Reference no: EM133237245
Makers of "World Famous" Anchovy-Flavoured Cheese Spread
The Cheddaquarium Company was established in Edmonton in 1970 and is world famous for its fish-and-cheddar cheese spreads. Cheddaquarium'sTM best selling product, Anchovy & Cheddar, has won international awards at France's prestigious "Fromage D'Or" competition, and sells millions of units worldwide each year. The Camembert family is very proud of their cheese-based company, and the CEO, Mr. Stilton Camembert, is the fourth generation of his family to run the family business. It is truly a family business as his wife, Brie, is the company's Chief Financial Officer, their daughter Havarti (who has a PhD in Cheese Making - concentrating on the Northern European approach to cheese making - from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)) is the Chief Cheese Production Officer and their son Edam is the Head of Marketing.
Cheddaquarium's head office (CHEESE 1) has been in South Edmonton since 2005, and presently occupies a warehouse of approximately 50,000 sq. ft. There are two other facilities, CHEESE 2, also in South Edmonton and CHEESE 3, just outside Beaumont. CHEESE 2 is the primary cheese making facility for the cheese spreads, while the non-spreadable cheeses (about 20% of their total production) are made in CHEESE 3. Due to the great increase in gourmet cheese spreads over the past decade, Cheddaquarium anticipates a 15% growth in production over the next 5 years. Cheddaquarium has only been producing non-spreadable cheeses for about 10 years and has only increased the sales of these particular products by less than 5% over the past decade.
At the present time, the company sells and processes about 10,000 gourmet cheese product units daily. In addition, we also know the following about Cheddaquarium:
- 80% of Cheddaquarium's retail customers were willing to purchase cheese products via email or the web. Right now, only wholesale purchases are available online.
- 30% of their customer inquiries did not result in a sale due to long waits for information, especially online inquiries.
- Kraft Inc. has expressed an interest in purchasing Cheddaquarium. Currently, Cheddaquarium is a wholly family-owned company.
- The CHEESE 3 facility needs an upgrade to its primary cheese forming and pressing equipment
- Consumers have requested more low-fat and fat-free cheese spreads, as Cheddaquarium does not make these currently.
- The last time Cheddaquarium won the Fromage D'Or was in 2018 for its Brie and Salmon spread. The Chief Cheese Production Officer wants to develop a new spread for the Fromage D'Or competition in June 2023.
- Currently, Cheddaquarium products are sold in the gourmet sections of some grocery stores and in Sunterra Marketplace, the Italian Centre Shop, Planet Organic Market, and Sobeys Urban Fresh.
- Currently, Canadians consume 14.49 kg of cheese per person per year. Americans eat 17.46kg, the Danish 28.1kg, the Dutch 21.6kg, the French eat 27.2kg, and the people of Iceland, 27.2kg. Cheese is not a popular food in many Asian countries. (Misachi, 2017) (CLAL, 2019)
- Kraft Dinner is the biggest cheese product seller in Canada'. Canadians buy 1.7 million boxes per week or 88.4 million boxes annually. March 2020 saw sales increase to 15 million boxes per month, more than the usual 7 million boxes per month. (Edmiston, 2020)
Clearly, Cheddaquarium has some issues. It is at a bit of a crossroads in terms of its future success. The CEO has come to you for help in paving the way for Cheddaquarium to continue to be a profitable company and to continue to produce quality cheese products for its customers.