PLENITUDE INC. Plenitude Inc. (Plenitude) is a national food-processing company that specializes in the creation of healthy and easy-to-prepare frozen meal kits that are sold in major grocery stores across the country. Plenitude has production locations in six provinces, and works with local farmers and meat-processing plants to source the ingredients for its meal kits. The ingredients are then flash-frozen and packaged at one of the companys locations, and then shipped to the grocery stores. Plenitudes success has been attributed to its early recognition of the emerging trend toward healthy eating. Kenny Parton grew up on a farm in southern Ontario and spent years working at a local grocery store during his teenage years and early 20s. In 2013, he partnered with a friend, Jenny Morrison, a licensed nutritionist, and started preparing their first meal kits in Jennys kitchen. Kenny is the controlling shareholder. Plenitude prides itself on hiring knowledgeable staff who have a love of good, healthy, nutritious food that tastes amazing. The companys reputation for superior taste, quality, and variety has resulted in its brand being well recognized in the grocery stores. The fact that Plenitude partners with local farmers and meat-processing plants is a key differentiator in the market, as it ensures that at least 70% of all products are locally sourced. In addition, some of Plenitudes key suppliers are focusing more on environmentally safe and organic farming techniques, which Plenitude hopes to capitalize on in its branding. Kenny estimates that about 20% of all ingredients are certified organic, and hed like to see that increase to 30% in the next three years. In response to the growing demand for fresh ready-to-make meal kits, in 2020, Plenitude invested in an expansion of its main processing centre in Ontario. Kenny felt the expansion was necessary to maintain market share in the highly competitive food industry. Plenitude introduced a new product in 2020, called We-Make, U-Bake. This product is Plenitudes response to competing with the popular home-delivered fresh ingredient meal kits. Instead of frozen meal kits, the product is a fresh-ingredient meal kit, and instead of being delivered, the kits are available in major grocery stores in the Toronto area. Kenny believes this program has been very successful, as the company saw a significant increase in its revenues. Even though Plenitudes prices are about 5% higher than other fresh-ingredient meal kits, its customers are willing to pay a premium for locally produced, organic foods. Plenitude tries to keep its prices for most products stable throughout the year. Based on industry information, the organic food market grew by 5% in 2022, and is expected to grow by 7% in 2023 and 2024. In 2021, Plenitude sold off a building and land to a property development company for $3.0 million. Due to the pandemic, Kenny invested the excess cash in low-risk government securities until the national economy recovered and pandemic restrictions were eased. It is now late 2022, and Plenitude is considering a number of new opportunities. In addition, Kenny would like to implement a performance measurement system, but is not sure how to proceed. Finally, Kenny is interested in starting to collect 5 data on Plenitudes customers, and has been approached by a local company to help them. He would like you to assess the proposed contract and help him identify any risks or concerns associated with it, and with data collection in general.

Case Description This case is about a national food-processing company that specialized in the creation of healthy, easy-to-prepare frozen and fresh meal kits. The owner is considering some new opportunities for expansion and to improve its supply chain for fresh ingredients. In addition, the owner is seeking advice on a better method to award bonuses to the company's employees, and has asked for advice on a proposal from a data-collection company. The owner has engaged a management consulting company, Hatch \& Keith (H\&K) Consulting, to provide advice. You, a third-year Co-op student, have been asked to assist on the report. Roles and Responsibilities You, Co-op student, are working with a management consulting firm who has just been engaged by Plenitude to assist the owner in determining the best options for the company, and to provide advice on performance measurement and data collection. Your supervisor has asked you to submit the report to them for review before it is forwarded to Plenitude. Format Your answers should be in the form of a short business report. You are not expected to provide an executive summary or table of contents. You are expected to incorporate the results of your analysis into the report. The report should be no longer than five (5) pages in length (excluding the cover page), with up to four pages of appendices. Use your appendices to show your calculations to support