Food Delivery for Events in Australia - Foodex Company - Case Study Example

Business Plan Name: Institution: Date: Food delivery for events in Australia Executive Summary This report is concerns Foodex Company which will specialize in food delivery and service at events. Foodex targets to break into the food delivery market but diversify into serving at events where companies have not ventured into save for few catering teams from restaurants. The food delivery market is still growing and the fact that peoples’ busy lifestyles robs them the time of preparing decent meal, Foodex will be the answer to many event organizers who would like to partner with the company in future. Event organizing is a lucrative business and Australia celebrates events whether is a birthday party, wedding or an anniversary. The human resource team will comprise of a manager, technical staff, coordinating officer, finance officer, and subordinate staff comprising of cleaners, waters, and drivers. The report commences with an introduction that sets the stage for detailed explanation of the business idea in the main body. The discussion encompasses market feasibility, technical feasibility, human resource feasibility and financial feasibility. The report concludes with the recap of main points in the business plan. Table of Contents Food delivery for events in Australia 2 Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Market feasibility 4 Technical feasibility 6 Human feasibility 8 Financial feasibility 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Appendix 12 Introduction Most of the food delivery companies allow clients to buy food online and have then delivered to their door steps. The Australia local on-demand food delivery is very lucrative. Some of the companies in the industry include UberEATS, Menulog, DeliveryHero, Airtasker, Suppertime, and Deliveroo. People love to eat and the food delivery market in Australia is lucrative. People are leading busier lifestyles and hence food delivery comes in as convenient and affordable that dinning out (Hall & Sharples, 2008). People can have their meals at the convenience of their houses without going out. Some of the fast-foods in Australia are providing home delivery or working with delivery services to reach out to customers. Many people prefer to order foods within the comfort of their houses than eat out. It is expensive to eat out in restaurants since it involves transport and being charged for the food and the service. Having the liberty to it at home provides convenience and is less expensive than going to restaurants (Bigliardi & Galati, 2013). Booking restaurants for events is more costly hence Foodex comes in as an appropriate business idea that delivers food and service to events. This is a business plan for Foodex Company that targets to break into the events food delivery market. There is a big opportunity in the food delivery market targeting events and Foodex will capitalize on this and grow to become a formidable business. Market feasibility The food delivery and service market is feasible considering the projection of the profit margins and the opportunity for growth in the near future. There other food delivery companies that includes UberEATS, Suppertime, Deliveroo, Airtasker, and other small companies. The recent entry of Ubber into Australian food delivery market shows how the market is attractive (Hair & Lukas, 2014). These companies specialize exclusively in food delivery to the location of the customer. Therefore we do not consider these companies as direct competitors since they target individual clients and do not offer extra service like serving the food and cleaning up after events (Kirzner, 2015). Some of the companies have specialized in some kind of food like Pizza and China food. Foodex will delivery any foods that the client requires and serve it to them. Deliveroo and Suppertime are delivery services for the takeaway restaurants. They charge their clients a fee of $5 for service and charge the restaurants a fee for handling logistics, payments and marketing (Hall & Sharples, 2008). DeliveryHero and Menulog provide online marketplaces as well as link diners to restaurants of their choice. The services for food delivery are offered by the restaurant as opposed to the online marketplace. The restaurant market within Australia generated about $12 billion in 2015 and it is projected to grow at 2.3% for the next five years. Data provided by Menulog in a survey show that 51% of people interviewed prefer to order in as rather than eat out hence the trend towards ‘convenience food’ (Kirzner, 2015). The company will specialize in delivery food to events that will include family gatherings, weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties and any kinds of parties that ends about 9pm. The time limit is to allow the staff time to rest and wake up early to prepare for the next day. The food will be bought by the customer from their favourite restaurants around town. Our target will be in the service delivery (Burns, 2010). We will pick the food from the restaurant, company’s staff will take the food to the venue, serve the people and clean up the place and take back the utensils for cleaning at the company’s premises. The company targets to fill in a market niche that has not been addressed by the current food delivery companies. The company will not prepare the food but deliver and serve what has been ordered by the customers whenever they are at the specified time (Bhattacharyya & Nain, 2011). The business will create convenience to people who have no time to prepare and serve foods during important events in their lives. The clients will only organize their events, order the food and expect our team to deliver it and go ahead to serve and clean up the place (Black, 2010). This means that the customers are at liberty to organize the events away from their homes without grappling with the idea of getting