Venture Concept No. 2

Revised Venture Concept

Opportunity:

Many professionals today struggle with simply what to eat for lunch at work. Currently, there are many options to chose from to satisfy this need including ordering in food by popular delivery services (ie. Grubhub or Postmates) or leaving to eat at a local restaurant. Recently, dining has taken a turn to support many restaurants that are quick-serve or fast causal, ie. Chipotle or Grille Fresh. This restaurant style is marked by the ability to walk through the line and assemble a meal, without waiting on a waitress. However, none of these options seem to address the specific concern that drives professionals midday: the desire to avoid any further decisions. For many, this means that they simply eat random snacks available to them or eat nothing all together, figuring they can wait it out until dinner time. Avoiding eating meals midday can have detrimental impacts on one’s health, as missing meals can impact blood sugar and stamina for the rest of the day. 

There is a rising phenomenon among professionals called decision fatigue. Decision fatigue explains that there is an underlying stress thats caused by making an abundance of decisions throughout the day, regardless of how small they are. While deciding what to eat for lunch is a low stress decision, it is just one more thing for a person to have to chose in the day. The rising popularity of at-home meal kits that require assembly, such as BlueApron or Hello Fresh, indicate that people want the comfort of homestyle food, yet are okay with selecting off a limited menu. In essence, people seem to want to be told from few options what they can eat after a busy day. 

The market for this service and associated products are:

-Single, or childless individuals

-Professionals that are moderately affluent

-Those who work outside of the home for more than 40 hours per week

Geographically, there appears to be a need for this in cities of moderate size, such as Metro Detroit as it is unpopular to commute to work on foot and pass many restaurants all day long. As such, these areas are populated by those with cars and are spread out enough that finding a mid day meal may require driving somewhere new. This service would not be marketed towards those who are looking to save money by meal prepping, attain specific health goals with their meals, or those who enjoy cooking and preparing meals. Although some customers in our ideal demographic may enjoy the midday break of leaving an office to obtain lunch, a recent study in Washington state indicated that 56% of office employees still only have 30 minutes for lunch. This supports that many may be avoiding the process due to the time it takes. 

Innovation:

A daily meal kit service would provide healthy, tasteful food delivered to a customers door step at the beginning and middle of each week. These kits would be ordered online with a menu of 10 items and ordering would follow a weekly process:

1. On Thursday’s, a customers 5 meals for the week would be selected from the 10 options 
2. These meals would be delivered to their doorstep on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon, to ensure freshness. Meals would be delivered in vibrant blue containers, gaining attention in the workplace from coworkers in busy office spaces.
3. Pricing would be comparable to local quick-serve lunch options, at approximately $10 a plate and available for monthly subscription payment as an option. 
4. This concept is moderately innovative, as meal delivery services have existed before and have grown in popularity, however they are typically larger organizations that must ship their meals in cooler boxes and require assembly, targeting those who have an interest in cooking but feel under skilled in that process. By organizing my venture locally, I would be able to avoid the shipping costs and risk associated with transporting perishable items and also prioritize local venders and farmers for my supplies. In Metro Detroit, there does not seem to be an organization that offers these services to my specific demographic. My “unfair advantage” would be the exceptional service that my organization would offer. I would be particular with my staff to provide consistent, outstanding service and crowd favorite recipes that would keep my customers loyal to me. 

Venture Concept:

Customer’s would likely be intrigued by this system and be enticed to try it out on a promotion. The challenge would likely be keeping customers after their trial ran out. For this to be successful, I think a launch promotion would need to be limited, so the service is not quickly deemed a luxury. Ideally, customers would be subscribing for multiple meals per week, if not a full 5 days. I think it would be easy to entice customer’s for their trial and switch from their current method because most of our demographic appears unsatisfied with their current situation. This organization would likely begin in a very small scale way with a few employees helping to cook and deliver orders, an IT person to monitor the set up of the website and organize the ordering system. These roles would be loosely defined at first and, as we expanded, specialize further into a department that manages orders and purchases supplies for meal production, preparation line cooks, recipe testers and developers, delivery staff, and administrative staff for managing finances. A second kitchen and distribution center would be able to expand and represent the growing volume of orders. As quickly as I could afford to do so, I would also like to open a small storefront where customers could sample meals and test out our products before committing to our subscription.

