“Mid-East Food Company” Short Case

Mid-East Food Company is a fast growing company that manufactures and markets potato products and frozen dinners that can be prepared at home easily and quickly. The company has created a range of varieties of foods e.g. Mid-East Curly Oven Chips, Home Fries, roast potatoes and wedges, marinated roast meat, among other products to appeal to a variety of customers. In the Middle East, and increasing proportion of households now have both husband and wife working to earn an income. More females are entering the workforce and they have less time to spend preparing meals at home, therefore they have to rely on fast food or ready meals. As people become cash-rich and time-poor they prefer to switch to ready meals and simple to prepare foodstuffs that they can quickly heat in an oven or microwave. Rather than buying potatoes and making chips at home or taking the time to go to a restaurant, it may be seen as more desirable to buy oven chips. Of course, it may be cheaper to make your own chips by peeling and cutting up potatoes. However, with growing affluence people prefer ready prepared oven chips. Economic factors in the business environment include changes in buying patterns as people's incomes rise and as jobs are more abundant. For example, as incomes go up people prefer to buy what they see as superior varieties of a product type. We see this with the development of ready prepared