epc business comparing report

COFFEE SHOP ENGLISH 2 ( 30605 ) Page � of �1 32

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

PRESENTATION TITLE: COFFEE SHOP

GROUP MEMBERS:

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE:

2 DECEMBER 2014

Names Presentation Roles

DARREN SIA HANG YIN

( 0318253 )

DESCRIPTION ABOUT WHEELER’S COFFEE

LEE YIH

(0318340 )

DESCRIPTION ABOUT COFFEE COTTAGE

LOVIE TEY YIQING

( 0318155 )

DESCRIPTION ABOUT WHEELER’S COFFEE

LOW EN HUEY

( 0317889 )

EXPLANATION ABOUT STRATEGIES , FUTURE

PLAN AND WAYS TO SUSTAIN OF WHEELER’S

COFFEE

SIMPSON CHIN JIUNN YIH

( 0318154 )

NATURE OF BUSINESS, PRODUCTS, BEST

SELLERS, FUTURE PLANS


TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Key Summary

2. History of the trade

3. Description of the business

4. Comparative Analysis of the businesses Competitive Traits

5. Recommendation

6. Bibliography

7. Appendices

8. Reference


Summary

Café is coffee houses that allow people enjoy their coffee in different environment depend on the

theme of the café. The special café we chosen are Wheeler’s coffee café and other is Coffee

Cottage. Wheeler’s coffee is located at Love Lane, Penang. It is a very special café because the café

has unique decoration and theme. The theme of the café is bicycle; the café is fully decorated by

bicycle. Coffee Cottage is located at SS15, Subang Jaya. It is also a very special café because the

café allows people to pet and play with the cats and the cats in the café are moving freely. That’s

always have competitors everywhere included Wheeler’s coffee café and Coffee Cottage. Both of

the café using their own strategy to maintain or increase the customer a day.


A description of the history of the trade/business and what it involves.

A café is a type of restaurant that serves coffee, snacks and dessert. In Malaysia, traditional coffee

and breakfast shops are called kopitiam. Menus typically feature simple offerings: a variety of foods

based on egg, toast, and coconut jam, plus coffee, and tea. Kopitiams are commonly found in

almost all residential areas as well as some industrial and business districts in Malaysia. They often

appear as an aggregate of small stalls or shops. However, some may be more reminiscent of food

courts. All kopitiams share a similar appearance and are steeped in tradition and nostalgic memories

in the past.

A true kopitiam embraces a feeling of tradition and culture. Old fashioned kopitiams are steeped in

tradition, with its own unique history. The tradition kopitiams are often family owned and handed

down from father to son from generation. However, these days for many old fashion kopitiam

owners, their craft ends at the moment they retire because for a lot of them, their children have been

educated and are not willing to carry on the family business. The traditional kopitiam serves as a

social nucleus, where everybody interacts with each other, communicate and make friends with

everyone there.

Now, branded coffee houses have emerged, thus evolving the humble kopitiam in accordance to

modern society’s desire to move forward. This is a new age where a new breed of kopitiam has

emerged. – Café. The smell of roasted coffee has changed ever since. The coffee scene has changed

into one that is synonymous with lifestyle. It has become a necessity to the work-life balance that

brought fashionable terms such as “Latte” and “Frappe”.


Brief Description of the Businesses

The name of the café that we have chosen is Coffee Cottage. It is located at 1-1, Jalan

SS15/8A, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Currently, Coffee Cottage does not have any

branches. However, the enterprise group do have another Cottage Group, called the Pets Cottage

Group, which includes Kitten Cottage, Puppy Cottage and Groomers Connection. They are all very

suitable for pet lovers. Then, in Coffee Cottage itself, there are 7 workers working per day. 3 full-

timers and 4 part timer, which are then divided into roles of Team Leader, Manager, and Staff. Only

full-timers can be promoted to Team Leader and Manager. The main products that they are selling

are coffee, tea, and cake and desserts. The best selling beverages include Nutella Latte and

Chocolate, and the best selling cakes are Crunchy Nutella, Red Velvet cake, and Thai Milk Tea.

