Mystic Monk Coffee

1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? * The future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming has been clearly established by Father Daniel Mary. The vision is to create a new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains to become a new home for the brotherhood which is a much bigger place that would include accommodations for 30 monks, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors and a hermitage. The vision for the Mystic Monk Coffee is to segment the majority of U. S. Catholic population who drank coffee and to support the monastery’s mission. The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming is just like the other monks, dedicating their life to prayer and worship. 2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision? * Yes, the group believes that Father Daniel Mary has clearly set his goals and used this as a basis in choosing steps in which they must undertake to achieve the said goals. Unfortunately, how the definite the vision is, it seems like the resources is not enough and the timing is lousy. 3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce? * The strategy of Father Prior in order to achieve his vision is the coffee industry they called ‘Mystic Monk Coffee’. The competitive advantage MMC’s have against the competitors is the use of high-quality fair trade Arabica and an organic Arabica beans instead of just using one (Robusta or Arabica), they used mixed beans. Another is the specialty flavours like Mystical Chants of Carmel, Cowboy Blend, Royal Rum Pecan, and Mystic Monk Blend. Moreover, their marketing that reached the internet is another plus which makes it easier for the market to be accessed. Their sample bags which cost $2. 99 or the all flavours 12-ounce bags which cost $9. 95 are available online and were delivered by the UPS. Another plus is the â€Å"coffee club†, which people can purchase 3-6 six bags for free shipping. Freebies like T-shirts, gift cards, CDs, and coffee mugs are also a plus. But most importantly, the major advantage of the MMC is their target markets which are the Catholics saying, â€Å"Use their Catholic coffee dollar for Christ and his Catholic church†. 4. In Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? Its profit formula? Its resources that enable it to create and deliver value to customer? The strategy of the MMC to appeal to the Catholic market is a bonus but their main money-maker is the wholesaling of the green coffee beans being delivered to Seattle, Washington weekly. However, they are paying the broker at a prevailing wholesale price per pound that fluctuates daily. The production limit is also at 540 pounds/day and the operation is limited because of the praying duties. One flaw is that they are rushing things, orders had not yet exceedin g their capacity but they already want to expand in the expense of $35,000 for a larger roaster. MMC’s operation is via the word of mouth among loyal customers and the sales are mostly through their website and occasionally through the phone. They also offer secular website through its Mystic Monk Coffee Affiliate Program, this earned 18% commission on sales and where directed to the main site. This business model earns at least 56% commission, they also plan to expand by including wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops. The profit of the MMC totalling $74,580/year which comes from 11% net profit margin from the $56,500 revenue per month. . Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not? * We do not consider the said strategy as a winning strategy. For us, it is not enough to make the buying of the ranch possible even if we consider the cash they have on hand ($250,000 received as donation and $75,000 earnings from the Mystic Monk coffee-roasting operation on its first year). If they would still push through, with this plan to be followed, we think that it would be hard for them to pay for the ranch in whatever terms they (owner of ranch and monks) would agree on. Besides, even if they have a business currently operating and with the information we have gathered, it is still not enough for them to meet their goal of acquiring the land as other factors and expenses must be considered so that they will not experience budget deficit and debts in their coffee shop and in purchasing the said ranch. Father Daniel Mary needs to have a much more effective strategy if he wants to make the payment easier for him and the rest of the community in the Carmelite Order. In addition, if we consider the Mystic Monk Coffee as their money-maker alone – along with the profit it generates, none of the monks are highly intellectual enough to run a business, hinting that their profit-strategy would most likely in a win or lose situation and in their case, it would, perhaps, turn out to be the latter given the fact that their profit per year is less than $75k. If we put into consideration the three tests of a winning strategy, it would not pass all the three tests. First, the strategy fits the company’s current situation. However, should they pursue the strategy, there will be flaws that the company may experience. Second, regarding competitive advantage; the company’s strategy hasn’t yielded a sustainable competitive advantage if we are to include the advantages of notable coffee brands in the industry. Lastly, about production of good financial performance; Mystic Monk Coffee is likely to produce a good financial performance, though it is not remarkable enough to provide the company what it needs to achieve its intention. 6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? Its objectives? Its strategy? Its approach to strategy execution? Explain. * The coffee industry is one of the biggest businesses that the world has today. With a lot of successful coffee brands and shops, Mystic Monk’s Coffee has to level up their strategy in order to keep up with bigger and distinguished brands. They must come up with schemes that would attract more customers. A good example of a schema that the group suggests is the hiring of non-secular employees so that when it's the monks turn to do their own devotions and prayers, the employees would then be in charge of answering the calls and orders regarding their business. We are also informed that the monks are prohibited to leave the monastery unless given permission by the bishop and reasons for leaving are restricted to medical needs and death of family members. With this said, the business will be limited when it comes to expansion that is why it would be best to hire non-secular employees. The group also suggests that they could have some partnership with people outside the monastery so they can have an extension or branch of their business. In this way, there is a bigger chance for the business to acquire a bigger amount of profit, making it easier for them to reach their goal. Also, since the situation, itself, says that their target market are those of the Catholic in which it compasses more than 69 million coffee drinkers around US, it would be much easier if MMC would advertise their products outside their own website. A concrete example of this is the social networking site Facebook in which they would be able to connect to even outside US as they give out their products' facts. If successful, this would help them a lot in earning money of which will be used in acquiring the ranch for their expansion. It will be possible for Father Daniel Mary to achieve his goal of transforming the brotherhood into a bigger place for more aspiring monks and other religious people. Mystic Monk Coffee 1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? * The future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming has been clearly established by Father Daniel Mary. The vision is to create a new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains to become a new home for the brotherhood which is a much bigger place that would include accommodations for 30 monks, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors and a hermitage. The vision for the Mystic Monk Coffee is to segment the majority of U. S. Catholic population who drank coffee and to support the monastery’s mission. The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming is just like the other monks, dedicating their life to prayer and worship. 