Argon & Co Utrecht is a young and vibrant strategy consulting club leading in the field of strategy and digital operations. Our appealing clients mainly operate within (online) retail, manufacturing, mobility and private equity. We support them in order to enable their growth, to improve their economics, and to enhance their customer facing performance. In our projects, we combine in-depth expertise with fact-based analytics. Fast and pragmatic. We work side by side with our clients, from inception to implementation. It is during this process that we come up with our best ideas. For us, it's a sustainable result that's important, not a report.

We are ambitious and have an entrepreneurial spirit. It is our aim to grow significantly in the coming years. Therefore, we are constantly looking for new colleagues with whom we can join forces to further build our consultancy firm. We offer you a challenging experience where you get to decide how steep your learning curve is. Right from the start, your opinion matters. We are passionate about our work, but we also believe in a healthy work/life balance so you can continue to develop yourself outside the workplace.

‍

Case Description

Situation

‍The cookie factory is a beautiful Dutch company that makes various types of cookies for the European market, including choco-caramel and egg waffles, stroopwafels and syrup cookies, cake, and butter cookies. They own six factories throughout the Netherlands with a total of 800 employees (the various locations have historically evolved from independent bakeries that were merged). They produce 350 million consumer packages, which reach customers through various supermarkets and kiosks.

Complication

‍The owner wants to sell the company and wants to know what improvements can be made to increase the profitability of the cookie factory. After all, higher profitability results in a higher sale price.

Question to M3

‍What should the cookie factory do to increase its profitability?