Phoebe’s Sandwich.
business
Description
Phoebe’s Sandwich Stop is one of the best-known and most loved sandwich
concessions in town. In business for about five years, she sells sandwiches and other
lunch items made from locally produced food from her mobile food trailer. Phoebe’s
passion and talent for creating reliably fresh, tasty lunch fare popular among a business
clientele (largely employees and shoppers) has made her small enterprise a booming
success.
In the last year, Phoebe added three bicycle-towed concessions that travels to different
strategic locations in town, selling her popular sandwiches to customers who work
beyond walking distance of Phoebe's Sandwich Stop. She now has a total of six
employees, all part-time, working the concessions. Because she caters to urban
customers, her concessions operate on week days from 10 am to 2 pm. To promote
word-of-mouth advertising, Phoebe uses Facebook to publish her daily menus and the
locations of the bicycle concession.
As a sole proprietor, Phoebe has been pleased with her lunch business success. Now
it’s time to get serious about the future of her business. In the short and medium term,
she wants to see the business grow into a potentially more lucrative enterprise,
implementing a greater variety of food products and services, and increasing
her competitive edge in the region. Ever the ardent entrepreneur, Phoebe’s long-term
dream is to develop her creative, health-conscious culinary skills and services into a
wider clientele outside the immediate region.
An opportunity has arisen to lease restaurant space about 20 miles away from
her trailer concession location, close to a mall and the suburbs and nearer to her local
food producers. Phoebe has jumped at the chance and plans to expand her current
business. While she has hired professional business consultants to help her set up the
space, design the menu, and implement the opening of the restaurant, she must also
consider the short- and long-term financing, human resource, and management needs
of such an expansion. Phoebe is particularly sensitive to her relationship with her
customers, employees, and the community.