your recommendations. A cover page with the course name and date, student name and number must accompany the report. This does not count as part of your report page limit. The report should be written in Word, and appendices completed in Excel. Do not copy your Excel appendices into Word; two files should be submitted. You are only permitted to ask clarifying questions on the assignment (i.e., if there are specific instructions that you do not understand). I will not answer questions such as "Can you tell me if I am on the right track", or "Does this look right so far?". As this assignment is in lieu of a final exam, I am treating it as such, and therefore, will only answer the same type of questions I would answer in an exam setting. This is an individual report; any obvious commonalities or plagiarism will result in a failing grade and an automatic report to the Registrar's office. Guidelines to Completing the Report You may use the following as a guide to complete the report. Introductory paragraph In this paragraph, you should outline the current situation with Plenitude, and also outline the types of analyses that you plan to perform to analyze the alternatives presented. Analysis This is the bulk of the report. The analysis should be separated into the following major sections. a) Analysis of the proposed delivery service. This analysis should be conducted from a qualitative and quantitative aspect. You should identify two pros and two cons of the proposal. Then you should provide a summary of the results of your analysis (see "Quantitative analysis guidelines" below). You will need to determine if Plentitude should move forward with the service. b) Analysis of the proposed supply contracts. This analysis should be conducted from a qualitative and quantitative aspect. You should identify two pros and two cons of each proposal. Then you should provide a summary of the results of your analysis (see "Quantitative analysis guidelines" below). You will need to determine if Plentitude should move forward with one, both, or none of the proposed contracts. c) Creation of a balanced scorecard. Plenitude is seeking a fairer method to compensate its employees, and is interested in a balanced scorecard. You should provide a preliminary draft of a balanced scorecard, with reasonable targets and goals. Consider the background facts that you have been provided in the report, and whether they should be incorporated into the scorecard. d) Analysis of data collection contract. Plenitude has received a proposal from a third-party to collect data on its behalf. You should analyze this contract from a qualitative perspective, outlining at least three pros (benefits) and three cons (challenges or risks) of the proposed contract. You should also provide a recommendation of whether Plenitude should proceed with this contract or not. Quantitative analysis guidelines. You will complete the calculations in Excel, and discuss the results in the report. For each of the alternatives that require a quantitative analysis, in the report you should: i) Briefly summarize the alternative ii) Provide a review of the results of your analysis. Please do not explain how you completed the analysis (i.e. do not tell me you multiplied X by Y, and then subtracted 5, and divided by 7). A review of the analysis means that you should describe the overall approach that you used and why it is appropriate (for example, you are going to perform an NPV analysis - briefly explain what it is and why it is an appropriate tool to use). Then explain the results of your analysis (for example, based on my analysis, the NPV of the purchase of the equipment is $X, meaning that overall, the alternative is profitable/unprofitable). Recommendations and Conclusions In this section, you are going to provide 1) a recommended course of action for the delivery service and the supply contracts that aligns with your quantitative results AND incorporates some of the qualitative factors that you identified. Your recommendations should be convincing to Kenny that it is the right course of action, and how it will benefit Plenitude for the future. 2) A preliminary scorecard of measures for the company. 