azalea
...afood Industry Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe was established in Mobile, Alabama in 1971. The company changed hands once before Mike Rathle, John Addison, and Bill Sibley (who would soon sell his part of the company to Mike and John) took over ownership. Mike and John had to move the business due to lease issues and the since the new location was too isolated to support retail sales, they would have to focus on commercial accounts for future business. They now had a clear vision of where Azalea was headed. The facility enabled eight-ton-per-day production capacity. It wasn’t long before Azalea was producing more than 45 tons of gumbo and other seafood products each month. Their products were sold to many local restaurants, supermarkets such as Wal-Mart, and other types of food retailers. Driving forces in the industry (Appendix C) are evolving as the Value-Added Seafood Industry begins to looks more and more profitable. Azalea has dealt well with their uncertainty and is well aware of the risks at hand. Azalea has to expand its production facilities in order to surmount production problems it faces inhibiting larger more profitable accounts. As they accumulate more accounts Azalea will begin to build a strong presence in the market. Once Azalea has reduced perceived risk levels and established itself financially, it needs to introduce new products in efforts to differentiate itself from the competition and increase its cu...