Executive Summary
This paper goes in-depth at just how complicated it is to run a small business in a small town. With only 10 employees the main parts of how the ordering process is divided among them on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly basis depended on the supply in question. The basic steps in ordering are inventory, ordering, delivery, stocking and selling.
Different supplies are delivered at various times throughout the week. Some are delivered only on a certain day each month, we will go in detail about all these supplies and how they arrive on the store shelves.
Finally we will add up the cost to run the store versus the income from the goods sold and decide whether the store is making money or losing money in their small business. From then we will make our recommendations on how the store can improve.
Smith Brother’s Grocery is a family owned and operated mini-mart grocery store. It was founded in 1952 by Bill “Bunk” Smith. Smith’s is currently operated by his three sons, Billy Joe, Keith, and Glenn Smith. The small family business has grown substantially within the last 60 plus years that it has been open. They have since moved from the small, original location to a new, slightly larger building enabling them to expand the products and services they provide. They differ from the other stores in the area in that they serve and slice fresh meat. They make sandwiches to order, along with various meat trays. A few other ways that they differ is that Smith’s has been owned by the same family since it was first opened in 1952, the business is exclusively Christian based, and therefore they prohibit the sale of alcohol to anyone. Along with the absence of alcoholic beverages, they do not sell Lottery Tickets either but, they are open on Sundays. The business does exceedingly well considering that gasoline is not one of the services offered. Now let’s take a look at how the business gathers and sales the goods they provide.
There are a total of ten employees, six cashiers, three butchers, and one maintenance man. The Business, being so small, does not take out taxes from the employee’s pay. Three of the cashiers make six dollars an hour, while the other three make eight dollars an hour. The butchers are the owners, and their draw is unknown. The maintenance man makes seven dollars an hour. The average pay for all of these is seven dollars an hour.
The ordering process may seem like it would be simple, but it is not. The cashiers and butchers systematically walk through the aisles and take note of empty or near empty places on the shelves. They then organize the items that are missing by the company that they are ordered from. The order is then placed to the correct company who will deliver on their designated day. This process is done weekly sometimes twice weekly. Products are arriving almost every day of the week. Smiths is unique that they use over 30 different vendors to stock the store shelves; whereas most other stores in this small town, only use seven to eight.
At the meat counter, a customer will request the cut of their choice. Steaks can be cut anywhere from half an inch to two and three quarter inch cuts. Sandwich meat is sliced to any thickness the customer chooses. The customer is also able to watch as their sandwich meat is sliced, giving them the option to add more if they desire. There is a variety of sandwich meats to choose from, anything from ham and turkey to salami and liver-loaf. The meat counter also provides cheeses of all natures; such as Muenster and pepper-jack. Smith’s also prepares fresh sandwiches and a variety of delicious meat trays, in two sizes, upon request. Smith’s meat prices are the lowest in the valley even beating out Wal-Mart.
Located next to the meat counter is the hand-dipped Mayfield ice cream, a new addition to the business. This helps bring in a large profit and an
