ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENG 2015 134/18/23

ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGE 2015BUSINESS PLAN

Made by: Bui Huu Thien ID:s3516393

1. Business Idea

Thao Nguyen Company is a new business located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The store is a small food shop that provides foods and beverages from Tay Nguyen or Highland region. Especially foods and bever-ages are made by ingredients that only available in Tay Nguyen. 

The mission of Thao Nguyen Company is to provide Ho Chi Minh City’s residents and visitors with a combination of quality, authentic, hard to find, prepared foods and beverages from Tay Nguyen, with good service and a pleasant atmosphere with the warm feel of an outdoor market.

The Store will serve Com Lam or Bamboo Rice, specialty drinks from Highland region such as coffee, honey and bubble tea. All the recipes used in the store will highlight the unique ingredients only available from Dak Lak city.

The specialty foods market is growing across the country. Consumers are looking for quality food along with a quality shopping experience. Many large cities have entire sections dedicated to ethnic foods and culture from Japan, Korea, Italy or America. As Viet Nam consider tourism as its one of main economy source, more and more people are traveling to areas such as Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh. These new popula-tions are starved for the new trend of cuisine; this is an opportunity for Thao Nguyen Company to introduce the new trend of Highland cuisine to the people of Ho Chi Minh City as well as other urban areas in Viet Nam

2. Product/Service Description

Thao Nguyen Company provides food which is from Tay Nguyen. Dak Lak culinary brings bold flavor of Highland that is rustic and simple. Therefore their taste is one of the most strange to many people. Moreover Thao Nguyen Company wants to introduce the culture of Dak Lak to many people. The company provides the fol-lowing of products: Cơm Lam, Honey, Tay Nguyen Coffee and Bubble tea. These products are made with ingredient from natural resources in Tay Nguyen or Highland region of Viet Nam which makes them have better quality. Especially Com Lam is basically rice cooked in bamboo tree so it has unique taste which meets the consumers’ wants for exotic cuisine. However, these products are already established on the Tay Nguyen market but not popular in rural area such as Ho Chi Minh City so it is hard for the company to introduce these products to the public. Consumers can find these products available at Nowzone Mall.

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3. People (Ownership, Management and Personnel)

3.1 Ownership & Organization Structure

Thao Nguyen Company is a Limited Liability Company owned and operated by the founders Thao Nguyen , Huu Thien and Nguyen My Phuoc.  It will be registered as Thao Nguyen Company.

Thao Nguyen Company is a small business with three members. Two of the owners (Thien And Thao Nguyen) will be the managers for the store until it is recommended that it is important to recruit additional staff.  The other member will maintain outside jobs, help out when needed in the store, and do the administrative tasks.

Owner/Manager (Nguyen Vu Thi Thao):  Promotion / Marketing Manager

Manages Thao Nguyen Com pany Communication Representatives Makes Promotional Decisions

Owner/Manager (Bui Huu Thien):  Financial / Marketing Manager

Makes marketing decisions Works with Promotion Manager Recruiting members Does Marketing/Financial Tasks

Member (Nguyen My Phuoc):  Booth Keeper/Administrator

Keeps Booths Manage selling products at Booth Does payroll Helps with store operations when necessary

3.2 Team communications

Each member has separate Facebook identifications along with specific emails that members can use to communicate with each other and share information in time. On the other hand, the company also have face to face meeting times that occur in the every first month and last month of the year so each member are able to share experiences and plan for the next business tasks.

