24A - Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity that I have discovered is the implementation of a technological device on each table at restaurants. This device will allow for customers to order food and beverages from the table at their own pace. It will enhance the customer experience by ensuring that the customer’s needs are always met. In this case, restaurant owners have the need for this unmet opportunity. The nature of the need stems from the issue regarding poor customer dining experiences resulting from servers being unable to attend to them during busy hours. The biggest change in this environment creating the opportunity is in the form of technology. Technology has opened the doors for so many opportunities and implementing technology in restaurants and giving customers the access to place their own orders at their own pace could be beneficial to all. I believe the target market for this product is in young restaurant owners. Young restaurant owners are more familiar with the benefits and development of technology and are likely to be privier to the value that technology presents. Customers currently offer table side service with servers attending tables and taking customers orders. The biggest issue they are facing is the human element; servers can only be in so many places at one time. In other words, if a server is attending one table, she is unable to serve another at the same time that may be in a rush to leave. Restaurant owners understand the need for servers and are loyal to them, however, they are usually eager to learn of new and improved ways to offer the most to their customers. This opportunity is huge in the sense that it will greatly enhance the customer experience and result in more returning customers to the business. I believe the window of opportunity will not be open for too long because technology is available to anyone and this idea can be thought of by many others and acted upon quickly.

My product is essentially a technological device that allows for customers who are dining out to order food and beverages to their table at their own leisure. The technological device would give the customer access to the restaurant’s food and beverage menu and would allow for a customer to follow the steps to order whatever they would like whenever they would like. Once a customer sends an order in, it would be received in the kitchen immediately and would begin to be prepared. The restaurant could then have a “runner” grab the order when finished and bring to the customer.

My innovation would address the opportunity that I have identified in the sense that it would reduce the burden put on servers to attend to many tables at once while enhancing the overall customer experience. Servers are human and are only capable of helping one table at a time. In working in the restaurant industry for a while now, I can tell you that some customers become unruly and aggravated when they are not attended to in a timely fashion. My product would eliminate this by allowing for customers to order their food and drinks at their own pace, regardless of how busy their server may be. I believe customers would implement this product because it would be utilizing technology to their benefit. I believe it would be fairly easy to get them to implement my product in their restaurants because of the tremendous benefits it would offer to the customer experience. In business, the happier the customer is, the more likely they are to return. Many restaurants could not survive without returning customers! The competitors would be other companies that offer similar type technologies to restaurants who could duplicate this idea. Customer support would play a huge role in my business concept in the sense that if there were ever any technological errors, we would need to be there to help immediately. We would also need to package and distribute personalized tablets to restaurants with their own menus on them. I would organize a team of professionals in the field of technology to produce and distribute this product. In the beginning I would consider hiring 2-4 employees, however that number would grow the more customers we gain. These employees would be in charge of customer support and setting up each tablet to specific customer’s needs.

I believe the most important resource for this company will be human resource. I would focus on hiring the highest level of technological professionals to bring this company to the top!

The next opportunity I would like to tackle with my current innovation is creating tablets for other businesses in different industries.

In five years, I would like to have acquired 500 new businesses to implement my product. In the next decade, I would like to build on this product and discover other opportunities in the technological world. This venture is a steppingstone to bigger and better opportunities!