Manage global coffee suppliers, coffee roasters, and contract manufacturers and packagers to ensure safety, compliance, and brand reputation. There is typically little visibility into food safety management programs or quality processes at suppliers’ facilities. Many coffee roasters are sourcing their coffee from up to 40 different countries and are faced with the task of supplying tens of thousands of commercial customers with coffee products. The gaps that form within a supplier’s processes from communication breakdown or unresolved errors further increases the risk to a brand’s food quality and social compliance sourcing strategy.
Maintain individual brand values while encouraging customers to embrace a new product, with combined forces of both partners. In a world where a tweet can reach millions of people in a few seconds, organizations know the importance of keeping a close eye on their target demographics. By maintaining a unified voice around core values while encouraging customers to stand behind a fellow brand, McDonald’s and Kraft can better achieve the acceptance and market adoption they hope for.
Don’t be Fooled by Fads
Once at the pinnacle of the cupcake craze, Crumbs Bakeshop tried to branch out beyond baked sweets after the initial cupcake bubble had burst by offering lunch items such as sandwiches and salads, but had no such luck. Crumbs also entered the supermarket world in hopes of reclaiming some portion of its original popularity, only to file for bankruptcy and close its doors shortly afterwards in July 2014. Why? A combination of market saturation and not enough consumer demand contributed heavily to the demise of those sweet offerings. Also, the lunch offerings, while smart for brand expansion, weren’t reaching even a fraction of the association that the brand got for its cupcakes—presenting a major gap in brand recognition.
These implementations are, by no means, small feats to execute (as seen in the case of Crumbs Bakeshop). Together, McDonald’s and Kraft will need to meet (and in some cases, exceed) their own expectations for a successful rollout. This will take a great amount of patience and accuracy to get right for both McDonald’s and Kraft. All of which lie on top of their end goal to provide customers with a quality product that meets the expectations they have when visiting the store in-person. The best way to reach this is to maintain transparency in all operations, triage potential errors/challenges as a united force, and project a consistent brand image.
Kuchinski is VP of product marketing for Sparta Systems. Reach her at [email protected].
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