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Indianola High School 1304 E 1st Ave.

Indianola, IA, 50125 February 6, 2017

Hospitality

and Tourism

Operations

Research

Event

Indianola DECA

Tyler Piper and Maddie Post

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................... 1

Introduction ................................................................................................. 2

A. Description of Business ............................................................................................................. 2

B. Description of Community ......................................................................................................... 3

C. Overview of the business or organization’s current promotional strategies and practices ....... 5

Research Methods Used in this Study ........................................................ 5

A. Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct the search study ... 5

B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods ....................................................... 10

Findings and Conclusions of Study ........................................................... 12

A. Findings of Research Study .................................................................................................... 12

B. Conclusions Based on Findings .............................................................................................. 13

Proposed Strategic Plan ........................................................................... 14

A. Objectives and Rationale of Proposed Strategic Plan ............................................................ 14

B. Proposed Activities and Timeline ............................................................................................ 17

C. Proposed Metrics or Key Performance Indicators to Measure Plan of Effectiveness ............. 25

Proposed Budget ...................................................................................... 25

Bibliography .............................................................................................. 27

Appendix ................................................................................................... 28

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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Business Overview: The Hurts Donut franchise was created with the intention to bring creatively designed

donuts and construct an environment that excites all customers. The Hurts location of West Des Moines exemplifies this specific concept. With constant overwhelming wait lines, Hurts is continuously producing thousands of donuts each day. With this newly found extrinsic business concept and production of novelty items, Hurts provides the community with a tasteful delicacy.

Research Methods Used in Study: Prior to any proposal we utilized secondary and primary research methods to effectively comprehend current marketing strategies conducted by Hurts. We analyzed the franchise as a whole along with this specific Hurts location. Conducting this research gave us a full understanding of Hurts strengths and what proposals we could recommend to strengthen their weaknesses.

Primary Research:

Multiple Business Visits Customer Survey Manager Interviews

Findings and Conclusions:

Lack of social media A mobile app would be beneficial for customers Customers are in favor of more locations Being a mobile and flexible business would hit a larger target market

Proposed Strategies:

1. Create social Media

Platforms 2. School based enterprises

3. Create local vendor

programs

4. Establish catering services

5. Launch a mobile phone

application

6. Improve the in-store

design and set up

Our Mission: To implement an effective course of action that utilizes Social, Local and Mobile aspects. Providing Hurts the opportunity to stand out in the community as an exceptional business with the SoLoMo image.

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II. INTRODUCTION

A. Description of Business

Hurts Donuts is a specialty donut shop that is open around the clock, 24 hours a day and

seven days a week. Co-owners, Kas and Tim Clegg, founded the first Hurts Donut shop in

2013, in Springfield Missouri. Right from the beginning

Hurt’s was a huge, hit selling more than $2,000 in sales on

opening day. To keep up with demand Clegg decided that

he would bring the donuts to his customers. He turned an

ambulance into what he called a “Hurts Donut Wham-

bulance”. Clegg, alone, sold $100,000 worth of donuts in a year just from using the wham-

bulance.

On December 7, 2016 Hurts Donuts expanded to West Des Moines, IA. Opening a shop

on Mills Civic Parkway, a highly populated part of Des Moines. The donut shop is owned and

managed by Kyle Howard, wife Cyndi Howard, brother Tyler Howard, Paige Arthur, and David

Barton. Besides the managers a majority of the workers hired are high school students. Kyle

Howard says, “There’s nothing that compares to our donuts because they are made from

scratch.” Every day around 5,000 donuts are made from scratch and sold to hundreds of

customers. The donut selection rotates through a variety of 70 donuts with 40-50 available at

one time. The West Des Moines location is fortunate to be one of the few locations to have a

Hurts wham-bulance that allows them to take donuts by the dozens to surrounding towns. When

I sat down with the owner I initially asked him where the name Hurts Donuts originated. He gave

me a light nudge on the shoulder and said, “Hurts don’t it (donut)?”