Note that Thai Milk Tea is not a drink, it is a name of a cake. The layer of tea in the cake was

imported from Thailand. Besides that, their teas are all made of tea leaves from the famous TWG.

Then, the main service in Coffee Cottage is catering. They cater a stress-free environment for the

customers. The environment is said to be stress relieving because there are pet cats in the café that

you can play with. The estimated current number of customers is roughly about 35,000 since

opening, averaging about 130 customers per day. Coffee Cottage was established in March 2014.

The café was founded by Mr.Warren Lim, who is in the group of enterprise as Kitten Cottage,

Puppy Cottage, and Groomers Connection. Founders of Coffee Cottage are just a bunch of animal

lovers who wanted to step into the food and beverage industry. Owner Warren Lim said that, a lot

of people like pets but they do not want the responsibilities of owning one, so they visit them. Then,

three-quarter of the cats in Coffee Cottage are rescued cats. They are then fed, groomed, and gave

proper medical by the professionals in Groomers Connection before transferring them to Coffee

Cottage. So, the business also acts as a new home for the once-stray animals.


The other cafe we chosen is Wheeler’s coffee café; the café is located at No. 67, Love Lane,

10200, Georgetown, Penang. The business of this café started on June 2014, the owners of this

café started planned this business since starting of the year but they couldn’t started their

business early is because the renovation and the decoration of the café took a long time. The

founder of this café is Steven, he opened this café is because he is a coffee lovers and also a

bike lovers. He wants to spread the culture of coffee to everyone and hope everyone understand

the knowledge of coffee and love coffee.

The theme of Wheeler’s coffee café is bicycle and the tagline of the café is “The bicycle is a

simple solution to some of the world’s most complicated problems”. The owner chosen

bicycle as the their theme is because cycle bicycle is a healthy activity that brings us healthy

body and healthy mind, the owner wants people to drinks a healthy coffee in a healthy

environment like cycling that will brings us healthy body and healthy mind. There are no

branches for Wheeler’s coffee café because the owner of this café thinks that they have to settle

down and stable their main café before have any branches.

In this café, they provide different kinds of coffee, tea, juice, soda, salad, sandwiches,

breakfast, lunch, dinner and also cakes. They always provide set breakfast, lunch and dinner for

customers because Wheeler’s coffee café want to provide a valuable set for customers. For the

café, the best sellers of the beverage are the Toffe Nut latte, for those sweet lovers and also

Deluxe Tiramisu.

Wheeler’s coffee café have two owners, one of the owner named Steven, he used to study

information technology and he also a coffee lover and the other owner named John , one team

leader manager, five part times workers, the part-time workers will be trained as cashers or


waiter waitress. In the café, they total have five full time workers, they have two chefs in the

café who in charge of cooking western food, one bakers, one casher and one barista that have a

good skills of making latte art and making a good coffee.

The estimated customers on Wheeler’s coffee café are 400 per days. In the coffee café, usually

people who are youngster visit the most because the environment of the café is suitable of

people to chill to relax or to hang out with their friends.

In this café, they provided bicycle rental and darts machines for people. Starting of the

business they always provided bicycle rental but slowly they do not rent any bicycle because the

shop nearby are also provide bicycle rental and other reason is people may steal the bicycle or

do not return back the bicycle. The other service is darts machines, the owner of the café

provide darts machine is because they want people to understand darts machine in a healthy

places not in somewhere that are not healthy such as pub or club that have bring bad to our

body.


Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits

Wheeler’s Coffee Analysis Aspect Coffee Cottage

48 Number of

competitors

58


1.Espresso Lab

Located at the heart of Subang Jaya,

right beside of Coffe Cottage,

EspressoLab SS15 is a specialty

coffee house aiming to provide the

best experience in coffee, cakes and

ambience. This coffee shop owns a

two-storey shop lots, they provide

services such as takes reservations,

walk-ins welcome, good for groups,

good for kids, take out and waiter

service, and even free wifi. As the

name would imply, they specialises in

brewing coffee using their own brand

of coffee beans served in all manners

imaginable; espresso, macchiato,

cappucino, latte, piccolo latte, mocha,

etc. To vary their options of for

costumers, they provide food such as

lasagne, spaghetti and cakes as well,

one of the main product is Red Velvet,

served with cream cheese frost as the

topping, red velvet and cheesecake at

the center. The wall of this cafe is

painted black and dim light is used to

decorate, it has large spacing which

can comfortably seat up to a crowd of

20 at most.

