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Sirena Frost

Professor Kompa

PRS 352-Research, Planning & Evaluation

Final Research Project

13 November 2015

1. Problem Definition

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is an artisan ice-cream company known for its creative flavors and high-quality ingredients. They are based in Columbus, Ohio and sell ice cream pints all across the U.S. In 2015, the FDA discovered listeria, a form of bacteria, in Jeni’s production areas. From there, Jeni’s had to stop production for almost two months and take preventative measures to be able to open their doors once again. Jeni’s knows that their sales have been impacted by this incident, but they don’t know how consumers really feel about their products. If they can discover how customers view their company, then maybe they will be able to change people’s perceptions and increase sales.

Management Decision Problem- What can Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams do to stop their company from being associated with the 2015 listeria outbreak?

Marketing Research Problem- The marketing research problem is to determine the consumer’s perception of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. More specifically,

a.) What is the source from which the consumer was informed of the listeria outbreak?

b.) Where does the consumer buy ice cream from instead?

c.) Why have some customers decided to stay loyal to Jeni’s?

A. Approach to the Problem

Theory- Those who no longer purchase from Jeni’s still fear a listeria outbreak.

RQ1: Where did the consumers get their information about Jeni’s listeria outbreak?

H1: Read posts on social media

H2: Word of mouth

H3: Stayed up-to-date with a legitimate news source

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RQ2: Where does the consumer spend their money instead?

H1: Visits competing ice cream vendors like Grater’s

H2: Buys ice cream from the store

H3: Opts for an entirely new snack

RQ3: Why have some customers remained loyal to Jeni’s?

H1: Not informed of the outbreak

H2: Values the feel of the Jeni’s brand

RQ4: How large of an impact does the media have on consumers?

H1: Consumers base decisions off of what the media projects

H2: Consumers decisions are unaffected by the media

Information Needed for Component 1: Media sources that covered the listeria outbreak.

Information Needed for Component 2: Jeni’s competitors.

Information Needed for Component 3: Ratings of Jeni’s brand, image and product. Attitudes toward the company.

B. Selected Research Design

Focus groups are essential to solving Jeni’s image problem. One focus group will be composed of loyal Jeni’s customers. The second focus group will be made up of consumers who once ate at Jeni’s, but has not since the listeria outbreak. The third focus group will include people who have never ate at Jeni’s and still refuses to. From there we will decide if a depth interview will be of use. Word association and sentence completion is another way to unearth the underlying reasons as to why people no longer eat Jeni’s ice cream. Observation is also key to discovering what consumers are spending their money at or where they are spending the most time at.

C. Population and Sampling

This type of research involves mostly focus groups. For the sake of this project and time constrictions we will not include any more than two people per focus group. We will use quota sampling and our control characteristics will be those who continue to eat Jeni’s, consumers who have ate at Jeni’s and no longer do and those who have never ate at Jeni’s.

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D. Data Collection Method

The majority of this research involved focus groups. There are three focus groups composed of two individuals each. The second part of this research involves a survey that contains a mixture of unstructured, structured and dichotomous questions. The survey also includes Likert scales and was distributed in person.

Example of Survey:

1.) Have you ever purchased from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

a.) Yes

b.) No

2.) If yes, how frequently?

a.) Less than 5 times a year

b.) 1-4 times a month

c.) 5 or more times a month

3.) When was the last time you purchased from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

a.) Less than 1 week ago

b.) Between 1 week and 1 month ago

c.) Between 1 month and 6 months ago

d.) Over 6 months ago

4.) Are you aware of the listeria at Jeni’s factories in spring of 2015?

a.) Yes

b.) No

5.) If yes, what source of media did you receive information about the outbreak?

a.) News Channel

b.) Social Media

c.) Newspaper

d.) Other

6.) Has the outbreak affected the frequency of your purchases at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

a.) Yes

b.) No

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7.) Has the outbreak affected the way you view Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams as a responsible business?

On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being the worst and 10 being the best…

8.) How would you rate Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams overall?

The Worst The Best

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9.) How would you rate the quality of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

The Worst The Best

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10.) How would you rate the value of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams products?

The Worst The Best

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Focus Group Questions

1.) Let’s do a quick round of introductions. Can each of you tell the group your name and where you are from?

2.) Have you ever made a purchase from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

3.) If yes, when was the last time you purchased from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

4.) If no, is there a particular reason as to why you have never made a purchase from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

5.) Do you prefer another ice cream vendor as opposed to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

6.) Are you aware of the listeria outbreak that occurred at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams factories in spring of 2015?

7.) If yes, do you remember what source of media informed you about the listeria outbreak?

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8.) Has the listeria outbreak affected your purchases from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

9.) Has the listeria outbreak affected the way you view Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams?

E. Data Analysis

To process and draw conclusions from the collected data, a frequency distribution chart was created.

Usage and Attitude Toward Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

No. User Group Sex Attitude1 3 1 92 1 1 53 2 1 34 3 2 105 1 2 56 1 1 37 2 2 28 2 2 49 1 2 510 1 1 411 3 1 812 3 1 913 2 2 514 1 2 515 3 2 816 3 1 717 3 1 1018 1 1 419 2 2 320 2 2 2

User Group: Sex:

1= Never been to Jeni’s 1= Male

2= Used to go to Jeni’s, but does not anymore 2= Female

3= Still goes to Jeni’s

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Frequency Distribution of Attitude Toward Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

Value Label Value Frequency PercentageThe Worst 1 0 0%

2 2 10%3 3 15%4 3 15%5 5 25%6 0 0%7 1 5%8 2 10%9 2 10%

The Best 10 2 10%

F. Results

The fact that Jeni’s was honest about their situation from the beginning really resonated with some of the consumers and their honesty was mentioned in three of the surveys and was discussed in two of the focus groups. However, there are still quite a few consumers who believe that Jeni’s ice cream is not worth the risk of ingesting listeria or another form of bacteria. Most of the respondents that still purchase from Jeni’s replied that they have forgotten about the entire outbreak. The survey also indicated that there was only one person who was unaware of the entire crisis. The largest find from the research was that both people who still eat at Jeni’s and people who did eat at Jeni’s reported that the business is no longer the hot commodity that it was several months ago. They no longer hear about Jeni’s through word-of-mouth.

G. Limitations and Caveats

One limitation of this research plan was the number of people used for each focus group was not enough to get an accurate report. There was a lot of time spent trying to find these specific people to use in these focus groups. Thus could lead to not only a loss of time, but of money as well. Another problem is that this research design may not have focused on the right topic. The data collected seemed to point toward more of a brand issue than anything.

H. Conclusions and Recommendations

It appears that Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams has been forgotten all together. They must up their game when it comes to selling their brand. That means keeping their social media updated, revamping their website, starting new promotions and getting their name in the news again, but for a more positive reason this time. They should also keep up their honest policy as well. In the future, they should explore their brand and how they connect with the consumer.