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B. Description of Community

Economic Data:

The community of West Des Moines has a broad diversity of economics, which thrives

from smaller, specialized business to national retail chains, relating to every customer’s needs.

Small restaurants, boutiques, and nightlife facilities add an increased experience to the

residents of the Des Moines metropolitan area. West Des Moines and

Des Moines are nationally recognized as one of the wealthiest places

to live in the United States, by Today.com. “Des Moines, where

regular folk can live the rich life.” Forbes Magazine also called it the

best city for business careers to flourish. This has given the

community, the confidence in consumers and making it the economic

and financial center in Iowa. Des Moines is on the rise to becoming one of the largest economic

centers, in the Midwest. Due to this positive economic climate, it allows both the customers and

producers to buy with confidence and to thrive in the community.

Geographic Data:

Hurts Donuts is located in West Glen Town Center, in West Des Moines. West Glen has

become one of the premier shopping destination in the state,

and has grown exponentially since the first business was

established in 2006. This center has flourished in the past

years by constructing brand new high end apartments, exotic

restaurants and bakeries, such as Hurts Donuts, along with

large and local retailers. Two of the state's largest high

schools, Waukee and West Des Moines Valley, are located just minutes away. This provides a

large target market for families and teens searching for popular hangout destinations.

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Demographics:

Research conducted for this project was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. Hurts

Donuts is located in West Des Moines, a city that is divided by I-35 and hosts several diverse

high schools. West Des Moines has 63,325 inhabitants and a median household of income of

79,719. This is compared to the national average of 53,657, placing West Des Moines just

above the middle class. With the household income and an unemployment rate of 2.6% the

community is able to experience wealth and prosperity in a thriving environment.

Socioeconomic:

To better understand the socio economic status, of the residents in West Des Moines,

we decided to research the residents living in the community. We were able to discover three

primary resident types the showed the diversity, of these residents in West Des Moines. The

three groups are described below.

Adventurous youth - These residents are the youth of America looking for thrill. They are

the students and graduates that come from high income families. They spend money on the

latest technology and seek the latest trends in the marketplace. They support brand name

clothing, frequent high end coffee shops or bakeries, dine out and enjoy local nightlife and social

scenes.

Modern Day Family - This group of residents are the families that live in the upper

middle class, purchase upscale products and are ethnically diverse. They are college educated,

earning a degree and mainly working white collar jobs. They spend their money pleasing their

kids and buying new technology, food, pets and saving for retirement.

Conservative Brains - This group includes the movers and shakers of the community.

They have the highest degree of education and are professionals in the community. They spend

their money on the things that are going to benefit them. They have disposable income to

splurge on items when they want to. However, this group has a tendency to be more practical

and invest rather than spend.

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C. Overview of the business or organization’s current promotional strategies and

practices

Hurts Donuts does all of their promoting through their Facebook page. With over 26,000

likes and followers they are able to hit a majority of their target market through this social media

device. With all the new donuts constantly being released, Facebook is a great source for

customers to receive information in regards to this. With every holiday in the year Hurts makes

unique, festive donut available for that day only. As the dates approach, Hurts blasts out the big

announcement all over Facebook for days, creating anticipation in their customers. Not only do

they promote specialty donuts through Facebook, but they allow their followers to pick the

location for the wham-bulance. The managers choose a town and a date they want to visit with

the wham-bulance and post about it on Facebook. From there, the followers get to pick the

location at which the wham-bulance will be parked. In occasions like this Hurts the main

attraction, selling a minimum of 100 dozen donuts with the visit. Events like this is where they

gain a vast majority of their new dedicated customers from new locations.

As for other methods of promotion they are very restricted on what they are able to do.

Much of the promoting and marketing decision are made through corporate. They do not feel it

is necessary to spend money promoting their company because their current marketing

strategies have been effective without the expenditure.

III. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY

A. Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct

the search study

The objective of our research was to analyze the current social, local, and mobile

strategies implemented in Hurts marketing strategy. In order to complete this task we

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sat down, as partners, along with our advisor and managers from Hurts, to determine

what each of us wanted to achieve. As a group we proposed multiple ideas across a

variety of marketing strategies in order to establish a specific goal. The goal we set for

ourselves was to create the most detailed analysis for Hurts to establish a greater

representation in the community in the aspects of social, local, and mobile. We began

by conducting secondary research to gain a better understanding of current marketing

strategies amongst businesses in the

community along with the surrounding

areas. We were not focused on

researching direct competitors in this

process because we first wanted to

analyze the current marketing culture

amongst the community.

Secondary Research & Rationale

Research Method Rationale

Online marketing and partnership

websites: To gain a quality understanding of current strategies of local businesses and their social, local and mobile presence. We also searched research experts in the field and utilized existing marketing models to become educated on how to utilize technology to increase a social, local and mobile image. We analyzed the successes and failures and created a pool of possible strategies that could be effective.

Figure 1: Maddie and Tyler conducting secondary research in their marketing class

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Online review and blog sites:

Desmoinesregister.com

Tripadvisor.com

Yelp.com

Facebook.com

We researched online blogs and review sites to establish an idea of what consumers were saying about Hurts. We also wanted to find what consumers are looking for in a community business and what they expect when making a purchase.

Primary Research & Rationale:

After we were able to establish a current understanding of quality marketing

strategies and what consumers were searching for, we were then able to direct our

attention towards conducting our primary research. We got back together as a team to

determine what primary research method would best suit our inquiry. We then

determined that we would visit Hurts location several times, create a survey, and finally

conducted multiple interviews with several managers.

Business Visit:

This visit included a personal interview with owner and manager, Kyle Howard.

Mr. Howard expressed his concern about the lack of freedom they have to operate as

an individual store. Because the corporation has specific restrictions on advertising and

production, he questions if his business is reaching its full capacity. Mr. Howard

provided us with the opportunity to construct a strategy where we propose efficient

solutions to become more actively involved in the SoLoMo aspect. Along with this

opportunity, he allowed us to enjoy some tasty, and we emphasize tasty donuts to

devour. While constantly licking our fingers clean, we decided to observe and note the

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actions of eager customers waiting in line and what donuts they were eyeing in the

perfectly stacked cases.

Survey:

As we were compiling a list of

possible proposals, in the unique design of

Hurts, we were constantly overhearing

conversations of the hungry consumers.

We knew that we needed to get responses

from the people. To complete this task we

pooled together a group of questions

designed to fit a survey for those who

have been to hurts donuts and those who

have not yet had this opportunity to

consume such delicacy. As we wanted to

keep our inquiry brief, there was much

discussion between us and the owners of

which questions were to be eliminated.

We established our questions, keeping them simple and brief to gather the best results

possible. With further fine-tuning we created a final copy of our survey that would be

distributed the first week of January.

Primary Research:

Business Visit

Hurts Donuts - West Des Moines

Iowa

Survey

350+ responses from Hurts

customers and noncustomers

Personal Interviews

- Mr. Kyle Howard, Owner/

manager Hurts Donut

- Mrs. Cyndi Howard, manager

Hurts Donut

- Mr. David Barton, on site

manager Hurts Donut

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Personal Interviews:

We conducted three additional interviews in order to understand what it is like to

be a part of this Hurts culture. We also wanted to learn what current and future plans

they had to increase their SoLoMo image.

Interview #1 Mr. Kyle Howard, Owner/Manager Hurts Donuts

Rationale:

❖ To gain background knowledge on what restrictions corporate applies to each

individual store.

❖ To understand the current management system implement in the workplace

❖ To learn about the direct competition in the community

Interview #2 Mrs. Cyndi Howard, Manager Hurts Donuts

Rationale:

❖ To understand the reasoning behind being open 24 hours

❖ To obtain current usage of social media sites

❖ To learn more about the current pricing strategies

Interview #3 Mr. David Barton, on site manager and supervisor Hurts Donuts

Rationale:

❖ To obtain data of production of donuts

❖ To understand what is done with the leftover donuts

❖ To learn about the current culture amongst employees.

