2) The unmet need is the lack of healthy food options around the UF campus. Students who are working on their health, whether it is to lose weight or build muscle, have this daily need. This may be more new than other trends as people are starting to look more at the nutrition label on the food they eat, attend organic food fairs downtown, brought their own food to campus, and get subscription box of healthy food delivered to them. This trend came from people struggling with body image themselves or knowing someone who does. I am 95% sure that this opportunity exists on every college campus, especially UF.
3) Interviews:
Prototypical customer: Travis Ryckeweart
According to Travis, a graduating senior, this is a very serious need around campus that should have been fixed by now. He became aware of the need when he started noticing how unhealthy he was eating from the free food around campus. There is plenty of time during the day or on the weekends to cook your own food or walk an extra half a mile across campus to find a healthy option. During his underclassmen days, he experienced this unmet need a few times a week but definitely more and more as he got older as an upperclassman. He first became aware of this when his meal at designer greens turned into half the original size for double the price. He is currently addressing this need by cooking on his own during the morning and on the weekends. He is very satisfied with the idea of opening more affordable healthy options around campus and having that be the standard norm.
Prototypical customer: Jordan Gregory
According to Jordan, a junior, there is a need for healthy options around campus, but it is not necessary. For her, convenience is the best option of whatever restaurant or vending machine is closest to her classroom or seat for the library. She became more aware of the need when she goes out to eat with her super-healthy friends. When deciding on a place to eat, it is very difficult to choose a close and affordable option. To currently address her need, she picks the same restaurant on Butler Plaza of Bolay whenever her vegetarian or vegan friends want to go out to eat. Her solution is resolving the need and the restaurant choices are not walking distance, so making more affordable choices on campus would definitely be a better option.
Prototypical customer: Lauren VenHemel
According to Lauren, a newly admitted freshman, she doesn’t see the need to add more restaurants on campus since there are too many options. She believes they are equally spread out around campus and open around campus at all hours. She does experience this need sometime based on what she is craving to eat sometimes. She views the campus of having an adequate amount of healthy versus unhealthy options to choose from but UF could always replace some restaurants with new ones. She first became aware of this need when she got into UF and realized there are 8 Starbucks and 5 Subways around campus that are unnecessary. She is satisfied with her own solution right now in eating any free food but would accept a more variety of options around campus.
Reflection:
After interviewing these 3 people, I am surprised that some people don’t pay attention to their health. Depending on whether or not they realize the impact that healthy food can majorly affect their daily function is an indicator on where they are in life. When I interviewed Travis, a graduating senior, he was very health conscience working towards creating a healthy lifestyle to maintain after college. But when I interviewed Lauren, a newly admitted freshman, she had the mindset of eat any free food in sight around campus which can lead to the freshman 15. Aside from these 2 extreme sides, Jordan plays in the middle and average of a college student. Her belief, which I found surprising, was eat whatever is convenient. I did not factor the idea of convenience into my original message and belief, which can significantly change the outcome.
Summarize:
Most of my original opportunity is still there, it is just for more of a niche market of students. Instead of 95% of campus having this problem, I would say around 50% of students focus on this issue which would be the upperclassmen (junior and seniors) of students. I would assume that many freshmen and sophomore students wouldn’t see this as a big issue. I think entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities slightly based on the customer feedback. If they adapt too much to serve a bigger community, they could lose focus on their niche market and become too broad.
Hi, Jessica! I think your reflection and summary portions of this assignment were very well thought out. It is very surprising when conducting interviews that people do not say what you want or expect to hear. That happened to me too on this assignment, and admittedly I felt a little bit devastated. I thought people would be a lot more excited about my idea! I completely agree with you that the opportunity still exists, but only for specific students. You are right in excluding those who value convenience over healthy options from your target market. You did a great job on your analysis!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great opportunity that you've discovered for the UF campus. Healthy eating seem to increase as people are concerned with what goes in their food and eating healthier overall.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the interview answers, I'm shocked as well that some people are not aware of trying to eat healthy. It's an unfortunate problem to have where people feel forced to choose between convenient cheap unhealthy food or pay a premium price for smaller portioned healthier food. I think your opportunity still exists. Great job with this project! I never even thought about this opportunity before, thanks for opening my eyes on this.