Top 3 Competitors 1. China house

China house is a café at Victoria Street

in Georgetown. The special feature of

China house that attract customer is that

this café spread across three heritage

houses linked by an open air courtyard.

It is also converted into 14 spaces

comprising of shops, cafes, restaurant,

galleries, live music and bakery which

patrons find the shop is unique with that

feature. The shop opens daily, from 10

o’clock in the morning to 12 midnight.

China house serve great pastries and

cakes besides coffee. They have variety

choices of cake to be sold every day,

approximately 30 different kinds of

cakes. The price of the cakes range

from RM8 to RM12. Their top seller

for cakes are carrot cake, tiramisu and

chocolate cake. However, the price for

main course is slightly higher than

normal price. The great heritage taste

and environment of the shop has

attracted many customers especially

foreign tourists. Locals also love to

gather at China house because of its big

compound of which consist of 14

different space. China house provides

various kinds of entertainment like live

band during the night, wifi services,

hipster bar and board games.


2. Tryst Café

Tryst Cafe resides in a more unassuming

zone where there is less traffic and

crowd, it is an espresso bar/café that

endeavour to provide special spaces for

people to dine, relax and unwind. It

doesn't appear as a very appealing place

to hangout but pretty decent for some

food, coffee and tranquil conversations.

Their cuisine is mainly focus on New

American, Asian Fusion, Breakfast, Soul

Food and Tex-Mex varies from espresso

based drinks, teas, sodas, cakes, pastas,

steaks, pancake meals to Tryst specials.

It is a hipster cafe featuring a mix and

match of colours along with wooden

furnitures, even having a bar-like table

for a different seating. Lights are pretty

much dim here but the basking of

natural sunlight from both the front and

rear of the shop is sufficient to

illuminate the cafe. For the convenience

of public, the nearest train station is near

to Subang Parade via KTM commuter to

visit the shop.

Competitors

2. Café 55

Café 55 is located at the intersection

of Chulia street ad Stewart Lane in

Georgetown. It offers

Mediterranean- inspired cuisine in

an informal setting. The heritage

café opens daily for breakfast from

8 o’clock to 11 o’clock in the

morning and it is closed during

lunch time but reopens at 2 o’clock

in the afternoon until 9 o’clock at

night. The environment for this café

is relaxing, comprised a mixture of

modern design and traditional

design. It is revived from a prewar

house into a heritage unit.The café

is famous for its 3D coffee which

made the café stands out from the

others. Their 3D coffee is unique in

Penang and the idea of it has attract

new customer to the café. The price

of the coffee range from RM6 to

RM 15. Their top sellers are Café

Latte with Biscotti, Caramel

Macchiato and Chocolate Chips.

They also serve nice tapas. Café 55

is a nice spot for gathering and

reading as the environment is cozy.


3. Cosans Coffee

Located same row as Canai in SS15,

Cosans Coffee is a more deep-pocketed

coffee house that strives for soothing

slickness in a calculated, crowd-pleasing

fashion. Cosans Coffee serves good,

mild coffee with the foam which is

always perfectly steamed, that gives us a

great texture of drinking it as well as the

nice mocha in terms of taste and texture.

The menu for coffee and other

beverages is extensive, covering items

such as chocolate, smoothies and teas as

well as frappe. They also want to fulfill

customer’s taste needs by producing a

selection of delicious foods such as

dessert and other delectable treats.

Cosans Coffee is an ancient British

designed cafe which is considerably

spacious, classy, and stylish. Despite its

large capacity, it is often full house at

the weekend's midnight and additional

table & seats will be placed in the aisle

outside. Although it is a bit pricey in

comparing with other cafes, but its

quality and the portion given might

worth

Competitors

3. The Mugshot Café

The Mugshot café is located at

Chulia street in Georgetwon. It is a

rustic and rather hip café. The

location of the café is excellent

because it is situated beside the

Rainforest Bakery which is famous

for their bakeries, customers would

come to the Mugshot Café to have

some coffee in the morning. The

operating hours for the café is from

8o’clock in the morning to 9

o’clock at night. The café is famous

for its excellent coffee and freshly

made Bagel Muffins. Their coffee

price range from RM6 to RM 12

whereas the Bagel muffins cost

RM10 per piece, which is rather

expensive. The nice interior and

cozy setting of the café has gained

them a lot of loyal customers.


