Customers’ quality demands as directions to the cold chicken supply chain management

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the perception of the cold chicken meat value in its supply chain and how to manage the influence of quality demands in this supply chain. It is based on the views that retails and restaurants have about the main quality aspects required to meet their end customers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper surveyed 135 respondents from restaurants, butcheries, supermarkets, and convenience stores located in the Southern Brazilian metropolitan area. Principal component analysis followed by quality function deployment was performed to analyze the data. Findings: The principal component analysis results in seven factors: product quality and flexibility of delivery; supply flexibility; responsiveness to market changes and product assortment; measurements of the inventory and competitiveness; product specificity; product availability and specificity cost; and delivery frequency. The comparative study on the steps of the process between restaurants and retailers shows that distribution, cutting and packaging are the key process steps in this chain. Practical implications: The results show what process steps must be prioritized to comply with the customers’ quality requirements. Since the most important process steps are different for different customers, companies may elect what steps require more attention to satisfy the most profitable customer types. Originality/value: Several studies are found in the literature that present a theoretical discussion on the quality demands of perishable products. The management of factors related to the process steps can help members of the supply chain in their decision-making processes. The contribution of this research is to identify, by an applied study, how the demanded quality aspects should be considered by the poultry industry to satisfy customers in different market segments.