Question

Maria’s Bakery was established in 1950 when Jerry and Maria arrived from a northern province of Italy and made their home in Brighton, Massachusetts. Bakers by trade in the “old country”, their goal was to establish a bakery.
Brighton is a city located some five miles west of Boston which became a destination for many immigrant Italian families in the 1950s. With an already established target market for Jerry and Maria, it was not difficult to develop a clientele for the breads and pastries that were a part of the Italian lifestyle. The bakery made its debut in the small kitchen of a row house that became the first home of the young immigrant couple.
The couple started a family early on and brought into the world two sons, Bruno and Paulo, who would both be raised in the midst of the family business. In the 1960s the business finally moved out of the cluttered row home into retail space in the center of town. The business was established and opened under the name of Maria’s Italian Bakery.
By the 1990s, Jerry and Maria were getting ready for retirement. The business had stopped growing many years ago and they were ready to hopefully pass it on to their two sons. Both boys had attended college and moved on to their own careers, but were interested in taking over the family business.
At this point in time, the demographics of Brighton had changed dramatically. The Italian population, which at one time was the majority ethnic group, had dwindled significantly. Brighton, just as it had in the 1950s, now became a haven for many other ethnic groups such as Indians, Pakistanis, and Hispanics. The large Italian population, tired of the cramped city landscape, had moved to the suburbs.
Bruno and Paulo, using the education that their parents worked so hard to give them, recognized the shift in demographics and recommended to their parents that the bakery name be changed to Maria’s Bakery. This, in their estimation, would open the door to carry other bakery products to meet the needs of the demographics now dominate in the Newton market.
Jerry and Maria were very upset at this recommendation, but realized that they worked hard for their children’s education and should listen to their proposal. They agreed and asked the boys to enlist the services of a marketing research consultant to back up their claims.
You have been hired as that consultant and your job is to establish a plan to gather enough data to support a name and product assortment change. Because this is a fictitious scenario, you will not be expected to collect primary data. This is a proposal explaining how you intend to make your final recommendations to the owners.
Your report must include the following:
Define the problem, and then Explain the research objectives.

Answer 1

When Jerry and Maria arrived from Italy in 1950 and made Brighton their home, they were just following in the footsteps of other italian immigrants. With a plan to establish an italian bakery, it was not hard for them to begin because the market was already established. The bakery started in their home kitchen and gradually became a full fledged shop with a growing business.

By 1990s, the business had however stopped growing. The italian population which were the target market since the start of the bakery, had drifted to other parts of the country. Brighton now has become home to a variety of ethnic groups including hispanics, indians and pakistani population. Thus the idea of italian bakery no longer seems reasonable.

The boys therefore are right to consider a change of name from Maria's italian bakery to simply Maria's bakery. It is bound to hurt their parents sentiments due to their italian heritage and their love for italian recipes but if they want their bakery to remain in business, a change of name and a subsequent change in cake flavors is required. Since brighton is now home to multiple ethnic communities, it is important to incorporate their tastes in cake recipes to make the bakery popular among the groups. The bakery's recipes can be redesigned to inlcude some indian, hispanic and pakistani elements to make it more appealing to these groups while keeping the original recipe intact. In this way, the originality of bakery will continue to exist with some changes for long term growth and survival of business. Thus the bakery can be also renamed as Maria's ethnic bakery which will manifest the bakery's goal of including ethnic tastes in their basic recipes.

Every going concern business has to keep adapting to the changes in its business environment for its long term survival. The time for change has arrived for Maria's bakery.