3) A recommendation of whether to proceed with the data collection contract. This section should provide closure to the report. No external research is required. Use only the facts presented in the case. Hints to Prepare the Project Ensure that you read carefully through the project before you start your analysis. When you read through the project, make notes and highlight certain case facts that you believe will be important to incorporate as part of your qualitative analysis. Think about how you want to structure your report. Your appendices should have clear titles, and the analysis should be easy to follow. Remember, this report is going to a person who is not an accountant, so your communication should be tailored to this audience (i.e., not a lot of technical jargon). PLENITUDE INC. Plenitude Inc. (Plenitude) is a national food-processing company that specializes in the creation of healthy and easy-to-prepare frozen meal kits that are sold in major grocery stores across the country. Plenitude has production locations in six provinces, and works with local farmers and meat-processing plants to source the ingredients for its meal kits. The ingredients are then flash-frozen and packaged at one of the company's locations, and then shipped to the grocery stores. Plenitude's success has been attributed to its early recognition of the emerging trend toward healthy eating. Kenny Parton grew up on a farm in southern Ontario and spent years working at a local grocery store during his teenage years and early 20 s. In 2013, he partnered with a friend, Jenny Morrison, a licensed nutritionist, and started preparing their first meal kits in Jenny's kitchen. Kenny is the controlling shareholder. Plenitude prides itself on hiring knowledgeable staff who have a love of good, healthy, nutritious food that tastes amazing. The company's reputation for superior taste, quality, and variety has resulted in its brand being well recognized in the grocery stores. The fact that Plenitude partners with local farmers and meat-processing plants is a key differentiator in the market, as it ensures that at least 70% of all products are locally sourced. In addition, some of Plenitude's key suppliers are focusing more on environmentally safe and organic farming techniques, which Plenitude hopes to capitalize on in its branding. Kenny estimates that about 20% of all ingredients are certified organic, and he'd like to see that increase to 30% in the next three years. In response to the growing demand for fresh ready-to-make meal kits, in 2020 , Plenitude invested in an expansion of its main processing centre in Ontario. Kenny felt the expansion was necessary to maintain market share in the highly competitive food industry. Plenitude introduced a new product in 2020 , called "We-Make, U-Bake". This product is Plenitude's response to competing with the popular home-delivered freshingredient meal kits. Instead of frozen meal kits, the product is a fresh-ingredient meal kit, and instead of being delivered, the kits are available in major grocery stores in the Toronto area. Kenny believes this program has been very successful, as the company saw a significant increase in its revenues. Even though Plenitude's prices are about 5% higher than other fresh-ingredient meal kits, its customers are willing to pay a premium for locally produced, organic foods. Plenitude tries to keep its prices for most products stable throughout the year. Based on industry information, the organic food market grew by 5% in 2022, and is expected to grow by 7% in 2023 and 2024. In 2021, Plenitude sold off a building and land to a property development company for $3.0 million. Due to the pandemic, Kenny invested the excess cash in low-risk government securities until the national economy recovered and pandemic restrictions were eased. It is now late 2022, and Plenitude is considering a number of new opportunities. In addition, Kenny would like to implement a performance measurement system, but is not sure how to proceed. Finally, Kenny is interested in starting to collect data on Plenitude's customers, and has been approached by a local company to help them. He would like you to assess the proposed contract and help him identify any risks or concerns associated with it, and with data collection in general. New Delivery Service Plenitude wants to enter into the home delivery business for its "We-Make, U-Bake" product, using its own vehicles and staff. Kenny had his controller provide an estimate of the delivery service's costs and revenues. Kenny would like a quantitative and qualitative analysis of this option, and a recommendation of whether Plenitude should proceed. This project has a five-year life, and Kenny wants it to generate an 8% rate of return. Plenitude's tax rate is 26%. Quantitative information Upfront costs: - Delivery vehicles with temperature-controlled storage: $800,000 - Additional upfront costs: $400,000 - Working capital investment: $100,000 At the end of the project, the vehicles can be sold for $50,000. Plenitude uses straightline depreciation for its vehicles. Additional quantitative information: - Average food selling price per delivery: $35 - Average delivery fee charged to customer: 20% of the food selling price - Average deliveries per year: 52,000 in the first year, increasing by 4,000 per year in each subsequent year. - Cost of food: 50% of the food's selling price - Annual labour costs: $450,000 - Annual website maintenance costs: $80,000 - Annual vehicle operating and maintenance costs: $100,000 - Marketing costs: $150,000 in the first year, and $70,000 in each subsequent year Qualitative information - The