Mba-502 Kudler Fine Foods Marketing

Marketing

Introduction

Kudler Fine Foods has experienced a significant growth and is now focused on expanding the services, improving the efficiency of its operations and increasing the consumer purchase cycle as a means to increasing the loyalty and profitability of its consumers. The American Marketing association states that “marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and collecting for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (Kerin-Hartley-Berkowitz-Rudelius,2005). Truly effective marketers do market research in an effort to understand their target market and create marketing strategies based on the characterization of those in the target area.

The relative value of market research

Marketing research is the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions (Kerin-Hartley-Berkowitz-Rudelius, 2005). Many service organizations have embraced relationship marketing with its focus on maximizing customer lifetime value. In order to achieve their continuing catering service, Kudler needs to focus on new initiatives, marketing communications, and marketing research. When they do not have enough marketing research for evaluate new challenges, Kudler cannot integrate catering service with a better perspective. It is important to managers who require a better understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and the duration of the provider-customer relationship to identify specific actions that can increase retention and profitability in the long run.

Kudler needs to figure out what factors customers use to assess the value that they get from them, what does well and poorly, how they compare to competitors, what kind of products or service might provide. The duration of the customer's relationship with Kudler that delivers a continuously provided service such as schedule, product diversity, quality and prices. To produce an effective market research tool, the information must be collected both primary and secondary data. “Primary data are facts and figures that are newly collected for the project while secondary data are internal and external data that have already been collected and exist inside Kudler and published data from outside the organization (Kerin-Hartley-Berkowitz-Rudelius, 2005).

Marketing Mix

The organization’s marketing department must take action and develop a complete marketing program to reach consumers by using a combination of four tools that they are the elements of the marketing mix. The desired marketing mix is a combination of promoting the right product in the right place at the right price for optimal profitability. In determining the most profitable market mix, it is imperative that Kudler continues to maintain customer focus. The components of Kudler’s marketing mix in regards to the catering aspect are the service and food, the price breakdown, and how, when, and where to promote the service. By establishing relationships with their customers, three store managers will be able to observe the customer’s buying habits and obtain questionnaire data that will have been focused marketing mix for the organization.

Product

Kudler have different variety of products and services that can be offered with the catering service. They should create unique ideas and suggestions with decoration style, entertainment, pick-up orders, full service delivery, event planning, special requests, custom menus and for any occasion, from business meetings, weddings, rehearsal dinners, open houses, bar mitzvahs or holiday parties. The anticipated outcomes will be to increase the customer purchase rate of high margin food and beverage items and to get consumer to make an evening at Kudler Fine Foods part of their social network (Virtual Organization Portal, 2007).

Catering services should offer the same quality standards as all of their gourmet foods. If they use natural and organic products, free of artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings, preservatives, customers are interested in buying more products and maintaining healthy lifestyle. As well, their recipes should use all natural hormone free beef, turkey, pork, lamb and a wide variety of seafood. Combined with their excellent quality of food and innovative talented chefs, Kudler will achieve target market.

Price

Kudler has a wide range of prices according with the number of dishes to be prepared and different combinations. They can use different payment methods as cash, credit cards and debit cards as media exchange. In order to offer lower costs to the consumers, marketing has encouraged the purchasing department to find ways to reduce costs of ordering foods and minimize the amount of food to be stored. In addition, they have to aware of internal factors as wages, process change, and technology while external factors as competition, seasonal changes and economic need to evaluate before setting the price.

Price is not the primary differentiating factor for Kudler consumers, these consumers are focused on quality and finding specialized items. Working closely with local farmers and vendors, Kudler has brought a wide array of organic choices at the best prices in the marketplace to accommodate consumers. While the firm’s preference is to have the events in-store, guests can have Kudler cooking classes at their home for a price premium, programs such as this encourage consumer loyalty and word-of mouth marketing (Kerin-Hartley-Berkowitz-Rudelius, 2005).

Promotion

Kudler should offer extensive menus from breakfast/brunch to elegant dinners with many items for special diets and cuisines. Every effort will be made to augment menus to satisfy those needs. They can use flyers, news papers, local radio, emails, television advertising, public relations, events and web-pages to persuade the consumer demands. They should introduce free sample foods, discounts and combos to promote the old and new services. Therefore, rather than providing everyday discounts to the customers for their purchase frequency like lower end markets, Kudler has partnered with a loyalty points program to provide customers with points which can be redeemed for high end gift items, airline first-class upgrades, or other specialty foods (Virtual Organization Portal, 2007).

Place

Kudler has three different locations (La Jolla, Del