Instructions: The goal of this integrative case is not for you to show expertise on the restaurant business, but to see how you can apply the concepts and ideas in the readings to a hypothetical case. Please read the following case of ” The Future of the Great Italian Food Company”. After reading this case,
You should do a case write up (2 pages).
In your write up of this case, you should draw on our class readings to suggest to Papa Joe and the Board of Directors how they ought to proceed. You know little about the restaurant business. Your expertise is strategic planning for organizations. What do you wish to suggest to Papa Joe and the others about how they ought to think about the future of the Great Italian Food Company (GOFC) over the next five to ten years?
Remember you are not being asked to select one proposed strategy over another, but suggest how they ought to think about strategic choice. In your case write up try to bring into the discussion the various class readings on this subject. Your case write up should be about a page or so in length. In your write up assume the reader is familiar with the case detail. Minimize repeating of details from the case.
Strategic Planning Case: The Future of the Great Italian Food Company
The Great Italian Food Company (GIFC) owns and operates four Italian restaurants (called Papa Joe’s) in the Greater St. Louis area. The original establishment was founded in the Italian Hill section in 1960 by Joe Marconi known in the community as Papa Joe. He came to St. Louis as a teenager after World War II. He is now semi-retired and Chairman of the Board of the GIFC. His oldest son, Little Joe, has presided over the expansion of the company to include three other similar restaurants, two in St. Louis County and one across the river in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis. The restaurants could be classified as family establishments. The decorations feature Italian scenes and the tables have checked tablecloths. Prices are reasonable, and the menu is basic Italian with various pasta dishes featured.
Papa Joe has three other children involved in the business:
Johnny is responsible for marketing and advertising for the chain.
Tony is in charge of purchasing, and Maria is the HR director. She is the only one of the children who went to college and has recently graduated with an MBA.
Each of the children has ideas about the future of GIFC. It has been fairly successful, but with now four adult children involved they may have to grow the company in order for it to produce enough profit for each of the children to live the kind of lifestyle they have experienced in recent years. Here are their thoughts:
Little Joe thinks they ought to have more St. Louis area locations.
Tony believes that the customers here and perhaps all across the Midwest would like to be able to buy frozen food such as the kind they have in the restaurant because some customers will take extra home with them after dining.
Papa Joe has always dreamed of having an upscale restaurant in partnership with a well-known personality, such as a Cardinal baseball player. He thinks such a place could make a good deal of money because they would charge much more for the meals.
Johnny thinks the family ought to think more broadly about the restaurant business and start other ethnic restaurants, such as Chinese or Greek.
Maria has suggested expanding the business to other parts of the Midwest, especially in other major cities. She has told her father that she took a course in Strategic Management in her MBA program, and that GIFC should engage in a strategic planning process to systematically determine their future.
Assume you are a friend of Maria’s. She has convinced her father to hire you on a short-term basis to assist the Board of Directors of GIFC in what steps they should take next. The Board consists of Papa Joe as Chair, the children, Mrs. Papa Joe and three long time friends of Papa Joe who own businesses in the Hill section.
One of the members of the Board of Directors, Jimmy, owns a barbershop. He has always said he thought from a business standpoint McDonald’s is the greatest organization in the United States. He has told Papa Joe many times that McDonald’s began as a small place selling burgers. He should develop an Italian fast food menu, and become a McDonald’s like franchise across the country.
Final note: Papa Joe has pointed out to the children that while they each have good ideas in the short run the company’s relatively limited access to capital would prohibit a strategy in which all the various ideas were pursued at the same time.