In 5 years, I see this model being developed as a way to raise capital for my future business, a farm to table restaurant. A restaurant made with local, rotating ingredients on a specialized menu would be my dream business to operate, however the start up costs for something like that would be very high. I do not see this meal kit service being a business to start and grow and sell, as I think one of it’s strongest attributes is the connection to community members. As such, I would not intend to grow and centralize it, similar to HelloFresh. 

Feedback: I received extensive positive feedback on my Venture Concept No. 1 and it encouraged me that there would be a fair size market to pursue here. My potential customers offered that it may be a good idea to offer a line of specifically simple, health conscious meals to attract that demographic. Although this is not my intended market, simpler options may appeal to other customers too and for that reason it seems that these would be great options to include. Additionally, I was encouraged to open a storefront as soon as possible to serve as a good transition for my business and my future restaurant. 

Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

The most formative experience in this course for me was how active the assignments required me to be. Although I am now a rising senior, this has been one of my most hand-on courses. Although that required me to prepare much differently than an exam based model, I believe these exercises have challenged me in wonderful ways and given practical skills to my business degree. I’ll remember most the self reflection assignments, ie. Idea Napkins, that required me to connect my personal skills with tangible aspects of my business model. I thought critically about myself and the value that I offer in ways that boosted my confidence greatly. I appreciated our “Secret Sauce” assignment also, where we interviewed those closest to us to reveal our strongest qualities. These were some touching moments with my loved ones that both affirmed and surprised me. 

I was also blown away at how willing strangers were to discuss with me for the extensive phone interviews in this course. I often found myself assuming that small business owners or experts would hang up, feeling that I was wasting their time. I learned so much from these phone interviews and challenged my own assumptions. This experience taught me that much of market research does not need to be conducted in a lab — polling people voluntarily can provide great insight. I stepped out of my comfort zone for these assignments and I am incredibly proud of that. 

I feel that this course has pushed me towards an entrepreneurial mindset by taking the pressure off of one career path. Entrepreneurship has begun to shape my life by making me more willing to take a step out into the world and change my mind. For example, I could start a business and use it as capital for a future business and this may be a short term goal. In my mind, I believe I was too hung up on the long term implications of every choice, rather than being willing to try something and change it when it stops working. This adaptability is wildly important, but seldom talked about. 

I would recommend to students going into this class that they think for a while before committing to a business model to continue with. I worked through a few different options before settling on the business that I worked out the rest of the course. This required that I take a look at the assignments ahead of time to plan out some content and see which ideas were most feasible. Additionally, students should be very familiar with the assignments well before the deadline. Many assignments in this course required contact with other people and should be planned in advance to provide quality work. 

Reading Reflection No. 3

Steve Jobs by: Walter Isaacson

In reading about Steve Jobs, in his self-titled autobiography written by Walter Isaacson, I was most surprised by his strange demeanor. As the founder of one of the most recognized brands in the world, I incorrectly assumed that Steve Jobs was incredibly immersed in Western Culture. Apple’s brand today reflects affluence, prestige and trend in the US, however Steve Jobs notably rejected many normative values of society in his personal life. Steve Jobs frequently took Zen retreats to India, was active in Hare Krishna communities in high early twenties and followed extreme diets to increase “consciousness”. Additionally, I believed that Steve Jobs would be the primary technology engineer in the development of every product produced by Apple, however many of his colleagues over the lifetime of Apple’s organization were actually more important in this process. 