4. Marketing Plan

4.1 Target Customer:

a) Geographic: Target consumers can be segmented based on their geographic location. For a small business

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such as a Tay Nguyen food shop, potential customers are mainly people from Ho Chi Minh City for Tay Nguyen-exclusive food and drinks such as cơm lam, cơm niêu and Tay Nguyen Coffee are completely new trend to them.

b) Demographics:Demographics are personal characteristics used to categorize consumers. Demographics include characteristics such as age, gender, income level and marital status. Through market research and surveys, the business’ ideal customer can be identified as people from all ages and gender. This information helps the business owner develop a marketing strategy that appeals to individuals with this demographic profile.

c) Psychographics: Psychographic aspect attempts to segment the market based on traits such as personality and lifestyle. Company may use these traits in order to develop a targeted advertising or promotional campaign. Based from research, it is clear that Ho Chi Minh people are always interest in exotic, new and unique products. This information helps business able to figuring out new demands and introduce food and beverage exclusively from Tay Nguyen especially Dak Lak to the people of Ho Chi Minh City.

d) Behavioral:Behavioral segment analyzes characteristics such as desired product benefits, price sensitivity and brand loyalty. Behavioral it is very useful in determining buying patterns and what changes may affect these. Thao Nguyen Company can use behavioral profiling to identify the number of their customers who are first-time buyers as opposed to repeat customers. If repeat purchases are low, the company may need to focus on improving quality or building brand loyalty. Thao Nguyen Business can improve quality of the product by selecting better ingredients and encourage repeat visits by attaching coupons to customer receipts and introducing more different and unique products.

4.2. SWOT Analysis

Strength Weakness

Unique products from Tay Nguyen

Ingredients originated exclusively from Tay Nguyen

Communication skills allow to interact with customer to know more about product and gain brand loyalty

Lack of brand recognition because Thao Nguyen is a start-up organization

Employees leave for better opportunities

The company’s new and innovative products do not have a lot of visibility in Vietnam

Opportunities Threat

Potential partnership with other companies

Strong Connection with Society

Customers dissatisfied with rival’s products/services

Employee knowledge/skills becomes obsolete

Competitors hire away most skilled employees

4.3 Action to be taken from SWOT

Thao Nguyen Company wants to retain and keep its current workforce knowledgeable and increase work-force adaptability skills to meet current and future customer needs. They begin the process with an Action

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SWOT Analysis. This process contains four steps to emphasize main idea and identify methods to preserve the advantages and avoid the unnecessary consequences.

Table 1

Strength Preserve and Protect Prevent

Unique ProductsIntroduce and develop new products that meets the con-

sumers’ wants and needs

Introducing products without proper knowledge and not meet consumers’ want and

need

Unique Ingredient

Locate and identify different source other than Tay Nguyen to help increase the produc-

tion rate

Ingredient from unreliable sources are not allowed to use

in production process

Good Communication Skill

Creating communication training program for new and present employee in order to improve their communication

skills

Using employee who lacks of communication skills

The next process involves looking at the current weaknesses in the organization around retaining and keep-ing employee skills current.

Table 2

Weakness Mitigate Overcome

Employees leave for better opportunities

Promote from withinGrow the organization so

more opportunities are avail-able

Lack Of Brand RecognitionPublic Promotion introducing

the brand to the society

Participate and sponsor public activities to increase the

brand reputation and image

Not have lots of visibility in Vietnam

Research to identify the con-sumers’ wants and needs

Build up products/services to satisfy the customer

After the internal scan is done then TN Business would explore potential external Opportunities that they could be facing in the near future.

Table 3

Opportunities Capitalize Enhance

Customers dissatisfied with rival’s products/services

Develop a change ready and adaptable workforce that will

monitor customer needs

Use current knowledge work-ers to build products/services

that satisfy the customer

Potential PartnershipCooperate with restaurants and food stores that share

similar products and beverage

Identify the business objec-tive of food companies and restaurants in order to in-

crease brand image

Society ConnectionGood image of the business can be known by the society

Create events and promotions to introduce the brand images

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 The final critical step involves reviewing the potential internal and external threats and answering the Ac-tion questions designed to prevent and isolate those threats.

Table 4 

Threats Prevent Isolate

Employee knowledge/skills becomes obsolete

Hire new workers with de-sired skills or upgrade current workers with current knowl-

edge and skills

Keep workforce development plans current and identify

those with obsolete skills; de-sign targeted improvement

plans

Competitors hire away most skilled employees

Use employee satisfaction surveys to understand what

motivates employees to stay.