Coffee Cottage competes with all the above cafes in terms of locations, which is SS15. SS15 is easily accessible via Federal Highway and New Pantai Expressway (NPE). It is also just minutes away from the townships of Petaling Jaya such as Bandar Sunway, Ara Damansara and Bandar Utama. However, there are around approximately 48 coffee shops open in SS15 and 8 coffee shops within one row of shop lots. This diverts the attention of customers because every customers have their own choices of favour to hang out.The strategy that Coffee Cottage used to compete with other coffee shops is through the outstanding theme of the cafe. Coffee Cottage has a natural unique selling point which is, Cats are free to prowl the cat area of the café, and can be groomed and petted. Customers can also buy food for the cats, and eat alongside the five friendly kitties. It is not a pure-breed cat café but both a cat and coffee café, and aims to serve both the pet lover as well as those who just want a meal and coffee. Besides of that, Coffee Cottage also serves coffee and cake at the basis of medium range price range from RM 7 to Rm 16. This is due to most of the customers are university students with low economic condition and are hence less affordable.Today, Coffee Cottage is one of the popular cafe in SS15, it is full of crowd especially at night. The customers favor this smaller, independent establishments that offer cozy atmosphere and good coffee at affordable prices.

Strategies used In order to compete with the other coffee shops in Georgetown, Wheeler’s coffee applied few strategies to attract more customers. Firstly, unlike the other cafes, they provide set lunch for the customers but only on weekdays. Their set lunch consist of a main course, choices of drinks and free ice cream. The set lunch only costs about RM 16 – RM20, which is at a reasonable price. They provide set lunch only on weekdays because there are more students and working people. The pricing for their coffee are at normal price, not too expensive but affordable, which is from RM 5 to RM15. Thus, customers get to enjoy quality coffee at a reasonable price. Wheeler’s Coffee serves their cakes in an aesthetical manner, where they draw drawings on the serving plate. This can attract attention of the customers. Secondly, the decoration of the café also attract customers, especially tourist and bike lovers. Wheeler’s café used countless bicycles as decorations. There are many group posters about coffee and bike hanged on the wall and some of the chairs are designed like the seat of the bicycle. There are a few sections in the café, a section that can accommodate for group gatherings, dart machine section, a section for people to host small events and a section which is open air for smokers. People think that the arrangement of section has restored some privacy for them. Great lightings and nice furniture have also attracted many young people nowadays because of the trend, which is taking the photos of food and beverage and post them on social medias like Instagram. Next, Wheeler’s Coffee provides several services to satisfy and attract customers. For example, Dart Machine, it is an entertainment service where customers get to enjoy their meals while playing. The next service is bike rental which suits the theme of the café. Tourist get to rent their bike from the café to cycle around Georgetown. Wheeler’s coffee also provide free wifi service for their customers so that they could surf the Internet at the shop. Lastly, the café allows people to host small events like birthday parties at the second floor of the café. The staffs are helpful to decorate the area if requested. Last but not least, the owner of the café hires experience coffeemaker and chef to produce quality and delicious food. This is to ensure that the coffee that they brewed are at a good standard which the customers are satisfied with it. They also hires good chef with good cooking ability to create an enjoyable dining experience for the patrons.


It is hard for businessman who wish to open a

new cafe in SS15, they face a lot of obstacles

from market to financial and management. In

terms of market risk, there are already a group

of potential customers locked up by

competitors, this will be difficult to gain

customer momentum. This is because the

market in SS15 is overly saturated with 48

cafes providing the same services and products

which can be detrimental to a new business’

ability to gain significant market share.

