Soft Drink Business Plan Example

Company Description

• Wacky Crazy Bubblies is a family-owned and operated company in the soft drink industry which has been in operation for the past ten years.
• The company manufactures a line of soft drinks, targeting school-going children under the age of seventeen.
• The company’s largest market is convenience stores, school cafeterias, vending machines, and grocery stores in residential areas, but it also targets stations, supermarkets, and restaurants.
• The drinks have different flavours and colours to appeal to the market and unique packaging.
• These flavours include Mango flavour, Passion flavour, Pineapple flavour, Orange flavour, Banana flavour, Peach flavour, and Strawberry flavour.
• All these Flavor drinks are made from the finest organic fruits and vegetables to produce a healthy product.

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Industry Analysis and Trends

• The soft drinks industry comprises a variety of non-alcoholic beverages such as carbonated soft drinks, juices, bottled water, coffee, energy drinks, and sports drinks.
• The industry is expected to grow at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.62% in the next four years.
• The industry’s focus is changing from the regular drinks towards super-premium soft drinks.
• There is an increasing demand for innovation, specifically in the ways the products are consumed.
• The key vendors in the industry include Danone, PepsiCo, Red Bull, Coca-Cola Company, and Nestle Waters.
• In the U.S., Coca-Cola has the largest market share of 42.5%, followed by PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple at 27% and 17.3% respectively.

Strategic Position & Risk Assessment

• The company intends to enhance its performance in the market by integrating business management with internal and external factors.
• This can be achieved by analyzing its strategic position and risk assessment.
• This evaluation requires identifying internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats through a SWOT analysis (Houben et al., 1999).

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• Changes in the tastes and preferences of the customers
• The use of organic fruits and vegetables to manufacture healthy soft drinks.
• Provision of a wide range of drinks in different colours and flavours gives the company a competitive advantage over its rivals.
• Effective distribution channels, both online and offline.

Weaknesses

• Stiff competition from other established brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
• Lack of brand recognition enjoyed by other companies.
• The company’s profit margin is low, forcing the company to compromise on other crucial functions such as marketing and advertising.

Opportunities

• The increasing health-consciousness is likely to increase the consumption of the company’s products.
• The company’s products are made from fruits and vegetables that serve as an alternative to sugary and caffeinated drinks.

Threats

• Competition from other established companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
• High regulation of the non-alcoholic industry, particularly in the United States.
• The ingredients of all products must comply with the agency’s standards failure to which they are regarded as misbranded.
• Compliance with both FDA and HACCP guidelines.

Target Market

• Children under the age of seventeen.
• Specifically, the drinks will be mostly consumed by school-going children.
• The targeted number of children consuming the juice daily is estimated to be at least eight thousand, each consuming 125ml of liquid.
• Both online and offline sales will be used to reach the targeted population (West, 2016).
• A majority of the sales are expected to be offline, with the online sales supplementing them to reach the daily targets.

Competition

• Wacky Crazy Bubblies Flavor drinks will face market competition from several established beverage brands.
• Being a relatively new entrant into the market, the company has to put effort into differentiation to build brand recognition and loyalty.
• The non-alcoholic beverage industry has slowly been evolving, and many industry providers have come up with different kind of products, which increases the competition (Greg, 2018).
• The beverages of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have gained popularity in the market for quite some time making them difficult to outdo.
• With the right marketing plans and sales strategies, Wacky Crazy Bubblies Flavor drinks are expected to rapidly gain market share and cement their position in the market.

Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy

• The company’s marketing strategy incorporates aspects of promotion while ensuring that the target population’s needs are met by availing the products at strategic locations.
• The company’s marketing team is set to launch a social media campaign dubbed “the healthy drink campaign”.
• The campaign will use the hashtag #healthy drinks to inform potential customers of the health benefits of the range of fruit drinks offered by the company.
• The social media campaign will run concurrently with similarly themed campaigns using other promotion channels.
• The promotional efforts will be supplemented through collaboration with different food courts within the targeted neighbourhoods.

Ethics and Social Responsibility Plan

• Wacky Crazy Bubblies is committed to being a good corporate citizen.
• The company has followed the Department of Labor guidelines regarding the engagement, compensation, and welfare of its employees.
• The company has created employment opportunities at different levels
  The hiring process is fair and open to all regardless of their nationality, age, ethnic background, race, gender, health status and disabilities, and social class by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s requirements.
• All workers are treated equally and fairly.
• The company ensures strict compliance with all significant laws under the department of labour
• The company also considers its impact on the environment and has taken measures to mitigate any negative impact.

Key Aspects of Operations

• The company pays excellent focus on the operation plan for direction in the establishment and management of procedures and processes on the customer services, shipping, storage, and inventory controls (Stevenson et al., 2007).
• There have been significant efforts to include practical and efficient procedures and processes in guiding the operations to minimize material holding and storage costs.
  The company shall have various raw materials vendors to limit the scenarios of lost production and shortage linked with only a single supplier.

Technology Plan

• The company will utilize information technology to communicate with vendors and clients, maintain financial orders, and process orders.
• The company shall create a superior blueprint and social media platforms such as Facebook in ensuring that it makes itself famous in the soft drink industry (Ward et al. 2008).
• The company will then decide to select a technology that offers support to the company’s strategic goals and objectives (Melville et al., 2014).
• Evaluation of hardware and software products according to the needs of the company is then performed.
• Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) would connect the organization to its various stakeholders, such as distributors, employees, clients, and suppliers.

Management and Organization

• The company’s management ensures that there is transparency in the expenses and finances of the organization.
• The company will be managed by the board of directors, comprising eight members, i.e. the chair, vice-chair, the company attorneys, secretary, and treasurer.

References;

• Business Wire. (2017, November 28). Global Soft Drink Market – Analysis, Trends & Forecasts to 2021 – Research and Markets. Retrieved August 24, 2018, from Business Wire: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171128005670/en/Global-Soft-Drink-Market—Analysis-Trends
• DeMers, J. (2017). Online Marketing Strategies Every Entrepreneur Needs. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/278923 
• Greg, M. (2018). Global Non-alcoholic Beverage Market Analysis & Trends 2017-2027: Market Opportunities and Recommendations. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-nonalcoholic-beverage-market-analysis–trends-2017-2027-market-opportunities-and-recommendations-300667080.html
• Hellerman, C. (2012, April 27). Soft drinks: Public enemy No.1 in obesity fight? Retrieved August 24, 2018, from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/27/health/soda-obesity/index.html
• Houben, G., Lenie, K., & Vanhoof, K. (1999). A knowledge-based SWOT-analysis syIstem as an instrument for strategic planning in small and medium sized enterprises. Decision support systems, 26(2), 125-135. 
• Hu, F. B., & Malik, V. S. (2010). Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidence. Physiology & Behavior, 100(1), 47–54. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.01.036
• Ministerrådet, N., & Nordic Council of Ministers. (2011). The environmental impact of the consumption of sweets, crisps, and soft drinks. Copenhagen: Nordiska ministerrådets förlag.

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