S.W.O.T Analysis
Cocomero
709 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820
On October 4, 2012, our client asked our consulting team to assess Cocomero. We have
been specifically requested to consider strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of
the business. Our team has agreed to provide a S.W.O.T. analysis of Cocomero that
articulates relevant information and presents a conclusion regarding suggestions for
Cocomero’s future growth. During a two week period, our team has taken care to observe
the business at various times of the day and week to ensure a more comprehensive
outlook. Based on this examination, we respectfully submit a report of our findings below.
Background
Cocomero is a locally owned frozen yogurt store located on the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign campus at the corner of Wright and Green St. Store hours are
11:00AM - 10:30PM Sunday through Thursday and 11:00AM to 11:00PM Friday through
Saturday. Hours change on a seasonal basis.
The store is based on the concept of self-serve “froyo.” The concept is described by
Cocomero below:
Grab a cup
Swirl your own Yogurt
Add your own toppings
Weigh and pay
Upon entering the store, customers can see frozen yogurt dispensers lined across a wall.
Customers may then proceed to dispense any desired combination of frozen yogurt into a
cup. Next, customers have the option to add various toppings to their froyo. Once
complete, customers will approach the register with the final product. The creation is
weighed on a scale and a price is determined based on the weight. Cocomero charges 47
cents per ounce.
Flavors tend to remain stable throughout the year; flavor changes are occasional. The
current flavors are listed below:
Blueberry
French vanilla
Pistacchio
Café au lait
Green tea
Red velvet
Cheesecake
Mango tart
Strawberry
Chocolate
Pomegranate raspberry
Taro
Cookes & cream
Original
Dulche de leche
Pineapple
Toppings include fresh fruit, an assortment of nuts, various candies, cereal, coconut flakes,
and different sweet syrups.
Although the self-serve frozen yogurt is Cocomero’s most popular and iconic product,
Cocomero offers a menu with other dessert options. Customers may choose to order hot
lattes, fruit smoothies with tapioca pearls (bubble tea), and a shaved iced dessert (bing su).
These items require employee preparation and may be ordered at the register.
Cocomero has been open for about four years. Approximately one year ago, the owner of
Cocomero also opened a neighboring Korean-American fusion restaurant, called Spoon
House. Furthermore, the owner recently opened another Cocomero in Elmhurst and
Downers Grove, northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Due to the nature of the client’s request and physical location of the establishments, we
were not able to observe these other businesses. Our client has asked us to assess the
Cocomero in Champaign based on the business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats.
Strengths
As a business venue, Cocomero has a modern theme, where all of the furnishing and color
choices have a futuristic appeal. This helps attract business in a college town such as,
Champaign-Urbana, where their target audience is young adults. Cocomero appeals to
young adults with its interior décor; however, it does not shun older audiences as it fosters
a quaint social atmosphere free of excessive internal distractions.
Cocomero operates on a self-serve system where the customer chooses the frozen yogurt
and toppings they wish to purchase. On one Sunday evening, the venue was quite full;
however, the lines were well managed and free of excessive waiting. The self-serve concept
helps Cocomero manage lines during peak hours. Cocomero’s peak business hours are in
the afternoons or in the evenings after meals. Many restaurants require an employee to
serve an item, which often causes long lines due to the difficulty of serving food to large
amounts of people.
In addition to reducing lines, the self-serve concept allows the customer to gain a better
understanding for the cost of their yogurt. The cost of the yogurt is solely dependent upon
the weight of the bowl in which it is placed. Therefore, the customer is allowed the freedom
to place various items in their bowl, without regard to the expense of individual toppings.
This pricing model ensures that there is no disparity amongst servers or time of day insofar
as the cost versus quantity of yogurt.
Weaknesses
Cocomero has many positive business attributes; however, it is not free of weaknesses.
Although there are no excessive lines at Cocomero, seating availability is often times a
major concern during peak hours. The establishment is not very large insofar as its land
area. Therefore, the establishment contains many narrow passageways, stairwells, and
doorways. This is often times uncomfortable to taller individuals that visit the venue.