utensils and being burdened with cleaning up after the events. Convenience and mobility will be the utmost provision for the business. Food delivery for events is growing business since people will somehow organize events and most cases food is served. Our company will relieve the burden of preparing food and serving from the event organizers. The event organizers will just order their food from their favourite restaurants and ask our team to pick the food, transport it to the venue and serve it within the stipulated time. The business does not target individual customers but where a group is gathered. Therefore a van will be needed for carrying the food and utensils and another van for carrying our team or our staff. People attending the events will determine the number or the size of the company’s workforce that will be sent to the venue. Big events will require hiring of temporary staff to fill in the gap (O’Guinn, Allen, Semenik & Scheinbaum, 2014). The business targets to start with two teams of ten people each but expand to include other areas in Australia as the business grows. Foodex will target to provide excellent and perfect customer service and address any complains raised by customers in good time. The company will exonerate itself from any complains about the quality of food or the amount served. Barrier to market entry is logistics of planning and the flexibility of the scheduling. Foodex expects competition from catering teams from restaurants but it will compete in terms of high quality service and timely delivery. Most of the time restaurants are unwilling to provide outside catering and require guest to be booked at their guest halls which is often expensive (Hair & Lukas, 2014). Foodex does not expect any hitches after meeting all the government regulations and acquiring the necessary certificates for operation. Technical feasibility Foodex will need a utensil cleaning machine to enable it to clean the utensils in good time and serve other customers at different venues. It is possible for the company sub-contracting the cleaning services only when there are strict schedules and deadlines to be met. The company will not be in charge of preparing the foods but the clients’ restaurants. For the purposes of expanding and covering major parts of the Australia, Foodex will be open to joint ventures or partnership after two to three years of operation. The target is to establish the company’s brand and recognition (Morris, Kuratko & Covin, 2010). This will enable it to command the market and grow its market share to formidable levels. The resources required by the company are adequate utensils, cleaning materials, vans for carrying the staff and a company’s premise. The licensing within a central requires the company to have met the health and safety regulation that require clean circumstances under which food is being transported and served (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2010). The company will need a food license in order to handle food as per regulations within Australia (Hair & Lukas, 2014). The people handing the food must have clean bill of health certifying them as healthy and not in a position to jeopardize the lives of others. The company’s name Foodex will be registered and protected by a trademark. The company will be responsible for its actions and ensure safe disposal of materials after events (Massoud, Fayad, El-Fadel & Kamleh, 2010). The company expects to benefit a lot from technological changes where more people can order the services online and also pay online (Bridge & O'Neill, 2012). Through its growth the company will partner with other players like event organizers in the transport of food and providing service to guests. The company will also engage an expert to develop an attractive website where prospective clients can log in and place their request. Payment will be done through a pay bill number at the company’s headquarter (Barringer, 2012). Promotion and advertisement will be through word of mouth, commercials on local radio stations, on the web site and staging road shows (O’Guinn, Allen, Semenik & Scheinbaum, 2014). Human feasibility The workforce has to have a thorough knowledge of the geographical location of places and alternative routes that are shorter to target destinations. The company will require a person with a background in events organizing or catering services. The team will comprise of a financial consultant, Technical support, coordinating officer, the manager, and Subordinate staff consisting of drivers, cleaners, and waiters (Burns, 2010). The employees will be found through advertisement in the local dailies or referral from trusted friends and relatives. The manager will be in charge of the entire team and will act as a link between the company and the corporate world. The manager will be the CEO of the company and ensure that the company gets the required resources to run its affairs. He will negotiate on the behalf of the company. he must have strong interpersonal skills, a human resource background and must be good at negotiating. The coordinating officer will get request from clients and coordinate the transition of the team from one venue to the other. He will draw the schedule for the deal and ensure that deliveries to events are coordinated without a hitch. The coordinating officer must have a background in event organizing and familiar with the hospitality industry (Drucker, 2014). The technical staff will be in charge of the tools and equipment of the company and ensure that they are working order. Any technical problem to the equipment or vans has to be addressed in good time. The financial officer will be in charge of the finances of the company and maintain the books of the account of the company. The financial officer must have a background in accounting and finance. The subordinate staff will be in charge of service the food, picking up the utensils and assist in cleaning up the