Feldman’s Bagels

Marketing Plan Created By: Emi Cepeda, Chance Foster, and Mariah Rolle

Executive Summary: Feldman’s Bagels has been open for a little under a year. Roy and Maddy Feldman, a father- daughter team has been in the bagel business for many years. The business is located on 660 Pine street. The company's vision is to bring authentic New York style bagels to Burlington. They specialize in a product that is made from local ingredients. They make bagels fresh every day along with a variety of salads, soups, and sandwiches. Everything at Feldman’s is fresh including their specialty cream cheese and pickles, which is made in house. As a new business, Feldman’s Bagels wishes to expand their customer base into the larger student market around them. Burlington has almost 16,000 college students in Burlington alone. College students are a great market because they love to go out to eat, they tend to like inexpensive options, and they appreciate local ingredients. With more marketing, and public awareness (particularly to UVM and Champlain College) Feldman’s has a high chance of being the best out of all the competitors towards the scope of bagels. After all, it is their specialty.

Core Competency & Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Feldman’s Bagels sustainable competitive advantage is their recipe. They have a master bagel maker named Roy. His experience is invaluable and he produces very high quality bagels that are difficult for competitors to match. This is a very sustainable quality because making bagels always follows along with the same process each and every day, the recipe will always be same. Customers will want to eat at Feldman’s Bagels because they know it is a step above the competition, which makes it relevant to them. Their other services are more easily replicated, anyone can make flavored cream cheese and salads, along with sandwiches. Feldman’s product is made from scratch every day, and their bagels are vegan and kosher. This separates them from generic bagel brands. But at the very core of the company, is their outstanding New York style bagels which will never be matched in the Burlington area. Essentially, as long as Feldman’s continues to produce bagels that are the same quality as they have now, this core competency will ensure that they have a competitive advantage on other bagel shops and stores.

Swot Analysis:

Strengths: ❖ Feldman’s bagels is able to offer a good product. An authentic New York style bagel. Many students who come to Burlington to study come from the New York area, for them a New York bagel is a slice of home.

❖ Most of New England has grown up on New York style bagels. Montreal style bagels are foreign to most college students.

❖ Feldman’s hires quality workers, they have never had an employee quit. The only reason an employee has left is because of schedule conflicts.

❖ Feldman’s Bagels is a young company that appeals to the college market because it is highly relatable

❖ Their manager Jake is a Champlain Alumni, and Maddy is inspiring to many students at Champlain because she is a young entrepreneur. ❖ Many students at Champlain wish to start their own businesses and Feldman’s Bagels is a good example of a successful business started by young professionals.

❖ Many students use Pine Street while commuting to school. It is also a high foot traffic area, that is appealing to college students.

❖ It is also conveniently located on the way to highway 89. Which makes it easy to stop at Feldman’s on the way to the mountain for some skiing, or other day trips college students are taking.

Weaknesses: ❖ The location can make it hard for the average college student to reach however. Not every college student has a car, and climbing down the hill can seem like a pain especially in the colder weather.

❖ The decor of Feldman’s has been called uninspiring by college students also. They would rather go places like Henry’s and sit down for breakfast. The atmosphere there is most appealing to them.

❖ It does not feel like a sit down restaurant.

Opportunities: ❖ There are 16,000 college students around the Champlain College area. University of Vermont and Burlington College are within three miles too.

❖ Many people leave their hometowns to come to Burlington for school and work. Lots of these people grew up with bagels as an important staple in their lives.

❖ There is currently a growing food truck culture. Outside of the University of Vermont and around the South End of Burlington food trucks are beginning to pop-up. A gourmet food truck culture is beginning to flourish in Burlington. With so many college students and young professionals in the area, living a fast paced lifestyle like this could bring in new customers.

❖ Pine Street is the location of the Art Hop. Feldman’s bagels easily ties closely with this Art Hop as well. Feldman’s could use more advertisement and potentially gimmick to bring crowds in. Lots of college students and whole classes attend the Art Hop. Feldman’s could be the first place everyone goes on the Art Hop.

❖ College functions and class assignments involving Burlington businesses (which the Stiller School of business's wishes to use as resources) can be a good way to get Feldman’s name out to college students.

Threats: ❖ Popularity of healthier breakfast options, such as low-carb diets.

❖ Another company making the food truck inspirations a reality. This would potentially win over the favor of the student.

