Hi , im just checking in, I'll email everyone a rough draft tomorrow night of what I have done for suggestions.

Springfield Creamery Interview Questions

Hello  Sarah-

I have addressed many of the questions presented. This list seemed redundant in some cases, so you will find some questions not answered. I also skipped some of the questions dealing with financial info and employee conduct- either was proprietary info or too broad of a question to dive into, or all of the above.

For the purpose and accuracy of your report, please note that the name of our company is Springfield Creamery and the name of our brand is Nancy's. 

When talking about our company we do not use the brand name, but the company name- Springfield Creamery. 

This was a pretty extensive list. I do hope you will share your report/ project with me when completed.

Thank you  again for your interest in Springfield Creamery and best of luck-

Sheryl

 Sheryl Kesey Thompson

Co-owner, VP Marketing

Springfield Creamery

Eugene, Ore

From: sarah powers <sarah.powers86@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:41:39 -0700

To: Sheryl <sheryl@nancysyogurt.com>

Subject: Lane Community College Business Class Questions

Hello Sheryl, 

These are all of our questions. There are four us in our group so I think online correspondence will be perfect. Thank you inadvance for allowing us to do this. It means a lot to us and will help greatly with the quality of our report. Feel free to answer only the ones you feel comfortable with. We look forward to your response and let me know if you have any more questions or concerns. Thank you!

Part One:

1) In what ways do you satisfy the customer’s needs?

Feeding  folks genuine, healthy, real food at a fair price. 

2) How is this business owned?

Privately family owned, since 1960

3) Do you have a specific standard for employee behavior?

Yes- policies- including our Good Manufacturing Practices that address employment expectations, policies.

4) What steps do you take to provide a safe workplace?

We have a safety committee that meets to address issues.  This committee remains proactive on safety procedures and policies. 

5) What areas are the products distributed? (Canada? Washington? Ect.)

Nationally distributed throughout the US and Canada as well as some limited distribution into Hong Kong

6) Do you have expansion plans?

Not physical expansion of our manufacturing plant at this time. We just completed a warehouse/cooler expansion about 4 months ago. We do plan on purchasing some new filling equipment to meet demand and to be more efficient in production.

Part Two:

1. How did the idea for Nancy’s, as a business, come about?

http://www.nancysyogurt.com/images/Nancys_Images/Creamery/News/PDFs/NancysBackground.pdf

This document should give you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about the start of Springfield Creamery (the company) and Nancy's  (the brand) 

2. How much was Ken Kesey involved with the formation or running of Nancy’s?

Ken was always very supportive of the Creamery and grew up, as did his brother Chuck, in Creameries- as theirfather was a creamery manager. Ken, however was not involved in the establishment of Springfield Creamery in 1960 and had little to do with running of Springfield Creamery- other than working at the Creamery for a short period of time in 1961, helping to bottle milk.  Ken however was always the Creamery’s #1 cheerleader.

3. How does Nancy’s serve and benefit the community?

Springfield Creamery gives back to our local community in many ways- both financially through supporting localcauses and non profits- to name a few: Farm to School programs, Bring Recycling, Oregon Public Broadcasting, St Vincent de Paul, ARC of Lane County, Eugene Library, Willamette Valley Sustainable Food Alliance, Eugene Ballet,Eugene Ballet, Eugene Celebration, Oregon Festival of American Music (OFAM), The Bach Festival, Cuthbert Amphitheater and through in-kind donation of food to numerous community organizations in the area- the largest recipient being Food for Lane County who receives productdonation each week, which equates to over $50,000  donated product  annually to Food for Lane County.

4. How did Nancy’s generate the startup costs it needed to get the business up and running?

The year was 1960, Chuck and Sue Kesey were newly graduated from college and had zero funds. Any start up funds to open the doors to Springfield Creamery in Springfield, Oregon came as a loan from their parents. 

5. Does Nancy’s have a method for conducting customer satisfaction surveys?

No there is not a formal survey procedure. Consumers contact us with questions, comments through our website, Facebook page or phone call directly to the Creamery. We do demos in stores throughout the country and there is always a demo report submitted following the tasting, with customer comments and impressions.

6. Does Nancy’s fulfill all of the available market niches?

Of course not, I don't think any brand fills all the market opportunities out there. We are a much stronger brand in the northwest, so more of the market is covered in that area.

7. How has the stress of ownership affected the owner’s personal lives and relationships with each other?

There have never been anything but personal lives combined with business- so we do not know what it would be like otherwise. We see each other all day, everyday- we get along, we are friends, as see each other on the weekend, we share common outside interests, we travel on vacations together. Do we talk business while outside the work setting with each other? Yes, usually!  We juggle it day to day as any other family does, I would imagine.

8. Does Nancy’s have a plan to expand and market into other demographics? We always hope to reach a wide array of demographics- but we do not have any specific marketing plans at this time, targeting a specific demographic.