I admire Steve’s evident perfectionism in producing every single one of his products. Steve Jobs was focused on the full experience of his products and brand in a way that seems before his time. Steve describes this in his own words, “‘When you open the box of an iPhone or iPad, we want that tactile experience to set the tone for how you perceive the product’”. This visionary approach allowed Steve to create a standard of value that customers have responded well too. Directly correlated to this characteristic, was Steve’s obsessive, at times bratty, attitude about his work. Both in the description of his early childhood and in all stages of business, Steve’s colleagues seem to find him difficult to work with as he was so particular. While this may appear necessary, due to the extensive time that it takes one to develop any product, his colleagues didn’t seem to have as difficult of a time letting go of some control and honoring their professional relationships. From their anecdotes, it seems that Steve was never satisfied with the help that any support staff provided his team. 

Steve Jobs presents many competencies that undoubtably shaped the success of Apple today. Steve, likely due to his Eastern spiritual values, was intentional about making minimalist, simple products. Although Apple is often compared to their competitors (ie. Microsoft), Steve’s vision for Apple offers their competitive advantage. He has a clear eye for design and functionality that surpasses even the technological limitations of his product line. This customer focused approach led to the decision for a limited product line in Apple’s early life— a personal laptop, a professional laptop, a personal desktop computer and a professional desktop computer. 

I am confused by the persona that Steve Jobs carried in his professional life, as it is counter to the standard entrepreneurial characteristics. Most entrepreneurs, both through study in this course and my personal experiences, seem to be very charismatic, forward thinking, fast moving salespeople. Whether from past jobs or an innate quality, entrepreneurs are often incredibly personable which allows them to foster relationships with their customers. Jobs does not seem to exhibit any of these qualities and, actually didn’t get along with most people he worked with. I am confused at this discrepancy.

I would ask Steve Jobs how his minimalist, Zen practices influenced his business, as many of his spiritual mentors believed in the submission of worldly possessions and Steve was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Did this cause internal conflict?

Steve had quoted Henry Ford’s explanation of market demand stating, “Had I asked people what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse.” This reveals that Henry Ford needed to innovate a product before presenting it to his market as they didn’t even know what they didn’t know about their need. Was there any logical process for creating new devices or the blatant gamble that people would be willing to pay time and time again? Ddi this get easier after Apple became a household name with a cult following or did they have more to lose if a product did not perform as well as expected?

I believe Steve Jobs would describe success to be a legacy left in tangibles. He describes that creating innovative, radical products was his motivation, more than money. In many ways, Jobs seems to be an inventor more than a businessman, although his financial success does not go unnoticed. 

Celebrating Failure

This semester I have failed as a result of over commitment. I had originally planned to intern full time this summer at a law firm that I had worked for previously. I had been doing a bit of remote work for them at school this past year and was so looking forward to returning this summer. Due to the coronavirus, I was fur-lowed and asked to postpone returning to work until further notice. Michigan was under a very strict stay-at-home order and, because the court system was closed and settlements would be delayed, the firm was concerned about revenue. Although this was very understandable, I had been enrolled in the internship course required by Warrington for this term with that position. Ultimately, I decided to offer myself for 15 hours per week unpaid in order to satisfy this requirement and graduate on time. At the same time, I enrolled in multiple expedited courses for the summer, figuring I would now have additional time and could make headway on my degree audit. Not two weeks into this summer term, I was offered my full time job back at the firm and, more than that, was expected to play catch up for all the time lost. I did still need the minimum hours for my requirement, and financially needed to return to work. So I returned to this position with a 30 hour per week expectation. I worked hard to make everything work this summer but the burnout I experienced about 5 weeks into this rigorous schedule I will call Death By Overcommitment. Because I was assuming a combination of “part-time” activities, I seemed to avoid the natural boundaries of a full-time work or school schedule. I had unfortunately missed a few deadlines for courses and did not give enough preparation to other assignments.  I tried to get ahead in the courses that I could but have had to play catch up as a result, digging myself out of a hole academically. 