home-delivered fresh-ingredient meal delivery market is highly competitive, with signature brands such as Hello Fresh, Chef's Plate, and Goodfood dominating this sector. However, Plenitude plans to leverage its own brand recognition from local grocery stores to build rapid market share. - Plenitude plans to target two major age demographics, those aged 35-60 years old, and seniors (age 60+ ), as they are more likely to cook their meals at home than other age demographics. However, seniors, on average, spend only about 5% of their food budget on ready-to-make foods, whereas the 35-60 year old population spends up to 10% of their food budget on ready-to-make meals. International Suppliers Kenny has recently been approached to consider expansion of its supplier base, as Canadian farmers are subjected to a shorter growing season than farmers in more temperate climates. At times, Plenitude finds itself having to source food from the US, Mexico, and South America in order to keep up with demand for fresh produce in its fresh-ingredient meal kits. There is less of a supply issue with the frozen meals, as they can be stored for longer periods. However, with the Covid pandemic, Plenitude encountered some significant supply issues, and Kenny wants to diversify the company's supply of certain ingredients that are critical to many of its meals offerings. Two proposals have been submitted to Plenitude, and Kenny would like you to evaluate each one qualitatively and quantitatively, with a final recommendation of whether to proceed with one, both, or neither. Florida Tom-Toms Florida Tom-Toms is located in southern Florida and is a national producer of a wide variety of tomatoes and other hothouse produce. The company has proposed that it will provide Plenitude with an exclusive supply of tomatoes for an initial period of five years. Included in the proposal are the following data: - In the first year, Florida Tom-Toms would supply 450,000 pounds of tomatoes for $1 US per pound. After the first year, volume would increase by 8% annually for the first five years, and the price should increase by 5% each year. - The average cost per pound of tomatoes for Plenitude from local farmers is $1.65 for organically produced tomatoes. - Shipping costs will add $0.10 per pound, and it is expected that import fees will add an additional $0.15 per pound. Due to rising inflationary costs, it is expected that these costs will rise by 8% in 2024 but stabilize after that. - Due to recent state legislation, Florida produce farmers are enjoying relaxed regulations regarding the types of fertilizers and growing practices, as the state legislators are passing laws to increase economic production of its farming industry. Peruvian Berries Peruvian Berries is a blueberry and raspberry provider from South America. Peruvian Berries can be found in many Canadian grocery stores, and their products are known to be of good quality. Peruvian Berries offers both "regular" and "organic" varieties of its berries. Plenitude is familiar with Peruvian Berries as it has contracted with this company before during a particularly harsh winter when it was difficult to find a Canadian supplier. Peruvian Berries has proposed the following terms: - In the first year, Peruvian Berries would provide 400,000 pounds of blueberries and raspberries, increasing by 5% annually over a 5-year term. The price would be set at $1.25 per pound for regular berries, or $1.35 per pound for organic berries. The prices are in Canadian dollars. - The average price of blueberries and raspberries from Canadian farmers is $1.45 per pound for regular berries and $1.60 per pound for organic berries. However, this price rises to $1.80 and $2.00, respectively, during the winter months. - As labour costs are cheaper in South America, transportation costs are expected to be comparable to US rates, at $0.10 per pound. Import fess will be a bit higher, at $0.20 per pound. Due to rising inflationary costs, it is expected that these costs will rise by 8% in 2024 but stabilize after that. - Peruvian Berries has offered to include a "produced in Canada" sticker on its packaging for Plenitude. - Peruvian Berries is prepared to guarantee its prices for the five-year term. Performance Measurement Kenny has been considering a different method to measure performance and is interested in a balanced scorecard. Traditionally, all of Plenitude's employees have been assessed on the overall financial performance of the company, but lately, many employees have been upset about being assessed against a measure over which they have little to no control. One of the anonymous complaints that Kenny personally received was as follows: "I don't understand how you can say that we get a smaller bonus because of the pandemic. We didn't do anything to cause the pandemic, and we sure can't control it! When all the lockdowns and restrictions hit, we went into overdrive to make sure