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Table of contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
I. Cartems donuts on social media....................................................................................................4
II. Analysis and evaluation..................................................................................................................6
1. External analysis.........................................................................................................................6
a) Political, Economic, Social and Technology factors PEST............................................................6
Political...........................................................................................................................................6
Economic........................................................................................................................................7
Social..............................................................................................................................................7
Technology.....................................................................................................................................7
b) Competitors................................................................................................................................7
Lee’s Donuts...................................................................................................................................7
Lucky’s Donughnuts........................................................................................................................8
2. Internal Analysis.........................................................................................................................9
III. Strategy....................................................................................................................................11
1. Position.....................................................................................................................................11
2. Strategic direction....................................................................................................................12
3. Cartems donuts adapt to pandemic with online innovation....................................................12
References............................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction

Donuts have the distinct honour of being one the world’s favourite sweet treats and are
seen around the globe in various regional forms. Donuts are so delicious in all of their
incarnations. Today Canadians consume the most doughnuts and Canada has the most
doughnut stores.

Cartems donut is one of Vancouver’s longest standing donuts vendors and is located in the
Downtown, Mount Pleasant and Kitsilano.

They are a family run establishment that produces handmade donuts with high quality
ingredients. Cartems donuts focuses on traditional flavours, however, they have begun to
integrate specialty trend-driven flavours for their clientele. Top Canadians food trends for
2019 noted that “donuts are making a huge comeback across Canada and have become a
gourmet food trend”. This trend has led to the rise of gourmet donut competitors Lee’s
donuts and Lucky’s donuts in Vancouver. Both of them use high quality, local ingredients in
their donuts and focus on trend-driven flavours like bourbon bacon, Mexican mole and citrus
dust. Both have sleek company websites and allow for the purchase of their product and
provide eco-friendly bicycle delivery. Moreover, each actively engages in utilizing social
media platforms to better communicate and build relationships with their customers.

Cartems donut has an established clientele of local Vancouverites ranging in age, ethnicity,
education, income and social media savviness. For the purposes of this report the target
market will be defined as the urbanite because of their usage of social media, disposable
income and ability to influence virtual communities through content sharing.

The types of people who are customers of Cartems donuts include a wide range of the
population. These individuals can be broken down into 6 persona groups depicted as: the
urbanite, the tourist, the family, the student, the retiree and the foodie. The urbanite, the
tourist, the family and the foodie have a high degree of social media usage and can be

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influenced by social media in their purchase decisions; they will be considered the target
audience for this plan. In particular, the urbanite will be considered Cartems donuts social
media target market because of their high usage of social media, ability to influence others
and their elevated level of disposable income.

I. Cartems donuts on social media

Cartems donut is located on downtown, Mount Pleasant and Kitsilano. They are considered
a pop-up shop. Cartems offer handmade donuts and delivery services. They use local
ingredients and creative flavours, such as their maker’s bourbon bacon flavour, which
consists of bourbon glaze, topped with a double smoked house cured candied bacon.

Cartems utilizes several social media platforms. They have active Facebook, twitter and
Instagram accounts, as well as a website. Their Facebook page is updated regularly with
specials including gluten-free options, pictures, status updates informing their followers
what flavours are still available in the shop and they engage in two-way communication with
their social media community. Cartems currently has 8,346 likes, which jumped up by 204
likes between February and May 2020. They currently have ten photo albums showcasing
their products and guests enjoying their products. In addition, two photo albums were
added in the same time period.

Their twitter account has 6374 followers, jumping up 174 followers in the same two months,
while following 718 prople, and have tweeted 2580 times, 351 of which were in the same

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time period. In addition, their twitter page has a branded background showcasing their
specialty donuts.

Cartems instagram account had 157 photos in April 2020, with that number jumping to 171
by May. All photos on instagram are of their products, guests enjoying their products,
current specials, images of their donuts being made in store and line-ups out the door. They
have 33 600 followers, an increase of 354 in the two months period, and follow 2331 people.

They also have a company website at http///cartems.com. Their website is branded to

mirror their Facebook and twitter pages. On it their story can be found, as well as a “find us”

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buttom, allowing interested future guests to locate them easily, along with an order form for
online purchases and their facebook, instagram and twitter buttons. Cartems has a very
strong social media presence and are consistent with keeping their brand top of mind.

II. Analysis and evaluation

1. External analysis

a) Political, Economic, Social and Technology factors PEST

Political
Political factors play a significant role in determining the factors that can impact Cartems
Donuts long term profitability in British Columbia. Cartems Donuts can closely analyze the
following factors before opening any new store:

 Political stability and importance of Restaurants sector in the province’s economy.

 Bureaucracy and interference in Restaurants industry by government.
 Legal framework for contract enforcement
 Trade regulations & tariffs related to Services
 Taxation - tax rates and incentives
 Wage legislation - minimum wage and overtime
 Work week regulations in Restaurants
 Mandatory employee benefits
 Industrial safety regulations in the Services sector.