I suffered after forgetting assignments at first and sat in my shame for longer than I would like to admit. My Canvas calendar became my enemy and a visual reminder of my failure. Likewise, my work email forever seemed to show deadlines and inquiries, all requiring time and attention to respond to. This experience has humbled me and stripped away my inflated ego about just how well I was able to manage things. All in all, nothing completely catastrophic occurred and for that I am thankful, but it seemed like a million smaller defeats. The lesson I take away from this is that you either manage your work load or you struggle to put the fires out after the fact. Had I spoken up earlier to my boss, I would have likely been able to arrange another schedule for work, accommodating my school commitments. Had I kept a closer eye on deadlines, I likely could have gotten ahead of the curve a bit more. I will be further cognizant to add things slowly to my plate rather than allow them to spiral out of control, and be honest with superiors when needed, rather than letting my pride take over. This course has shown me the value in the journey of entrepreneurship and helped to shift my mind away from the idea that a “perfect” record will insure greatness. Alternatively, we continued to see examples of individuals who were wildly successful after gathering their skill set and moving from job to job or experience to experience. This encourages me that success is a marathon, not a sprint, and often the most successful people were able to learn something from every odd job or assignment they had. 

Your Exit Strategy

The exit strategy I would like to make would be to close this business in 5 or 10 years and rebrand it as a farm to table restaurant in the same area, Southeastern Michigan. I believe one of the strongest attributes of my original business model would be the connection to the community, fostered through personal relationships with customers and also with utilizing local farmers as much as possible. There are many other meal preparation services that offer national service, ie. Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. These companies are forced to spend large sums of money on shipping and sourcing products in order to meet the needs of customers all across the country. Alternatively, my business would be local and serve the community more personally. 

My personal long term goal would be to own a farm-to-table style restaurant where the menu could rotate frequently and feature in season produce. This business would have great start up costs and I believe this meal preparation service would be a great way to both raise capital for that business as well as attention. Additionally, I could recipe test in this smaller facility, without the large overhead expenses of a restaurant at the beginning stages. This has influenced my other business decisions as I do not intend to rapidly expand and sell, for example, franchises around the country or develop complicated logistics methods. Because I would want to transition into another aspect of the hospitality industry, I would be concerned with selling the company once I had built it as I would want full control over the brand moving forward. Likely to sell a food related business, I would need to sell the recipes and intellectual property with it. I would be unwilling to do this.

What's Next?

What’s Next?

Existing Market:

In interviewing potential customers, I received helpful feedback about where to take my venture in the next direction. One customer offered that it would be nice to have specific meals that are lower in calorie to appeal to the health crowd. This is counter to the model I have been trying to go in. Although I do want to create fresh, relatively healthy food, I was trying to avoid being bound to traditional meal preparation methods with very basic foods and limited calories. She did suggest that even if it was only a specific line of products, this might be helpful also. Another potential customer validated my original thought about using Facebook pages as a way to market, because offering a promotion for those who “Check-In” on the Facebook page is typically a great way to get others to recognize their friend’s usage of the company. 

Additionally, many people believed that having a physical storefront would likely help build the relationships that could foster the current market and gain curb appeal. Originally, I had intended to work as more of a distribution center, where customers contacted by phone and had their products delivered to them. However, others seem to believe that a storefront would allow for pick up orders, which some people would prefer, or to offer samples of products before subscribing to the entire system. Overarching, it seems that word of mouth marketing will likely impact potential customers more than radio, television or even online advertisements. Being physically present in the community would also support the overall brand of purchasing local, and could be done by sponsoring a little kid’s sports team or something similar. 

New Market:

I have been marketing to reflect a demographic of people who would eat lunch on the go— young, busy professionals. The absolute opposite market would be older people who work from home, or stay at home full-time. I interviewed two elderly, female neighbors and both seemed quite unconvinced that a meal delivery service was necessary. This group seemed to think that a service was gluttonous, as if they were ordering from a restaurant everyday. When I made an analogy to TV dinners or prepared food, they suggested that those were a small portion of their diet, but were helpful for nights when they did not have the effort to cook. Alternatively, my elderly male neighbor, felt that this was a wonderful concept and would prevent him from ever having to cook again. He acknowledged that his daughter is always concerned he is not eating enough protein and this would be a way to prove to her that he was. 