9. Does the company do any volunteer work in the community? Yes, serving on nonprofit boards.

10. What are your business ethics for the company?

We pride ourselves in business integrity and long standing relationships with vendor partners and customers. We do not have a specific mission statement of our “ business ethics”- I guess that is because we have never had to defend or explain what our “ ethics” are. We have never had such an issue, and since we are privately owned and not governed by a board or investors- we have never had a need for such mission statement of ethic, etc.  I would hope the way we present our products, our business and ourselves would communicate our ethics to people.

11. How do you take care of unethical behavior in the company?

If there has ever been such a situation, it has been minor.

12. What information to you provide to the public about your product?

Product ingredients, nutritional values, the difference in Nancy’s products, new product intro, etc. through website (www.nancysyogurt) and Nancy’s Facebook page, Twitter as well as print ads and some TV ads.

Part 3:

1)  How many managers do you employ? What are their duties?   Active managers are owners-   President/CFO, General Manger, VP Operations, VP Marketing,  VP Product Development

2)  What is one of your objectives/goals that you expect all employees to take part in achieving?

Producing quality food, with care and integrity.

3)    What is a concern regarding growth, how do you plan to address this concern? Growth needs capital. Without inventors, this is always a challenge when you are up against competitors who have large (i.e.) marketing budgets, which are provided by revenue from investors. 

4) Please explain the chain of command when it comes to decisions/duties and projects.

5) How do you control quality in your product?

Product is reviewed each day-for quality in product and packaging.

6) How do incorporate technology into your business?

Fully utilizing technology in milk reporting requirements, sanitation procedures, bookkeeping, etc.

Part 4:

1. How does Nancy’s fulfill its human resources needs?

Owners take care of HR needs

2. What does Nancy’s do to increase employee motivation?

Very competitive, fair wage.  Employer 100% paid medical/dental/vision plan for employee and family, 401k, generous vacation/ sick days. Flexible schedules as employee needs. Positive environment to work.

3. How is employee morale?

Positive. People work hard and take pride in what they do.

4. What is the employee turnover rate?

 Less than2% annually. We have nearly 20% of our employees who have been with Springfield Creamery for over 25 years.

5. What methods does Nancy’s employee to modify undesirable employee conduct?

6. Does Nancy’s employ job rotation to stave off job boredom and burnout?

7. Does Nancy’s employ a traditional or a compressed workweek?

Traditional

8. How does Nancy’s go about fulfilling job vacancies?

Receives resumes, reaches out to other business contacts, etc.

9. Does Nancy’s recruit internally or externally?

Both

10. How many people are employed by Nancy’s?

55

11. What is the selection criteria used when screening prospective employees?

Varies depending on the position. Hard working, good references, good fit for our company climate.

12. How does Nancy’s assess work performance?

13. How competitive are the wages and benefit packages at Nancy’s compared to similar businesses in the area?

Superior- especially in the area of benefit package.

14. Does Nancy’s have a diversity requirement imposed by upper management?

Part 5:

1. What is the highest purchasing demographic for your products?  Female age 35-60. Most popular product?   Nancy’s Nonfat Yogurt.

2. What is Nancy's marketing strategy? Total (market to everyone) or Target (market to a specific demographic)? What are the benefits to this marketing strategy? Total marketing strategy in most cases.

3. What sort of promotions does Nancy's do?  Are there different promotions focused locally and nationally?

Promotions at the retailer and distributor levels, as typically required.

Promotions include demos, cents-off, % discounts, ad programs, free-fills, etc.

4. How is your product distributed? How does your sustainability protocol affect or limit distribution?

A wide variety of distributors throughout US and Canada. The distributors then sell to the retailers. Locally in LaneCounty-we self distribute and deliver our own products.

5. What is your company's protocol on introducing new and/or improved products? Do you do test markets or product screenings?  In the ideal world you would test market, but typically not time to test market- usually up against a distributor intro deadline, etc.  Present product at national natural food trade shows with retailers and distributors.

6. How do you utilize modern technology and online social networking? How has this affected the way you do business locally and nationally? Twitter, Facebook, website all provide immediate opportunities to talk with consumers and share info. Downfall is folks often think all the info they read on the Internet is true- so sometimes your job is to control/correct the message.

Part 6: 

Privately held company- passing on many of the below questions.

1) In what ways are you taking financial steps to achieve your long term goals?

2) How do you track financial performance (record keeping)?

3) What would you say is your biggest liability?

4) What is your marketing strategy? Feed good food to the most people as possible, at a fair price.

5) How do you deal with internal dishonesty?

6) What kinds of investments does the company make?

Chapter 2 questions

So these are some questions that I have for Nancy from chapter 2.

1. What positive impact do you have on society?
2. Does the company do any volunteer work in the community?
3.What are your business ethics for the company?
4.How do you take care of unethical behavior in the company?
5. What information to you provide to the public about your product?

