Roan Thompson

Operations
A. Your Location Requirements - See floorplan
B. Time Line -We started on August 17, 2015 by setting up and organizing the school
store. On September 1, 2015, we requested our first purchase order. On September
28, 2015, our purchase order came in. We opened the store on Thursday October 1,
2015. We introduced our new mobile store on October 22, 2015.
C. Customers Fulfillment/Production Plan - The customer requests a customized
good. They purchase the good. They come back the next day to the store to receive
their finished product. If the customer purchases a non customized good, they will
be able to purchase and receive the good at the same time. The store associates
directly sell with our products.
D. Customer Capacity - We have customer capacity of around 600 9th graders that
attend classes in the 9th Grade Center. There are around 100 upperclassmen that
attend classes here to. That is a total of 700 customers that we can provide great
service to. There are also around 40 faculty and staff that work in the building that
are potential customers.
E. Rent Utilities - We do not rent out our space in the 9th Grade Center since we are
under and apart of Gainesville High School.
F. Leasehold Investment Requirement - The space was already there and unoccupied.
The school provided us the free space. The fixtures were already there.
G. Equipment Investment Requirement - All of our equipment was provided by the
school. Most of our equipment was being unused at the school such as the
counters, display case, shelves to hold the goods, a cash box, and our cart for the
mobile store. Our new refrigerator for drinks and our ice cream freezer was given
to us for free.
H. Inventory Investment Requirement - We keep one back case of each product for the
school store.
I. Inventory Control - When our front case of a particular good is near empty, and we
are about to have to use the back case, then Elephant Central staff would fill out a
inventory request for that particular product. We store all our products in safe and
locked cabinets here at the school store and in Mrs. Crumleys classroom.

J. Order fulfillment - At the moment we operate under the concept of direct selling.
As we start producing customized products, the students will pay in advance before
they receive their item the next day.
K. Visionary Statement - Our business is slowly growing since we opened up a little
over a month ago. We are hoping to draw in more customers through our mobile
store that travels through the lunchroom during all three lunches. We also are
hoping our new customized goods will grow our number in customers. We are
hoping in the future to have our school store location moved closer to the
lunchroom. This will allow us to receive more business in the morning.
L. Expected Growth - Elephant Central is expected to be independent in 5 years
having a successful business filled with new customized products and new goods
such as drinks and ice cream that will bring in more customers. In 10 years I see
the company being the superior school store at Gainesville High School by having
exceptional staff and great products that the customers will love.
M. Administrative Support - Mr. Smith, the GHS principal, gave us permission to
open up a school store. Mrs. Freeman, the 9th Grade Center principal, approves our
order requests. Mrs. Crumley puts in our purchase orders along with overseeing the
school store. She also helps come up with cool ideas to improve the store.
N. Risk Management Chart - Our potential business risks are limited customers,
competition that succeeds over us, and our location. We deal with limited
customers by introducing new items, such as the customized items, to draw in
more customers. We will also get rid of unpopular items. We also will come up
with new marketing tools and promotion ideas to draw in customers, such as new
signs and posters. To deal with our competition we need to make sure we are
giving out good service. Our customers are our priority. We want to make sure they
are happy and their expectations meet their standards. Our location has to be
beneficial to the customers. The students won't come to a store that is inconvenient
to come too. That is why we have opened up a mobile store to reach the customers
that cant come to the store, making it easier to serve all our customers. If any of
these risks occur, Elephant Central staff will come as a group to meet and produce
new ideas that the school store can do to fix these problems. An example was when
the school store was struggling with selling goods. We opened a mobile store to
reach our customers. Our sales have risen since then.
O. Website - This is the website that is being built.