Keep pay, fringe benefits, ed-ucation, and career advance-ment competitive with the

market

4.4 Marketing Research  

During the initial stages of the marketing plan development, Thao Nguyen held several different focus groups with perspective customers. The goal of the focus groups was to solicit a significant amount of in-formation from potential customers. 

The company was very careful with the facilitation of the focus groups, attempting to insure that the results were as valid as possible.  The groups ranged in size from seven to nine people.  The focus groups were videotaped to allow the company to review them more carefully after the fact.   Overall, the focus groups provide Thao Nguyen with a wealth of information that was instrumental for them in launching and grow -ing the business.

4.5 Product, Place, Price, Promotion

Product

Thao Nguyen Company currently provides numerous foods originate Tay Nguyen for the customers who are interested in different types of food. The business focus on famous cuisine from Dak Lak

Thao Nguyen Company will have following cuisine

Fruits Com Lam Coffee Honey Bubble Tea (Optional Drinks)

Place

Thao Nguyen Company products and services available in Nowzone the existing distribution channels used by TN Company from producer to customer. Furthermore, internet proves to be useful mean to deliver products to consumers

Price

The Company have two define prices of the product include Psychological Pricing and Bundle PricingAs for Bundles pricing strategy, Thao Nguyen Company decides to sell a group of products at reduced price.

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ForPsychological the seller here will consider the psychology of prices and positioning of prices within the market places. For illustration, TN company will sell Honey for 99 000 VND instead of 100 VND

Promotion

To introduce the brand name to the public, TN Company has various methods to help people know more about the product. Using social media, distributing flyers are the means that will be used by TN in the promotional campaign in 28/7/2015

5. Financial Plan

Sales Forecast

In order to introduce the products as well as business’ image to the public, Thao Nguyen Company will hold a special event on 2nd August at Now Zone Mall. The product will be sold in the following table according to the price and quantity.

Product (Foods & Beverages)

Price Quantity

Com Lam- Bamboo Rice 15,000 VND/pieces 50 Pieces

Bubble Tea 15,000 VND/cup 30 Cups

Coffee Powder 188,000 VND/kg 3kg

Honey 300,000 VND/L 3L

According to the table above, Thao Nguyen Company expects to sell products and receive the profit of 3 million VND as the main objective of this month.

Balance Sheet

Thao Nguyen Company

Bal-ance

SheetDate: 19/7

Assets 2015Current Assets    

Cash 200,00

0

Accounts receivable 100,00

0

Inventory 500,00

0 Prepaid expensesShort-term investments

Total current assets 800,00

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0 Fixed (Long-Term) Assets    

Long-term investments 400,00

0

Property, plant, and equipment 350,00

0

(Less accumulated depreciation) (3,300

)Intangible assets

Total fixed assets 746,70

0 Other Assets    

Deferred income taxOther

Total Other Assets -

 

Total Assets 1,546,

700

[42] Liabilities and Owner's Equity    

Current Liabilities    

Accounts payable 200,00

0

Short-term loans 200,00

0 Income taxes payable - Accrued salaries and wages - Unearned revenue - Current portion of long-term debt -

Total current liabilities 400,00

0 Long-Term Liabilities    

Long-term debt 200,00

0 Deferred income tax - Other -

Total long-term liabilities 200,00

0 Owner's Equity    

Owner's investment 350,00

0

Retained earnings 300,00

0 Other

Total owner's equity 650,00

0

Total Liabilities and Owner's Equity 1,250,

000 {42}

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Common Financial Ratios    Debt Ratio (Total Liabilities / Total Assets) 0.39  Current Ratio (Current Assets / Current Liabilities) 2.00  

Working Capital (Current Assets - Current Liabilities) 400,000

-

Assets-to-Equity Ratio (Total Assets / Owner's Equity) 2.38  Debt-to-Equity Ratio (Total Liabilities / Owner's Equity) 0.92