Besides of that, the financial standing of a

business can often make or break a company’s

ability to succeed. New business owners tend

to fail financial projections planning or create

working budgets. Sufficient capital is

necessary to pay for the owner’s living

expenses until the business turns a profit. In

addition, most coffee shops need inventory,

brewing equipment for coffee beans,

decorations in the cafe to run effectively.

The organizational structure of a new business

is another risk in starting a new business. New

business owners with little or no management

experience face significant challenges in

running a coffee shop. Entrepreneurs who need

to hire a manager to lead the cake bakers,

barista and cashier work in the cafe.

Obstacles faced One of the main obstacles to start a new

café in Georgetown, Penang is the

increase of competition in that area. There

are a lot of cafes in Georgetown,

approximately 58 of them. Each of the

cafes has their unique style and special

features. As a result, they have to compete

from their pricing, advertising and quality

of products. Some of the cafes that are not

able to be at par with those famous cafes

will lose a huge amount of customers.

Thus, the cafes in Georgetown will have

to keep up with the current trend and

always update themselves in order to

survive in the market.

Another obstacle is finding the right and

experienced staff. Thus, in this market,

the right staff would be the chef and the

coffeemakers. They are the ones that are

in charge of the distribution of food to the

customers. Hence, it is important to get

the right staffs who are skilled and

professional in this area. Despite high

employment, many cafes struggle to find

the right talent with the skills that they

wanted for their business. Finding the

right staff would definitely attract more

customers as the quality of food is higher

and customers would be highly satisfied

with the food. Wheeler’s coffee’s

coffeemaker and chef are experienced.

However, there are less number of them.


Nature of Market

Coffee Cottage’s and Wheeler’s Coffee’s market conditions areknown as oligopolistic competition.

This is a situation where a handful of large firms account for a relatively large market share. This is

due to there are various cafe in the same area selling similar products and all the coffee shop

businesses equal of size.

Apart from that, customer focus is also one of the marketing strategy used. They receive comments

from customers and improve from it so that the cafe satisfies the needs or wants of the customers.

For example, Coffee Cottage provide sandwiches and pastries after being requested by the customer

whereas Wheeler’s Coffee provide spaghetti and other main course to increase the choices of food.


SUMMARY TABLE

COFFEE COTTAGE WHEELER’S COFFEE

SIMILARITIES

CAT THEMED THEMED CAFE BICYCLE THEMED

MARCH, 2014 ESTABLISHED IN YEAR 2014 JUNE, 2014

WEDNESDAY - MONDAY12 PM - 12 AM CLOSED ON EVERY TUESDAY

WEEKDAYS 9 AM - 10 PMWEEKENDS9 AM - 12 AM

PARTNERSHIP OF FOUR OWNERSHIP PARTNERSHIP OF TWO

DIFFERENCES

SS15, SUBANG JAYA , SELANGOR , MALAYSIA LOCATION LOVE LANE, GEORGETOWN ,

PENANG , MALAYSIA

TO BRING IN THE UNIQUE CULTURE FROM OVERSEAS MISSION TO PROMOTE CYCLING

CULTURE AMONG PEOPLE

YOUNGSTERS ( UNIVERSITY STUDENTS)

