To: James Barrett, CEO
From: Chan Yang, Assistant Marketing Director
Date: April 24, 2012
Subject: amy’s bread
INTRODUCTION
Here is the analytical report that you requested on April 24, 2012 to conduct research on www.amysbread.com. The analytical report consists of four sections and information on whether Metropolitan Bakery should open a retail location in the New York metro area.
FINDINGS
There are five categories on www.amysbread.com, which are Locations, Menu, Shopping, News, and Our Staff.
The locations category of www.amysbread.com lists the three different retail stores that Amy’s Bread has in New York. All three of the locations are in Manhattan. The retail stores are located in the following areas: Chelsea Market in lower Manhattan, Hell’s Kitchen in midtown Manhattan, and the Village in lower Manhattan.
The menu category of www.amysbread.com includes all of the different products that are offered in Amy’s Bread’s retail locations. The following products are offered in the retail locations:
Organic Breads
Miche
Rustic Italian
Country White
Toy’s Organic Wheat Baguette
Peasant White
Whole Wheat
Five Grain
Walnut
Oat Peacan with Golden Raisins
Black Olive
Fougasse and Block Olive Twist
Black Olive Bread and Black Olive Ficelle
Rosemary
Round
Twist
Sourdough
Country
Tangy
Seeded Twist
Semolina
Black Sesame Seeds
Golden Raisin and Fennel
Speciality Breads
Prosciutto and Black Pepper
Potato Onion Dill
Parmesan Cheese Twist
Focaccia with Onions or Rosemary
Organic Rye with Caraway
Walnut Strip
Focaccia Raisin Twist
Raisin Walnut
Picholine Olive
Pumpernickel
Cookies
Peanut Butter
Orange Butter
Chocolate Chip
Oatmeal Raisin
Kitchen Sink
Lime Commeal
Double Chocolate Pecan
Chubbie
White Chocolate Cherry
Chunker
Sandwiches
Roast Turkey on Semolina
Vegetarian White Bean
NY State Goat Cheese
Tuscan
Grilled NY State Cheddar
Grilled Panini
Grilled Ham and Swiss
Summer Turkey
Roll-up
Peanut Buter & Jelly
Vegetarian Hummos
Brie Mini
Tuna Mini
Cuban
French Ham and Butter
Black Olive Ficelle
Evening Sandwiches
Turkey and Avocado
Grilled Focaccia
Walnut and Brie
Genoa Salami
Salads
Green
Tuna on Greens
Hummus & Chickpea
Roasted Beef & Quinoa
Cannellini Bean & Avocado
Beverages
Cappucino
Café Latte
Café au Lait
Espresso
Coffee
Iced Coffee
Iced Tea
Black Tea
Herbal Tea
Hot Chocolate
Saratoga Water
Virgil’s Root Beer
Reed’s Ginger Brew
Juice Spritzers
Fizzie Lizzie Drinks
The menu category also includes sections on how to taste bread and bread care tips. The “How do you taste bread?” section includes a short questionnaire that can be used by individuals when tasting bread. On the bread care tips page, there are explanations on how to care for bread in regards to storage, refreshing, and freezing.
The shopping category of www.amysbread.com lists different products that can be purchased at Amy’s Bread other than breads and sweets. The different items offered at Amy’s Bread are cookbooks, T-shirts, caps, Biscotti, and a gift card. In addition, the shopping category includes a bread sampler. One of the samplers is a 5 lb. “Highlights Sampler”, which includes four loaves of bread and half a dozen twists. The “Semolina with Golden Raisins and Fennel” includes five loaves of Amy’s signature bread. All of the items in the shopping category can be purchased over the phone by calling Amy’s Bread’s customer service staff.
The Amy’s Bread website also includes a news category that reveals who Amy is and opinions on the products that Amy’s Bread offers in its retail stores.
1. According to an article from More, “Scherber attended culinary school, then worked as a cook before discovering a passion for bread making”. The article goes on to say that Amy opened her first bakery in 1992. In addition, the article explains how Amy’s Bread is not a “big chain”, but rather a neighborhood business that cares for the people who work and live nearby.
2. Time Out New York magazine states “Amy Scherber wins your vote for revolutionizing bread baskets across the city with her signature semolina-fennel-golden raisin rolls and warm, dense organic whole wheat walnut bread”. According to this article, Amy’s Bread has grown substantially since opening its first location in Hell’s Kitchen. Today, the bakery supplies over 100 restaurants and stores with a daily bread supply. However, the article also states that the growth has “not killed any of the charm”.
