Strategic Excellence and Operations Management at Zumbar Coffee House

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Zumbar Coffee and Tea House, a coffee shop located in Cardiff, focusing on its operations management and strategic excellence. The report begins with an overview of the organization, detailing its popularity, services, and competitive landscape. It then delves into the operational management aspects, including how the business supports its operations, manages quality, designs processes and capacity, and implements location and layout strategies. The report also examines five key performance objectives and suggests improvements. Furthermore, it explores the supply chain of Zumbar Coffee and compares its quality processes with those of similar organizations. The analysis highlights the importance of operational management in achieving strategic excellence and meeting customer needs within the competitive coffee shop market.

OPERATION
MANAGEMENT AND
STRATEGIC
EXCELLENCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview of the organisation.................................................................................................3
Operations of management to support the organisation.........................................................6
Five Performance Objectives for organisation and their improvements..............................10
Supply chain of the organisation..........................................................................................12
Quality processes of two similar organisations....................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Steve Rayle owner of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff..................................4
Illustration 2: Layout of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff.....................................................5
Illustration 3: Location of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff..................................................6
Illustration 4: Outer view of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, ..........................................................7
Illustration 5: Inner layout of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff.............................................7
Illustration 6: Outer layout of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff.............................................8
Illustration 7: Supply chain diagram of Zumbar Coffee and tea house ........................................14

INTRODUCTION
Operational management is a set of processes which is generally addressed by the
organisational aspects with an aim to overcome the business activities in a systematic manner. It
is necessary that the management team of firm should properly define their business operations
by analysing the market situation and overall condition (Li, Yang and Wu, 2008). Process of
functioning as per a specific structure is highly useful in gaining strategic excellence and
accomplish the stated set of objectives. Similar to this, the report is specifying about information
of managing operations by implementing theories and strategies that are mainly focusing on
achieving higher level of benefits.
Overview of the organisation
ZUMBAR coffee and Tea house one of the better tea & coffee shops in Encinitas,
Cardiff. It is extremely popular and highly rated in the cited areas and also one of the averagely
priced tea & coffee shops among rest of the coffee shops. It usually opens early for the clients
which attracts most of the tourist visiting that area. Zumbar Coffee & Tea is a boutique coffee
roaster in Cardiff. They have retail cafe in Cardiff. The quality of the beans they source/offers
and artisan approaches allows Zumbar to craft some of the finest coffees. It was founded in 2003
and today it is highly known as boutique coffee roaster with a retail cafe. They mostly consider
an artisan approach towards crafting the finest coffees.(Macgregor, 2012).
Zumbar Coffee and tea house has its branch in 111 Chesterfield Dr #115, Cardiff, CA
92007, United States at Cardiff is highly preferred by most of the teenagers, youngsters and other
customers who like to spend quality time with a cup of blend coffee and music. The store offers
blends and single origin coffee which are available for brewing at home with knowledgeable
team happy to help the every customer. During my visit, I addressed that they were having the
capacity of serving 10-15 customers in their cafe. Many of customers were waiting in queue
outside the restaurant which specified that the cafe was extremely popular in that particular area
(Walsh, 2009). But, they have limited space for their customers for having comfortable seating.
Moreover, the cited cafe was offering a wide range of services and facilities which includes:
 Hummingbird - 12 oz. A rich, buttery-sweet, full flavored blend; hummingbird nectar,
also known as shop's espresso
 El Mundo - 12 oz. A blend of Indonesian & Latin coffees. El Mundo stages deep, heavy
flavors of nut, earth & chocolate. Paris well w/s Shakespeare.

 Sumatra Manheling - 12 oz. Herbal over stones, caramel edge, spicy finish. Keeps the
(day) dream alive.
 French Roast - A bold, dark roast. Rich & smoky.
 Ethiopia Amaro Gayo - 12 oz. Peach, sweet body, floral finish
 Mexico Oaxana Pluma Real - 12 oz. Sweet, nutty, cocoa finish
Zumbar Coffee and tea house has a high customer value and has effectively built up
brand image of the restaurant which enables them to attract high number of customers. In
addition to this, trained employees and talented staff members also fascinate the customers in
gaining high level of satisfaction and new experiences. Main competitors of cited cafe are Bird
Rock Coffee and Living Room Coffee house which mostly impact their business in leading the
sector (Carr and Kaynak, 2007). It has been determined that company needs to analyse the
market information and accordingly evaluate the factors for specifying effective strategies to
perform the operations and functions effectually.
Illustration 1: Steve Rayle owner of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff
(Source: Zumbar Coffee & Tea Coming Soon to Cardiff, 2013 )

Illustration 2: Layout of Zumbar
Coffee and tea house, Cardiff
(Source:Bruccoleri, Pasek and
Koren, 2006)