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B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods

Survey: Before we established a final draft for our survey we wanted to ensure

that our survey would produce the best possible results; in order to help us create a

quality proposal. We decided that we wanted to construct two separate surveys, that

way those who have been to Hurts would fill out a survey different from those who have

not been to Hurts. Mr. Howard approved of our final design but he noted that it would be

difficult to direct people to each specific site. So with the aid of our technology advisor

we created just one survey that anyone could take the same survey. We were able to

program it in such a way that when someone answered a question, for example: Have

you ever been to a Hurts Donut location? If you answered yes it would take

you to a specific part of the survey. If you answered no, then it would take you to

another part of the survey. The survey was broken up into three

parts overall; so you have been to hurts - Haven't been to hurts -

General experience. Once we created a final draft, we sent it to a

select few educators, to get their approval on grammatical and

content review. Upon approval we distributed the survey across

multiple platforms. It was distributed on our personal accounts of

Snapchat and Twitter. We also sent it to ten local high schools

along with a few responses from other parts of the country. We

received over 350 responses in a 4 day time period.

Personal Interviews: We began our interview process by creating questions that

we thought would help us gather the best information for our research. After we

developed multiple series of questions, we would then schedule personal interviews

Figure 2: This is an example of the different sections from the survey. The entire survey is provided in the appendix

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held at Hurts. Along with the pre developed questions we gave a brief description of our

project, which led to suggestions and insightful answers. Listed below are the objectives

of each interview and sample questions that were asked.

Interview #1 Mr. Kyle Howard, Owner/Manager Hurts Donuts

Research Technique: We scheduled multiple meetings with Mr. Howard, not only to

enjoy delicious donuts every time, but rather discuss the location and current strategies

used at the Hurts location in West Des Moines.

Sample Questions

❖ When you picked the location you are in now, what factors did you look for?

❖ What you current management system and who do you look to employee?

❖ Do you think having Hurts open 24/7 is effective?

❖ Is there any direct competition that you compete with?

❖ How do you balance being an individual store vs being a franchise location?

Interview #2 Mrs. Cyndi Howard, Manager Hurts Donuts

Research Technique: We met with Mrs. Howard at Hurts along with multiple phone

interviews. The main focus of this meeting was to gain a perspective of what this

location is doing to create an individual image, for the corporation, in the community

(SoLoMo).

Sample Questions

❖ Do you use current social media sites such as snapchat, Instagram, Facebook,

or twitter?

❖ Do you have a mobile app?

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❖ How do you price your donuts? Is it done locally or on the corporate level?

❖ How often do you utilize the Whambulance? And what are the requirements

needed to operate this vehicle?

❖ Do you and your employees have a slogan or saying?

Interview #3 Mr. David Barton, on site manager and supervisor Hurts Donuts

Research Technique: We met with Mr. Barton at Hurts just as we did with the previous

managers. The purpose of this interview was to gather information regarding production

at this location.

Sample Questions

❖ How many donuts do you produce in a single day

❖ If there are any leftovers, what do you do with them?

❖ How do you chose which donuts to make? And when to make them?

❖ When lines get long, how do you ensure that consumer wait time is cut down to

minimal?

❖ What is the purpose to allow customers to look through windows where you are

making the donuts?

IV. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

A. Findings of the research study

Our most shocking discovery from the survey was that 86% of people had heard of Hurts

before, but only 35% of those people have actually been to hurts. And 90% of the people to

have visited Hurts have only been to one Hurts Donut location. We found that only 30% of the

respondents live less than 20 miles within the location for Hurts Donuts. The survey also

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provided us with the information that if Hurts was more spread out through the area then 84% of

the respondent feel they would eat a Hurts donut more often.

