Sandwich Blitz, Inc Bio
Sandwich Blitz, Inc. Sandwich Blitz, Inc. is a small growing specialty sandwich shop chain in a large metropolitan area. The business is owned by Dalman Smith, who is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Lei Lee who is the Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The company currently operates eight free-standing sandwich and beverage shops located near three universities, one hospital, and four high-traffic office complexes in the metropolitan area. The firm serves mostly upscale breakfast and lunch customers and specializes in organically grown food ingredients and health-conscious beverages.
Currently, the firm employs a staff accountant, eight unit managers and forty employees. The corporate headquarters occupies rented space in an office park which houses Dalman, Lei, and the corporate accountant, Jayin Chopra. Each operating sandwich shop is staffed with a manager, a team supervisor, and four customer associates. Revenues from 2011 operations were substantial with a ROI (Return on Investment) of 30%. Beginnings Sandwich Blitz was the idea of Dalman Smith whose previous experience was in middle management for a wholesale food distribution company headquartered in a large European city.
An ardent devotee of healthy food, Dalman received the inspiration for Sandwich Blitz while visiting the Mediterranean area on corporate business. Dalman noted the presence of healthy sandwich shops in that area of Europe and was surprised on his return home that no such models were in operation in his local area. After considering the idea for several weeks, Dalman approached his long-time friend Lei Lee, a CPA working within the insurance industry with his idea. Lei considered the idea a good one but was concerned with the overhead expenses involved in leasing and developing retail commercial space in the expensive urban area.
One day, while driving to work, Dalman noticed a small, free-standing prefabricated building located on a piece of land adjacent to a shopping center. Suddenly, he envisioned the Sandwich Blitz model- small space, great location, negotiated low costs on small parcels of land unsuitable for most commercial purposes and most of all, great healthy food! Dalman couldn’t wait to show Lei this model. Within three weeks, Sandwich Blitz, Inc. was born. The sufficient start-up capital was evenly split between Dalman and Lei. Dalman was able to btain a loan using his house for collateral and his personal credit line for most of his share. A gift from Dalman’s father completed his share of the funding. Lei was able to use her substantial personal savings to finance her share of the capital. The first lease of land was signed and a prefabricated unit was ordered on July 21, 2004. Both Dalman and Lei considered this date to be a good omen for the both of them Sandwich Blitz opened its doors for business on October 15, 2004. Dalman, Lei, and two college students were the first employees.
Each signed the first currency note received during that first day of operation. It is still proudly displayed in the corporate office. Operations The Sandwich Blitz operational model reflects both Dalman and Lei’s management philosophy that allows each operating unit a great measure of autonomy. This allows each location manager to make the day-to-day decisions dealing with their unit budgets, employee matters, and customer service issues. Each location manager is carefully chosen and given a compensation package which includes incentives based on the performance of that location.
Each location manager is presented with quarterly budgets and is accountable for meeting these guidelines. Each work team supervisor is responsible for ensuring good customer service by making sure that all customer associates adhere to the Sandwich Blitz Motto which is proudly displayed over each location’s counter: “Sandwich Blitz – Where our quality, freshness, and customers always come first. ” Based on this motto, each customer associate is empowered to resolve any customer-related complaint.
This allows the customer associate to refund purchases, replace food, and take other measures to satisfy the Sandwich Blitz customer. The original location also serves as a training center for the company and Dalman is a regular fixture at these training sessions. Food recipes and preparation techniques are of particular concern to Dalman since he feels that a consistent product is critical to the company’s competitiveness. Dalman considers a few ingredients in their products to be important enough to justify making them into private brands that are owned by Sandwich Blitz to protect them from potential competitors.
Lately, Dalman has mostly been visiting the operating locations and dealing with problems and issues that each manager requests help with while Lei has concentrated on financial matters like budget preparation, leases, taxes, and overseeing the daily accounting process. Both Dalman and Lei are pleased with Sandwich Blitz’s past performance but feel that they are each unable to devote their time and energy to expand the business significantly. All of their time seems to be expended taking care of these problems and issues within the existing operation.
AB140 Unit 3 Case Study: Sandwich Blitz, Inc. Narrator: Sandwich Blitz, Inc. is a small growing specialty sandwich shop chain. The business is owned by Dalman Smith, who serves as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Lei Smallwood who serves as Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Sandwich Blitz currently operates eight free-standing sandwich and refreshment shops located near three universities, one hospital, and four high-traffic office complexes in the area.
The firm caters to an upscale breakfast and lunch crowd and specializes in organically grown food ingredients and health-conscious beverages. Sandwich Blitz employs a staff accountant, eight location managers and forty employees. Each operating sandwich shop is staffed with a manager, a team supervisor, and four customer associates. Revenues from 2011 operations were substantial with 2011 Return on Investment of 30%. The corporate headquarters occupies rented space in an office park which houses Dalman, Lei and the corporate accountant, Jayin Chopra. Operational Meeting
Lei (speaking to Dalman and Jayin): Hi Dalman. Hi Jayin. Thanks for joining me today. We have some exciting things to discuss. The Sandwich Blitz operational model reflects both Dalman and my management philosophy allowing each operating unit a great measure of autonomy. This translates to allowing each location manager to make the day-to-day decisions dealing with their unit budgets, employee matters, and customer service issues. Each location manager is carefully chosen and given a compensation package which includes incentives based on location performance.
These are based on location sales projections. Each location manager is presented with quarterly budgets and is accountable for meeting these guidelines. Dalman: Each team supervisor is responsible for ensuring good customer service by making sure that all customer associates adhere to the Sandwich Blitz Motto which is proudly displayed over each location’s counter: “Sandwich Blitz – Where our quality, freshness, and customers always come first. ” Lei: Each customer associate is empowered to resolve any customer-related complaint.
This allows the customer associate to refund purchases, replace food, and take other measures to satisfy the Sandwich Blitz customer. The original location also serves as a training unit for the company and Dalman is a regular fixture at these training sessions. Food recipes and preparation techniques are of particular concern to Dalman since he feels that consistency of product is critical to the company’s competitiveness. Dalman considers a few ingredients to be of sufficient importance to justify a private branding of these to protect these from potential competitors.
Dalman: Lately, I have been visiting the operating locations and dealing with matters that each manager requests help with while Lei has concentrated on financial matters like budget preparation, leases, taxes, and overseeing the daily accounting process. We are both pleased with Sandwich Blitz’s past performance but feel that they are each unable to devote their time and energy to take the business to the next level. All of their time seems to be occupied with handling small problems within the existing operation.
