Case Study 2

MD RUBAYAT UL ISLAM

1. The Major players in MDining’s supply chain are -

i)Mangan,
ii)Frank Turchan, Executive Chef
iii)Kathy Whiteside, Director of systems management
iii)Keith Soster, Director of student engagement
v)Bab Hagan, Sustainability representative

Mangan's main interest was focused on how MDining could use its purchasing power to
improve the way food was produced, sourced recycled and perceived. He was trying to
come up with initiatives to develop relationship with local suppliers as form his
perspective it was the key to reach the goal.

Frank Turchan was on the charge of managing twenty chefs in dining halls, cafes and
markets and his leadership and passion for sustainable seafood is considered to be one of
the major drivers to provide the students with healthy food.

Kathy whiteside being a registered dietician and director of systems management was
responsible for handling MDining’s systems and operations and helped develop the
systems software to make students understand the importance of nutritional information.

Sustainability representative Bab Hagan whose primary goal was to reduce greenhouse
gas emission taking different environmental initiatives also helped MDining achieving
the twenty percent target by doing data analysis.

2. The first challenge is the limited docking space for the delivery. Also, there was absence
of centralized hub unit which would cause delays in delivery in the event of any storm or
other sorts of disruption. Strategic initiatives must be implemented for distribution
 purposes to help reduce the negative effects. The second critical challenge was to work
with Sysco to access the vast supplier network locally. As Sysco were not fully aligned
with MDining’s sustainability aspirations a lot of problem aroused. Working with GFS
helped MDining get back on track to reach the goals of sustainable food procurement.
There were some other challenges like procuring fish from the locals as MDining wanted
to improve local businesses and provide sustainable food to the students. The chef’s
major challenge was to order the inventory for the week as they had to order through the
food management system and they had to order through email for the local vendors who
are not available on the FMS along with the requirement of orders from the LaGrasso
website and consolidate all the purchases into a spreadsheet which created a frustrating
situation for the local food procurement. The challenge for the farmers was to overcome
was the payment inefficiencies as they do not have the resources and the budget to setup
a system. To tackle this issue, it would add substantial costs which MDining could not
afford. It resulted on delayed payments to the local farmers who are dependent on the
money they make from the delivery to get the resources for the next produce. The final
critical challenge was to overcome the issue of sustainability and locals were not going
hand in hand with it. Furthermore, it was difficult to reduce the information gap as
collecting data was challenging and sometimes not available.

3. From my point of view MDining was very successful in pursuing its goals. They were not
only able to fulfill their target but also able to provide sustainable healthy fresh food to
students.

From my point of view the main area to look for Steve Mangan would be the food
management system for ordering supplies every week. If a centralized setup can be
created through any online or website-based system where the chef can look into all the
vendors including local vendors for ordering supplies a lot of problems would be
reduced. Secondly the payment issue needs to be solved or improved for developing
relationship and a sustainable chain. It can be resolved by autopayment system or some
sort of system like that which will transfer money to local vendors account as soon as the
supply is received. For checking the sustainable growth more should be invested in data
analysis part of the business.