When it came to the marketing portion of the survey, much information was gathered to

help conclude that the current strategies being used may not be as successful as the managers

thought. According to the survey, Facebook was the social media is where the fewest people

saw any promoting from other customers. Close to 75% of respondents claimed to have seen

donuts from Hurts through Snapchat, which is why we were surprised to discover that Hurts

doesn’t have Snapchat. It also became evident that a majority of the respondents would follow

Hurts on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. When we asked customers if they would follow

Hurts donuts social media accounts only 27% said no.

B. Conclusions based on findings

With social media being the up and coming thing in today’s society it would be prudent to

have social media in every form available. A majority of the survey respondents approved the

idea of more social media for Hurts, and a high number of people feel they would follow the

social media pages. Since Hurts Donuts has a very wide target market, it is crucial that we have

social media that will hit the eyes of everyone. We don’t want to exclude the idea of any social

media page, because social media is the fastest way to get information out to the most number

of people possible. It is important that we don’t overwhelm our customers with new social media

all at one time, so it would be most beneficial to ease into the process and spread it out

throughout a reasonable time frame.

A majority of the people coming into Hurts are high school students, but what if we

brought the donuts to them? Bringing donuts to schools to sell before, during, and after school

wouldn’t only be convenient for the students, but also Hurts. One of our main goals is to

increase the target market. This could be done by selling donuts in new locations, making it

easier for people to get a Hurts donut. The survey gave us insight that customers would enjoy

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eating a donut in different type of environment. Catering events like weddings, graduation

parties, sporting events, and etc. would be a great opportunity to get a donut in the hands of

people who have yet to taste the goodness of a Hurts donut.

The best way to get important information to dedicated customers is through a mobile

app. From the survey it became evident that people didn’t feel like they were aware of the

donuts currently being sold. Creating a mobile app would allow Hurts to communicate to their

customers about new and upcoming donuts that they won’t want to miss. Hurts also has

specialty donuts that are only available for one day, and with one notification people could be

coming in by the dozens just to get the specialty. A mobile app would be give customers an

idea of what donuts are being made and how long they will be available for.

V. PROPOSED STRATEGIC PLAN

A. Objectives and rationale of the proposed strategic plan

Our findings and conclusions make it clear that Hurts Donuts could implement changes

to their current marketing strategies that would improve their SoLoMo image as an individual

store in the community. This section highlights the objectives of our strategic plan. We have

used a chart format to divide the social, local and mobile categories. Each chart lists each

objective, planned activity and rationale. We also included short term and long term benefits for

Hurts donuts and we hope to develop this image by implementing these proposals.

Social

Goal 1. Create a social image using by

developing additional media platforms

1. Snapchat

Rationale:

● Based on the results from the survey

question regarding social media

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2. Instagram

3. Twitter

Short-term benefit:

● Increase in awareness

Long-term benefit

● Increase in sales and profit

usage, pictured here to the right. We

determine that a social media

presence would be essential but at

controlled pace.

Local

Goal 1. Establish school enterprises

with leftover donuts

Pilot Schools

1. Valley High School

2. Urbandale High School

3. Ames High School

4. Indianola High School

5. SEP High School

6. Newton High School

Short-term benefit:

● Increase profit possibility from day

old donuts

Long-term benefit:

● More schools across the state =

larger local presences

Rationale:

- Personal interview with Kyle

Howard

● Based on our personal interview

we determined that Mr. Howard

was open to the idea of selling

leftover donuts

at high school if

school policy

allows. We

came up with a list of pilot schools

in the Des Moines area that are

DECA schools and have

experience running school

enterprises.

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Goal 2. Create local vendors at Wells

Fargo Arena

Vendor Program

Short-term benefit:

● Increase profit and image with

local sports teams

Long-term benefit:

● Partner with local sports teams and

increase social image

● Increase in new clientele

Rationale:

- Personal interview with Kyle

Howard

● Mr. Howard expressed his love of

hockey to us in one of our

interviews. So we developed the

idea to sell novelty donuts at Wells

Fargo arena that were designed to

match the colors and mascot of the

teams playing.

