Business Analysis Report: PRET A MANAGER Case Study and Reflection

This report presents a comprehensive business analysis of PRET A MANAGER, a multinational food shop. It begins with a case study examining recent controversies related to food quality and labeling practices, particularly the death of a customer due to an allergic reaction. The analysis includes a SWOT analysis to identify the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also applies Porter's Five Forces model to assess the competitive landscape and analyze the bargaining power of buyers, suppliers, and the threat of new entrants and substitutes. Furthermore, a PESTLE analysis is conducted to evaluate the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting PRET A MANAGER. The report highlights key findings, including operational issues related to food safety and customer satisfaction. The reflection section discusses the author's learning experience, skill development, and insights gained from the research, covering areas such as research skills, communication, and technical proficiency.

PRET A MANAGER A MANGER

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Case study....................................................................................................................................1
Business analyses.........................................................................................................................1
Key finding and summary............................................................................................................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
PRET A MANAGER is the multinational food shop that offers amazing fast food to
consumers worldwide. It offers sandwiches, salads, coffee and snacks to its buyers. It promises
to provide freshly food items but it fails to fulfil its promise in case of Natasha Ednan who
currently died because of having allergic reaction after eating product of PRET A MANAGER.
Present study will conduct SWOT analysis of company in order to determine its strength and
weakness. Furthermore, it will analyse its competitive position by applying porter’s five models
and render self-reflection over the understanding gained by consumer.
PART 1
Case study
PRET A MANAGER is well known sandwich shop established in 1986 in US and UK.
Recently organisation faces some controversy for its food quality and packaging practices..
Natasha, a 15 year old girl bought baguette of PRET A MANAGER. She got cardiac arrest due
to allergy by sesame seed. PRET A MANAGER is facing criticism for not to follow rules and
regulation regarding its packaging. PRET A MANAGER claim that it has proper labelling of
ingredients where her parents complained for not having allergic warning on the packet. Now,
manager of PRET A MANAGER show his concern about labelling law.
Business analyses
KEY BUSINESS OF PRÊT A MANGER-
PRET A MANAGER is known for its unique and fresh sandwiches, salad and soups. It
also offers organic coffee, snacks, fresh fruits, cold drinks etc. It provides almost 200 varieties in
sandwich.
Customers: PRET A MANAGER have wide span of customer segment. It has customer
of all ages, gender and income level group as it has different price policy to targeted customers.
Prêt a manager specially target this consumer who want to have quick meal.
Suppliers: Tata & Lyle provides raw materials like sugar, corn, and oats which are used
to enhance the quality of sandwich. CoYo supply coconut yogurt to PRET A MANAGER.
BIDVest logistics is direct distribution service provider. Reynolds give fresh fruit, salad and
vegetable to PRET A MANAGER.
Competitors- prêt a manager have lots of competitors nowadays because fast food
industry is the fastest growing industry as change of eating habits and cross cultural practices.
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Rhino foods, white castle, Murray’s cheese, krispy kreme are the old competitors of prêt.
Contemporary competitors include Costa coffee, Caffe Nero and star bucks.
SWOT of prêt a manager
Strength
 Old brand image
 Strong financial position
 Secret and unique sandwich recipe
 The Best social corporate
responsibility strategy in industry.
 Unbeatable customer service
 Product freshness quality
Weakness
 High operational cost
 Lack of global presence
 High wastage of unsold product
 Low customer loyalty
 Inadequate labelling practices
 Easy bunnies model
Threat
 threat of decrease market share
because of Natasha death controversy
 No major product differentiation
 Easy substitute available
 Change in eating habit from junk to
healthy food
 High cost to avail fresh raw material
 Change is government policy.
Opportunity
 Product improvement opportunities
 Expansion opportunity in ASIAN
market.
 Make collaboration with local
suppliers to cost cutting
 Diversify product from junk to healthy
and organic food.
 Focus more on packaging norms
provided by government.
 Waste management practice to manage
the unsold quantity
PESTLE OF PRÊT A MANAGER-
Pestle analysis used to know about macro factor affecting a business. Outcome cannot be
controlled which occur as the result of change in these factor. Macro factor gives an idea to
organisation how to deal with change in external factors and minimise the risk associate with it.
Pestle analysis of prêt a manager is given below-
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Political factor- Political factor include government policy, rules and regulation, political
stability. Government give instruction to PRET A MANAGER A MANAGER after Natasha
death case for practice the proper packaging norms like give all the information regarding
ingredient and their allergic effect.
Economical factor- PRET A MANAGER A MANAGER faced high cost issue due to rise
in labour cost so it tried to manage its cost by using low quality of packing material. Size and
quality of paper give no scope to organisation to put proper warning on package which became
a reason for death of Natasha.