everything was sanitized, that people were abiding by the rules, and nobody complained about all the extra work that we had to do. And yet, you say we get a smaller bonus? That's totally unfair, and frankly, your reward program sucks." He understands that there are four perspectives but is unsure what measures should be used. He would like you to provide at least two potential measures for each perspective, and a proposed target for each. Data Collection Proposal Plenitude received a proposal from Cirrus Clouds, a local cloud-computing company. Plenitude's customer information would be stored in the cloud by Cirrus. The information would be accessible through a browser from anywhere there is an internet connection. The information could be downloaded at any time and printed. Cirrus incorporated last year and has since grown in popularity. It now stores data for hundreds of companies, mainly in the health industry. Due to its quick growth, Cirrus has outsourced some of its data storage to a third party located close to Cirrus' head office location. The goal is to eventually increase the storage capacity at Cirrus and then eliminate the outsourcing arrangement. To keep up with the higher volume, Cirrus has recently hired new employees with varying levels of experience in cloud computing. In order to provide timely service, all employees have access to every client's data. Cirrus collects everything that is input on an entry screen in its data collection process. The rationale for this is that only the client knows what data it may need, and Cirrus is simply there to provide the pathway between the client and the data in the cloud. Cirrus performs regular maintenance on its services by shutting down for a few hours whenever it is needed. Case Description This case is about a national food-processing company that specialized in the creation of healthy, easy-to-prepare frozen and fresh meal kits. The owner is considering some new opportunities for expansion and to improve its supply chain for fresh ingredients. In addition, the owner is seeking advice on a better method to award bonuses to the company's employees, and has asked for advice on a proposal from a data-collection company. The owner has engaged a management consulting company, Hatch \& Keith (H\&K) Consulting, to provide advice. You, a third-year Co-op student, have been asked to assist on the report. Roles and Responsibilities You, Co-op student, are working with a management consulting firm who has just been engaged by Plenitude to assist the owner in determining the best options for the company, and to provide advice on performance measurement and data collection. Your supervisor has asked you to submit the report to them for review before it is forwarded to Plenitude. Format Your answers should be in the form of a short business report. You are not expected to provide an executive summary or table of contents. You are expected to incorporate the results of your analysis into the report. The report should be no longer than five (5) pages in length (excluding the cover page), with up to four pages of appendices. Use your appendices to show your calculations to support your recommendations. A cover page with the course name and date, student name and number must accompany the report. This does not count as part of your report page limit. The report should be written in Word, and appendices completed in Excel. Do not copy your Excel appendices into Word; two files should be submitted. You are only permitted to ask clarifying questions on the assignment (i.e., if there are specific instructions that you do not understand). I will not answer questions such as "Can you tell me if I am on the right track", or "Does this look right so far?". As this assignment is in lieu of a final exam, I am treating it as such, and therefore, will only answer the same type of questions I would answer in an exam setting. This is an individual report; any obvious commonalities or plagiarism will result in a failing grade and an automatic report to the Registrar's office. Guidelines to Completing the Report You may use the following as a guide to complete the report. Introductory paragraph In this paragraph, you should outline the current situation with Plenitude, and also outline the types of analyses that you plan to perform to analyze the alternatives presented. Analysis This is the bulk of the report. The analysis should be separated into the following major sections. a) Analysis of the proposed delivery service. This analysis should be conducted from a qualitative and quantitative aspect. You should identify two pros and two cons of the proposal. Then you should provide a summary of the results of your analysis (see "Quantitative analysis guidelines" below). You will need to determine if Plentitude should move forward with the service. b) Analysis of the proposed supply contracts. This analysis should be conducted from