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.