Technological factor- Technological factor include adopt new methods and technically
sound machines and software to maximise the customer satisfaction and reduce efforts and time
taking in various production and managerial process. After Natasha death PRET A MANAGER
A MANAGER provide all the information about food on its website and app. Customer now get
the nutrition information, warning and caution by scan the bar code available on packet with the
help of their mobile.
Legal factor – Prêt a Manager make improvement in following rule and regulations on
product labelling under consumer protection and health and safety laws. Now, products are come
up with proper labelling which also add the “allergic reaction” warning and advice.
Social factor- Social factors affect the individual choice, decisions, preferences and
lifestyle. These social factors include family, friend, religion, community of individual. PRET A
MANAGER A MANAGER fails to recognise the need of physical issue faced by today's
teenagers. As it result Natasha death.
Environmental factor- PRET A MANAGER A MANAGER find difficulty to get
uninterrupted supply of fresh raw material form farmer when adverse climate affect the
agriculture of farmers. Sudden environment change grab all the attention of PRET A
MANAGER A MANAGER on fulfilment of raw material. PERT A MANAGER failed in
packaging practice while handing the environmental issues which create a huge problem as
Natasha death.
PORTER’S FIVE FORCES OF PRÊT THE MANAGERPorters five forces give idea to
organisation of its competitors and their ability to affect business.
Threat of new entrance- prêt has high level of threat of new entrance there is low barrier
on entry, high awareness, no special technical, easy loan facility to open a business to open a fast
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food chain. PRET A MANAGER's threat from new entry increases after Natasha death because
PRET A MANAGER looses its brand image. This opportunity easily grab by the new players in
industry.
Bargain power of buyer- buyer is at the strong side in making bargaining. Because
PRET A MANAGER have low product differentiation, limited option in menu. Customer easily
switch to another brand when he finds high cost, less quality in food. Customer become stronger
after Natasha death because it gave a serious reason to customer to give up their brand loyalty.
Supplier’s power- PRET A MANAGER only use fresh raw material for its product.
There are so many suppliers provide fresh raw material so the bargaining power of supplier is not
strong. PRET A MANAGER easily switch the supplier when standard are not matched with its
requirements. When PRET A MANAGER is accused for improper labelling and death of
Natasha, supplier also raise their terms and conditions for providing raw to PRET A MANAGER
.
Threat of substitute- PRET A MANAGER A MANGER has high level of threat of
substitute as other competitors provide variety of food having more nutrition. People choose
healthy food after Natasha collapse controversy.
Competitive rivalry- PRET A MANAGER has high level of competitive rivalry as
there is a mature market and little product differentiation like Costa, Nero. PRET A MANAGER
A MANAGER'S rivalry increase after Natasha controversy because competitor want to grab this
opportunity by offering organic sandwich
Operational issue faced by PRET A MANAGER.
Two customers of PRET A MANAGER A MANAGERIAL died because of ignorance
of operational and management unit. First case is related to Natasha died with allergy reaction by
sesame seeds. Marketing manager of PRET A MANAGER has low rules and regulation
awareness regarding labelling and packaging. Organisation ignored the importance of labelling
in food industry as it has confidence on its product, proper research are not done about the
different type of disease come up with time. In second case, a customer died because of yoghurt
allergy. In this case, prêt face an operational issue for raw material from supplier. Prêt blindly
trust CoYo and receive low standard of supplier from it. Quality check is not done by production
department. PRET A MANAGER faced lack of technical knowledge for practice other option of
providing. Cost cutting measurement took by the organisation hamper quality of packaging.
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PRET A MANAGER is unable to reduce its cost as they make all the product by hand not by
machinery which limit the organisation efforts to control the price. PRET A MANAGER has to
make compromise in other functions like lower the marketing effort.
Key finding and summary
PRET A MANAGER A MANGER come in light for death of two customers which is a
result of ignorance. These incidents can be avoided just by practising normal norms and quality
product check at each level. A product must have all the information because nowadays, people
have low immunity system and various life style disease. Now PRET A MANAGER A
MANGER come up with technological innovative technique for proving the all the information.
It also outsources the packaging function so that labelling standard will not be compromise by
other functions.
PART 2
Reflection
By going through this study, I have developed my skills to great extent. Case of Natasha has
improved my knowledge. Earlier I was unaware with standards of this sector but this research
has made me aware with standards related to food, ingredients.. Earlier to that I really do not
have any idea that why companies always make changes in its menu. I got to know that
companies have to maintain hygiene level otherwise; companies may lose their licence of
running business in market. Though, hospitality industry is growing well and every year profit of
this sector is improving. But still there are some organisations those which are not following
regulation and standard guidelines properly. I have improved my knowledge to great extent.