a qualitative and quantitative aspect. You should identify two pros and two cons of each proposal. Then you should provide a summary of the results of your analysis (see "Quantitative analysis guidelines" below). You will need to determine if Plentitude should move forward with one, both, or none of the proposed contracts. c) Creation of a balanced scorecard. Plenitude is seeking a fairer method to compensate its employees, and is interested in a balanced scorecard. You should provide a preliminary draft of a balanced scorecard, with reasonable targets and goals. Consider the background facts that you have been provided in the report, and whether they should be incorporated into the scorecard. d) Analysis of data collection contract. Plenitude has received a proposal from a third-party to collect data on its behalf. You should analyze this contract from a qualitative perspective, outlining at least three pros (benefits) and three cons (challenges or risks) of the proposed contract. You should also provide a recommendation of whether Plenitude should proceed with this contract or not. Quantitative analysis guidelines. You will complete the calculations in Excel, and discuss the results in the report. For each of the alternatives that require a quantitative analysis, in the report you should: i) Briefly summarize the alternative ii) Provide a review of the results of your analysis. Please do not explain how you completed the analysis (i.e. do not tell me you multiplied X by Y, and then subtracted 5, and divided by 7). A review of the analysis means that you should describe the overall approach that you used and why it is appropriate (for example, you are going to perform an NPV analysis - briefly explain what it is and why it is an appropriate tool to use). Then explain the results of your analysis (for example, based on my analysis, the NPV of the purchase of the equipment is $X, meaning that overall, the alternative is profitable/unprofitable). Recommendations and Conclusions In this section, you are going to provide 1) a recommended course of action for the delivery service and the supply contracts that aligns with your quantitative results AND incorporates some of the qualitative factors that you identified. Your recommendations should be convincing to Kenny that it is the right course of action, and how it will benefit Plenitude for the future. 2) A preliminary scorecard of measures for the company. 3) A recommendation of whether to proceed with the data collection contract. This section should provide closure to the report. No external research is required. Use only the facts presented in the case. Hints to Prepare the Project Ensure that you read carefully through the project before you start your analysis. When you read through the project, make notes and highlight certain case facts that you believe will be important to incorporate as part of your qualitative analysis. Think about how you want to structure your report. Your appendices should have clear titles, and the analysis should be easy to follow. Remember, this report is going to a person who is not an accountant, so your communication should be tailored to this audience (i.e., not a lot of technical jargon). PLENITUDE INC. Plenitude Inc. (Plenitude) is a national food-processing company that specializes in the creation of healthy and easy-to-prepare frozen meal kits that are sold in major grocery stores across the country. Plenitude has production locations in six provinces, and works with local farmers and meat-processing plants to source the ingredients for its meal kits. The ingredients are then flash-frozen and packaged at one of the company's locations, and then shipped to the grocery stores. Plenitude's success has been attributed to its early recognition of the emerging trend toward healthy eating. Kenny Parton grew up on a farm in southern Ontario and spent years working at a local grocery store during his teenage years and early 20 s. In 2013, he partnered with a friend, Jenny Morrison, a licensed nutritionist, and started preparing their first meal kits in Jenny's kitchen. Kenny is the controlling shareholder. Plenitude prides itself on hiring knowledgeable staff who have a love of good, healthy, nutritious food that tastes amazing. The company's reputation for superior taste, quality, and variety has resulted in its brand being well recognized in the grocery stores. The fact that Plenitude partners with local farmers and meat-processing plants is a key differentiator in the market, as it ensures that at least 70% of all products are locally sourced. In addition, some of Plenitude's key suppliers are focusing more on environmentally safe and organic farming techniques, which Plenitude hopes to capitalize on in its branding. Kenny estimates that about 20% of all ingredients are certified organic, and he'd like to see that increase to 30% in the next three years. In response to the