Grandma's Best Swot Analysis

Grandma’s Best currently has a broad product/narrow- medium market focus. The firm offers products in all five categories within the confectionery industry (chocolates, soft candy, hard candy, holiday specific chocolates and biscuits/cookies). Grandma’s Best primarily targets the middle to higher end retail outlets and gourmet shops. Grandma’s Best has .05% market share of the United States confectionery market which consists of three considerable players. Mars, Inc. owns 30.2% of the market, Hershey Company owns 27.7% and Kraft Foods, Inc. owns 7.2% followed by other companies who own 34.9% of the market. Grandma’s Best has a good market performance with a 4.62% compound annual growth for the period of 2013-2015, that is greater than the

Grandma’s distributes its products throughout the United States and has started to expand internationally. International sales make up around 6% of total revenues, of that total revenue Canada makes up 91% of sales. Imported goods: biscuits and hard candy make up 50% of total sales. They are 10% higher on cost of goods sold but have little overhead. Agreements with manufacturer suppliers that do not allow them to export products similar to what they produce for Grandma’s to any other firm in the United States. Diversification in raw material suppliers insures that Grandma’s will not be dependent on a single source. Grandma’s utilizes five bonded public warehouses that specialize in food and confectionery storage, selection based on: proximity to customers, ability to provide prompt customer service and efficient and economic delivery. Grandma’s takes the stress of consistency in supplying due to environmental factors off the suppliers through consciously choosing to diversify their supplier network. Grandma’s does not limit the sales of similar products produced by their manufacturer suppliers entirely, these suppliers can still sell to any nation other than the USA. This allows these manufacturer supplies leeway to make additional capital off of excess products produced. Another positive situation for both parties. Grandma’s has worked out the best

Their current ratio is 1.4% (total current assets/total current liabilities). According to the Risk Management Association of Financial Ratio Benchmarks, the current average ratio is 1.5%. In 2014, the current ratio for the firm was 1.46% while the average ratio in the industry (NAICS 311330) was 1.6%. The company’s net property and equipment in 2015 is worth 2.6 million dollars, a slight increase from 2014, which was 2.3 million. The company is considering taking on some debt to increase their production capabilities. Their three options include a loan (sweetheart), bonds or an IPO. The firm has expressed interest in the first option (loan). This appears to be a good fit as they have decreased their long-term liabilities from previous years and if they want to expand, extra liquidity will be needed. The firm’s current line of credit is about double what it normally is and the payments on their remaining long-term debts are going to increase through the next four years with a balloon payment due in 2015 of $642,000. The increased current line of credit is due to the recently added production lines and only carries a 4% interest rate. Overall, the increased debt is justifiable as they are producing a lot more, but it does hinder their liquidity and ability to take on more debt. In 2015 the company had a gross margin at 30.8% which was higher than the industry. This is a good indication that the