Great Harvest Bread Company: Leveraging the Supply Chain for Competitive Advantage

The foundation of the Great Harvest Bread Company is the "Freedom Franchise," within which its more than 200 franchisees enjoy an amount of autonomy unusual for franchise operations. CEO Mike Ferretti is now faced with the matter of the rising costs of ingredients, some of which are based on longstanding contracts and others of which are obtained locally from a variety of sources, all of which have a direct impact on the product. Is there a way Ferretti can streamline the supply chain? Does the central tenet of the Freedom Franchise mean he stands more to lose than to gain by mandating procurement changes? What role does logistics play? This field-based case provides a means of addressing a hosts of issues related to supply chain optimization as well as strategic considerations. Excerpt UVA-OM-1437 Rev. Jun. 7, 2011 GREAT HARVEST BREAD COMPANY: LEVERAGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE On a flight from Bozeman, Montana, to his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mike Ferretti, CEO of Great Harvest Bread Company (Great Harvest), wondered what the future held for his firm's supply chain development. Bakery owners now understood more about supplies and ingredients—what they bought from whom and how it got to them. But Ferretti still wondered how Great Harvest might optimize its supply chain and capture more of its potential value. Great Harvest Bread Company . . .