KFF Operations Management
Kathy Kudler established Kudler Fine Foods in 1998. Her vision was to establish her own gourmet food store and offer a wide selection of fine meats, produce, chesses and wine that are not available in local neighborhood food stores. Kathy opened her first store in La Jolla, California. The success of her La Jolla location had allowed her to open two additional stores in Del Mar and Encinitas, California. In their process for expansion and in their quest to provide the finest foods, KFF has decided to begin contracting with local growers of organic produce to provide fresh organic produce in KFF stores. This paper will examine the changes that this decision will bring on KFF business processes, supply chain activities, and quality control system.
Business Processes
Purchasing and inventory management will be two processes that will initially affected by the decision to contract local growers. Currently, KFF does not have a purchasing department; however, standard purchasing procedures are in place. Store managers at the three KFF locations are responsible for purchasing and determining when and how much and which supplier to purchase from in order to keep the shelves stocked. By contracting local organic growers, KFF would be able to consolidate their purchasing.
This process has the potential to give KFF more purchasing power and which could enable them to bargain and lower their produce supply cost and in turn provides better prices to KFF customers. On the other hand, if KFF contract only local growers instead of growers in other states or countries, if the supply of local organic produce is reduced and the number of organic growers become limited it could cause overall rise in price a ...