growing demand for fresh ready-to-make meal kits, in 2020 , Plenitude invested in an expansion of its main processing centre in Ontario. Kenny felt the expansion was necessary to maintain market share in the highly competitive food industry. Plenitude introduced a new product in 2020 , called "We-Make, U-Bake". This product is Plenitude's response to competing with the popular home-delivered freshingredient meal kits. Instead of frozen meal kits, the product is a fresh-ingredient meal kit, and instead of being delivered, the kits are available in major grocery stores in the Toronto area. Kenny believes this program has been very successful, as the company saw a significant increase in its revenues. Even though Plenitude's prices are about 5% higher than other fresh-ingredient meal kits, its customers are willing to pay a premium for locally produced, organic foods. Plenitude tries to keep its prices for most products stable throughout the year. Based on industry information, the organic food market grew by 5% in 2022, and is expected to grow by 7% in 2023 and 2024. In 2021, Plenitude sold off a building and land to a property development company for $3.0 million. Due to the pandemic, Kenny invested the excess cash in low-risk government securities until the national economy recovered and pandemic restrictions were eased. It is now late 2022, and Plenitude is considering a number of new opportunities. In addition, Kenny would like to implement a performance measurement system, but is not sure how to proceed. Finally, Kenny is interested in starting to collect data on Plenitude's customers, and has been approached by a local company to help them. He would like you to assess the proposed contract and help him identify any risks or concerns associated with it, and with data collection in general. New Delivery Service Plenitude wants to enter into the home delivery business for its "We-Make, U-Bake" product, using its own vehicles and staff. Kenny had his controller provide an estimate of the delivery service's costs and revenues. Kenny would like a quantitative and qualitative analysis of this option, and a recommendation of whether Plenitude should proceed. This project has a five-year life, and Kenny wants it to generate an 8% rate of return. Plenitude's tax rate is 26%. Quantitative information Upfront costs: - Delivery vehicles with temperature-controlled storage: $800,000 - Additional upfront costs: $400,000 - Working capital investment: $100,000 At the end of the project, the vehicles can be sold for $50,000. Plenitude uses straightline depreciation for its vehicles. Additional quantitative information: - Average food selling price per delivery: $35 - Average delivery fee charged to customer: 20% of the food selling price - Average deliveries per year: 52,000 in the first year, increasing by 4,000 per year in each subsequent year. - Cost of food: 50% of the food's selling price - Annual labour costs: $450,000 - Annual website maintenance costs: $80,000 - Annual vehicle operating and maintenance costs: $100,000 - Marketing costs: $150,000 in the first year, and $70,000 in each subsequent year Qualitative information - The home-delivered fresh-ingredient meal delivery market is highly competitive, with signature brands such as Hello Fresh, Chef's Plate, and Goodfood dominating this sector. However, Plenitude plans to leverage its own brand recognition from local grocery stores to build rapid market share. - Plenitude plans to target two major age demographics, those aged 35-60 years old, and seniors (age 60+ ), as they are more likely to cook their meals at home than other age demographics. However, seniors, on average, spend only about 5% of their food budget on ready-to-make foods, whereas the 35-60 year old population spends up to 10% of their food budget on ready-to-make meals. International Suppliers Kenny has recently been approached to consider expansion of its supplier base, as Canadian farmers are subjected to a shorter growing season than farmers in more temperate climates. At times, Plenitude finds itself having to source food from the US, Mexico, and South America in order to keep up with demand for fresh produce in its fresh-ingredient meal kits. There is less of a supply issue with the frozen meals, as they can be stored for longer periods. However, with the Covid pandemic, Plenitude encountered some significant supply issues, and Kenny wants to diversify the company's supply of certain ingredients that are critical to many of its meals offerings. Two proposals have been submitted to Plenitude, and Kenny would like you to evaluate each one qualitatively and quantitatively, with a final recommendation of whether to proceed with one, both, or neither. Florida Tom-Toms Florida Tom-Toms is located in southern Florida and is a national producer of a wide variety of tomatoes and other hothouse produce. The company has proposed that it will provide