3. A New York Times article “Best Bread in New York City” from May 14, 1999 claims, “Amy Scherber's bakery, Amy's Bread, makes some of the best bread in New York”. The article praises the high quality breads that Amy’s Bread has to offer. According to the article, “With so much good bread, it stands to reason that she would make excellent sandwiches, like black olive tapenade on a baguette with goat cheese, thyme, eggplant and oven-roasted tomatoes”. In addition, the article also states that the brownies and coffeecakes Amy’s Bread offers are excellent desserts.
Our Staff is the final category on www.amysbread.com. This section includes a photo of the entire staff of Amy’s Bread, photos from the bakery, and a biography of Amy Scherber, the owner of Amy’s Bread. According to her biography, Amy realized her passion for cooking and baking after starting a career in corporate marketing. She left her job to pursue this passion by attending culinary school in New York and subsequently opened her first bakery on Ninth Avenue, in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan, New York. Later, she opened another location in the Chelsea Market. Her staff has expanded from five in 1992, to over 100 today. Most recently, Amy opened another retail location in the Village. The biography goes on to explain that Amy Scherber is featured in a number of different publications.
CONLCUSIONS
On the basis of the findings, several conclusions can be inferred. considered effect the company as a whole.
Amy’s Bread is a well-established bakery with three highly successful locations in New York City. After evaluating the website for the bakery, it is clear that Amy’s Bread offers many different products, which are not limited to simply bread. Bread is simply one of the types of products that Amy’s Bread offers. In addition to bread, they offer products such as pastries, cakes, and sandwiches. To further their product selection, Amy’s Bread also offers a vast array of beverages such as cappuccino and herbal tea. All of the different products that Amy’s Bread offers are very diversified to serve a broad range of customers.
In addition, after reviewing the news articles, it is clear that Amy’s Bread is highly regarded in the New York metro area. The retail locations that Amy’s Bread operates are not “big chain” types of stores, but community stores that care for those who live and work in the areas they are located in. Amy’s Bread also supplies over 100 different restaurants in the New York area, which makes it clear that they are the top choice as a supplier in the area. In addition, all of the products that Amy’s Bread offers have received high regard in the different publications featured on the website. This is especially the case for the sandwiches created using the various different types of breads and the different cakes, pastries, and beverages offered in the retail locations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings and conclusions, I recommend that the following be done for Metropolitan Bakery to open a retail location in the New York metro area.
1. Although we currently offer a large selection of different breads, Amy’s Bread offers many more choices. Offerings that we should expand on are our organic, sourdough, semolina, and specialty breads. For organic breads, Amy’s Bread offers many selections such as Rustic Italian and Country White, while our locations only offer Country Miche. Sourdough breads are an offering that we would need to offer as well. Currently, Amy’s Bread offers three different types of sourdough bread, while Metropolitan Bakery does not offer any. In addition, Metropolitan Bakery would need to greatly expand its specialty bread offerings. It is important that we add products such as Raisin Walnut bread, Pumpernickel, and Parmesan Cheese Twist. In addition to selling these breads in our New York location, we should also sell sandwiches that are made using these breads. This seems to be a very large part of Amy’s Bread, considering the amount of sandwiches that are offered in its retail locations.
2. Amy’s Bread offers many different sweets and beverages at its locations. We offer sweets and beverages at our locations as well, but not to the extent of Amy’s Bread. For breakfast, Amy’s Bread offers scones and muffins every morning. In addition, many different pastries, cookies, cakes and cupcakes are offered at Amy’s Bread on a daily basis. They offer ten different cookie varieties and over 15 different pastries, cakes and cupcakes. For beverages, Amy’s Bread offers a vast selection of hot and cold beverages to complement the bakery products. Our bakery should greatly expand its sweets and treats offerings in order to compete with Amy’s Bread. Metropolitan Bakery must include cookies, cakes, muffins and lattes to be competitive with Amy’s Bread.
3. Metropolitan Bakery currently offers dog bones at its locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This product should be offered in the New York metro area, which would give us a competitive advantage over Amy’s Bread. There are many dogs in New York City and dog runs are located all around Manhattan. Our affordable and tasty treat for dogs will sell extremely well to the dog-loving residents of New York.
4. Locating Metropolitan Bakery in a high-traffic area is critical to the success of our retail location in the New York metro area. One of the best areas to focus on in opening a retail store would be in the Penn Station area of Manhattan. Thousands of travelers move through the Penn Station area on a daily basis. Many of these travelers would find it much more convenient to visit Metropolitan Bakery rather than to travel to one of the Amy’s Bread retail locations in other parts of the city. A retail location near Penn Station would allow for commuters to stop in on they’re way to and from work to pick up the various products that we can offer in this new retail store.
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