venue and utensils. The drivers must be familiar with the territory and possess a clean driving license with an experience of five years and above. The waiters can serve double roles of being drivers and cleaners (Van der Wagen, 2010). The waiters must have a background in hospitality and catering and provide excellent service to the customers. Financial feasibility The company will charge a service of $3 for any individual served during an event. The delivery charge will be $5 per mile. An event of 50 people at avenue 50 miles away will cost $[(3×50) + (5×50)] = (150+250) = $400. An event of 100 people at avenue 5 miles away will cost $[(3×100) + (5×5)] = 300+25 = $325. The charges will vary depending with the distance of the venue from the company premise and total number of people in attendance. The business depends on a strong human resource factor where people constitute a very vital resource (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). The business will require about $343,750,000 to launch the business idea in Australia. The profit margin is about 30%. The net profit margin is about 25%. The sources of finance for the company include pulling resources as friends or family members, and getting loans from banks. The team will further pitch the business idea to potential investors and look for more funding (Bhattacharyya & Nain, 2011). Adequate financial resources are needed to launch the business and sustain it until breakeven. The business expects to breakeven within nine months. More opportunity for expansion for the business in the future will come in terms of joint ventures, partnerships and acquisition. Conclusion The food industry is rapidly expanding in Australia and entry of more players in the market heralds to the good tidings in the industry. Food delivery business is flourishing as more people look for convenient ways of meeting their needs without leaving the comfort of their houses or working places. Foodex Company targets to make an entry into the food delivery business with special focus on the events or gathering of people. The business will deliver food ordered by the customer to events, service it and clean up the place. This business brings on additional convenience and cuts down on the costs of engaging an event organizer to deal with the food. Foodex will partner with event organizers to contract the food delivery part and serving. The organizers of the events will have time to contemplate on other issues instead of worrying about cleaning up after an event. Delivering food to events presents a good opportunity for Foodex to break into the food industry market. Market feasibility shows that the food industry is growing and the need for convenience has support food delivery services operated by various companies within Australia. The company will emphasize on the service part of the business and partner with event organizers to fulfill this segment of the market. References Barringer, B. (2012). Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, (2012). Bigliardi, B., & Galati, F. (2013). Innovation trends in the food industry: the case of functional foods. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 31(2), 118-129. Bhattacharyya, S., & Nain, A. (2011). Horizontal acquisitions and buying power: A product market analysis, Journal of Financial Economics, 99(1), 97-115. Black, B. (2010). “Great Brands simply make a promise and then keep that promise. You make promises through advertising, promotion and sponsorships. Beyond Philosophy’s unique proprietary methodologies help you deliver on your promise ruthlessly and consistently across every consumer touch point.”–Gary Keogh, Marketing. Bridge, S., & O'Neill, K. (2012). Understanding enterprise: Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan. Burns, P. (2010). Entrepreneurship and small business, Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan. Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship, Routledge. Hair Jr, J. F., & Lukas, B. (2014). Marketing research, Melbourne: McGraw-Hill Education Australia. Hall, C.M. & Sharples, L. (2008). Food and Wine Festivals and Events Around the World: Development, Management and Markets, New York: Routledge. Kirzner, I. M. (2015). Competition and entrepreneurship, Chocago: University of Chicago press. Massoud, M. A., Fayad, R., El-Fadel, M., & Kamleh, R. (2010). Drivers, barriers and incentives to implementing environmental management systems in the food industry: a case of Lebanon, Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(3), 200-209. Morris, M., Kuratko, D., & Covin, J. (2010), Corporate entrepreneurship & innovation, Cengage Learning. O’Guinn, T., Allen, C., Semenik, R., & Scheinbaum, A. C. (2014). Advertising and integrated brand promotion, Nelson Education. Shimp, T., & Andrews, J. C. (2013). Advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications, New York: Cengage Learning. Van der Wagen, L. (2010). Event Management, Melbourne: Pearson Higher Education AU. Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2010). Services marketing strategy. London: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Appendix Start-up Expenditure and Expenses Worksheet Item Total cost Cash required ($) Land 50,000 Capital equipment 10000 Computer 25000 Beginning inventory 5000 Startup supplies 15000 Licenses and Permits 5,000 Lease improvements 20,000 Utility hook ups & Installation 10,000 Advertising (preopening) 15,000 Insurance 50,000 Other 10,000 Total Estimated One-time cash requirements 215,000 Start-up operating expenses Item $ Owners salary 1,000 Employees salary, wages, benefits 40,000 Rent 10,000 Promotion expenses 2,000 Supplies and postage 1500 Vehicle expenses 10,000 Telephone 3000 Travel 5,000 Interest 15,000 Maintenance 8,000 Other 2000 Total cash for operating expenses 97500 Add: One-time cash requirement 215,000 Add: 10% Safety factor 31,250 Total cash required for startup 343,750 Read More