Strategic Management 2: Brahmin's Coffee Bar Case Study Analysis

This case study analyzes Brahmin's Coffee Bar, a small but successful establishment, addressing strategic management challenges and opportunities. The assignment begins with an assessment of whether the cafe's small-scale approach can remain viable, incorporating a SWOT analysis to guide strategic decisions. The design and layout of the kitchen are examined for efficiency. The study then identifies and evaluates risks, proposing risk mitigation strategies. Furthermore, the assignment explores expansion strategies, including franchising and online ordering, with detailed cost analyses and innovative financing options like government subsidiaries and crowdfunding. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the cafe's business model and strategic options.

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Answer 1. The small will continue to be beautiful in the case of Brahmin’s Coffee Bar. It
integrates the fundamental perception of the human experience of modernism. It is evident
from its SWOT analysis.
Strength: The limited menu of the Brahmin’s coffee bar is their USP. The menu contains just
four items. The specialization strategy of the restaurant makes to excel at the dishes.
Weakness: The expansion of the city has made café far and beyond the reach of some people.
It affects the revenue of the café.
Opportunities: The café can go for the second branch but it will remain small due to its
principle. It can offer more insight into the café and more customers can be captured.
Threat: The decision of the restaurant’s not expanding menu can be a threat to the
competitive environment. As the customers now days are appealed by the variety offered by
the restaurants. Other than this, lack of manpower, macro-economic factors, and change in
the preference of the customers present a threat to the café (Ethiraj, Gambardella and Helfat,
2016).
The major priority of Brahmin’s Coffee Bar will be on running the small business by offering
a limited menu. This business model will be reappeared in the coming years as well. The café
is considering opening more outlets within Bangalore. It is also the vision of the café to
expand business in other cities of India such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and
Chennai.
Answer 2. The design of the kitchen Brahmin’s Coffee Bar is one of the key elements. The
size of the kitchen should be proportionate to the size of the restaurant or the quantity of seats
in the restaurant. Every seat in the café is required to offer at least five square feet of kitchen
space. It reflects that a restaurant with sixty seats should encompass an area of 300 square
feet.
The assembly layout of the café’s kitchen helps to serve a great number of people. It assists
café to excel at the dishes as a part of its specialization strategy. This layout could work well
especially in the case of limited menu serving to the great number of people. This design of
the kitchen creates supreme efficiency and keeps the kitchen open to promote excellent
communication and flow. The other layout designs suggested to café is ergonomic design.
This design places every piece of the kitchen with comfort and effectiveness. The staffs also

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have to expend the least amount of energy in order to complete the tasks in the least amount
of time (Hill, 2017).
Answer 3. The risk is an uncertain event and is ever presented constituent. The risks
associated with the café are identified as changing taste and partialities of the customers. The
change in the eating habits of the customers' present risk to the café. People now days also
like to substitute traditional food with western food (Aguinis, Edwards, and Bradley, 2017).
The MNC’s have also introduced their chain as a part of the globalization strategy. The
strategies to reduce risks associated with the café are:
 Maintain facilities: The café can maintain facilities by keeping the kitchen clean, clear
the clutter and taking extra precautions in the winter season.
 Adherence to the health and safety codes: The café should follow the health and
safety codes according to the health department. The café should keep in mind
employee sanitation, health check-ups, facilities and exteriors, food storage, safety kit,
equipment, and deliveries.
 Business insurance: As a part of the strategy, risks can be reduced by making use of
small business insurance. The unexpected events can take place events after taking
appropriate risk management measures at the workplace. Therefore, small business
insurance works as a significant component of the cafe’s risk management plan.
Answer 4. The initiation of MNC food chains at the international markets has influenced
Brahmin’s Coffee Bar to make expansion. The strategies to be used for the expansion are:
Franchise business: It is not possible for one family to open outlets at different locations and
operate. Brahmin’s Coffee Bar can easily expand its business through franchisees.
Effectively, franchising removes the risk of setting in the new location. The lenders can
approve financing to Brahmin’s Coffee Bar as the café has gained enough popularity along
with the goodwill. The lenders are even likely to charge less interest (Frynas and Mellahi,
2015). The initial franchisee fee will be $40,000.
Deliver online: Brahmin’s Coffee Bar can expand its business by taking online orders. This
way, café does not have any need to open a great number of outlets but it can deliver the
products through one café or outlets. The financing can be generated by government
subsidiaries and crow funding. The café requires $34000 for starting online business.

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References
Aguinis, H., Edwards, J.R. and Bradley, K.J., 2017. Improving our understanding of
moderation and mediation in strategic management research. Organizational Research
Methods, 20(4), pp.665-685.
Ethiraj, S.K., Gambardella, A. and Helfat, C.E., 2016. Replication in strategic
management. Strategic Management Journal, 37(11), pp.2191-2192.
Frynas, J.G. and Mellahi, K., 2015. Global strategic management. Oxford University Press,
USA.
Hill, T., 2017. Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing
function. Macmillan International Higher Education.