Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant
Wild Chef Limited (Wild Chef) was a multi-cuisine restaurant operating a take-away and delivery format in Delhi's National Capital Region. It adopted the emerging concept of cloud kitchen in July 2016, considering the promising opportunities offered by the rapidly growing food-technology market in India. Key strategic decisions helped Wild Chef achieve its operational break-even point in its third month, and after one year, the owners were considering options on how to scale-up the business further. The choice of markets to enter, and arriving at the right permutation of scale-up options were the key decision areas under focus. Servjaeta Verma is affiliated with Institute of Management Studies Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant" written by Servjaeta Verma includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chef Wild facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chef Wild, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chef Wild operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chef Wild
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Chef Wild
Strengths Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chef Wild in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chef Wild are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Training and development
– Chef Wild has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Chef Wild
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Chef Wild does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Chef Wild has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chef Wild to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Chef Wild is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Chef Wild is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chef Wild has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chef Wild has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Diverse revenue streams
– Chef Wild is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Chef Wild in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Chef Wild is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Servjaeta Verma can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chef Wild to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chef Wild to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Chef Wild is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Chef Wild has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chef Wild is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chef Wild has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Chef Wild needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant HBR case study mentions - Chef Wild takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant, is just above the industry average. Chef Wild needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Chef Wild has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Need for greater diversity
– Chef Wild has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chef Wild is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Chef Wild needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chef Wild to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Chef Wild 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant are -
Buying journey improvements
– Chef Wild can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Chef Wild can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Chef Wild can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chef Wild is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chef Wild to increase its market reach. Chef Wild will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chef Wild to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Loyalty marketing
– Chef Wild has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Chef Wild has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chef Wild to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Chef Wild can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chef Wild operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Chef Wild can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Chef Wild has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Chef Wild to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant case study. Chef Wild can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chef Wild can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Chef Wild can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chef Wild in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Chef Wild high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Chef Wild can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant .
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Chef Wild needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Chef Wild has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chef Wild needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Chef Wild is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Chef Wild business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Chef Wild with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Chef Wild needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Chef Wild can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Chef Wild.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Chef Wild can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Regulatory challenges
– Chef Wild needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Wild Chef Limited: Scaling Up a Cloud-Based Restaurant is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Chef Wild needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.