Goal 3. Establish catering services

Create a catering program

Short-term benefit:

● Increase image amongst local

events

Long-term benefit:

● Increase in new clientele

● Additional source of profit

Rationale:

● Based on results from the survey

we were able to determine that

over 75% of people live within 50

miles of a Hurts location. We also

determined that there is a large

market, specifically in weddings

and graduation parties, not being

explored by hurts that offers

potential increase in profit and

clientele.

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Mobile

Goal 1. Increase image and sales

Cell Phone App

Short-term benefit:

● Fast and easy accessibility to see

what donuts and deals are offered

● Customer satisfaction

Long-term benefit:

● More downloads, increase in

presences and profit

Rationale:

● Based on current system in place, this

system, would only make it easier for

the consumer to put a name to face. It

is all about convenience for the

consumer.

B. Proposed activities and timeline

This section provides activities and timelines to improve Hurts Donuts SoLoMo

image. Implementing these activities will result in a larger presence in social, local, and

mobile aspects in the community which will ultimately lead to higher sales and profit.

1. Create a social media platform

Hurts Donuts is a unique business, because consumers are going for the

experience. It's the suspense of not knowing what donuts will be placed on the shelves

that continues to bring in customers. It's the feeling you get when you walk into hurts

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and become enchanted by the aroma that keeps you coming back for more. This is

currently why this location does not utilize social media platforms because it relies on

their unique culture. They currently use one platform, Facebook, which has proven to be

effective in advertising special donut days, in addition to posting fun and entertaining

posts relating to their donuts. Even with the minimal amount of posting on Facebook it

has proven to be effective. We feel it is necessary to expand this success to additional

platforms, especially after our survey findings. We however would like to conduct this

process at a decelerated rate creating one account per quarter starting with the second

quarter. The first platform we would create would be a snapchat account. This would be

used to post videos and line wait times that were currently occurring in the store. Then

we would create a twitter account in the third quarter that would post advertising

promotions along with competitions to receive discounted donuts. Then in the final

quarter of 2017 we would create an Instagram account that would post pictures

professionally done by Molly Rogalla with MRogalla Photography of each donut ever

created by Hurts.

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2. Start School based enterprises

When hurts has leftover donuts, they have not yet found a proper way to deal

with excess donuts. They have tried to donate them to the homeless, but there is

specific restrictions on what is allowed to be distributed to the homeless shelters. This

would increase Hurts image tremendously not only for a good cause but ethically it is

the appropriate thing to do. Since we are

not allowed to conduct this process we have

come up with an additional process to

increase the local image. Otis spunk Meyer

is a national sponsor to DECA and offers

school enterprise programs where schools

are allowed to sell their products. We would

like for hurts to try this process with a group of selected pilot schools. These schools

currently all hold DECA chapters and have experience working a school enterprise

system. Indianola High School students currently sell Krispy Kreme donuts once a

month to their students and make a profit from purchasing discounted donuts in bulk. So

the process has proven effective in local high schools and would ultimately increase

Hurts image to thousands of high schoolers just in the Des Moines area. Pictured above

is a pool of possible high schools that could serve as possible school enterprises for

Hurts to explore.

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3. Create a local vendor program

After discussing Mr. Howard’s passion for hockey we put together a proposal that

would partner Hurts with the local professional sports teams. The city of Des Moines

has four major, minor league sports teams; The Barnstorms, Iowa Wild, Iowa Cubs, and

Iowa Energy. We would like to establish a vendor at Wells Fargo arena and the ICubs

stadium. The only donuts that would be sold are donuts that directly relate to each

team. For example the Iowa Cubs are a baseball organization that have the colors red,

white, and blue and have a cub as their mascot. A design could be applied to a donut in

order to create a novelty item at the game. Selling donuts throughout the year at the

various professional sports games will allow Hurts to become an image paired with each

sports team.

