1. Identify key operational issues in the given case. How do these issues affect each other? Identify various steps and processes for making a cake through your own research.

Three years ago, Priya decided to pursue a profession that combined her passion for baking and her unique artistic ability. She opened a cake shop in the heart of her city. She focused on using the best and latest technology in the field of baking and confectionery.
Soon, her talent and her dedication to providing quality products made her shop, Priya’s Cakes, one of the most popular local cake shops. In the first two years of operations, she focused primarily on make-to-stock standard cake orders. She also supplied her friends and family with uniquely designed cakes on special occasions such as baby showers, wedding ceremonies, anniversaries, and birthdays. This triggered positive word-of-mouth advertising for her business, resulting in frequent requests for custom cakes. In the third year, she finally introduced make-to-order custom cakes as a formal product offering.
Since then, her business has grown substantially, and revenue from custom cakes now makes half of her total revenue. But introducing custom cakes has also brought numerous unanticipated challenges for her business. She pondered over how to deal with these 28challenges, intending to take the necessary actions immediately in order to be ready for an upcoming busy wedding season. The following are some of the major issues she wanted to discuss with her business consultant in the next meeting.Business Strategy: From the beginning, she had aimed to provide quality products by ensuring that there would be superior ingredients, expert chefs, and the latest equipment. Twelve varieties of cakes were offered each day: eight standard flavors and four flavors that changed on a daily basis. All of these cakes were prepared by focusing on make-to- stock arrangements, with minor decorations and a message or name added at the time of purchase. Most of the orders were walk-in purchases. The orders for sugar-free, gluten- free, and eggless cakes were pre-booked and delivered in limited flavors. High-product quality, good variety, competitive pricing, short lead time, and nice hospitality soon made Priya’s Cakes a preferred “cakery” among the locals.As this business segment appealed to her creative and artistic abilities and had higher profit margins, she started offering make-to-order custom cakes too. She viewed this as an opportunity to create and deliver a delicious centerpiece that everyone would rave about. This required her thorough involvement with the customers to finalize various cake features, such as seasonal ingredients, tailored pictures, new flavor combinations, types of cream, the choice of available tier shapes (round, square, hexagonal, oval, and heart-shaped), decorations, and fruit toppings. All tailored cakes were baked freshly against order.