{"id":319,"date":"2018-06-05T11:25:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.prd.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/?p=319"},"modified":"2018-06-05T12:02:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T17:02:28","slug":"executive-edge-capstone-project-spotlight-hattie-bs-hot-chicken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/executive-edge-capstone-project-spotlight-hattie-bs-hot-chicken\/","title":{"rendered":"Executive Edge Capstone Project Spotlight: Hattie B’s Hot Chicken"},"content":{"rendered":"

An EMBA team proposes an operating model and new locations to help the fast-casual restaurant concept continue its rapid growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Hattie<\/p>\n

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In the\u00a0Executive Edge track<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the Vanderbilt\u00a0Executive MBA program<\/span><\/a>, students are assigned to a cross-function C-Team, designed to emulate a C-suite of executives. During their final spring semester, each C-Team completes a\u00a0capstone strategy project<\/span><\/a>, consulting on real business challenges.<\/p>\n

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The Client:<\/strong>\u00a0Founded in 2012 by the father-son team of Nick Bishop, Sr. and Nick Bishop, Jr., Hattie B\u2019s has quickly become one of the most well-known names on the Nashville hot chicken scene. The fast-casual restaurant concept now boasts five locations across three cities \u2014 Nashville, Birmingham, and Memphis \u2014 with more on the way.s with major hospital systems in Florida and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

The Project:\u00a0<\/strong>While the Bishops have maintained a close eye on the restaurants so far, that personal day-to-day involvement won\u2019t be possible as the concept continues to expand. Hattie B\u2019s tasked the EMBA team with providing strategic recommendations for how the company could grow organically without taking on a lot of debt, going the private equity route, or moving into franchises.<\/p>\n

The Analysis<\/strong>:\u00a0The EMBA team started with industry research to get up to speed on the restaurant space, leveraging the librarians at the Walker Management Library for help. They also used frameworks from\u00a0Professor Jon Lehman\u2019s<\/span><\/a>\u00a0strategy class to guide the structure of their recommendations.<\/p>\n

Hattie B\u2019s kept in contact with the team and provided information via phone, emails, and in-person meetings. The team used selective financial data provided by Hattie B\u2019s to project future growth.<\/p>\n

\"HattieThe Recommendations:<\/strong>\u00a0The EMBA team put together a financial model that paced the next four years of growth for Hattie\u2019s B. They also prioritized four new locations \u2014 Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte in North Carolina, and Jacksonville and Orlando in Florida \u2014 based on fast casual restaurant industry research and Hattie B\u2019s demographics.<\/p>\n

Because Hattie B\u2019s was not interested in franchising, the team also recommended an operating partner strategy for opening multiple new restaurants in larger markets. Under this model, the partner would establish the first three restaurants in a new location, hire someone to oversee them at the supervisor level, then build three more restaurants in a new market and continue the cycle.<\/p>\n

The Feedback:<\/strong>\u00a0The EMBA team’s client, Nick Bishop, Sr., had a lot to say about the value of their recommendations.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo have a group of professional, business-minded students working as consultants for Hattie B\u2019s turned out to be one of the most rewarding partnerships I have experienced. Outside of our initial meeting and a few follow-up sessions, the EMBA project allowed us to focus on the business of running restaurants and required little time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe final presentation was exceptional, with all members of the EMBA program totally engaged and contributing as a team,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe will absolutely implement most, if not all, of the recommendations brought forth by the EMBA team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about the Executive MBA program? Visit our\u00a0program page<\/span><\/a>, or\u00a0request information<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An EMBA team proposes an operating model and new locations to help the fast-casual restaurant concept continue its rapid growth.     In the\u00a0Executive Edge track\u00a0of the Vanderbilt\u00a0Executive MBA program, students are assigned to a cross-function C-Team, designed to emulate a C-suite of executives. During their final spring semester, each C-Team completes a\u00a0capstone strategy project, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":692,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,25,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edge","category-emba","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/executive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}