It seems that this population, due to generational norms, may find it difficult to justify the expense of this service. Particularly for the elderly women I spoke with, it seems that they enjoyed cooking and homemaking, and thus have a lot of pride about continuing this practice even if they are only serving themselves now and not a family. This group may benefit from a very limited set up, including only 2 meals or so a per week. These could offer as a supplement for when they would normally reheat a TV dinner or frozen meal. The male neighbors commentary about his daughter’s concern seems to resemble the Meals on Wheels community program to support the elderly with hot meals. If I were to offer the sale of the service as a “gift” for an elderly friend or family member, it would need some clear distinction between these two concepts. Although I think the meals would be valued by customers, and potentially their families, they may not feel that the value is worth the expense. At this, these families may appreciate the local, family-owned characteristic of the business, and expect that we could check in on the family member while also delivering their meals. I don’t know that this is a market we would ever want to alter our branding towards, however if someone of this demographic decided to order with us, that would be greatly celebrated. 

Venture Concept No. 1 - Fresh Finds

Opportunity:

Many professionals today struggle with simply what to eat for lunch at work. Currently, there are many options to chose from to satisfy this need including ordering in food by popular delivery services (ie. Grubhub or Postmates) or leaving to eat at a local restaurant. Recently, dining has taken a turn to support many restaurants that are quick-serve or fast causal, ie. Chipotle or Grille Fresh. This restaurant style is marked by the ability to walk through the line and assemble a meal, without waiting on a waitress. However, none of these options seem to address the specific concern that drives professionals midday: the desire to avoid any further decisions. For many, this means that they simply eat random snacks available to them or eat nothing all together, figuring they can wait it out until dinner time. Avoiding eating meals midday can have detrimental impacts on one’s health, as missing meals can impact blood sugar and stamina for the rest of the day. 

There is a rising phenomenon among professionals called decision fatigue. Decision fatigue explains that there is an underlying stress thats caused by making an abundance of decisions throughout the day, regardless of how small they are. While deciding what to eat for lunch is a low stress decision, it is just one more thing for a person to have to chose in the day. The rising popularity of at-home meal kits that require assembly, such as BlueApron or Hello Fresh, indicate that people want the comfort of homestyle food, yet are okay with selecting off a limited menu. In essence, people seem to want to be told from few options what they can eat after a busy day. 

The market for this service and associated products are:

-Single, or childless individuals

-Professionals that are moderately affluent

-Those who work outside of the home for more than 40 hours per week

Geographically, there appears to be a need for this in cities of moderate size, such as Metro Detroit as it is unpopular to commute to work on foot and pass many restaurants all day long. As such, these areas are populated by those with cars and are spread out enough that finding a mid day meal may require driving somewhere new. This service would not be marketed towards those who are looking to save money by meal prepping, attain specific health goals with their meals, or those who enjoy cooking and preparing meals. Although some customers in our ideal demographic may enjoy the midday break of leaving an office to obtain lunch, a recent study in Washington state indicated that 56% of office employees still only have 30 minutes for lunch. This supports that many may be avoiding the process due to the time it takes. 

Innovation:

A daily meal kit service, Fresh Finds, would provide healthy, tasteful food delivered to a customers door step at the beginning and middle of each week. These kits would be ordered online with a menu of 10 items and ordering would follow a weekly process:

1. On Thursday’s, a customers 5 meals for the week would be selected from the 10 options 
2. These meals would be delivered to their doorstep on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon, to ensure freshness. Meals would be delivered in vibrant blue containers, gaining attention in the workplace from coworkers in busy office spaces.
3. Pricing would be comparable to local quick-serve lunch options, at approximately $10 a plate and available for monthly subscription payment as an option. 