PET LOVERSTARGET MARKET

STUDENTSTOURISTS

YOUNGSTERS

• FOOD AND CATERING• CATERS STRESS-FREE

ENVIRONMENT• ANIMALS INTERACTING

ENVIRONMENT

NATURE OF BUSINESS

• PROMOTE ADVANTAGES OF COFFEE

• SELLS COFFEE, BAKED GOODS AND FOOD

• TO PROMOTE BICYCLE CULTURE

• BIKE RENTAL SERVICES

• UNIQUE SHOP • CURRENTLY ONLY THREE

CAT THEMED CAFE FOUND IN KLANG VALLEY

• VERY HARD TO FIND IN MALAYSIA

• HUGE VARIETIES OF FOOD AND BEVERAGES

• ANIMAL INTERACTING ENVIRONMENT

STRATEGIES

• PROVIDES INFORMATION ON PROCESS OF MAKING

COFFEE• PROVIDES SET LUNCH

DURING WEEKDAYS• DRAWING BESIDE CAKES TO

ATTRACT ATTENTION• PROVIDES ENTERTAINMENT

SUCH AS BICYCLE RENTAL AND DART MACHINES

• UNIQUE INTERIOR DESIGN• BY USING PARTS OF

BICYCLE AND BICYCLE AS PARTS OF THE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR DESIGN

RANGE BETWEEN RM 7 - RM 18

MOSTLY ARE PRICED BETWEEN RM 12 - RM 13

PRICINGRANGE BETWEEN RM 5- RM 15

* ALCHOHOLIC DRINKS NOT INCLUDED *

THROUGH CHARITY ADVERTISING METHOD THROUGH DESIGN


Which is more commercially successful?

Based on our analysis, we found that Wheeler’s Coffee is more commercially successful firstly

because of its location in Penang, where Georgetown is a famous tourist spot in Penang. Secondly,

their financial status is more stable because they owned a two storey shoplot compared to Coffee

Cottage which is located above another shop.


Recommendation for Wheeler’s Coffee

The first recommendation for Wheeler’s Coffee is to hire a live band to perform at night. This can

provide another alternative of night activities for customers. Customers can enjoy listening to the

music from the live band and play dart machine at the same time.

Another recommendation is to increase the choices of food in the menu. This is to provide more

choices of food for customers to choose and for the regular customers, they will not feel bored

eating the same food again.

Recommendation for Coffee Cottage

The first recommendation to improve competitiveness among Coffee Cottage is to promote monthly

featured flavours. Customer’s curiosity about the flavour can more coffee. Pumpkin Pie at

Halloween, Red Hot Cinnamon on Valentine’s Day, Egg Nog on New Year’s Day are some of the

suggested nifty names.

Secondly, the another improvement is to offer package deals. Offer a package deal which includes

popular items bundled together at a lower price than the individual items can make it easier for the

customers. Breakfast Wakeup Special of a cake and a coffee, or an Afternoon Tea for Two Special

of Smoothie and spaghetti. Such packages make the decision making process easier, and easier

makes for more sales.

The last one is special customers club to make them feel important. Your regular customers should

feel appreciated for their faithful patronage of Coffee Cottage. Frequent Customer Special days with

discounts can be offered using the Frequent Customer Card. This can be done by using even a

simple Frequent Customer Card rewarding them with a free drink after purchasing 10 cups of coffee

lets them know that their loyalties are much appreciated which keeps them coming back regularly.


APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - Survey questionnaire and results

1) When was the business founded?

-March 2014

2) Who are the key founders?

-Mr.Warren Lim, owner of Coffee Cottage

3) What prompted the founders to start this business?

-Mr.Warren Lim said the idea sparked when he visited cat cafés in Japan and Korea. It was also a

natural fit with his pet boarding and grooming business that has been running for seven years, as

well as his passion for rescuing stray cats.

4) What are your main products?

-Coffee, Tea, cakes and dessert

5) Who are your customers?

Youngsters (Uni students), Pet lovers

7) How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?

-No branches, however they do have other cottages such as Puppy cottage, Kitten Cottage and also

Groomers Connection.

8) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?

-Recently, we added a few more new members to the feline family. Three quarter of the cats in

Coffee Cottage are rescued cats.

9) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?

-Yes they have. There are 48 different cafes in the area and all of them hold a certain degree of

competiveness to Coffee Cottage. The top 3 competitors would be Espresso Lab, Cossan’s Café,

and Tryst Café.


10) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What

strategies have they used to compete with you?

-For example Cosans café, they invited the famous Ms.Jane Chuck to help them advertise, and we

are at a great disadvantage.

11) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of

knowledge do you need to run this business?

-The owner has to know how to take care of the animals, giving them proper care and medication if

they are sick. Also, the worker has to have certain knowledge of coffee making and latte art.

12) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?

-I think that it is quite difficult to enter the coffee market because there are all kinds of different café

all around the world, with all different kinds of unique and taste food. You have to open a shop that

has your own unique selling point in order to attract customers.

13) How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert

customers away from your competitors?

-This was the question that faced Lim but, luckily, his Country Cottage Cat Café has a natural

unique selling point. Cats are free to prowl the cat area of the café, and can be groomed and petted.