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  Product labeling and other requirements in Restaurants

Economic
Vancouver downtown attracts approximately 12 million people per year. People frequenting
Granville Island include Vancouver locals and tourists. If tourism were to decrease in
Vancouver, the number of visitors to downtown would decrease as well, which in turn would
lead to a decrease in customers for Cartems. This comes into play when considering that a
larger chain of donut shops can make more donuts at a lower cost and can charge their
customers less; which may steal away price sensitive customers from Cartems.

Social
Top Canadian food trends for 2013 noted donuts are making a huge comeback across
Canada and have become a gourmet food trend. Donuts are receiving a lot of attention in
the food and media world. There is also a trend to place a higher value upon buying
handmade or artisan backed goods, which could be beneficial to Cartems. In social media
there is a large emphasis on food and the “Foodie” persona. Finally, according to statistics
Canada 2011, “BC has the second highest percentage (40%) of fruit and vegetable
consumption and Vancouver had the lowest percentage of obesity in 2009. Both statistics
inferring that the population will most likely not begin to consume an increasing quantity of
donuts.

Technology
An automated donut-making machine could be used at Cartems, which in turn could mean
less staff needed and consequently more income for the owners. Howover, Cartems
considers their hand made donuts to be a part of their brand and are expected by their
customers. This technological adaptation could therefore potentially hinder their future
sales.

b) Competitors

Lee’s Donuts
Lee’s Donuts is a Granville Island Landmark that has been in existence for 34 years and has
the distinct honour of being one of the first vendors at the Granville Island Public Market.
Lee’s Donuts is now one of five original remaining. The business has been owned and
operated by Alan Lee and his wife Betty-Ann since its inception on September 22, 1979. They

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both have a passion for donuts and make all of their dedicates by hand, with the freshest
and best quality ingredients including locally made real fruits jams.

Some of the challenges that Lee’s Donuts faces are that they are limited in the number of
large orders they can fill because all their donuts are made by hand and they must ensure
that they have the appropriate number of staff scheduled to fill the orders. The owners
believe they can further expand their donut dales, however, they would have to confirm that
the staff scheduling would accommodate the increased demand. In addition, ensuring that
their newer staff members consistently provide the high level of service that Lee’s Donuts is
known for can possibly be an employee training challenge.

Lucky’s Donughnuts
Lucky’s is located in the 2900 block of Main Street. They too, pride themselves on their
handmade donuts and broadcast that they make everything from scratch. Lucky’s claims to
use the highest quality natural ingredients and are considered to be a gourmet donut shop in
Vancouver; providing competition for Cartems Donuts. Lucky’s also promotes their product
online by highlighting their specialty donut flavours such as their PB&J donuts: a square
donut, piped with jam on all four corners with peanut glaze, and finished with crushed
peanuts on top. Lucky’s is an up and coming hotspot; pairing their donuts with an organic,
free trade coffee shop driving sales to one another and will be in many people’s evoked set
when thinking about a donut purchase.

They have an active Facebook page, Twitter account, and branded website. Lucky’s Facebook
page had 1600 likes, jumping up 105 likes in two months, and they update their status every
few days with new product offerings, media coverage and special events that they host and
sponsor.

Lucky’s is in constant communication with their clientele; answering questions and

attempting to foster and maintain interaction through online engagement. Lucky’s has four
photo albums on their new flavoured donuts, staff, establishment and donuts pairing with
specially coffee from the 49th parallel; the coffee shop they are paired with.

Their twitter account had 2400 followers, jumping 104 followers on the two months’ time
period, follows 59 people and has tweeted 791 times. They tweet similar images to those

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displayed on their facebook page, answer questions and post humorous content around
donut making and selections.

Their company website at http://luckysdoughnuts.com is branded and tells the story of how
Lucky’s came to be along with their strong connection to the 49 th parallel coffee shop. Their
website provides access to online order forms, news stories and even online T-shirt sales.
They have links to 49th parallel coffee shop and buttons to their twitter and Facebook
accounts. They also provide a specific email for those who wish to contact them directly, and
not publically. Overall Lucky’s has a very strong social media presence.

2. Internal Analysis
Target Market

Out of the six personas of Cartems Donuts target audience; the urbanite is Cartems donuts
specific target market. The urbanite is male or female between the ages of 25 and 35 years
old and lives in the trendy metropolitan districts of Vancouver such as Yaletown, south
Granville, Main Street, Gastown and the downtown core. These urban neighbourhoods are a
short commute away from Granville Island, which makes Cartems donuts easily accessible to
this market. They are young, working professionals who do not yet have a family of their
own and therefore have a large discretionary income to spend. The Urbanite always knows
the hottest places to eat, the next big trend; they take pride in their city and put a value on
local products. They are not price sensitive and will instead seek out high quality goods. The
urbanite frequents popular social patforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and
often access these via mobile applications since they are always on the go. Social feedback is
essentials to the urbanite so they are frequently editing and sharing photos of their everyday
activities. When they look for information on where to go next and what’s happening in the
city, they call upon their top sales as Yelp, Urban Spoon and Vancouver is Awesome.

