To achieve this level of brand awareness, it is in Gardenburger's best interests to form an alliance with the McDonalds corporation. This joint venture would allow Gardenburger to lessen it's current advertising costs, enabling the company to be profitable. This alliance would be an important step in strengthening their level of brand awareness. The joint venture would also enable Gardenburger to emerge from the introduction stage to the growth stage of the product life cycle.

There are several types of consumers who are likely to purchase meat-substitute pr

Unit sales of Gardenburger are also steadily increasing. Retail grocery unit sales have risen from 7.1 million units in 1996 to 8.7 million units in 1997 (Edgar On-line, 1997). These unit sales figures translate into a growth rate of approximately 26% for the retail-grocery market. This also translates into a 83 million dollar retail market share worth for Gardenburger in 1997.

Culloton, D. (1997). Veggie Lovers Have No Beef Over Menu McDonald's Testing Meatless Burger. Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), 13, 5.

Ø Fully utilize new "continuous" manufacturing plant

Ø Strengthening current positions of market share

Clancy, B. (Ibrahim Hooper). (1999), November 4). CNN. Atlanta, Georgia: Oceanic Cable Company.

Reliance on Few Significant Distributors. Gardenburger relies heavily on only a few distributors. Norpac, Sysco and Rykoff-Sexton are the distributors that Gardenburger relies on most. At of the end of 1997, Norpac accounted for 19% of all sales revenues generated by Gardenburger. There was political pressure placed on Gardenburger to ceases all business activities with the company due to Norpac's "unfair" treatment of migrant farm-workers. A boycott of Gardenburger's products was prompted by various human rights activists groups, pressuring Gardenburger, along with other food manufacturers, to cease doing business with Norpac. As a result, Gardenburger chose to cut ties with its major distributor, hurting their revenue-generating capabilities.

David W. Gates will be responsible for the evaluation of the program's effectivenes

Gardenburger had increased sales through all of its distribution channels by at least 10% in 1998 (Edgar On-line, 1997). Gardenburger products can be found in more than 4,000 natural food stores and approximately 600 club store locations (Gardenburger, 1998). Gardenburger products are also found on menus at more than 35,000 restaurants in the United States and overseas (Edgar Online, 1997). The following table represents an example of newly acquired distribution channels.

In general, the consumer's knowledge of veggie burgers is limited. The consumer has little information on what brands are available, and similarly have little knowledge of pricing and the quality of products when compared against each other. As consumers look for alternatives to consuming meat, the veggie burger manufacturers are trying to respond to their needs.

Marlow, B. (1998). Worthington Foods Expects to Extend Leadership. [On-line]. Available: www.sddt.com/~columbus/library/98/03/13/taf.html

Ø Give up certain decisions over product to McDonalds

Some common words found in the essay are:
Edgar On-line, E- Coli, Pros Cons, Foods Inc, Program Gardenburger's, Daily Herald, Decision Considering, PROS CONS, Extent Demand, Alliance McDonalds, market share, worthington foods, worthington foods inc, foods inc, distribution channels, gardenburger 1998, retail grocery, edgar on-line, 1998 gardenburger, on-line available, on-line 1997, edgar on-line 1997, gardenburger on-line 1998, product life cycle, on-line 1998 gardenburger,
Approximate Word count = 4459
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page double spaced)