Phase 4: System Configuration
- How many Clients would you recommend Milk Bar configure? Justify your answer.
- How many Company Codes would you recommend Milk Bar configure? Justify your answer.
- How many Sales Organisations would you recommend Milk Bar configure? Justify your answer.
- How many Distribution Channels would you recommend Milk Bar configure? Justify your answer.
The "mad scientist" behind Milk Bar You may have eaten one of her famous Compost Cookies or seen her as a judge on MasterChef. Christina Tosi is the founder of Milk Bar, a company that makes and sells delicious baked goods with unorthodox names like Crack Pie, Confetti Cookie and Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie. These are not your average baked treats, and like her desserts, Tosi's success is far from average. Milk Bar started out in a small store in the East Village in New York City in 2008. From a humble beginning, Milk Bar now sells three million cookies annually and has 18 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Tosi's journey provides a blueprint for success. Menu development at Milk Bar is fueled by nostalgia, whimsy and the discipline of authenticity. My philosophy on food is that good food is simple but has an individuality to it." A big part of her success has been taking risks with her menu items. From using names no one has heard of to formulations no one has thought of, she doesn't play it safe. The company comes across as a model of high precision and entrepreneurial gusto. Tosi cautiously selected the 381 employees hired to date as Milk Bar products' quality is paramount. Don't hire anyone immediately and do put new hires on a probation period. You want to make sure they are trustworthy and have the capability to learn. Carefully delegate how you want your business to run and how you want your food cooked and baked. Set the bar really high," she says. Tosi also makes the point to regularly sample every type of cookie and batch of soft-serve when she walks into any of her stores, noting in an instant if the batter was overmixed or if the soft-serve temperature is off. Earnest test-kitchen bakers present her version after version of new products, each gram of salt, fat or flavouring precisely calibrated. Top versions of these potential new products are then documented for further refinements and approved by Tosi before being distributed to all Milk Bar stores. Tosi is strategic in growing Milk Bar's brick-and-mortar presence in markets. "We know what are meaningful to us," she said. Recently, the company revamped its e-commerce site, which Tosi refers to as "our care package business." "Eighty per cent of our care package business comes from states where we don't even have stores. Our community is much larger than the stores. On many levels, we are thinking about how do we want to reach our people and how do people want to be reached, all while maintaining familiar yet unexpected, and premium but accessible," Tosi said. Tosi is far from stopping. Milk Bar products landed on the shelves of Whole Foods this month and will debut on Amazon at the beginning of next month. We've been working towards bringing our vision to grocery stores for quite a while. Grocery stores have always been my north starit's why I started baking the way I do. The American cookie aisle is relatively stagnant, and that's what we're coming out for, said Tosi. Milk Bar expansion comes with several challenges, such as managing Milk Bar's burgeoning network of distributors and suppliers. To help address these challenges and support the company's e-commerce and expansion efforts, Milk Bar plans to implement a new SAP ERP system to replace a number of disparate unscalable systems that the company currently operates. The company believes that a tighter integration between the functions of their business would benefit their current operations and allow for sustainable future growth. The "mad scientist" behind Milk Bar You may have eaten one of her famous Compost Cookies or seen her as a judge on MasterChef. Christina Tosi is the founder of Milk Bar, a company that makes and sells delicious baked goods with unorthodox names like Crack Pie, Confetti Cookie and Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie. These are not your average baked treats, and like her desserts, Tosi's success is far from average. Milk Bar started out in a small store in the East Village in New York City in 2008. From a humble beginning, Milk Bar now sells three million cookies annually and has 18 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Tosi's journey provides a blueprint for success. Menu development at Milk Bar is fueled by nostalgia, whimsy and the discipline of authenticity. My philosophy on food is that good food is simple but has an individuality to it." A big part of her success has been taking risks with her menu items. From using names no one has heard of to formulations no one has thought of, she doesn't play it safe. The company comes across as a model of high precision and entrepreneurial gusto. Tosi cautiously selected the 381 employees hired to date as Milk Bar products' quality is paramount. Don't hire anyone immediately and do put new hires on a probation period. You want to make sure they are trustworthy and have the capability to learn. Carefully delegate how you want your business to run and how you want your food cooked and baked. Set the bar really high," she says. Tosi also makes the point to regularly sample every type of cookie and batch of soft-serve when she walks into any of her stores, noting in an instant if the batter was overmixed or if the soft-serve temperature is off. Earnest test-kitchen bakers present her version after version of new products, each gram of salt, fat or flavouring precisely calibrated. Top versions of these potential new products are then documented for further refinements and approved by Tosi before being distributed to all Milk Bar stores. Tosi is strategic in growing Milk Bar's brick-and-mortar presence in markets. "We know what are meaningful to us," she said. Recently, the company revamped its e-commerce site, which Tosi refers to as "our care package business." "Eighty per cent of our care package business comes from states where we don't even have stores. Our community is much larger than the stores. On many levels, we are thinking about how do we want to reach our people and how do people want to be reached, all while maintaining familiar yet unexpected, and premium but accessible," Tosi said. Tosi is far from stopping. Milk Bar products landed on the shelves of Whole Foods this month and will debut on Amazon at the beginning of next month. We've been working towards bringing our vision to grocery stores for quite a while. Grocery stores have always been my north starit's why I started baking the way I do. The American cookie aisle is relatively stagnant, and that's what we're coming out for, said Tosi. Milk Bar expansion comes with several challenges, such as managing Milk Bar's burgeoning network of distributors and suppliers. To help address these challenges and support the company's e-commerce and expansion efforts, Milk Bar plans to implement a new SAP ERP system to replace a number of disparate unscalable systems that the company currently operates. The company believes that a tighter integration between the functions of their business would benefit their current operations and allow for sustainable future growth