Expanding their property vertically and adding an extra story could aid in providing more
seating room during peak hours of operation.
Apart from their structural limitations, Cocomero places restrictions on the forms of
acceptable payment for their product. Cocomero only accepts credit cards for purchases
over $3. Ordinarily, this does not seem like a large credit card minimum to exceed;
however, the cost of their frozen yogurt is less than a dollar per ounce. Therefore, many
customers do not exceed Cocomero’s credit card minimum. Society is growing towards
using electronic forms of payment more frequently. Therefore, placing restrictions on
electronic payment can alienate individuals that do not carry paper currency.
Opportunities
Cocomero has a huge opportunity for growth. In terms of higher risk, higher capital
investment opportunities, Cocomero can physically expand with other store locations or
increasing the space of their current store to encompass the third floor above it. In Urbana,
there are no strong dessert shops or frozen yogurt businesses near Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts. The potential expansion near this area would be in the available location
in the plaza near JSM’s Gregory Place Apartments. Although this location would be very
good for Cocomero, there must be further assessment of the exact financials (potential gain
and estimated capital investment) associated with such an expansion. Furthermore, the
same assessment is required for expansion to other locations outside of the C-U area into
other nearby areas (suburbs of Chicago, other college campuses, etc.)
Cocomero also has the potential to grow with lower risk opportunities. For example, an
official, professional website can be developed to showcase their menu and appeal to a
broader audience that would not go to Cocomero on a whim. Currently, their Facebook
page and Twitter page are not very popular but do appeal to their current consumer
demographic, college students. In addition to web presence, Cocomero can have greater
presence with advertisements (paper, TV, etc.) or coupons/deals. Any growth in making
their presence known will increase the number of consumers and potentially increase the
popularity in the quieter hours (early mornings and late nights).
Threats
Because the target consumer at this point is young adults and/or college students, a large
threat is the dining hall (for those students not in apartments). The university dining hall
locations are spread around campus for these students to be within a short distance to eat
meals along with desserts. In addition, Beri is a potential threat because it is a competitor
located within a block away that sells frozen yogurt. Other threats are nearby businesses
that provide other dessert options. For example, Cold Stone Creamery is a business that
sells customizable ice cream and is located only a few blocks away from Cocomero. Jamba
Juice can also be a potential threat with their smoothies, which can be considered a
substitutable dessert.
Conclusions
Cocomero frozen yogurt store is performing moderately well under current conditions. We
see great opportunity for Cocomero to continue growing as a local business.
Because Cocomero is located on a college university, the business cycle mirrors the
academic year: peaks during the Fall and Spring semester and slower growth during
Summer and Winter breaks. As a dessert place, the store’s busiest hours are in the evening.
As such, we agree with Cocomero - the current hours are appropriate to minimize
employee cost and maximize revenue. It is not advisable to change the store hours.
Additionally, we note that the owner has started expanding Cocomero into the Northwest
suburbs. Until the new business becomes stable, we do not suggest further expansion of
Cocomero locations.
Cocomero has never offered coupons or promotions. Depending on the specific discount
amount, time, number of offerings, and availability of promotion, this idea requires further
research. However, based on its excellent past performance, our team believes that
coupons or promotions are not necessary.
To continue expanding the business, we recommend that Cocomero establishes a stronger
online presence. The internet is gradually becoming a greater means of advertising to
potential customers. For Cocomero, an official page may serve as a reference for current or
future customers. We suggest including Cocomero’s history, froyo flavors, location and
hours. If an official webpage is not manageable, we would also advocate establishing a
more maintained facebook page. Cocomero’s primary customers are college students.
This audience frequently uses facebook to look up various businesses. We suggest
Cocomero controls the content posted to its page while advertising its presence as a frozen
yogurt store. There is potential for the business to grow by means other than word-ofmouth.
Our team appreciates having the opportunity to assess Cocomero. If there are any
questions about this S.W.O.T. report or our conclusions, please contact any of our members
via email.