This concept is moderately innovative, as meal delivery services have existed before and have grown in popularity, however they are typically larger organizations that must ship their meals in cooler boxes and require assembly, targeting those who have an interest in cooking but feel under skilled in that process. By organizing my venture locally, I would be able to avoid the shipping costs and risk associated with transporting perishable items and also prioritize local venders and farmers for my supplies. In Metro Detroit, there does not seem to be an organization that offers these services to my specific demographic. My “unfair advantage” would be the exceptional service that my organization would offer. I would be particular with my staff to provide consistent, outstanding service and crowd favorite recipes that would keep my customers loyal to me. 

Venture Concept:

Customer’s would likely be intrigued by this system and be enticed to try it out on a promotion. The challenge would likely be keeping customers after their trial ran out. For this to be successful, I think a launch promotion would need to be limited, so the service is not quickly deemed a luxury. Ideally, customers would be subscribing for multiple meals per week, if not a full 5 days. I think it would be easy to entice customer’s for their trial and switch from their current method because most of our demographic appears unsatisfied with their current situation. This organization would likely begin in a very small scale way with a few employees helping to cook and deliver orders, an IT person to monitor the set up of the website and organize the ordering system. These roles would be loosely defined at first and, as we expanded, specialize further into a department that manages orders and purchases supplies for meal production, preparation line cooks, recipe testers and developers, delivery staff, and administrative staff for managing finances. A second kitchen and distribution center would be able to expand and represent the growing volume of orders. 

In 5 years, I see this model being developed as a way to raise capital for my future business, a farm to table restaurant. A restaurant made with local, rotating ingredients on a specialized menu would be my dream business to operate, however the start up costs for something like that would be very high. I do not see this meal kit service being a business to start and grow and sell, as I think one of it’s strongest attributes is the connection to community members. As such, I would not intend to grow and centralize it, similar to HelloFresh. 

My Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources in my venture:

- Kitchen space (space to prepare meal kits)

Valuable: Yes, this resource is valuable as it would be impossible to work without a space to do so and would be an expensive start up cost to have to rent right away. 

Rare: No, many people could reproduce this in any space.

Inimitable: No, others could model their work space after ours and customers would not notice.

Non-Substitutable: No, many kitchen areas would work just the same.

- Extensive equipment to prepare meals (Stand Mixers, full knife set, cutting boards, oven, sink etc.)

Valuable: Yes, this resource provides an advantage for work because I could avoid purchasing most equipment up front and this would decrease start up costs.

Rare: No, most equipment is standard for a kitchen, or at least a commercial kitchen space.

Inimitable: No, others could purchase the exact equipment I have access to. 

Non-Substitutable: No, much equipment would work the very same.

- A spare refrigerator to maintain freshness in food

Valuable: Yes, this resource is necessary to house food during preparation as well as before distribution. It would allow food preparation that is perishable (and thus worth more to customers)

Rare: No, plenty of people could purchase fridges.

Inimitable: No, a competition could purchase the exact model I have.

Non-Substitutable: No, most fridges work the exact same. 

- A few thousand dollars to begin the investment

Valuable: Yes, this would cover some start up costs before involving investors or loan repayment.

Rare: No, cash is not rare

Inimitable: No, cash is easily replaceable

Non-Substitutable: No, cash can be substituted very easily. 

- Relationship to my local Costco Warehouse bulk order coordinator (from previous assignment, Jason Miller)

Valuable: Yes, a relationship with a supplier for my industry would allow awareness of any upcoming deals or good times to purchase supplies. 

Rare: Yes, not everyone would have this relationship prior to placing orders.

Inimitable: No, people could work to build a contact for this purpose. 

Non-Substitutable: No, plenty of businesses could work to strengthen these relationships and thus make it a worthwhile business decision.

- A family friend who works as a Registered Dietician

Valuable: Yes, this contact She will be incredibly helpful in organizing menus that reflect dietary guidelines and restrictions as well as communicating this information to customers in the way of nutrition information.

Rare: Yes, this contact is usually something that would need to be paid for as a consultant, and likely go through a company with higher fees. My personal  relationship would keep this cost low, although eventually I would hire her as an independent contractor for her work. 

Inimitable: Yes, her expertise could be exclusive to my company if we were able to hire her full time. 