4. Begin a catering service

Hurts largest target market, as of now, is high schoolers. Partly because many of the

employees are high schoolers who refer Hurts to their peers, but also because what

teenager doesn't enjoy an oversized donut. After talking to many customers and high

school seniors from local high schools an overwhelming amount said they would without

a doubt have Hurts Donuts at their graduation party if they offered a catering service.

Graduation parties would serve as the perfect new target market for Hurts to develop

their local image. If Hurts was sold at just one senior’s graduation party at a certain

school, the word would rapidly spread and serve as a model for other parties to utilize

Hurts new program. We would also like to expand these services to weddings and

birthday parties. The unique creations of these donuts serves as a different dessert

option then the typical wedding or birthday cake. The beauty of these donuts is that they

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are not made to be consumed specifically in the morning they are a delicacy that can be

consumed at any time of day. Branching out to these new targeted markets would allow

Hurts to create a stronger and more relevant social and local presences in the

community.

5. Launch a Mobile Phone Application

Our research revealed that the main reason people visit Hurts is for the experiences

and of course, the delicious, overwhelming amount of donuts. After discussing with Mr.

Howard he had stated he loves to see long lines, it means business is booming,

however he is concerned with the wait time for customers. We are proposing that Hurts

Donuts invests in a smart phone application to help increase the convenience for

customers. This app will allow for customers to constantly check the wait times along

with what donuts are on sell that day, any special deals that occurring within the month,

and finally a GPS system that directs customers to the nearest Hurts location.

1. Creator: The application will be made with OpenXcell App creator. OpenXcell is

known for their ability to make complex apps into simple and user friendly

interfaces. This along with their guaranteed acceptance into the Apple App store

ensures that Hurts Donuts newly developed application will be very convenient

and easy to use. OpenXcell will be able to develop the app for multiple platforms

such as iOS, android and Blackberry.

2. Purpose: The application will have many purposes, just has we have previously

mentioned, but the main reason for the application will be to increase Hurts

mobile market. Customers will be able utilize the app from anywhere, anytime.

Anytime a consumer is craving a Hurts donut, they are only one click away from

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satisfying their craving. Customers will be able to see wait time lines, that will be

updated hourly, providing the necessary convenience for customers. For

example if an employee is on a lunch break and only has an hour to eat, but

would like to satisfy their craving for a Hurts donut they could check their mobile

app to determine how long the wait is. The app would also include each flavor

that is available for purchase that day and also a menu for the current week. The

app also offers a GPS system that directs the consumer to the nearest Hurts

location no matter if they are in Arizona or Iowa. With the GPS system this

increases Hurts mobile presences in the market tremendously, establishing Hurts

as a business that offers a mobile solution to its customers. Finally the app would

be used to send out notifications of upcoming deals and promotions. With all of

these advantages the app offers it serves as easy convenience for the consumer

as well as establishing a mobile image that Hurts currently does not possess.

Pictured below are examples of pages that would possibly be found on the

mobile app.

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3. Awareness: Part of the success with this app is making sure that Hurts Donuts

customers are aware that this application exists. To ensure this awareness

occurs, it is suggested that in every box that

the donuts are packaged in, includes an image

on the box that advertises the creation of this

application. Pictured to the right is an example

of the advertisement that would be pictured on

the inside of each box. In addition to this marketing solution, we recommend to

post a link on all social media platforms, once they are created. We also

recommend, that for each download, the consumer will receive one free glazed

donut upon their next purchase.

6. Improve in-store set up

To improve the local image of this Hurts location we want to insure that customer

satisfaction is the highest regard. After observing customers after customers line up out

the door we knew we had to come up with a proposal that moved the line quicker. We

recommend that we introduce order cards, which indicate what donuts you would like to

order. A newly added video board should be constructed over the waiting line. This

video board will be used to display the flavors of the day, so that the customers are not

constantly climbing over one another to see what is available for purchase. Along with

the video board we advise to put an attendant at the front entrance with order cards that

serves as a self-serve ordering process. Once the customer reaches the front of the

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line, they will hand the employee their order and the

employee will complete their order. Pictured to the right

is an example of what one of these cards could possibly

look like. This improvement is recommended to

enhance the satisfaction of all customers and expand

the SoLoMo image. Located in the appendix is a new

blueprint designed by FRK architects in collaboration

with us that shows what this new idea could include.

