Case Study: Catherine’s Confectionaries

Question#1
What are three major types of customers Catherine serves? How do they differ from one
another? What do you think the order winners are for each group?

Type of customers Differentian Order winners

 Walk in  Piece meal ordering.  Quality of taste

 What you see is what  reputation
you get
 Customer service is
consistent face to face
interaction.
 Orders are relatively
not predictable.

 Business to business  Require higher volume  Quality of taste

and flexibility.  fulfillment of orders
 Possibly more  Competitive pricing
stringent quality
compliance and
deadlines.
 Higher likelihood of
large volume repeats
business.

 Individual orders  High contact with  Customer service

customer options for special
 Flexibility in timings ordering
 Personal relationship
Question#2
Consider the Catherine’s decision to lease the restaurant space. Was this decision
consistent with the needs of her customers? Why? How did this decision change Catherine
s business?

Catherine decision to lease the restaurant space was inconsistent because the space that Catherine
leased in order to increase the demand was not an ideal for her business and the lease was more
expensive that she anticipated.

In order to cover the increase cost and utilize the excess space that she acquired, she developed a
walk in business .To facilitate the pre existing and new customer Catherine needed to hire the
staff. Her initial decision to hire two minimum wage worker turnouts to be un successful.

Question#3

Consider Catherine’s initial decision to hire unskilled labor to walk in business; was this
decision consistent with the needs of her different customers? Why?

Catherine hired two unskilled and minimum wage workers, this decision was inconsistent
because these workers needed constant supervision and high turnover also led to a constant need
for training, as a result Catherine hired two more highly skilled workers, one to assist in kitchen
and one to manage walk in business. Skilled labor work was appreciated but this additional
expense put the further strain on her finance.
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