Amy Olson

Questions Section 2 & 4

Blythe Reichert

Section 2 and 4 Questions for Nancy’s employee

Section 2 encompasses Chapter 4 & 5

Section 4 encompasses Chapter 9, 10 & Appendix C

Section 2-Chapter 4

1. What is the organizational format of Nancy’s for legal and tax purposes?

2. Why was that type of business structure chosen?

3. Was the choice of structure influenced by taxing regulations or due to liability concerns?

4. How are profits distributed?
5. Does Nancy’s have publicly owned stock?

6. If stock is sold is it preferred stock, common stock or a combination of both?

7. Do employees have ownership or stock options?

Section 2-Chapter 5

1. How did the idea for Nancy’s, as a business, come about?

2. How much was Ken Kesey involved with the formation or running of Nancy’s?

3. How does Nancy’s serve and benefit the community?

4. How did Nancy’s generate the startup costs it needed to get the business up and running?

5. Does Nancy’s have a method for conducting customer satisfaction surveys?

6. Does Nancy’s fulfill all of the available market niches?

7. How has the stress of ownership affected the owner’s personal lives and relationships with each other?

8. Does Nancy’s have a plan to expand and market into other demographics?

Section 4-Chapter 9

1. How does Nancy’s fulfill its human resources needs?

2. What does Nancy’s do to increase employee motivation?

3. How is employee morale?
4. What is the employee turnover rate?
5. What methods does Nancy’s employee to modify undesirable employee conduct?

6. Does Nancy’s employ job rotation to stave off job boredom and burnout?

7. Does Nancy’s employ a traditional or a compressed workweek?

Section 4-Chapter 10

1. How does Nancy’s go about fulfilling job vacancies?

2. Does Nancy’s recruit internally or externally?

3. How many people are employed by Nancy’s?

4. What is the selection criteria used when screening prospective employees?
5. How does Nancy’s assess work performance?

6. How competitive are the wages and benefit packages at Nancy’s compared to similar businesses in the area?

7. Does Nancy’s have a diversity requirement imposed by upper management?

Elena's questions with my input in green.

Part 1 Questions:

1) How do you tailor your product lines to customer desires? How do you gauge if you are satisfying market demands?

2) How is this business owned?

3) Do you have a specific standard for employee behavior?

4) What steps do you take to provide a safe workplace?

5) What area your geographical distribution areas? (Canada? Washington? Etc.)

6) Do you have plans to expand your business?

Part 2 Questions:

1) What is the business structure of Nancy’s? Is Nancy’s a cooperation/partnership/sole proprietorship? Has it always been?

2) What are your thoughts on a merger if one were to take place?

3) What economic advantages does Nancy’s have over other creameries?

4) Have you noticed any demographic changes that have had either a negative or a positive impact on the business?

5) How did the economic crash of 2008 affect Nancy’s?

6) Do you outsource your tax return work? Do you feel like your accountant is taking advantage of all of the available tax relief?

Part 3 Questions:

1) How many managers do you employ? What are their duties? What is the standard managerial style and how is it employed? Is there an employee code of conduct?

2) What is one of the company’s objectives or goals that you expect all employees to take part in achieving?

3) Do you have any concerns regarding growth, and how do you plan to address these?

4) Please explain the chain of command when it comes to decisions making and assignment of duties and projects.

5) How do you control quality in your product?

6) How are technological advances incorporated into Nancy’s?

Part 6 Questions:

1) What strategies do you implement to reach your long term goals?

2) How do you track fiscal performance (record keeping)?

3) What is your biggest economic weakness and how are you working to strengthen that?

4) What is your marketing strategy?

5) Does the company have issues with internal honesty and what measures do you take to combat that?

6) Does the company invest in outside stock or make other outside investments?

Part 5 questions

Anyone have any inspiration for financial questions? I'm looking through the chapters and because Nancy's is a privately owned company it can't really release any info. I'm having a bit of writers block...

I'll post my questions for part 5- if we go through Sheryl (my contact at Nancy's) we can just send her questions and she'll answer them via email. What do you guys think? I think it sounds really efficient for this project. Also, feel free to help me edit these questions for grammar. I want to make sure they sound appropriate.

1. What is the highest purchasing demographic for your products? Most popular product?

2. What is Nancy's marketing strategy? Total (market to everyone) or Target (market to a specific demographic)? What are the benefits to this marketing strategy?

3. What sort of promotions does Nancy's do?  Are there different promotions focused locally and nationally?

4. How is your product distributed? How does your sustainability protocol affect or limit distribution?

5. What is your company's protocol on introducing new and/or improved products? Do you do test markets or product screenings?

6. How do you utilize modern technology and online social networking? How has this affected the way you do business locally and nationally?

Checking up

Hello Everyone,

Just checking in. I've got a good start on my questions for the interview. Before I saw that you knew someone who worked at Nancy's, I called them to see who I would speak to. I've sent an email but haven't gotten a reply yet. Who would I want to set the interview up with specifically? They said Sheryl Kesey Thompson was the person I would want to speak to but I'm open for setting it up with someone else. Let me know asap, so I can confirm! I've found that as I've been thinking about this interview I have lots of questions. Any objections to having more than 5 per part? 

I haven't heard from the other two members. Maybe we could try emailing them again?

Hey this is Blythe checking in...
I think that we need to meet with someone in administration or a PR person so that we can get our business structure questions answered as well as the questions regarding long term business plans.