Penny Lihas a company, El Supremo Coffee, that she started just 4years ago. It operates through franchise owners that have invested one of her mobile coffee vans. These park at strategic locations such as train stations, hospitals, sporting events, factories and busy city office towers. She now has over 50franchised coffee van operators and has had interest from potential new franchisees in other cities; Penny’s dream is to one day launch in her home town of Beijing.

The company’s rapid growth is due to an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at well-placed city cafes and restaurants. Penny supplied themwith El Supremo Coffee café umbrellas and side-walk screens which had a significant visual impact making El Supremo Coffee appear to be the major brand across the city.

El Supremo currently supports its franchisees through a telephone call centre which typically take calls about orders for more supplies; with the company’s expansion operating through a call centre is becoming more difficult. The franchisees are increasingly unhappy about the difficulties in getting through on the phone, the time it takes to explain their needs and the incidence of errors on the part of the telephone operators and the time it takes for goods to arrive after placing an order. The franchisees would also like to have a web-site that can help them build stronger relations with their own customers including GPS tracking so customers can see when they will be at the locations where they sell coffee. They would also like to be informed about events such as football games or concerts.

The management team has decided it needs to move to an online system for better supporting franchisees as well as making their products available to the general public through a Web site. The Web site must be developed using the latest products, and be deployed in 3 months from now.

El Supremo Personnel

• Managing Director – the project sponsor
• Accountant
• Franchise Manager/Trainer
• Purchasing and Supply Manager
• Marketing Manager

You have been contacted by El Supremo Coffee as the Business Analyst for the project to research requirements and design.