❖ With places like Speeder and Earls, and Myer’s Bagels just down the street, there are a lot of options for a breakfast or lunch option in a very small area.

❖ Being in a college town means that with summer months, many students choose to go home, which could cause less customers.

Competitive analysis: Through a competitive lens with structural analysis it can be conveyed that the offering of the best, or product quality bagels for consumers, is at Feldman’s Bagels. Plus they offer the cheapest price (regular plain bagel with cream cheese) compared to Bruegger's, or Dunkin Donuts. Our survey can support this too because 51% of our reported said that they didn't even know the difference between a New York style bagel, to a Montreal style bagel. However, Dunkin Donuts and Bruegger's Bagels are better known, are companies that have been around longer, and have a wider range of products for consumers. Bruegger's Bagels location does an amazing job at reaching out to students because it is in a high pedestrian traffic area. Dunkin Donuts is less likely to worry about this, or marketing in general because it is a well-known franchise.

Target Audience: Burlington consists of many college students and young professionals. The population is roughly 29,500. The medium age in Burlington is 29.2. So it would be an achievement to dominate the customer base of college students, and young working professionals. There are many young families here as well. One thing about all these groups of people is they do not have much disposable income. One way Feldman’s is able to attract this target market is by keeping the price point reasonable, but also appealing to the foodie side of the locals here. Burlington is known for having excellent food however much of it comes at a high price point. Feldman’s offers specialty cream cheese and sandwiches made with local ingredients while at an affordable price point.

Market Analysis: The bagel industry in Burlington is a thriving one. It appears that the city loves their breakfast food, and not only in the morning. According to Yelp.com burlington has five bagel shops. It is predicted that ‘breakfast for dinner’ will be a major theme in 20141, and this bodes well for the bagel industry not only in Burlington, but nationwide. Another relative trend for Feldman’s Bagels is that egg white sandwiches are expected to be on the rise in 20142, as it is a more

1 "Eat This List: 2014 Food Trend Predictions – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs." Eatocracy RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. 2 "Food Trends 2014: Food Gurus Predict What'll Be Hot at Restaurants Next Year."TakePart. ​ ​ ​ N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. Feldman’s Bagels: Feldman’s Bagels Open in Burlington - Seven Days Vermont's independent voice. Alice Levitt Web. 10 Feb 2014

health-conscious decision. Feldman’s could start making their sandwiches with egg white, and corner the market more effectively. They also could try to make a gluten free option. This is also important because Burlington is such a health conscious city; and any ‘healthier’ option is almost guaranteed to take off.

Market Research Key findings. We have conducted the following findings through survey analysis, this is what we found: 1. The college market is a large consumer of bagels and there for a very good target market. ● 76% of respondents had eaten a bagel in the past week. 2. An opportunity exists to deliver bagels to students on the weekends. ● 74% of respondents were “Interested” or “very interested” In the concept of a bagel truck that would deliver to campus. 3. Advertising quality ingredients will be essential in attracting the college market. ​ ● 51% of respondents said local and organic ingredients where “The most important” or “Important” in their decision to purchase. 4. It is clear at Myers bagels is a true competitor. ​ ● The college market is unaware of the difference in bagel types 53% of respondents said they did not know the difference between New york Style and Montreal Style bagels. ● When asked to fill in their favorite bagel shop 12% of respondents said Myer’s was the best bagel shop in burlington. Without being prompt. Compared to 31% of respondents who reported that Feldman’s was the best.

4Ps Analysis: We believe that Feldman’s Bagels is in sync with their 4P’s. They have a great marketing mix that balances very competitive prices. Their location and their specialty products also contribute heavily to the benefits of their company. Although need to upgrade their promotion in order to thrive with the college demographic.

Price ❖ Feldman’s offers a very competitive price with others in the area. In our research we found that most people (roughly 48%) said they felt that a bagel with cream cheese should be priced under $2.00, and Feldman’s offers a very good price at $1.95. This shows us that Feldman’s is very willing to compete with others in the area, but also appease their college customer base. However, Feldman’s should consider possibly dropping the price of their speciality breakfast sandwiches. They charge a very high premium for these, and while college kids love them, they would have greater success at a lower price point. While they would need to cover food costs, they should cut their markup to allow for a greater volume to be sold, and make it more affordable to the ‘broke college student’.