Customers can also buy food for the cats, and eat alongside the five friendly kitties.

14) How often do you release a new product (this assumes the business sells differentiated

products)?

-4 to 6 months


APPENDIX 2: Suggested List of Interview Questions (Non-Exhaustive)

1) When was the business founded?

June 2014

2) Who are the key founders?

Mr. Steven, the owner of coffee Cottage

3) What prompted the founders to start this business?

Mr. Steven said that he wants everyone understand the knowledge of the coffee and also

want to spread the culture of coffee in Malaysia.

4) What are your main products?

Coffee, cakes, desserts and spaghetti

5) Who are your customers?

Youngsters, Tourists and Coffee Lovers

6) How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?

No branches because they want to settle and stable their own café before open any branches

but they not planning to have any branches for their future plans.

7) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?

Recently, we added a few more special desserts for customers and also added more choices

for the set so that customers.

8) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?

Yes, they have. There are full of café around the Love Lane and one of the competitors is

Love&Latte located at the corner of the shop lot. Second would be the Green Town café

located beside of the Wheeler’s coffee cafe and China house located nearby of the Wheeler’s

coffee café.


9) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What

strategies have they used to compete with you?

For example Love&Latte, their café is located at the corner of the shop –lots that attracted a

lot of the tourists before walk pass the Wheeler’s coffee café.

10) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of

knowledge do you need to run this business?

The owner has to know how to make a prefect coffee and understand the coffee bean to

make sure the coffee bean are suitable to make a good coffee for customers. Also, the

worker has to have certain knowledge to make coffee and also making a beautiful latte art.

11) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?

I think that is really tough for me to enter the coffee markets because there are so many

different café all around the world will different kind of delicious foods. We also need to

have the knowledge of the coffee before serve a cup of coffee to customers.


Appendix 2 - Photos

!

The barista is brewing coffee in Wheeler’s Coffee using the machine.


!

Group Photo with the owner of Wheeler’s Coffee, Steven. Picture from left : Low En Huey, Darren

Sia, Steven, Simpson Chin, Lee Yih


!

We are preparing for the interview session at Coffee Cottage.

!

Group Photo of us with the team leader, Alex.


Appendix 3 - Contact Information

1. Wheeler’s Coffee

Steven, Manager.

Phone number : 012-462 0728

2. Coffee Cottage

Alex, Team Leader

Phone number : 03-5613 0078

Email : [email protected]


MINUTES OF THE MEETING

DATE: 8 NOVEMBER 2014

TIME: 12.30PM - 1.00 PM

VENUE: CHILL , TULC

NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUP ROLE

DARREN SIA HANG YIN WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM RESEARCH ON QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED ON THAT DAY

LEE YIH WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM RESEARCH ON QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED ON THAT DAY

LOVIE TEY YIQING WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM RESEARCH ON QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED ON THAT DAY

LOW EN HUEY WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM RESEARCH ON QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED ON THAT DAY

SIMPSON CHIN JIUNN YIH FRIDAY 8AM - 10 AM RESEARCH ON QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED ON THAT DAY

NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY

1 Introduction on brief Whole Team

2 Understand the brief Whole Team

3 Works given out to individual Whole Team




TIME: 3.30 PM - 6.30 PM

VENUE: WHEELER’S COFFEE


DARREN SIA HANG YIN WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM INTERVIEWER

LEE YIH WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM CAMERAWOMAN

LOVIE TEY YIQING WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM LIGHTING

LOW EN HUEY WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM NOTE TAKING

SIMPSON CHIN JIUNN YIH FRIDAY 8AM - 10 AM NOTE TAKING INTERVIEWER


1 Find cafe’s location in Penang Whole Team

2 Read brief Whole Team

3 Starts interview Whole Team




TIME: 12.00 PM - 2.00 PM

VENUE: COFFEE COTTAGE


DARREN SIA HANG YIN WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM CAMERA MAN

LEE YIH WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM INTERVIEWER

LOVIE TEY YIQING WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM LIGHTING