Proposed Calendar:

Calendar (2017 - 2018)

1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter 1st Quarter (2018)

Social media platforms

- Comprise a team that will operate these platforms

- Create a schedule of what to post and when to. - Introduce snapchat to all customers

- Review success and failures of snapchat - Introduce twitter to all customers

- Analyze number of followers and posts - Introduce Instagram to all customers

- review all social media platforms - Continue to advertise each platform

School based enterprises

- Meet with each school individually to discuss policy

- Begin providing leftover donuts to selected schools

- Review progress of each school individually

- Post images of schools across all platforms, forming that local image

- Introduce Idea to new schools in the metro area

Local Vendor Program

- Create a team of trained employees who will work at each location

- Design donuts to specifically match each team - Meet with reps from Wells Fargo Arena and ICubs Stadium

- Begin selling products at Barnstormer football games

- Review sales and profit reports - Utilize social media outlets to create awareness

- Create partnerships with all local teams selling donuts at all home events

Launch Smart Phone App

- Submit layout for the app

- Explore application and work out any concerns with OpenXcell

- Open application to focus groups for testing

- App will be completed and distributed to customers

- Meet with customers to discuss concerns and issues

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C. Proposed metrics or key performance indicators to measure plan

effectiveness

For clarity, we have combined the metrics and key performance indicators with the proposed activities above.

VI. PROPOSED BUDGET

All of the programs proposed will be tested by consumers in the Des Moines area along

with surrounding communities. The smart phone application will be tested by a small

focus group for a month before it is released the public and put on market. The

proposed budget is for a one year time period. All costs of the plan are as follows:

* Prices are subject to change - all costs are estimated

Smart Phone Application:

The proposed smart phone app will be available on Apple, Android and Blackberry

platforms. The creation of this app will result in separate amounts for each platform

design. The creation of the app for iOS system cost $2000. Included in the price is the

guaranteed acceptance into the Apple store. The android app will also costs $2000 to

create. Finally, the Blackberry app costs $1675 to create. All of the platforms will be

programed by OpenXcell to automatically be sent to Hurts location in West Glen Town

Center. In grand total the creation of all three apps will cost $5675

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School based enterprises:

With the excess donuts that Hurts produces, we have proposed the idea that these

donuts be donated to the selected schools. After analyzing past records of other Hurts

locations we project that $10550 in potential profit will be lost to the excess donuts. With

this margin of error already accounted for we have decided that

the best solution is to donate all excess donuts, where each donut

will be sold for half price. We will however charge each school

10% of all profit made at the end of each school year. With this

policy in place Hurts is projected to make just under $100 from

each school. In reality this number is very minimal profit, but we are more focused on

creating a local presence with the surrounding schools.

Vendor Program:

For the proposed plan, we only recommend to purchase vendor booths at Wells Fargo

Arena and Principal Park (ICubs Stadium). Prices are subject to change during each

season, so we cannot properly determine an accurate price regarding concessions

purchases.

In-store renovation:

The cost will be minimal for creating an efficient ordering process. The purchases and

installation of two video boards will total $1825. With the newly designed ordering lines,

the profits projected will cover this expense very quickly. Because of this new system an

estimated 10% increase in customers per hour. The cost benefit analysis proves this

transaction is a necessary one to increase customer satisfaction.

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VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.wdm.Iowa.gov www.desmoinesmetro.com www.appmuse.com www.OpenXcell.com www.desmoinesregister.com www.yelp.com www.tripadvisor.com www.snagajob.com www.bluefrogdm.com www.strategicamerica.com www.midwestwanderer.com www.feastmagazine.com

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VIII. APPENDIX

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