Product ❖ Feldman’s product is a homemade New York style bagel. There are many bagel shops in Burlington, which they sell out of their shop on Pine St. and because of the high competition it makes sense for Feldman’s to try and expand their services outside of the immediate area of their shop. This can be done through the use of a ‘bagel bike’ that delivers to students at UVM and Champlain College. This will be beneficial because it can reach a much broader range of people in Burlington, beyond those who are close to Feldman’s. In our survey we found that 78% of our participants said they would be interested in this sort of mobile system, so we will definitely have the success to justify the cost.

Promotion ❖ In the past Feldman’s has used many different outlets to get customer traffic. They got a great deal of attention from local newspapers because of Roy Feldman returning to Burlington. However, currently they mainly just have word of mouth and signs near the shop for their advertising and promotion. This is an area where we can really step up the game and see immediate results from our efforts. By utilizing things like a bumper stickers, ‘bagel day’, and flyers in coupons in orientation folders (this will be discussed in greater depth in the tactics section) we can generate a lot of buzz about Feldman’s very fast. This increased brand awareness will grow the amount of people coming to Feldman’s and generate increased foot traffic as well as word of mouth advertising.

Place ❖ Feldman’s has an interesting location. While they aren’t on Church St. like Bruegger's, they are on Pine St. which receives some good traffic. The main problem with being on Pine St. is that it is very far away from UVM, which has a much greater population than Champlain. This is a huge target that is very hard to hit simply because of a geographic issue. Champlain students don’t suffer this problem as much, because we are much closer, and the Gilbane shuttle drops off right next to Feldman’s. The main strength Feldman’s has is their incredible atmosphere. Their staff is all incredibly polite and helpful, along with the very casual and open layout, it makes dining there a real treat. Compared to Bruegger's, for example, Feldman’s has a much more low key environment. People are sitting around reading books, typing on their computers, etc. it really makes you feel at home, and also welcome. The soft lighting is enjoyable, and the atmosphere borders on tranquil. I would advise no changes to the store whatsoever, the only thing they should consider changing is offering the bagel bike like aforementioned, because it will allow Feldman’s to overcome their distance from UVM, and generate revenue from that enormous demographic.

Marketing objective Feldman’s wishes to increase sales by 10% year after year.

Strategies & Tactics: In our survey we saw that most college students aren’t eating and buying many bagels. In fact about 40% had bought less than one in the past month from a bagel shop. Many survey participants had said that the only shop they had ever visited was Brueggers on Church St. That being said, the college student market had no knowledge of what Feldman’s could potentially offer them.

Feldman’s Bagels is going to attempt raise awareness of their company by 40%, in their college student market, in the next three years: ● Feldman’s bagels can Utilize the colleges by offering a marketing internship to students from The University of Vermont,Champlain College and burlington college. This opportunity will give the student hands on business skills while helping Feldman’s Bagels promote their brand. ● In the first semester during finals week we will host a Bagel party at the University of Vermont Davies Center and Champlain College IDX. We will provide 500$ worth of bagels to each campus. At these events we will also give out free bagels stickers, in hopes that students will put them on their laptops, tablets and notebooks. ● Feldman’s will also be creating bumper stickers to give away and eventually start to sell in their store based on of their hat concept. ● We will also be allocating $450.00 throughout the year for print advertising with the University of Vermont Newspaper. This money can be used to remind students they receive a discount at Feldman’s with their student ID. ● Feldman’s will use National bagel day! On February 9th to get the word out about Feldman’s, if you come to the shop between 7a.m.-11a.m. you will receive a free bagel. This only applies to bagels, no other products. This will cause people to come in experience Feldman's. It will also bring the availability for customers to purchase cream cheese, because they are complementary goods. In addition, we will also spend money on Facebook and other social media advertising for free bagel day.

Students have shown they have interests in foods that are made with natural ingredients and value local foods:

● Feldman’s Bagels will also attempt to make a new business venture with Sodexo. Feldman’s can give Sodexo a reasonable price of fresh bagels, if Sodexo would be willing to sponsor Feldman’s for a day at the University of Vermont and Champlain College cafeteria. These cafeterias are currently serving non-local bagels. This could cause a potential loss of $500, but in the end would earn us more money because of the large spread awareness it is creating.

