the morning and another in the afternoon. They will attend to massaging the customers for free upon request from them for a period of ten minutes per coffee serving ordered.
8 Cashier ~ to take customer payments and allow discounts to RM Coffee Blends Advantage Card holders when applicable.
30 Service Crews ~ to attend to delivering the output of baristas to the customer’s table and to give out freebies to RM Coffee Blends Advantage Card holders when applicable.
8 Janitor / Messenger ~ To manage the cleanliness of the store for the comfort and health safety of the customers, and to occasionally deliver messages and documents outside the coffee shop.
Appendix 8. Capital Requirements
For this business, it is estimated that £500,000 will be needed for start-up and operating costs for the first three years. One third of the money will come from the equal monetary contribution of the management team, while the other half is hoped to be financed by the bank. Following is a tabular list of the capital requirements of the business together with their estimated costs.
REQUIREMENT
COST
Occupancy
£10,000
Salaries and Wages
£120,000
Operations/Cash Revolving
£33,000
Raw Materials
£50,000
China and Utensil
£50,000
Glassware
£33,000
Beverage Preparation Supplies
£34,000
Table Service Supplies
£16,000
Shop Furniture
£50,000
Uniforms
£10,000
Laundry and Linen
£15,000
Legal Fees
£13,000
Office Furniture
£50,000
Insurance
£2,000
Advertising and Promotion
£2,000
Energy and Utility
£8,000
Repair and Maintenance
£4,000
TOTAL
£500,000
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