Kudler Fine Foods

Kudler Fine Foods

Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale grocery store that specializes in imported and domestic foods. The first store was opened in 1998 in La Jolla, California. Kathy Kudler was in the process of looking for another job due to the stress level at her job in Corporate America. Kathy Kudler, is the sole owner of the company and started cooking to relieve her stress. While shopping for groceries she discovered her calling and decided to start her own business. The business was profitable the first year and within five years two additional stores were opened.

Team C discussed the organization and the issues that the company faces. One of the issues the company has to deal with is the growth. Kathy has plans of expanding outside the area, however due to the size of the management team that could cause a potential problem. In order to expand the business Kathy will need to hire some managers to run the other locations and she must empower them to make important decisions and trust them as well. Currently Kathy makes all business decisions and is involved in all aspects of the business, which means that she would not be able to be as involved as she would like to. With Kathy being the sole decision maker the business is not as successful as it could be if there were others to assist.

There are several options Kathy has when it comes to expanding the business. How much she grows depends on how much she is willing to trust others to run the stores. Kathy can increase the products that the store carries by offering different brand names. They could offer to ship the goods in an attempt to broaden their customer base. "The most commonplace methods by which small companies increase their business are incremental in character, i.e., increasing product inventory or services rendered without making wholesale changes to facilities or operational components" (Sherman, 1997 p 4).

Kudler Fine Foods 3

Kudler has expanded pretty rapidly due to the fact that they have managed to open three stores in a five year period. Growing so rapidly can have some ups and downs; it is possible for a company to grow too fast. While I don't think that is the case for Kudler it is something to consider. When expanding sometimes you are confronted with a whole new set of issues because as the business gets larger there is more work to be done. " Expanding a company doesn't just mean grappling with the same problems on a larger scale. It means understanding, adjusting to and managing a whole new set of challenges in essence, a very different business" (Nelton, 1998 p. 1).

Kudler Fine Foods could continue to grow, but in order for that to happen Kathy Kudler will have to give up some of her control. If she agrees to