Feldman’s Bagels wishes to raise student loyalty they also wish to be the number one bagel shop among college students: ● Our research showed us that college students are incredibly loyal to their favorite bagel brand. Currently Feldman’s doesn’t offer any loyalty cards. To cut down on cost we will create a student loyalty system. When you show your student ID you receive 10% off when the computer shows you have visited 10 times you get one free bagel with cream cheese. 20 times is one free bagel sandwich, 30 times is one free bagel sandwich and a coffee, tea, or juice.

● We will also offer a special incentive program in which a college students (who has come more than once) brings in a friend, and also signs up with the college loyalty system. They both receive free coffee or one free bagel with cream cheese with purchase. This will draw in more people. The customer loyalty program will be an incentive for Feldman’s to also create more “regular” customers as well.

● We should also reach out to the UVM Hillel society (Jewish society at UVM) and throw a social for them. As bagels are also traditionally a Jewish food, they will enjoy the food and hopefully become loyal to Feldman’s. We can provide them with $150 in bagels for their social events and this should pay dividends for us later. We will also provide them with stickers to hand out to their members.

Many students stated that they would enjoy having a bagel truck. ● We have two options: we could outfit a bike with equipment to sell pre-made bagel sandwiches, a rider would have designated stops on Saturday and Sunday mornings around the college campus area. Or we could set up shop in the Champlain Fireside lounge and University of Vermont Davies center selling bagels. Both of these would cost around $1000.

Students come from all over the country to study in Burlington, many of these students have grown up with bagels as a staple in their homes. ● We create a Flyer and Coupon to put in the orientation packets for new students at Champlain College, and University of Vermont. It states that Feldman’s is the cure for homesickness, it is a little bit of home. It is also good for one free bagel with cream cheese with purchase of any beverage. We will print roughly 2,500 of these flyers in

color costing roughly $350.00.

Measurement of Success: Feldman’s should measure its success from these promotion and advertising techniques through sales, social media, and continuous survey analysis. If sales have heightened, than these strategies have worked. Also, popularity on social media can measure the consumer awareness of Feldman’s. Especially in the college market, considering this target audience uses social media constantly. Thus, this will prove Feldman’s to be more successful, if social media ratings have increased. Continuous survey analysis will convey information to Feldman’s with logistical data. It will illustrate easily where aspects of the business are improving, and what aspects of the business still have room for improvement. It will also determine what Feldman’s will want to carry on in the future, they will gain trial-run experience from these tactics that will also foster other marketing strategies for differentiation. In conclusion, these strategies will create and forward their overall goal as a company: to heighten consumer awareness and of course sales. While also expanding their college student market progressively.

O Feldman’s Brueggar’s Bagels: Dunkin Donuts: Myer’s Bagels: V Bagels: Primarily Bagels (NY Breakfast goods Specialty in E Specialty in Style) Breakfast, all day, including Montreal-styled bagels. R New York style and Lunch coffee, donuts, Location: Pine Street, V bagels, wide Sandwiches Located bagels. Located Burlington VT. I range of on Church Street, on Shelburne E cream-cheese Burlington, Vt. Rd, Burlington, W flavors. Vt. Located on Pine Street, Burlington, Vt.

S Product Location Consistent. Product Quality U Quality Fresh Reliable. Specialty Items S Larger Menu. Well-known. Fresh Specialty ​ T High traffic A Item Location. I Inexpensiv N A e. Fresh. B I L I T Y

T A College College students. Middle class Burlington A U students. Church Street professionals/ Community Tourists R D Morning shoppers. (Accepts Blue-collar (visiting from Montreal) ​ worker. G I commuters. Champlain Cash (Inexpensive E E Locals. Card) ​ Starbucks) T N C E

Bagels (Plain, Bagels (5 Grain Bagels Bagels: (Classic, ​ ​ ​ Whole Wheat, Everything, (Cinnamon Margherita, White P Cinnamon Blueberry, Chocolate Raisin, Cheddar Veggie, Go Fig, Chip, Cinnamon R Raisin, Cheese, Hawaiian) Sugar, Cranberry Pumpernickel, Cinnamon Bagels & Schmear, O Orange, Everything, Garlic, Salt, Sugar Crunch, Breakfast D Honey Grain, Plain, Onion, Poppy, Everything, Sandwiches U Pumpernickel, Sesame, Garlic, Bagel with Lox C Rosemary Olive Oil, Everything) Sesame, Sundried Multigrain, Surf & Turf T House Tomato, Bruegger Onion, Plain, Fruit Yogurt S Sandwiches Bites, Asiago Poppy Seed, Hash Special (Roast beef, Parmesan, Cheddar Pretzel Salt, Montreal- turkey, tuna, Pesto, Cinnamon Sesame, Sour Spiced Raisin, Cranberry ham, BLT, cream &Onion, Fingerlings Apple, Egg, Garlic, hummus, Whole Wheat) Sandwiches Onion, Poppy,

