Client Meeting

Client Meeting

On Monday February, 9, 2009 our research team met with the owner of Fusion Brew. Virgil Hovar and his daughter Sara own and operate Fusion Brew. During our meeting with Virgil, he shared with us what initially inspired him and his daughter to open the store. Both Virgil and Sara exhibit great enthusiasm about their product offerings and clearly demonstrate the necessary level of confidence needed to run a successful business. The remainder of our meeting consisted of us asking Virgil the given required questions regarding all of the aspects of the business.

Potential Benefits

The research our group will be doing for Fusion Brew will be very beneficial. There are many key questions that our research can and will help with. Some questions that we can help with are whether or not Fusion Brew should expand, or even how to better reach their primary market. Fusion Brew has a concern about whether or not putting up more signs would increase awareness; our research will find out if that would be useful. Fusion Brew has some issues with parking spots; our research could help determine whether or not investing in more parking spots would be a positive asset to customer satisfaction. Another aspect that our research could pinpoint is if Fusion Brew should make any additions to its menu. Virgil was skeptical about whether or not to do this because their menu is so unique and difficult to alter due to its configuration. Creating a new menu and adding more food may be something that would interest customers. Our research would be an efficient way to answer all of these key questions.

Internal Data

According to Mr. Hovar, sales are growing. He specifically said sales are increasing by an average of thirty-percent per year. The company currently holds a small percentage of the overall market share. However, Fusion Brew holds the number one market share for Bubble Tea based on the fact they are the only supplier of bubble tea in the Bloomington/Normal area. The market share for coffee sales is undeterminable because of the large volume coffee suppliers (ie. indirect competitors such as gas Stations, Restaurants, Coffee House, and etc). The increase in sales are not attributed to raising prices on beverages since prices have been the same for the past couple of years. Fusion Brew's sales percentages are based on many different product categories.