Illustration 3: Location of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff
Operations of management to support the organisation
It is crucial that the managerial aspect of business should assess the information about
their market situation and then implement the plan of actions which need to be effectively placed
and processed with an aim to accomplish better targets. Set of operations includes processing the
entire business activities of addressing new customers, allocating resources for conducting
operations, implementing ways of utilising sources in a systematic manner, identifying methods
of overcoming the needs of customers and techniques of satisfying them in the best form
(Haimes, 2005). Thus, the performance of organisational aspects in operational activities are
interlinked with company's achievements and success in the sector.
Operational management is highly beneficial for capturing the customer's attention
towards their offered values and products which is generally preferred by them to fulfil their
requirements. It is vital that the management team of organisation should be able to address the
best ways of supporting functions of business which are executable, feasible and acceptable by

their employees and other staff members (Heikkilä, 2002). This helps them in accomplishing the
business tasks systematically and effectively in order to ascertain the values and desired form of
objectives. Along with this, performance of team needs to be strategic and professional which
should be appropriate and capable of achieving greater benefits.
Illustration 4: Outer view of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff
Illustrati
on 5: Inner layout of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff

Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff is the combination of restaurant and cafe where the
customers are served with a wide range of coffee and related products. All operations require
high level of resources, information and knowledge in order to overcome them and execute the
business functions by achieving set goals and objectives. The process of defining structure of
completing operations are extremely effective and productive for the cited cafe in gaining profits
and overall market benefits. It is crucial that the staff team and managers of store in Cardiff
should ascertain the values by assessing the market information and determining the
requirements of customers in order to determine the action plan (Higdon and Topaz, 2009).
Moreover, following are the areas which needs to be considered by them for evaluating their
approaches of executing business operations:
 Managing quality – The term quality is specified as a certain level of standards which
need to be maintained by the organisation for gaining competitive advantage from the
market. Efficiency of managing quality level is highly profitable to the firm and their
managerial aspects as it supports them in numerous ways. Moreover, customers also
prefer the products and services that are having high quality and maintained
standardization. It helps the organisation in developing a unique image in the sector and
attract the attention of customers (Hugos, 2011). For any enterprise that has their
Illustration 6: Outer layout of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff

partnership or merchandise with other business, effective management is termed as the
main key success factor. Customers generally buy business products or any of the
merchandise from the most recognised and high quality known business. However, the
success franchise story of Zumbar Coffee and tea house, Cardiff which is established as
coffee bar in now offering food items as well and 12% of entire group of café's sales from
merchandise ensures their good quality in the offered products and services. They plan
numerous surveys for assessing information about their current level which includes
Quality, Food research and Suppliers research in order to get the best assessment of their
stakeholders, especially their customers and followers (Li, Yang and Wu, 2008). Their
surveys are generally in between the scale of 1-7 where anything below the rank of 7 is
considered as a failure. Accordingly, they conduct customer’s surveys and feedback for
updating their menu, music, memorabilia, service and plan of action in order to meet the
level of quality as customers' expectation.
 Process and capacity design – Process of developing and implementing a strategy is
determined as an organization's approach which is effective in transforming resources
into attractive goods and services. Main objective of creating a process strategy is to
build up production process that is able to meet the customer’s requirements by
processing products as per their specifications that too in the specified cost and other
managerial constraints. Moreover, the process selected generally has a long term effect
over the efficiency and effectiveness of production and also, on the cost and quality of
goods produced by them. Zumbar Coffee and tea house has maintained and controlled a
tight hold on all the functions processed by their staff members and has effectively
designed their operational strategy of addressing objectives (Liang, Chen and Turban,
2009). Zumbar Coffee and tea house is ranked among the top restaurants and cafes in
their areas which has the capacity of supplying 2,000 coffee products per year in U.K.
This fact proves that they organize and manage their employees as per the schedules,
material, inventory and available resources. They have maintained their capacity and
processing design for overcoming the business operations which includes adding more
unique food items in the menu, giving the option of personalised food preparation, giving
on-time delivery, properly cooked, use fresh ingredients, etc. are some recommendation
for Zumbar Coffee and tea house.