LOW EN HUEY WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM NOTE TAKING

SIMPSON CHIN JIUNN YIH FRIDAY 8AM - 10 AM NOTE TAKING


1 Find cafe’s location in Subang Whole Team

2 Read brief Whole Team

3 Starts interview Whole Team




TIME: 10.00 AM - 5PM

VENUE: CLASSROOM E3.09


DARREN SIA HANG YIN WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM ANALYSE THE COMPETITIONS AMONG ONE OF THE BUSINESS

LEE YIH WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM ANALYSE THE COMPETITIONS AMONG ONE OF THE BUSINESS

LOVIE TEY YIQING WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM REPORT

LOW EN HUEY WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12 PM REPORT

SIMPSON CHIN JIUNN YIH FRIDAY 8AM - 10 AM REPORT


1 Collects Information from everyone Lovie Tey

2 Combination of whole research Whole Team

3 Check works again Whole Team


REFERENCES

1.Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

Published: 1980

Author: Michael E. Porter

2.Advanced Selling Strategies

Author: Brian Tracy

Genres: Economics, Business

3.Business Adventures

Published: 1969

Author: John Brooks

4. Ken Hunts Food.Ken. Retrieved from http://www.kenhuntfood.com/

5. China House. Retrieved from http://www.chinahouse.com.my/

6. Ramli,A . (2012, September 4).Raw and naked: The Coffee evolution. FMT News. P.13

7. Michael, K. (2014, April 7). SS15 is fast becoming a popular destination for those seeking good

coffee. The Star Newspaper, p. 23A.


https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=competitive+strategy+techniques+for+analyzing+industries+and+competitors+published&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgz4HnxCXfq6-gZllbnxOspZ8drKVflJ-frZ-eVFmSUlqXnx5flG2VUFpUk5mcUZqiidbscI0junh_wQDkjfcEBbgdCnMAwCOgvkfTAAAAA&ei=dVV9VJyVBMG_mwXoi4DYDA&ved=0CIoCEOgTKAEwFQ

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https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=brian+tracy&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgzkHnxCXfq6-gUm5pZlhmRIniG2WZJmSpCWTnWyln5Sfn61fXpRZUpKaF1-eX5RtlVhakpFf1Mbsamgrv87aK_te_-26OUs3KD2NBAAWEUttVAAAAA&ei=OFZ9VN2kI6WzmwX7-YCQBA&ved=0CP4BEJsTKAIwDg

https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=advanced+selling+strategies+brian+tracy+genres&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgzIHnxCXfq6-gUm5pZlhmZZwdrKVflJ-fjaYsEpPzStKbTJ5svpznsA1p_lGC9JM_k8qbNObAgBWwMrqQAAAAA&ei=OFZ9VN2kI6WzmwX7-YCQBA&ved=0CIICEOgTKAEwDw

https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=business+adventures+john+brooks+published&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwEHnxC3fq6-gaGhiWl5kbmWfHaylX5Sfn62fnlRZklJal58eX5RtlVBaVJOZnFGaopBTSpv_SaunKuh7z_MaKgtmrKXSQUA8oDY6U0AAAA&ei=4VZ9VNCoM8btmQWvnIKIBA&sqi=2&ved=0CPsBEOgTKAEwEw

https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=business+adventures+john+brooks+author&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgy4HnxC3fq6-gaGhiWl5kbmWTHaylX5Sfn62fnlRZklJal58eX5RtlViaUlGfpHR4z6GcsWvLS8lVRaKVf3QFTh5pBMAaeLuH0oAAAA&ei=4VZ9VNCoM8btmQWvnIKIBA&sqi=2&ved=0CP8BEOgTKAEwFA

https://www.google.com.sg/search?sa=X&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=814&q=john+brooks+author&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgyUHnxC3fq6-gaGhiWl5kbkSF4hjmmycZ56nJZOdbKWflJ-frV9elFlSkpoXX55flG2VWFqSkV-k-XT-46iLDM9UbDtneUgfyr_jefs4AC-xx_FWAAAA&ei=4VZ9VNCoM8btmQWvnIKIBA&sqi=2&ved=0CIACEJsTKAIwFA

http://www.kenhuntfood.com/

http://www.chinahouse.com.my/

epc business comparing report

Education

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