Environment Analysis: Creative Confections
"I've always liked to be adventurous with food, especially desserts," said Lavonne Temple, founder of Creative Confections (CC), a small and emerging specialty bakery in Jacksonville, Florida. Starting with cake and candy recipe experimentation in 2002, Temple developed a tidy little business selling scrumptious specialty cakes and candies from a home-based operation. Increasing demand for Temple's upscale homemade confections recently poised CC on the brink of major expansion. In the next decade, CC can expect to encounter changing trends within the baking industry, each impacting the company's long-term environmental objectives in remote, industry, and operational contexts.
Remote environment
Labeling ? Anticipated changes in food labeling legislation will determine the manner CC labels its cakes' nutritional content. Expanded labeling information requirements are expected in the future (Seiz, 2005). Strategic objective: CC must increase its knowledge of ingredient composition and related derivatives to provide improved labeling and to protect any allergy-prone customers from harm.
Nutritional issues - Consumer demand for reduced-fat, sugar-free, and nutritionally-fortified foods is not a fad, with 54% of consumers ranking nutrition as the primary factor that influences their food purchases (BakeryOnline.com, 2003). As attention to these attributes is expected to continue, building healthful elements into bakery products is a lucrative market. Offering tasty, nutritionally worthy cakes in CC's product line will attract health-conscious customers, which brings recipe adjustments into the realm of food science (BakeryOnline.com, 2004). Strategic objective: CC must incorporate ongoing nutritional research and ...