 Location and layout strategies – For an organisation, the most significant factors for
them are the location and layout factors which eventually impacts their overall business
activities and operational functions of the team members. Zumbar Coffee and tea house
must plan and control the entire strategy of overcoming the operational approaches of the
business in order to gain better benefits and mark higher level of success (Link and
Marxt, 2004). Zumbar Coffee and tea house is situated at the main road and the place is
nearby ocean which attracts most of the teenagers and youngsters. However, the layout of
the cafe is quite unattractive from outside which needs proper renovation by an
experienced architect. The interior layout is considered to be highly impressive and liked
by most of the customers. Along with this, they should increase their capacity of seating
and occupancy so that more customers could be addressed by the cafe's staff members.
Five Performance Objectives for organisation and their improvements
The performance objectives are defined as the most appropriate functions that are to be
structured strategical and tactical so that proper set of results could be achieved by the person. It
is highly essential for an organisation and their management to maintain their perfection over
their performance in order to attain better profits and overall achievements. The performance
objectives are directly linked with the operational management of the organisation, they need to
conduct the entire forms of business activities by maintaining a specific structure and strategy of
addressing the assigned task. Moreover, the organisation needs to define a particular criteria and
level of performance which are to be accomplished by their staff (Niknam and et. al., 2011). This
would help them in evaluating new benefits and targets by executing all the business activities in
a systematic and professional manner.
They all collectively define the performance efficiency of the organisation which
eventually supports them to establish better market position and gain strong significance in
consumer sector. Furthermore, the best set of assessing the performance objectives are to identify
the level and number of competition faced by them in the market. It is noted that assessing the
level of competitors would assist the company in creating new areas of competency and overall
competitiveness among them. This develops areas to support the organisation to compete it with
the other similar organisation (Khamalah and Lingaraj, 2011). In current era of globalisation, the
customers are generally preferring the products and services which are liked by others or
recommended by someone who has visited the place, hence, it is vita that the organisation and

their representatives should be capable of giving high form of satisfaction to their customers by
offering them unique, innovative and excellent products.
Zumbar Coffee and tea house offers a range of facilities which includes coffee, food,
entertainment, music and culture under one roof. However, the cited cafe needs to consider the
following five performance based objectives which needs to be effectively evaluated by the
management team to maintain their approaches of working properly and continue the smooth
execution of business operations:
 Speed: The present era of innovation and globalisation most of the people avoids waiting
in queues and spending their valuable time on unproductive functions. Thus, response of
business units is directly connected with the consumer perception over the organization.
The high profile consumers and corporates clients of the cited cafe expects an effective
and advance approach of providing frequent and speedy response to them (Spector and
McCarthy, 2012). However, delay in operational processes may lead to low score on
consumer response. It is necessary for them to address new ways of speeding up their
process of preparing and delivering food items and coffee products that could be like
adopting advance techniques of cooking food, formulating team of new members that are
effective in performing faster.
 Cost: This element is the most significant and complex for an organization, as the
consumers do not like to pay high cost over their prices and requires high satisfaction as
well. This creates numerous challenges for the company which has to efficiently work
for the same. Furthermore, it has been determined that cafe should manage their cost of
production, for which, they need to address the factors like speeding up preparation
process and maintaining quality which highly affects the process to great extent.
 Flexibility: This is the tangled objective for companies which eventually creates
problems for them in accomplishing better targets and overall achievements. Flexibility
has the wide dimensions that is required to be evaluate by the firm and their respectives
(Yeadon-Lee and et.al., 2011). For Zumbar Coffee and tea house, flexibility is expected
to overcome the commitment of providing the varied range of customized services to
their entire clients visiting the cafe. They must provide their consumers with exclusive
and unique food items and coffee products as per their demands and also give

professional services in order to furnish them maximum form of satisfaction and overall
benefits.
 Dependability: This is termed as most effective condition for the organization, as
reliability refers to expectation of being on time and assuring the quality of the products
offered by them. This anticipation refers to the business operation of organization that
needs to be addressed on time. The company thus efficiently handles and maintains their
clients' visit in the cafe. Dependability has an effect on the cost and time (Gent and et.al.,
2011). Zumbar Coffee and tea house has to implement an efficient set of training
programs for their entire team of employees so that they could attain better skills and
abilities to deal with the expectations and demands made by their consumers.
 Quality: For any enterprise that has their partnership or merchandise with other
business, the management quality is termed as the main key success factor. The
customers generally buy the business rights or merchandise assistance to the most
recognised and high quality known business of offering product/service. As discussed
earlier, Zumbar Coffee and tea house need to implement and conduct better plans to
maintain a certain level of quality in their offered products and services.
Supply chain of the organisation
As per the information assessed by Sampson and Spring (2012), which specified that
supply chain management is determined as the connectivity link whose purpose is to maintain
the level of production by supplying the materials required to make the range of products and
services offered by them to their aimed clients. As per this perspective, the major focus of the
organisation should be on stated areas namely quality, speed, customer's satisfaction, market
requirements and effectiveness. This helps them in accomplishing the business task
systematically and effectively in order to ascertain values and desired form of objectives. On the
contrary, it was stated by Kester, Kirschner and van Merriënboer (2006) which addressed that the
performance of the team needs to be strategic and professional that should be appropriate and
capable of achieving greater benefits. Moreover, the company needs to maintain a tight hold on
the supply chain management in order to encourage the level of productivity and profitability for
the organisation. For this, the organisation needs to assess the market information for
determining their values and criteria of developing and implementing action plan for supply
chain management.