Non-Substitutable: No, there are other dietitians that could be hired to do similar work with similar training for another organization.

- My mother’s experience in catering and her ServSafe certification

Valuable: Yes, this certification is both necessary for business but practical. Her existing knowledge gives us a head start on safe kitchen practices. 

Rare: Yes, most people do not have this certification and knowledge. It requires extensive training and a course. 

Inimitable: No, competing business owners could register for this course on their own merit. 

Non-Substitutable: No, in other states there may be similar courses or a competing business could hire someone else with this certification. 

- Multiple personal friends who are experienced in food preparation and would work with me

Valuable: Yes, I feel that I have a group of people to work with that have strong cooking skills which would allow me to delegate efficiently and avoid extensive training.

Rare: Yes, 

Inimitable: Yes, many of my friends have worked in restaurants and have specific knowledge that is unable to be replicated

Non-Substitutable: No, likely someone else could hire staff with food preparation experience.

- A team of strong individuals that handle customer service with grace and professionalism. A group that overwhelmingly impresses customers with great service.

Valuable: Yes, this service encourages customers to purchase with us.

Rare: Yes, plenty of restaurants or food service businesses have mediocre or poor service.

Inimitable: Yes, once personal relationships are established with customers competitors will be hard pressed to undermine them.

Non-Substitutable: Yes, customers that have a personal relationship with us will want to continue out of loyalty to our organization.

- Relationships with farmers at my local farmers market who could provide fresh, mostly organic, ingredients and support local businesses

Valuable: Yes, this connection to the community will encourage customers to purchase with us because of the quality they can expect from our organization.

Rare: Yes, it is uncommon for businesses to prioritize local produce because it is often more expensive.

Inimitable: Yes, it would be difficult for a competition to undermine the relationship that I have with specific farmers. 

Non-Substitutable: No, it would be absolutely possible for another business to do something similar and prioritize local suppliers to support with their business. 

- I drive a large SUV that could be used for deliveries before needing to upgrade to commercial vehicles

Valuable: Yes, avoiding this expense right away would allow me to turn profit while the business is very much growing. 

Rare: No, many drivers own large cap vehicles. 

Inimitable: No, someone could purchase my exact SUV to use. 

Non-Substitutable: No, many large cars would serve this exact purpose. 

- I previously worked in a large office building of professionals (my ideal demographic). I have many contacts in the building and likely could encourage my marketing with these resources. 

Valuable: Yes, this connection offers me a unique marketing opportunity as I understand their current habits and tendencies. 

Rare: Yes, I have specific office complexes in mind that a limited number of people have worked at. 

Inimitable: No, others in the building could also form contacts to capitalize on this market. 

Non-Substitutable: No, others could utilize this tactic and replicate it with their own contacts. 

My top resource appears to be my focus on creating a culture of exceptional service. This model has been successful with organizations such as Chick Fil A, who provide good food but with exceptional service. This model seems to serve organizations by building a loyalty that will withstand a competitors attempts at replication. Many of my resources, specifically physical resources, seem to be an advantage in that I could avoid many start up costs associated with my business. These resources eventually would be out grown and would be easily imitable by others, it would simply be expensive for someone to purchase all of these things outright. 

Building Social Capital

Building Social Capital:

1) Jason Miller currently serves as the special and bulk orders coordinator at Costco Wholesale in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I contacted him as a supplier for my industry as Costco serves as a wholesale grocer locally. I found this person specifically by calling the store and asking for the manager of the special ordering department, I did not know him by name but I figured there would be a coordinated for large purchases who could explain the ways that these are done. 

Jason explained various aspects of the purchasing process for business to business sale and how these differ from traditional member sales. These businesses can order with special ordering as long as they reach the $1200 minimum for orders placed. Interestingly, Jason described that there really is not a bulk discount on merchandise, either on food or non-food items, until the volume reaches an entire semi-truck full. The Costco Wholesale prices that are available to members, are extended to business orders as well up until this point. This process requires 7-10 day notice and, Jason described, is predominantly used for dairy items or dry goods, as many clients want to select their own produce as needed more frequently. He says that they often have local restaurant owners that come at night or early in the morning to purchase fresh produce in fewer quantities to ensure freshness. 

