A Desserts Bar And Bakery Marketing Essay

“Cupcakes, sweets and more” is a desserts bar and bakery located in the Business Improvement District (BID) of Washington DC. We offer a wide range of bakery products including organic gluten free options as well as traditional and contemporary desserts but our specialty is custom made cupcakes for every occasion. These cupcakes are our unique selling point. We also offer online purchase options facilitating the customers to design their own cupcakes and describe their specific requirements. Our design team will provide them with customized cupcakes appropriate to their requirements and taste.

Washington DC is officially the national leader in terms of spending in restaurants which provides an opportunity to capture this market that likes to spend money eating out. Within the next few years, we need to utilize our location in the Business Development District to the fullest and attract tourists as well as local citizens (Porter, 2008).

Objectives:

Our aims are:

To make sure that the customers satisfaction is achieved with our value added bakry services

To ensure continued growth every year with considerable returns

To increase sales by 40% in the second year of our operations.

To motivate the staff to provide exceptional services that make the customers happy and feel valued.

Mission:

“Cupcakes, sweets and more” is a bakery and desserts bar with the aim to cater to the individual needs of every customer with customized products for various occasions. We are dedicated to provide the ultimate gourmet experience for them that they have an opportunity to design. The cupcakes are not just edibles but a fun way to express them. We have fostered a comfortable, innovative and friendly environment at work to encourage genuine ideas, creativity and diligence. Our mission is to provide our customers with bakers’ items for every occasion and type that they desire in an efficient and effective manner that maximizes value and generates a fair return and continued growth for our investors.

Keys to Success:

Our obsession with high quality confectioners items using the finest ingredients from around the world

Coming up with unique and innovative bakery products including customized cupcake designs, gluten free products and much more.

A customer service that has the training to deliver products no matter what

Unique Selling point:

The company’s USP is the custom made cupcakes that it provides to the customers based on their preferences of flavor, color, packaging etc (Anonymous, 2012). We have a list of more than thirty unique combinations of flavors, colors and presentation styles presented to the customers online as well as at our establishment. The customer can design his own cupcake depending upon the occasion or his preferences. His choices are then implemented by our design team into the final product.. We provide him with a never before experienced gourmet feel that allows him to get what he wants.

Company Summary:

Cupcakes, sweets and more is a sole proprietorship based in Washington DC, with online order taking facilities. It focuses on value added customized products specially cupcakes that are handmade and are delivered in a cozy and comfortable environment.

Products and service:

We design confectionary for every occasion. Our product range includes desserts, cookies, cupcakes that cater to a niche market that prefers uniquely designed confectioners items that are appealing to the eye and the taste palette as well. We will offer you blue cupcakes with baby accessories incorporated in the design for a baby boy and pink ones for baby girls. For chocolate lovers we have chocolate filled cupcakes with any frosting of your choice in any color you want. For your birthdays we can design cupcakes that have you favorite Hollywood stars or cartoon characters on them. We have all that you want.

All these products are delivered at our DC premises. You can also order online.

Management team:

Our management team is very efficient and well trained. The business is run by the Vice President who also serves a General Manager of the company. For sales and marketing processes of the company there is a separate VP. A controller for quality and capacity management is appointed. We as a company believe in excellent customer service, we think that it is very important in order to make sure that the business excels. For this purpose there is a Customer Service Manager. Plant Manager and Packing Managers of the company are experienced and trained. An Information Technology Manager is employed in order to make sure that the operations of the company acquire the best of facilities available. For food quality and maintenance there is a Quality Assurance Manager in the team of the business venture.

Market segmentation:

The market that we aim on working at is divided into four segments to be exact. First and foremost there are Comfort People; this includes the white collar workers of our society. They are driven by success and usually miss the comforts and taste of a homemade treats that bring memories of their childhood. The second segment is of the Celebrators, these would include the people who prefer homemade food for their special occasions such as Birthday Parties, Anniversaries, Graduation Parties, and Valentine Day Parties etc. Our bakery provides customized cakes and desserts for these special events, on order. Fun Moms, is the third segment, who visit with their kids in order to enjoy healthy breakfasts or meals, this also includes working moms who do not have much time to make food or cup cakes for their kids at home on their own. They can meet up with their friends or cuddle up with their little ones with yummy and pretty desserts. The last segment is an exquisite one, the Gourmet Lovers. It includes people who are adventurous with their food and like to try new desserts and tastes. They are the people who watch Food Networks and are looking for new food experiences. For this segment we have special treats and surprises, combined by our creative team of bakers and R&D Manager.

Competitive Strategy:

We understand that the competition in the bakery business is very stiff. For this purpose, we have focused more on homemade and customized products in order to make a personal connection with its customers and potential customers. The exotic pastries made by our chefs and bakers will help gain a product distinction advantage. The decorations of the bakery will also be such as to ensure that personal and homely atmosphere is provided to the clients that visit. The availability of ordering food online is and website pages on social websites will be maintained in order to provide a boost start up and edge to the business (Anonymous, 2003).

Marketing strategy:

For marketing strategy, promotion will mainly be done by word of mouth. In order to ensure that its available in major of the super and hyper markets pamphlets and leaflets will be distributed in the major areas near the bakery. Advertisements will also be posted in local dailies, magazines and other type of print media. Stalls at the local events like sporting events, school functions will be put in order to introduce the bakery (Anonymous, 2012).

Packaging is also another important part of the marketing strategy, display shelves will be attractive and the packing will be more transparent for the confidence of the customer (Michalowicz, 2009). The tools used for the marketing purposes will be word of mouth, local media, online presence, banners and special promotions on occasions (Lae, 2012).

It can be concluded that the main strategy of our business plan is to choose the right market for our product. Up to date changes will be maintained in order to accommodate the changing demands of the customers. Buying patterns will be analyzed to move forward, the changes in technologies will also be maintained in order to gain advantage over the competitors. An eye will be kept on the marketing ball, the market focus of the business is to ensure that we are continuing on providing a unique value and benefit and value to our customer needs and expectations that they have towards our products and services.