Operations Plan
Key Aspects of Operations: equipment, labor force utilization, facilities, sourcing. The production of the drink on-site will require a purchase of specialized equipment such as fruit juicers in substantial quantities so that every stand can have a set, incurring a portion of the cost at $25,000. Employees will have to be trained in customer service and the production of the drink and receive hourly wages of $12 so that the company can compete against other retailers. The company will have to contract gas stations and set up stands, creating an initial cost of $10,000. Supplies such as cups will have to be stored in a dedicated space, with a rent of $30000. Lastly, it will have to procure and deliver fresh ingredients regularly for a cost of $75,000.
Cost and Time Efficiencies: GoGo Juice will use a prediction-based model to respond to customer demand in advance, thus saving money. It will use local sourcing for the ingredients, reducing both delivery time and costs. The company will set and maintain a set of standards that will enable consistent performance and employee performance measurement. Lastly, it will save money on storage by recycling leftover ingredients.
Competitive Advantages: GoGo Juice will have an advantage over its competitors at the locations where it is sold because it will be served fresh, while the others will be pre-packaged. It also features a unique combination of health benefits and energy boosts, which competing products generally do not offer. By doing so, it appeals to two different demographics at once, providing a substantial potential for popularity. Lastly, GoGo Juice will utilize active customer interaction and feedback, potentially adjusting the serving immediately as the buyer asks.
Problems Addressed and Overcome: sourcing, contract securing, efficient production. It was initially challenging to find suppliers for every fruit featured in the drink’s production, but the company was eventually able to secure a favorable arrangement. Finding gas stations that would be willing to rent out an area for the stand was also an issue. However, GoGo juice overcame it by securing an exclusivity agreement with a chain that would also secure further expansion. Lastly, the company addressed the difficulties of producing the beverage with limited tools by refining its processes.
Technology Plan
Software Needs: inventory management tools on-site and in the cloud as well as data analysis software. A significant part of cost reduction is to predict customer demand and adjust on-hand supplies to accommodate it without much waste. To that end, in addition to payment processing software, GoGo Juice will need inventory management tools that will contribute to a central database. The data in it can then be processed and analyzed once enough of it has accumulated to adjust ingredient orders.
Hardware Needs: juicers, mixers, refrigerators, payment processing hardware, personal computers. The first three items are required for the creation of the beverage and have to be present at every stand. While the primary components will be fresh and recently sourced, refrigerators will help them keep longer, and the energy components require refrigeration, as well. Specialized payment processing hardware is necessary, in addition to a register to accept cards, which many customers will likely use (Steele, 2019). Lastly, personal computers will be required in the central office to conduct social media marketing.
Telecommunications Needs: advert design, website design, and management, social media marketing. While the company will primarily rely on online marketing, it will still use traditional media and need to design television and radio adverts correspondingly while also arranging their displays. It will have to create and maintain its website with activities such as SEO and metric monitoring, for which it will need to hire specialists and use corresponding software. Lastly, social media marketing will require the company to create an always active account and contact the networks for verification.
Personnel Needs workers, website managers, product designers, social media managers. Website managers will be the only outsourced source of labor, as hiring them full-time would be expensive and inefficient due to the high number of different specialties required. The workers will have to be in-house, as will product designers, due to the need to refine and improve the product continuously. The social media managers will likely also fulfill another role in the company, at least initially, so they should be hired in-house.
Management and Organization
Key Management and Employees: initially, the company will follow a basic structure, with the president overseeing several small divisions. Researchers who study the development of the drink will be required from the beginning. Sales staff will also be necessary to begin the distribution of the drink, and some marketing workers will begin spreading awareness of the company. Lastly, the company will need a substantial number of sourcing contractors who will keep the stand supplied. All of these divisions will report to the president until the company grows enough that appointing vice-presidents is feasible.
Board Members and Advisors: Eventually, the company aims to follow a basic structure that is similar to most other corporations. The VP of Marketing will oversee the various advertisements and promotions conducted by the company. The VP of Sales will manage the company’s outlets and assess their performance, making changes if necessary. The comptroller will be responsible for the company’s accounting, and the VP of operations will manage development and shipping. Lastly, the VP of human resources will conduct the hiring and training of employees. The positions of CEO and Chairman will be combined initially due to the small size of the company.
Management Structure and Style: initially, GoGo Juice will adhere to a flat management structure because of its small size, which makes other approaches ineffective. The CEO should be able to personally process all of the information about the company’s operations. However, as time passes and the company grows, it will have to switch to a hierarchical structure. Product-based segmentation will be unnecessary because of GoGo Juice’s limited portfolio. The management style employed within the company will be democratic, aiming at high employee engagement. As an innovative company, GoGo Juice should collect and use feedback from both customers and employees to succeed.
Areas of Responsibility
Ethics and Social Responsibility Plan
The company has a responsibility to all of its stakeholders, which include employees and the community along with financial partners such as suppliers and investors. According to Kocollari (2018), a business’s duties include job creation, diversity promotion, civic engagement, and verification of suppliers, distributors, and products. It will fulfill the former two by expanding into more areas and hiring and promoting people without permitting any form of discrimination.
The company will begin donating to charities and conducting community initiatives once it grows to a size where it can afford to do so. It will also only use well-checked sources for the drink ingredients and implement strict quality control measures.
The company aims to make money by selling beverages, and thus there is no reason to make it a social venture. However, it will pay close attention to its environmental impact and ensure that the pollution it creates is minimal. Panda and Shetty (2018) suggest that biodegradable packaging can be helpful, and the company will use paper cups for its drinks to make disposal easier. GoGo Juice should not have a significant impact on areas with scarce water because it does not produce large quantities of drink. Moreover, due to the minimal involvement of potentially harmful chemicals in production, special purification tools should be unnecessary.
GoGo Juice will market itself on its numerous health benefits, which it will have to prove. To that end, it will regularly conduct studies that analyze the contents of its drinks for beneficial substances. It will also have to prove that the addition of the energy component is healthy and does not compromise the drink. To that end, the beverage should undergo extensive testing, and the company will quickly respond to any complaints and address them.
References
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Alcott, P., & Pantelidis, I. (2018). Food and beverage management (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Kocollari, U. (2018). Strategic corporate responsibility: The social dimension of firms. New York, NY: Routledge.
Panda, S. K., & Shetty, P. H. (eds.). (2018). Innovations in technologies for fermented food and beverage industries. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Steele, J. (2019). Payment method statistics. Web.