Jason’s advice was invaluable, as far as ensuring quality food and the timing of purchasing. Prior to speaking with him, I was under the impression that all could be realistically pre-ordered and while he said, yes, they would operate a fresh food order for a business, he would not recommend it. Buying frequently protects the purchaser from both low-quality product and potential food waste. 

2) Kimberly Jackson works as the prepared foods directer and catering coordinator for Papa Joes Gourmet Market in Birmingham, Michigan. I contacted her as a domain expert, as Papa Joes is a local specialty grocery store in my area that does a large volume of prepared foods everyday at this location. I reached out to their administrative phone line and I was transferred to Kimberly.

Kimberly was incredibly helpful in deciphering buying habits of people in my community locally. She identified that in their store, more so than their other locations around the state, prepared foods make up a great total of a customer’s purchase and they often select many different things to bring home throughout the week. Although some customer’s purchase only a few days at a time and make frequent trips, plenty of customers will purchase 3 or 4 prepared dishes to take home on their weekly shop. This implies to me that there is a market for prepared foods, even those that need reheating, outside of restaurants. Kimberly explained that with regard to food waste, their demand is pretty traceable and they have been able, with trial and error, to reduce food waste down to very little. Their food is perishable of course and can only sit for at maximum two days once prepared, by company policy. Often this is not an issue and regularly they will sell out of popular items before the end of day, alleviating the stress entirely. Kimberly suggested that their menu items that are most popular are side dishes rather than entrees, such as maple crusted butternut squash and eggplant rollotini. 

5) Kimberly was explicitly helpful in identifying menu planning for my start up idea. Kimberly encouraged that a rotating menu can be helpful to try new recipes and get started but customer’s are often pretty habitual eaters. She notices that many regular customers pick up the same items, with little variation every week. She encouraged that selection can be good but it is important to be very conscious of how customers respond to each and refine it down to a smaller list of classic items. 

1) Jill Saxon is the owner of The LoCal Kitchen, a delivery meal preparation service in Metro Detroit. This is a new startup as of 2018 and is very similar to the model that I was interested in  starting. I was researching meal prep service, looking for a meal prep style cooking class that used to be offered locally when I came across this business in my area. I called the shop and spoke to Jill directly, explaining our course and my ideas for a similar business. This is a business model that is incredibly comparable, and is serving as my market aspect. 

In describing how their business came to be, Jill described that they began to filter their meals to target the health food community, with explicit health information printed on each meal and specialty meal plans for athletes and those trying to be cognizant of macro nutrients. Jill explained that interestingly during quarantine many elderly customers have been reaching out to ensure proper nutrition during a time where food shopping is otherwise difficult for them. I thought this was interesting, and very unexpected. I described my target market, as professionals eating midday, and said that plenty of customers eat their meals for both lunch and dinner but predominantly her customers do order for mid day meals. She suggested that, even if not marketed as health food, it is important to involve dietitians in preparing your menu in order to ensure that the labeling is appropriate and you are able to honor and disclose ingredient lists. 

Jill was incredibly helpful in exploring the motive of customers in this industry, both for the elderly and for those who are explicitly tracking food to reach fitness goals. Although these were not my target demographic exclusively, she made a good point that having options that do commit to a fitness goal and then some meals that don’t, allow you to tap into both markets and ideally attract more customers.

Reflection:

This type of focused networking was still intimidating, as all networking seems to be a bit, but was much more impactful than networking I had done prior. Because I knew explicitly what I was looking to ask for, these interactions avoided much of the "fluff" or small talk of normal networking. To me, this served as more of a mentorship opportunity to learn about people that were working in the industry and learn from their prior experiences and endeavors. I also didn't realize quite how willing people would be to talk to me. Interviewing for this class prior was usually customer focused, as my product is B2C, but many businesses were surprisingly willing to talk with me and give great detail about how they operate.