Perween Warsi’s parents arranged for her to marry a doctor at the age of 16 in India. The couple moved to Britain in 1975 with their two sons. Bored, with time in her hands, Perween decided to try producing high quality, authentic Indian food and set up S &A Foods (named after her sons Sadiq and Abid), working from her kitchen with six staff, selling to neighbourhood takeaways. Within six months she had moved to a unit on a local industrial estate and within a year was selling to Asda, followed by Safeway, Waitrose, Budgen, Morrisons and even Welcome Break and Scottish & Newcastle. S & A now has four factories in Derby, a workforce of 1100 and an annual turnover of £100 million. Warsi is the second richest Asian businesswoman in Britain and her husband, Talib, gave up being a GP in 1995 to become S & A’s marketing manager.
The target market for the food is “cash-rich, time-poor” consumers. The firm has to keep on top of a rapidly developing market and launches some 300 new products each year, developing thousands more. S & A is expanding in Europe and already sells to supermarkets in France.
“I knew my products could be marketed nationwide before I had sold single samosa.
There was a huge gap in the market for quality Indian and Thai food….. When the business started, I was very busy. In the mornings I would take the boys to school, then come home and make food all day….. My husband was extremely supportive, however I still feel very guilty that I wasn’t always there for my beautiful sons…. I can’t imagine retiring. What could I do? Our prospect is bright and we are always looking to innovate”.
problem 1:
(a) describe the business environment of S & A Foods.
(b) Determine and describe the marketing strategies Mrs Warsi has been adopting to grow her business
(c) S & A Foods appears to be a family business where the owners are sacrificing family life. What strategies can you propose to them to expand the business and to retain family life?
(d) What are the merits and demerits of your proposed strategies?