Graces Gourmet Delights

Grace’s Gourmet Delights is a sole trader business, owned and operated by an individual. Belonging to the food industry, the business specialises in the sale of pastries such as sausage rolls, assorted puffs as well as French bread and other sweet and savoury delights. The business is situated in Woodbrook where baking is done in store.

Objectives of the business:

To provide jobs for the less qualified citizens in the community. To attain high profits so the entrepreneur may gain financial independence.

Mission statement:

Providing exceptional quality gourmet desserts at reasonable prices, while warming the hearts of customers through their stomachs.

Type of production:

Graces Gourmet Delight’s is involved in secondary level production. Secondary production or manufacturing entails the converting of raw materials for example flour, sugar and yeast into consumer goods such as doughnuts and cakes.

Justification of location:

Grace’s Gourmet Delights is located at #18 Fitt street Woodbrook, the building is a family inheritance and is now owned and maintained by the entrepreneur.

Woodbrook is a busy business district, known for its restaurants and fast food outlets which most of the working population head to for breakfast or lunch; this was one of the main reasons for the choice of location. It is a known fact that labour will not travel long distances, with this in mind Grace’s Gourmet Delight’s decided to locate near to their labour supply. Another factor that was considered was infrastructure such as reliable access roads and available parking facilities to accommodate the high influx of customers.

Selection of appropriate labour:

No.of workers

Position

Type

Function

Cashier

Semi-skilled
To accept payment for merchandise sold

Store attendant

Semi-skilled
To assist customers in selecting baked items quickly

Janitor

Unskilled
To maintain store cleanliness before during and after working hours

Supervisor

Skilled
To oversee business operation is running smoothly on a daily basis bakers

Skilled

To bake goods for retail

Kitchen assistant

Unskilled
To assist the bakers in baking preparation and washing of dishes.

Reasons for hiring types labour:

Skilled- involves complicated tasks that require a particular skill, education, training and experience in the particular field of work. For example Grace’s Gourmet Delights requires skilled bakers as baked goods require great skill and precision.

Semi-skilled- does not involve little expertises in an area of work however the worker has suitable knowledge of their job requirements. Grace’s Gourmet Delights uses semi-skilled labour for daily operational tasks that require basic social skills when dealing with customers. Unskilled- involves little or no training in a field of work. Grace’s Gourmet delights use unskilled labour to perform jobs that require no expertise but are still necessary to the running of the business.

Sources of fixed and working capital:

Fixed Capital- capital which is long lasting and does not change its form during the course of production.

Working Capital- capital which is changed during the course of production, such as raw materials.

Fixed Capital

Working Capital
Baking oven
Ingredients
(flour, sugar,milk e.t.c)
Cash register

Cash
Building

Baked goods
Refrigerators

Display cases

Quality control measures:

Grace’s Gourmet Delights is routinely visited by a health inspector, to ensure the kitchen and sales department are free of pest infestations, mould and other harmful elements.

Suggestion boxes are placed visible to customers, used to monitor and satisfy the requests or complaints of customers, to maintain continuous improvement of the business.

Use of technology:

Cash registers are used by Grace’s Gourmet Delights to save time by automatically completing tasks such as enhancing the speed of business transactions, recording daily sales, managing stock levels and storing cash safely during the work day, tasks that may take employees a significantly longer time.

Grace’s Gourmet Delights uses electric warmer cases are used to display as well as maintain a constant temperature of baked goods, to avoid reheating, which changes the texture of the pastries as flakiness may be lost.

Linkages:

Grace’s Gourmet Delights belonging to the tertiary sector creates a backward linkage as they are dependant on the National Flour Mills output in the secondary sector to produce its baked goods.

A benefit of this linkage is the elimination of dependency on imported goods, since local suppliers (flour industry) provides the raw materials for Grace’s Gourmet Delights.

Potential for growth:

Internally, Grace’s Gourmet Delights has potential for growth, through the introduction of a dine in breakfast menu, which will increase sales, as it expands the target audience of the business, thus increasing clientele.

Externally, growth is possible through the establishment of Grace’s Gourmet Delights branches in other business districts extending its reach to the various target groups within those specific areas.

Government regulations:

Grace’s Gourmet Delights must be approved for operation to begin, as the government requires any person, or business wishing to import, manufacture or sell food or drugs in Trinidad and Tobago to be inspected and approved by the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division (CFDD) of the Ministry of Health. This process ensures the quality, purity and safety of food and drugs imported or manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ethical Issues:

Grace’s Gourmet Delights recognizes the negative impact food additives can have on customers health, thus efforts are made when possible to serve the equally appetizing food by using fresher, healthier ingredients in attempts to minimize fat and additive content. Grace’s Gourmet Delights is a business that cares about its customers health and well being in spite of inconvenience it may cause the business.

Levels of production:

Domestic production uses local inputs of land, labour, capital and enterprise. Grace’s Gourmet Delight’s operates at a domestic level of production where ingredients are bought and baked goods sold locally with no import or export taking place.

Roles of the entrepreneur:

The entrepreneur of Grace’s Gourmet Delight’s is Jade Marie Silva. The role of the entrepreneur is to organise and co ordinate the other factors of production (land, labour, capital) by taking risks and making decisions, enabling production to be carried out in anticipation of demand.

Functions of the entrepreneur in the business:

Raises capital through family inheritance and personal savings.

Orders ingredients for baking goods and buys machinery for production of products e.g. ovens.

Hires managers who will then hire additional employees required e.g. bakers and cashiers.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my profound gratitude to my teacher Mrs.Boodoosingh, without whom this S.B.A would not have been would not have been appreciated fully. By her demonstration of pure intellect in principles of business, complimented by her well detailed and incredibly helpful notes, she has been a beacon of inspiration throughout my Principles of Business syllabus journey and for this I am eternally grateful. I would also like to thank the Almighty God for blessing me with an extraordinarily brilliant teacher and granting me the ability to fully take advantage of the knowledge she has shared with me.

Bibliography

Principles of Business for Caribbean examinations by Ivan Waterman and Dave Ramsingh

Essential Principles of Business for CXC by Allan Whitcomb and Sybile Hamil.

Principles of Business for CSEC Examinations by Ivan Waterman, Dave Ramsingh and Alvin Ramsaroop.

Aim

This School-based assessment (SBA) aims to provide valuable information in the event that I decide to establish my own business in the future; I would already have had reasonable experience in the field of planning the establishment of a business. This SBA will also broaden my horizons by allowing me to look beyond what I am taught in my classroom or from my textbook, giving me the opportunity to truly explore the real business world on a fist hand basis through my research while enhancing my research abilities as I collect and analyse data and deciding on the most suitable way to present it.

Conclusion

This School-based assessment has taught me that on some occasions despite of how knowledgeable I perceive myself to be, I do not know everything. Like every student doing this SBA I too found obstacles along the way that when presented, frustrated me incredibly. With perseverance and intricate attention to detail these challenges were overcome and allowed me to learn in a different way, through my own research. Linkages were an example of an area I did not particularly understand; however after adequate reading the topic became surprisingly simple. Throughout this SBA I have learnt and astounding amount of new business terms and understood thoroughly, my weaker topic areas. Completing this SBA has been a truly rewarding experience that has helped me not only as a business student but to realise as a person that I do not know everything. I can safely say I have accomplished my esteem needs according to Mallow’s Hierarchy of needs theory as I now feel a sense of self worth and accomplishment.