2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision? * Yes, the group believes that Father Daniel Mary has clearly set his goals and used this as a basis in choosing steps in which they must undertake to achieve the said goals. Unfortunately, how the definite the vision is, it seems like the resources is not enough and the timing is lousy. 3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce? * The strategy of Father Prior in order to achieve his vision is the coffee industry they called ‘Mystic Monk Coffee’. The competitive advantage MMC’s have against the competitors is the use of high-quality fair trade Arabica and an organic Arabica beans instead of just using one (Robusta or Arabica), they used mixed beans. Another is the specialty flavours like Mystical Chants of Carmel, Cowboy Blend, Royal Rum Pecan, and Mystic Monk Blend. Moreover, their marketing that reached the internet is another plus which makes it easier for the market to be accessed. Their sample bags which cost $2. 99 or the all flavours 12-ounce bags which cost $9. 95 are available online and were delivered by the UPS. Another plus is the â€Å"coffee club†, which people can purchase 3-6 six bags for free shipping. Freebies like T-shirts, gift cards, CDs, and coffee mugs are also a plus. But most importantly, the major advantage of the MMC is their target markets which are the Catholics saying, â€Å"Use their Catholic coffee dollar for Christ and his Catholic church†. 4. In Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? Its profit formula? Its resources that enable it to create and deliver value to customer? The strategy of the MMC to appeal to the Catholic market is a bonus but their main money-maker is the wholesaling of the green coffee beans being delivered to Seattle, Washington weekly. However, they are paying the broker at a prevailing wholesale price per pound that fluctuates daily. The production limit is also at 540 pounds/day and the operation is limited because of the praying duties. One flaw is that they are rushing things, orders had not yet exceedin g their capacity but they already want to expand in the expense of $35,000 for a larger roaster. MMC’s operation is via the word of mouth among loyal customers and the sales are mostly through their website and occasionally through the phone. They also offer secular website through its Mystic Monk Coffee Affiliate Program, this earned 18% commission on sales and where directed to the main site. This business model earns at least 56% commission, they also plan to expand by including wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops. The profit of the MMC totalling $74,580/year which comes from 11% net profit margin from the $56,500 revenue per month. . Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not? * We do not consider the said strategy as a winning strategy. For us, it is not enough to make the buying of the ranch possible even if we consider the cash they have on hand ($250,000 received as donation and $75,000 earnings from the Mystic Monk coffee-roasting operation on its first year). If they would still push through, with this plan to be followed, we think that it would be hard for them to pay for the ranch in whatever terms they (owner of ranch and monks) would agree on. Besides, even if they have a business currently operating and with the information we have gathered, it is still not enough for them to meet their goal of acquiring the land as other factors and expenses must be considered so that they will not experience budget deficit and debts in their coffee shop and in purchasing the said ranch. Father Daniel Mary needs to have a much more effective strategy if he wants to make the payment easier for him and the rest of the community in the Carmelite Order. In addition, if we consider the Mystic Monk Coffee as their money-maker alone – along with the profit it generates, none of the monks are highly intellectual enough to run a business, hinting that their profit-strategy would most likely in a win or lose situation and in their case, it would, perhaps, turn out to be the latter given the fact that their profit per year is less than $75k. If we put into consideration the three tests of a winning strategy, it would not pass all the three tests. First, the strategy fits the company’s current situation. However, should they pursue the strategy, there will be flaws that the company may experience. Second, regarding competitive advantage; the company’s strategy hasn’t yielded a sustainable competitive advantage if we are to include the advantages of notable coffee brands in the industry. Lastly, about production of good financial performance; Mystic Monk Coffee is likely to produce a good financial performance, though it is not remarkable enough to provide the company what it needs to achieve its intention. 6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? Its objectives? Its strategy? Its approach to strategy execution? Explain. * The coffee industry is one of the biggest businesses that the world has today. With a lot of successful coffee brands and shops, Mystic Monk’s Coffee has to level up their strategy in order to keep up with bigger and distinguished brands. They must come up with schemes that would attract more customers. A good example of a schema that the group suggests is the hiring of non-secular employees so that when it's the monks turn to do their own devotions and prayers, the employees would then be in charge of answering the calls and orders regarding their business. We are also informed that the monks are prohibited to leave the monastery unless given permission by the bishop and reasons for leaving are restricted to medical needs and death of family members. With this said, the business will be limited when it comes to expansion that is why it would be best to hire non-secular employees. The group also suggests that they could have some partnership with people outside the monastery so they can have an extension or branch of their business. In this way, there is a bigger chance for the business to acquire a bigger amount of profit, making it easier for them to reach their goal. Also, since the situation, itself, says that their target market are those of the Catholic in which it compasses more than 69 million coffee drinkers around US, it would be much easier if MMC would advertise their products outside their own website. A concrete example of this is the social networking site Facebook in which they would be able to connect to even outside US as they give out their products' facts. If successful, this would help them a lot in earning money of which will be used in acquiring the ranch for their expansion. It will be possible for Father Daniel Mary to achieve his goal of transforming the brotherhood into a bigger place for more aspiring monks and other religious people.