BUSINESS IDEAS Forum

4.0 Market Analysis Summary

Our target market includes people who are health conscious and/or have common food allergies. This is a niche market since most bakeries do not cater to these needs with the exception of high-fiber diets.

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4.1 Market Segmentation

Our target market consists of three groups:

The Allergy Group
According to Health Magazine, one out of five people suffer from a common food allergy, however many bakeries do not cater to their needs.

The Doctor Diet Group
For health reasons, many people are warned off certain foods by their doctors because of high cholesterol and blood pressure. Currently the main killer in the U.S. is heart disease according the American Heart Association. Many Americans aged 50+ are going on special diets to prevent heart disease.

The Diet Craze Group
According to Self Magazine, the year 2000 saw 20 new diet fads that discouraged certain foods such as wheat and dairy. The best selling book on the New York Time list for health was the "Blood Type Diet" which encourages readers to eat only non-gluten flours such as spelt, and to avoid dairy. While this target market is quite large, it is ever fluctuating since most people who diet yo-yo between different diets (Self Magazine September 2000).

Market Analysis (Pie)

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4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

In our target market, we will mainly focus on the "allergy group" since they are the most prevalent and steady of customers. We expect that the "doctor diet group" and the '"diet craze" group will make up a smaller portion of our customers. We have not listed "regular customers" as a target group since the customers who do not fit into any of our groups are too varied to segment. We are specifically filling the needs of the "allergy group" so we expect the most business from this group.

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4.3 Industry Analysis

Morningstar bakery competes in the Food Services Industry. In addition to competing with other organic and non-wheat bakeries, it competes with all restaurants, delis, bakeries and supermarkets for a share of its customers's food dollar. Morningstar is most concerned with competitors who differentiate their products and services with a healthy, organic focus. Because this group is so large, Morningstar has chosen to limit its analysis to other gluten-free bakeries.

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4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Currently there are two bakeries in town that provide non-wheat goods.

Great Harvest Bread Company

Strengths: Makes spelt bread, muffins and cookies every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Well-established bakery in town. Sells breads in local grocery stores.

Weaknesses: Does not provide a wide selection of non-wheat goods. Furthermore the texture and flavor of their spelt goods is very dense and flavorless. They use whole spelt bread which makes a denser, crumby consistency bread. We use white spelt in our spelt breads and other goods which has a texture and flavor similar to wheat.

The Sweet Life Patisserie

Strengths: Makes spelt bread, muffins and brownies every day. Will make custom-ordered non-gluten cakes.

Weaknesses: Does not produce a wide selection or large quantity of non-wheat goods. Their main focus is wheat goods.

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