Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe Opportunity

Executive Summary

The objective of this paper is to do an analysis and assessment on the growth opportunities available to Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe (the �Company’), one of the largest producers of ready to eat gumbo with annual revenues of more than $1 million. Azalea’s product could be found in approximately 1,000 supermarkets and were served in about 300 restaurants in the southeastern United States. The product became a hit due to its uniqueness in taste (made using a 100 year old family recipe), high quality, sold in ready to eat packages and is value for money.

Analysis was done on the following areas:

a) Evaluating the competitive conditions,

b) Analysis on industry’s attractiveness,

c) Critiques on the Company’s competitive strategy,

d) Assessment of strategic situation,

e) Assessment of financial performance,

f) Evaluating the pros and cons of each market opportunities, and

g) Recommending on best course of action to pursue.

A SWOT analysis was carried out to evaluate the company’s strength, weakness, opportunity and threat and also to see whether its strategy-making effort will produce a good-fit between the company’s resource capability and its external situation.

Based on all the analysis mentioned, recommendations were made on the best course of action for Azalea to pursue for further growth.

1.0 Introduction

Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe was established in Mobile, Alabama, in 1971 by Pat Lodds. The shop offered customers fresh snapper, grouper, flounder, and shrimp caught in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, but Azalea differed from its rivals by also selling prepared seafood gumbo that could be taken home for dinner. The high quality gumbo was prepared using Lodds’s 100-year old family recipe, which made it popular within months after its first operation. Pat Lodds sold the business to Jim Hartman in 1981, who continued to sell fresh fish and freshly prepared gumbo to the walk-in customers. However Jim Hartman began to freeze large gallon containers for sale to local seafood restaurant and at the same time he started to include a new product line of shrimp creole to walk-in customers and area restaurants. By 1991, Azalea’s seafood gumbo was distributed to about 30 restaurants and its sales remained at about $10,000 to $15,000 per month. In August 1991 the business was sold to Mike Rathle, John Addison and Bill Sibley. Under the new management leadership, the business was moved to a new 2,200 square-foot production facility with added production capacity located on a one-acre parcel of land. At the same time, they decided to venture into commercial accounts rather than relying on retail sales, thus capitalizing on the eight-ton-per-day production capacity. Over the next 10 years