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 USER PERSONAS FOR CARTEMS DONUTS
The urbanite The tourist The family The The retiree The foodie
student
Name Paige Nakata Raman Elika Stewart Eltin
Age 34 28 44 19 64 52
Location Vancouver Nigata, Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver
Japan
Home life Paige lives Nakata is Raman Elika Lives Stewart Eltin lives
with her in lives with with her lives with with his
boyfriend in Vancouver her parents in his wife in a partner in
a 1 bedroom for 5 days husband a medium co-op a luxury 3
apartment and is and two sized townhouse bedroom
in Yaletown excited to young house in in False condo in
see the children in Mount Creek the west
city’s most a large Pleasant end
popular house in
sites Kitsilano
Work life Paige works Nakata Raman is a Elika is a Steward is a Elton is a
as a lawyer works for nurse who chemistry retired gallery
at a large Toshiba as works for student at psychologist owner
law firm an Vancouver UBC and who ran his which
located in electronic general considers own specializes
the engineer hospital herself practice for on
downtown and great 37 years modern
core baker art
Donut Paige orders He loves She buys Elika likes He walks Elton loves
buying 4 dozen trying donuts for to go to down to to find the
behaviour donuts to be different her family hang out downtown best easts
couriered to local foods every with her three days a and shops
her office while on weekend friends on week with for his
every vacation? after downtown his wife to produce
Tuesday including children's during the grab a and his
morning sweet art classes week to donut and a donuts
treats study and coffee with his

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 eat tasty partner
donuts for
brain fuel
Social Paige He writes She has a Elika is He is not all He actively
media follows his own Facebook highly that into uses YELP,
behaviour international travel page and active on social Foodies,
and local blog. loves Twitter, media but is Urban
news groups updates mommy Facebook, connected Spoon,
on Twitter pictures blogs Youtube, with family Cho, Flickr,
loves Ms. on Flickr Pinterest through a the Ghetto
604 & and stays & enjoys basic Gourmet
LinkedIn in touch social Facebook & All
with gaming account recipes
friends on
Facebook

III. Strategy

1. Position
Cartems is positioned as a leader in handmade donut shops in Vancouver. They should be
prominent in Vancouverites and tourist evoked sets when considering purchasing handmade
donuts in Vancouver. Cartems has an excellent location, close to everything that has a high
degree of traffic from locals and tourists. Compared to other donut shops in Vancouver,
Cartems is the longest standing. Cartems handmade donuts, high quality ingredients,
location and customer service help place Cartems ahead of the competition. Therefore,
Cartems company personality will be family oriented; focusing on family fell. With the same
ownership and operations for the past …. Years where customers receive the highest quality
service along with the highest quality product, and generations of local families come to
purchase their donuts time and again, this personality is ideal.

2. Strategic direction
Given Cartems lack of online presence or marketing in general, the main goal of their
marketing strategy is market penetration and brand recognition.

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In an interview with owner betty-Ann, she stated that when Cartems receives publicity there
is typically an increase in customer of approximately 33% which suggest that the public will
be more likely to visit Cartems if they are aware of it (especially those who are already donut
consumers).

This applies to local Vancouverites and tourists alike. Thus, by further penetrating the
already existing market with steady marketing efforts, Cartems will likely be able to increase
their average number of consumers sustainably and profitably. Since the only online
presence Cartems is entirely user-generated content such as reviews, increasing their
presence in the digital word as well as delving further into the market can be achieved by
simply establishing the basics, such as a website and some social media.

The second option for market penetration is appealing to current customers and
encouraging more frequent purchase of their donuts. This might be done via the same online
channels, but with different content approaches focused on customers who already have a
solid relationship with the brand and its owners.

3. Cartems donuts adapt to pandemic with online innovation

Jordan Cash, the owner of Cartems donuts, says that after the pastry shop shuttered its
locations in March, they experienced many months with no sales. Despite not making any
money, their landlord was still demanding rent. “What we had to do was shift everything to
online,” says Cash, as the COVID-19 pandemic made it increasingly dangerous to keep
locations open. Cartems kept one location open downtown, created an open garage door
window-style setup, and designed an online order and pick up system. The owner of the
doughnut shop put in all the required physical distancing protocols and added contactless
payment.

He also developed gift cards for delivery to generate some revenue in the early days of the
coronavirus shutdown.

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References

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/best-doughnuts-vancouver
 https://scoutmagazine.ca/2020/04/14/cartems-donuts-reopens-with-online-ordering-and-
curbside-pick-up/
 https://twitter.com/Cartemsdonuts
 https://www.cartems.com/
 https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/06/01/vancouver-businesses-adapt-covid/
 https://www.facebook.com/cartemsdonuts
 https://www.instagram.com/cartemsdonuts/
 https://www.straight.com/food/1296546/vancouvers-cartems-donuts-rolls-out-new-food-
truck
 Social Media Marketing Paperback–Jan. 2 2018, Tracy Tuten, Michael Solomon.
 Social Media Marketing: The 2020's Ultimate Best Strategies to Become an Expert
and Create Your Personal Brand Using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Instagram (+ 7
Tricks to Grow Your Business) Kindle Edition, Steven Cooper.

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