Veggie, Egg & Pumpkin, Salt, Cookies, Salads & Soups

Cheese, LOX) Sesame Multigrain, Danishes, Beverages (Cooler, Cream Whole Wheat, Donuts, Hash some menu) CheeseLPlain, Jalapeno Cheddar) browns, ​ Veggie, Breakfast Muffins, Scallion, Olive Sandwiches, Munchkins, Pimento, “Softwiches” Breakfast Maple Walnut, Lunch Sandwiches, Seasonal, Sandwiches, Hot Beverages P Jalapeno, Panini’s, Soups, (Coffee, Tea, R Palin Greek, Salads, Desserts, Hot Chocolate) O Scallion Cream Cheese Ice Beverages, D Greek, Tofu (Plain, Bacon Cream Cheeses Scallion, Garden U Cream (Regular, Cheese. Veggie, Hummus, Reduced Fat C Light Garden Veggie, Regular Plain, Reduced T Light Plain, Onion Coffee/ Fat Blueberry, S Chive, Smoked Cooler Salmon, Maple, Reduced Fat Drinks. Cucumber Dill, Strawberry, (Made with as Honey Walnut, Veggie). many local Jalapeno, Light Herb supplies as Garlic, Olive possible.) Pimiento, Pumpkin, Strawberry)

Coffee (Arabica/ Green Mountain) Tea

Single Bagel: Single Bagel: $.79 Single Bagel: Single Bagel: $.75 $.85 W/ cream cheese: $1.19 Bagel & Schmear, W/plain cream (Plain)$3.35 ½ dozen: $5.99 $2.00 cheese: $1.95 (Smoked Salmon) Bagel: W/cream Breakfast Sandwich P w/flavored $3.99 (Others) $3.85 cheese: $3.79 $3.25 R $2.25 Dozen: $7.29 Coffee: $1.59- Lunch Sandwiches: I Dozen: $8.50 Cream Cheese(by $2.29 $5.00-$7.25 C Sandwiches: the tub): Other Soups: $3.25-$4.25 $5.95-$6.95 $3.35-$3.99 Beverages: Salads $5.50-$5.75 E Plain cream Sandwiches: $1.29-$3.99 cheese (8oz) $5.19-$6.99 Sandwiches: $2.29 (4oz.) Coffee: $1.59-$1.95 $2.29-$3.99 $1.75 Other Bev: Other food items Flavored: $1.65-$2.59 (donuts etc.) (8oz.) $3.25 $.99-4.59 (4oz.) $1.95

Pine Street, Church Street, Shelburne Rd, Pine Street, Burlington VT. Burlington VT. Burlington VT. Burlington VT. (Developing (More locations area) Close to Shopping within the area) (Close to business’s, center, Car Traffic. Busy Feldman’s) P Champlain pedestrian Street. Not very Experience College student friendly L traffic. Student A Lakeside for those who Building. friendly. walk. C Experience & Locations: 18 E Locations: Over Location 249 worldwide. 300 Bakeries in One Location. Experience and Disadvantage: 26 states. Location as a Far walk for Less about corporation. students for experience, those without cars. more about location.

P Newspaper, Franchise. TV, billboards, Specialty Products at R company sign, Social Media. Print. Social Farmhouse, O social Reaching out to Media Newspaper. M networking. Colleges in the area Franchise O Radio. and making deals Only one to sell T Reaching out for them. Montreal I to Champlain style O College N marketing class.

Appendix

Feldman’s Bagels

A little bit of home. ​ Free bagel with cream cheese or 2.00$ any bagel sandwich with purchase of a beverage. 660 Pine St, Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 540-0474

Come try your neighborhood bagel shop! Free bagel with cream cheese with purchase of a beverage. 660 Pine St, Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 540-0474