This study has improved my communication skill, I wanted to know their behaviour
towards the firm. Thus, I have conducted small research to know their behaviour. This activity
has improved my oral coordination skill significantly. I had first taken permission of participates
(employees of company and some consumers) by sending them concern letter on their email id
and have convinced them to share their views with me. Furthermore, I have sent them written
mail regarding their concern for the data. I understood that it is very important for researcher to
have strong written communication skill. But this study has helped me in improving my skill
significantly.
Initially I have faced difficulties in understanding the issue because of poor knowledge of
this sector. But this report has supported me in improving my research skill. I have searched a lot
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to know the actual cause of death and why other companies pay more attention on providing high
quality goods to the consumers. This research skill will help me in conducting future projects. I
learnt about significance of using statistics in any report. I improved my mathematical skills and
improved my knowledge about ratio calculations. Thus, my numeracy skill has been raised. Now
I am able to calculate ratios and find out market share of any sector or business. I was very afraid
with numbers and data but when I started applying these statistical data into my report then I
become little familiar with these. This has minimised my fear for mathematical calculations.
Information technologies play significant role in any kind of researches. Earlier to this
research, my technical skill was very poor. I was unable to operate Microsoft word and other
software. I learned about features of word software and have applied in my study significantly.
This learning has improved my technical knowledge to great extent. I became able to use
Microsoft word significantly. This technical knowledge would be helpful for me in conducting
investigation of big projects like dissertation etc. It is essential for scholar to have good
knowledge and understanding about various software; it helps person in analysing data and
generating valid results. I heard about the various other software such as Microsoft access, SPSS
etc. Those which are applied in big dissertation. This learning will definitely aid me in becoming
a successful researcher.
Still, I have realised that there are lacking points within me. I still feel little under
confident when I had to prepare a report on new topic. I feel hesitated but when once I start
doing it and conducting research on it then my interest gets built up. But when initially I feel lack
of confident then I made mistakes. I need to work on my issue and will have to develop
confidence within me. Furthermore, when I was working on PRET A MANAGER company
then I had communicated with employees, customers etc to know the services and food of PRET
A MANAGER . Working with others was the nice experience. We all share out views and
innovative ideas in order to manage this project successfully. I got many innovative ideas
through which I can raise my quality of work. This experience has improved my team working
skill and now I am able to work in team efficiently without any confusion. We all were very
happy with each other; we share our personal and professional experiences with each other. This
has developed healthy bonding between us. Now, we are able to communicate with each other
properly. This has supported in minimising confusion and completing project within stipulated
period.
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I realised that developing healthy relationship with others help the person in improving
working efficiency and minimising confusions. If all team members do not coordinate well with
each other than it might create consequence in completing report on time. This may also hamper
quality of work as well. Thus, it is essential to build strong relationship and develop faith
between all team members. This study has improved my problem solving skill. Initially, I was
facing many issues in gathering relevant facts related to hospitality industry and PRET A
MANAGER. I was facing issues in gathering information about case of Natasha and analysing
the facts related to this case study. But I took initiative to resolve such problems and gathered all
primary secondary data for finding the details. I was not having technical knowledge but I tried
to learn from my peer group members and they have also supported me to know more about new
software. Thus, this study has improved my problem solving skill significantly. I felt that I need
to learn to prioritise work and have to develop handling multi-tasking at single time
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that it is essential to follow legal and standard
guideline for the organisation in order to run operations significantly. Porter’s five forces assist
in knowing the competitive position of firm in external market. This will help the firm in
managing operations well and minimising such kind of accidents. This will support in providing
high quality food to consumers and improving brand image again in hospitality industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bowie, D. and et. al., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Routledge.
Filimonau, V., Krivcova, M. and Pettit, F., 2019. An exploratory study of managerial approaches
to food waste mitigation in coffee shops. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 76. pp.48-57.
Fuchs, C., Schreier, M. and Van Osselaer, S. M., 2015. The handmade effect: What's love got to
do with it?. Journal of Marketing. 79(2). pp.98-110.
Larsen, A. V. and Pedersen, A. G. J., 2016. Corporate Identity in a globalized world. A study of
elements marking national identity on cleantech company websites. Globe: A Journal of
Language, Culture and Communication. 3.
Montacute, R., 2018. Internships: Unpaid, unadvertised, unfair.
Phillips, P. and et. al., 2015. The interactive effects of online reviews on the determinants of
Swiss hotel performance: A neural network analysis. Tourism Management. 50. pp.130-
141.
Online
PRET A MANAGER a Manger to bring in full labelling after teenager's death. 2018. [Online].
Available through:<https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/03/PRET A
MANAGER-a-manger-to-bring-in-full-labelling-teenagers-death-natasha-ednan-
laperouse >.
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