Mystic Monk Coffee Essay

Father Daniel Mary, Prior of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, has a vision to expand his monastery by purchasing the Irma Lake Ranch property, which lists at $8. 9 million. The Carmelite Monks of Wyoming have a company called Mystic Monk Coffee. The monks sell different varieties of coffee, along with gift cards, T-shirts, and other material products on their website to raise money for purchasing the ranch property. Mystic Monks primary target market is other Catholics who love specialty coffee and want to spend their money helping their Catholic family. Father Daniel Mary does not have the best business strategy for accomplishing his long-term goal. My recommendations for him would be to set short-term and long-term goals, explore investment opportunities, and advertise to other Catholic dominated countries. Father Daniel Mary is the Prior of the Carmelite Order of monks in Clark, Wyoming. As of now the Carmelite monks consist of only thirteen monks. Father Daniel Mary has a vision to transform the Wyoming Carmelite small monastery into one that accommodates to thirty monks, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors, and a hermitage. However, the ranch property he is hoping to gain for this new monastery costs $8. 9 million. His vision for Mystic Monk Coffee is that the operations will fund the purchase of the ranch. The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming is making certain that applicants understand the reality of the vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty and the sacrifices associated with living a cloistered religious life ( ). From reading this case it does not appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives or performance targets. He does have a goal of being ble to afford the ranch property, however that is a long-term goal. Having little experience in business matters, Father Daniel Mary hopes the Mystic Monk Coffee will be enough to reach the amount they need, along with a $250,000 donation and the New Mount Carmel Foundation ( ). For the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, the best strategy in achieving goals is to set small, short-term goals that are attainable within a specific time frame. Father Daniel Mary’s strategy seems to be to make as much money as possible until they reach their goal. Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy is to target the part of the U. S. Catholic population who drinks coffee and wishes to support the monastery’s mission. Consumers can only buy this coffee through its website. On the Mystic Monk website one may find the statement that Catholics should â€Å"use their Catholic coffee dollar for Christ and his Catholic church† ( ). This statement is a good strategy for their target market because Catholics will want to help other Catholics. Another strategy Mystic Monk has is having different products on the website. There are dark, medium, and lights roasts caffeinated and decaffeinated and in different flavors. Some of the popular flavors are Mystical Chants of Carmel, Cowboy Blend, Royal Rum Pecan, and Mystic Monk Blend. The website also features T-shirts, gift cards, CDs featuring the monastery’s Gregorian chants, and coffee mugs. Also, as an incentive to bring in more frequent customers, they are given the opportunity to join a â€Å"coffee club†, which offers monthly delivery of one to six bags of preselected coffee, as well as, free shipping for purchases of three or more bags ( ). The competitive advantage Mystic Monk’s strategy producing is that people are more likely to purchase something where the profit goes to benefit a charity or project, especially if the customer is of the Catholic denomination. Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy is in the process of being a money-maker, I believe. As of just recently, the monks have expanded Mystic Monk’s business model to include wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops. I think that expansion is the beginning of the process of being a money-maker. Marketing and advertising is a big missing part to how successful Mystic Monk Coffee can be. Instead of focusing on just the Catholics in the U. S. , Mystic Monk needs to reach out to other Catholicism dominated countries like Italy. Another business strategy the monks might consider is to accumulate investors, who will contribute to purchasing the ranch property. From what I have read, the strategy they are following now is not a winning strategy, but is on its way to becoming one. For this to become a winning strategy Father Daniel Mary needs to start setting short-term goals, for example, getting enough money to purchase a larger roaster or setting a monthly goal. He also needs to advertise to other Catholic dominated countries, where Mystic Monk could get the support from other monks and Catholic churches. At the end of the case I read that Father Daniel Mary realized his vision of purchasing the ranch property would require a lot of planning and execution. I also read that he will develop an execution plan that will enable Mystic Monk Coffee to â€Å"minimize the effect of its cloistered monastic constraints, maximize the potential of monastic opportunities, and realize his vision of buying the Irma Lake Ranch† ( ). The recommendations I would make to Father Daniel Mary would be set short-term and long-term goals, expand advertisements to other countries, and reach out to investors. I believe these changes will definitely help in Mystic Monk’s long-term direction. Another suggestion would be for Father Daniel Mary to evaluate and update Mystic Monk’s direction, objectives, strategy, and the execution of the strategy each year. Markets change all the time, therefore keeping up with what’s changing will only help reach the long-term goal.