Plenitude with an exclusive supply of tomatoes for an initial period of five years. Included in the proposal are the following data: - In the first year, Florida Tom-Toms would supply 450,000 pounds of tomatoes for $1 US per pound. After the first year, volume would increase by 8% annually for the first five years, and the price should increase by 5% each year. - The average cost per pound of tomatoes for Plenitude from local farmers is $1.65 for organically produced tomatoes. - Shipping costs will add $0.10 per pound, and it is expected that import fees will add an additional $0.15 per pound. Due to rising inflationary costs, it is expected that these costs will rise by 8% in 2024 but stabilize after that. - Due to recent state legislation, Florida produce farmers are enjoying relaxed regulations regarding the types of fertilizers and growing practices, as the state legislators are passing laws to increase economic production of its farming industry. Peruvian Berries Peruvian Berries is a blueberry and raspberry provider from South America. Peruvian Berries can be found in many Canadian grocery stores, and their products are known to be of good quality. Peruvian Berries offers both "regular" and "organic" varieties of its berries. Plenitude is familiar with Peruvian Berries as it has contracted with this company before during a particularly harsh winter when it was difficult to find a Canadian supplier. Peruvian Berries has proposed the following terms: - In the first year, Peruvian Berries would provide 400,000 pounds of blueberries and raspberries, increasing by 5% annually over a 5-year term. The price would be set at $1.25 per pound for regular berries, or $1.35 per pound for organic berries. The prices are in Canadian dollars. - The average price of blueberries and raspberries from Canadian farmers is $1.45 per pound for regular berries and $1.60 per pound for organic berries. However, this price rises to $1.80 and $2.00, respectively, during the winter months. - As labour costs are cheaper in South America, transportation costs are expected to be comparable to US rates, at $0.10 per pound. Import fess will be a bit higher, at $0.20 per pound. Due to rising inflationary costs, it is expected that these costs will rise by 8% in 2024 but stabilize after that. - Peruvian Berries has offered to include a "produced in Canada" sticker on its packaging for Plenitude. - Peruvian Berries is prepared to guarantee its prices for the five-year term. Performance Measurement Kenny has been considering a different method to measure performance and is interested in a balanced scorecard. Traditionally, all of Plenitude's employees have been assessed on the overall financial performance of the company, but lately, many employees have been upset about being assessed against a measure over which they have little to no control. One of the anonymous complaints that Kenny personally received was as follows: "I don't understand how you can say that we get a smaller bonus because of the pandemic. We didn't do anything to cause the pandemic, and we sure can't control it! When all the lockdowns and restrictions hit, we went into overdrive to make sure everything was sanitized, that people were abiding by the rules, and nobody complained about all the extra work that we had to do. And yet, you say we get a smaller bonus? That's totally unfair, and frankly, your reward program sucks." He understands that there are four perspectives but is unsure what measures should be used. He would like you to provide at least two potential measures for each perspective, and a proposed target for each. Data Collection Proposal Plenitude received a proposal from Cirrus Clouds, a local cloud-computing company. Plenitude's customer information would be stored in the cloud by Cirrus. The information would be accessible through a browser from anywhere there is an internet connection. The information could be downloaded at any time and printed. Cirrus incorporated last year and has since grown in popularity. It now stores data for hundreds of companies, mainly in the health industry. Due to its quick growth, Cirrus has outsourced some of its data storage to a third party located close to Cirrus' head office location. The goal is to eventually increase the storage capacity at Cirrus and then eliminate the outsourcing arrangement. To keep up with the higher volume, Cirrus has recently hired new employees with varying levels of experience in cloud computing. In order to provide timely service, all employees have access to every client's data. Cirrus collects everything that is input on an entry screen in its data collection process. The rationale for this is that only the client knows what data it may need, and Cirrus is simply there to provide the pathway between the client and the data in the cloud. Cirrus performs regular maintenance on its services by shutting down for a few hours whenever it is needed