Beanz Case Study

1. Symptom: No segregation of duties/ departmentalization.

As described in the case, Lori spends most of her time working in the kitchen or taking orders. She is also responsible for accounting and bookkeeping. Doug also works similar hours and works in other areas such as maintenance and doing the catering for their store. In addition to this, he occasionally balances the responsibilities of handling his window cleaning and janitorial services business.

The main problem here is that both Lori and Doug are doing too many different tasks at the same time.  Both have responsibilities that range from working in the kitchen to accounting, yet both are handling these without the help of any other employees. These are completely different tasks and should be divided up between many different employees. Although the fact that Lori and Doug are handling so many aspects of their business is not a direct problem, it can be contributing to the problem of their business not making money because if they are not devoting all their energy on what they do best and delegating the other tasks to other employees, then they might be overworking themselves. This may allow every task to get completed, but it may take away from the fact that each task may not be done as efficiently and effectively as they would like, and which would help their business flourish.

1. Symptom: Increased Competition/ Demand for specialty coffee 

In Charlottetown, there were 11 coffee shops located with a two block radius, which included stores like Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Timothy's and Robin's Donuts, and local cafes like Beanz. Since Starbucks came to be in business in Charlottetown, Doug and Lori noticed that customers were demanding more and more speciality coffees.  

The current existence of 100 stores within a 2 block radius shows that there is stiff competition for Beanz. Even though the company offers exceptional customer service and good quality foods, they are still being affected by their competition. Although it is not causing a problem currently, competition can be extremely fatal for Beanz as it is not able to operate at the levels of other big companies, like Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Beanz is already seeing the affects of Starbucks being in business, as after its arrival to Charlottetown many of their customers are demanding high quality specialty coffees. This in turn increases the need for Lori and Doug to make sure that they are able quickly sees customer preferences changing and to change their business/products accordingly in order to capitalize on those changes. As a result of this increased demand, Lori and Doug have to figure out how they are to provide these coffees at the quantity demanded and  at the best price possible (as Tim Hortons will likely have lower prices).

1. Symptom: Many customers do not know about the quality of Beanz food.

As indicated in the case, the Beanz menu does not give customers the nutritional information of their products, and because of that many vising customers are unaware if the extent of their food quality.

If Beanz were to advertise their nutritional value, then they would be able to compete with other coffee houses. By doing this they can make sure that customers are not choosing other food places over them and that they realize that Beanz is a place that values quality. Furthermore, this also ensures that Beanz is able to solidify their spot in the market for healthy eating.