12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

My target segment is restaurant owner's and managers between the ages of 25-40. I believe this segment of people understand the true value of technology and what it can bring to their business. 

Interview 1: Restaurant owner of a local BBQ restaurant (Age 32)

In this interview, I had the chance to speak with a local BBQ restaurant owner. His situation is a little different because a lot of his foods are already prepared, but he still sees the need of offering quicker service to his customers. He told me that he offers a happy hour in the early evening, and that is when his place gets extremely busy. He says that everyone comes after work to get drinks and BBQ, and  during this time it becomes difficult to serve everyone immediately. Due to the fact that his happy hour is only a couple of hours long, everyone piles in at the exact same time. He says that he has been trying to gather possible solutions for some time without adding a ton of payroll. He made a good point in saying that nobody would come to work just for a couple of hours, and he would not need all of the extra people he would have to bring on for an entire shift. 

Interview 2: Restaurant owner of a diner (Age 38)

In this interview, I had the chance to speak with the owner of a local diner. In this interview, we discussed what his busiest times were. He told me that Saturday and Sunday morning are his peak times during breakfast. He says that during this time, he has the most issues. He currently has a POS system in place where he can tell how many customers walked out and when, and he noted that he suffers the most customer walk outs during the weekend breakfast hours. He blames this on everyone piling in at one time, and not everyone being attended to in a timely manner. He has looked into possible solutions to this problem by speaking with other restaurant owners. 

Interview 3: General manager of a local sports bar (Age 26)

In this interview, I had the opportunity to speak with the general manager of a local sports bar. He says that his busiest hours are during big sporting events. He says that during a big MMA fight, football game, or basketball game, sports fans pile in to watch the games and buy drinks and food. He says that the crowd he gets during this time are often rowdy, and often times make scenes when they are forced to wait excessive times to order their food and drinks. He has tried looking into a solution to this problem by discussing with his cousin, who also owns a sports bar in another state. He believes that implementing technology in his bar would ensure that customers would be satisfied as they could order drinks as they please without being forced to wait for a bartender. He also believes this would bring in more revenue as more drinks would potentially be ordered. 

Upon these 3 interviews, I learned that restaurants face the biggest issues during their peak times. Each restaurant had their own peak times and reasons for it, and would all likely benefit from adding technology to their customers dining experience. The three people I spoke to all seemed to be aware of the issues, and were interested in any possible solution that I presented. They all concluded that a change was needed to ensure that all of their customers leave satisfied. 

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

About Me

I am currently a junior in the UF online degree program, majoring in business administration. I am very business-minded, with skills in technology and math. I am currently a manager at a local restaurant. My aspirations are to get technology into all casual restaurants. Technology is bigger than ever right now and has the potential to positively impact the dining experience.

What am I offering to customers?

Customers of my product would be in the restaurant sector and would see a positive impact in the service they are providing to their clients. Adding a technological device on each table and allowing for customers to order at their own leisure would prevent customers from leaving a dining experience unsatisfied.

Who am I offering it to?

Based on my interviews, I came to the conclusion that my customers are in the restaurant sector that offer a casual setting. Restaurants such as Ale House, Chili’s, Flannigan’s, and more would be my target group of customers. All of these restaurants offer a casual dining experience to their clients and could use some assistance in offering a quicker and more efficient service.

Why do they care?

Customers of my product would see value as it would assist them in offering the most for their clients. The number one goal of restaurants is customer retention and offering my product in their setting would allow for an optimal dining experience, sure to bring customers back!

What are my core competencies?

My product differentiates from everyone else's as it offers an all-in-one experience. For instance, customers can place not only dessert orders, but also food and beverage orders right from their table. Imagine how convenient it would be to order at your own pace. It would essentially be like putting a POS computer system at every table.

I believe that these elements fit together. In my experiences, the number one priority of restaurants is customer satisfaction and retention. The goal of restaurants is to keep customers happy so they will be more likely to return. One of the biggest issue’s restaurants face today is attending to impatient customers immediately. Thus, customers get upset and often times never return for business. My product would eliminate these hardships and ensure that customers always are always attended to.

10A - Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://youtu.be/kGXrcv0KxV4

9A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

9A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview 1: A fast food restaurant manager

In this interview, I questioned a local fast food restaurant manager on my idea of implementing technology in his store to offer faster service. He said that although it could speed things up, his kitchen may get backed up because of the amount of volume they do. He said that in the fast food industry, volume is everything and too many people ordering at the same time could actually have a reverse effect because customers would be waiting excessive amounts of time for their food.

Interview 2: A local fine dining restaurant manager

In this interview, I questioned a local fine dining restaurant manager on his thoughts of implementing technology in his store to offer faster and more efficient service. He said that this would help in a casual setting, but his restaurant attracts a higher end clientele who come for the experience rather than to dine quickly and leave. He said that his customers prefer to take their time.

Interview 3: A server at a country club restaurant

In this interview, I questioned a server on her thoughts of implementing technology at the country club restaurant. She said that she believed it would not work out so well because the people who live in the community are a bit older. She believed they may have a tough time navigating through a tablet / computer to place their food and drink orders.

Interview 4: A carry out restaurant owner by the beach

In this interview, I questioned a local restaurant owner of a mini pizzeria by the beach on his ideas of implementing technology into his store to speed up the process of customers ordering food. He said that most of his orders are placed over the phone, so the best he could do is offer online ordering.

Interview 5: A manager of a local buffet restaurant

In this interview, I questioned the manager of a local buffet. I was very curious to see if he could think of any way in which technology could improve customer satisfaction. He said that he believed it would definitely benefit a busy sit-down restaurant but explained that with buffets it wouldn’t make much sense. Considering that this buffet is self-serve, customers can already eat and drink at their own pace.

To summarize, I located five different examples in the food industry in which my opportunity wouldn't be considered a need. I learned through these interviews that there are definitely boundaries to my opportunity and that although some business in the food industry could benefit from it, others may not.

Inside the boundary	Who is in it? Casual restaurants	What the need is? A need for quicker service	Why the need exists? Customers expect immediate service and servers are often too busy to attend to customers immediately
Outside the boundary	Who is not? Fast food restaurants, Fine dining restaurants	What the need is not? Fast food = too much volume for customers to be in control of ordering; would have reverse effect  Fine dining = Customers not worried about waiting time	Alternative explanations? Some people in different settings are not interested in immediate service and technology in a fast food setting could raise kitchen problems

8A – Solving The Problem

The problem I have identified in preceding exercises includes customers who dine out at restaurants and their unmet need for quick and immediate service. My original solution competed for a fully technology-based restaurant, that implemented technological devices on each table in which customers could order drinks and food as soon as they sat down. However, throughout my interviews in the previous exercise, I came to the conclusion that the best solution to this problem would be to implement the technology devices as I stated, but also keep servers to still make customers feel at home. Also, servers would be there to attend to customers who may not be as technologically savvy, so all participants would benefit.  

My target customer would be restaurants and the product I could sell would be a fully functional tablet that would allow for customers to order food and drinks as they please. 

7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Restaurants are unable to meet the immediate demands of customers wishing to sit, eat, and leave in a timely manner. 

I believe that everyone who goes out to eat wishes for immediate service, and a restaurant that utilizes technology to meet the demands of their customers will make everyone happier, even those who do not care as much about quick service but want to order whenever they wish. 

Interview 1: In this case, I interviewed a local restaurant owner. In the interview, I asked who might be able to benefit from utilizing technology in a dining experience, and he stated that customers who are in a rush would be able to benefit. However, throughout this interview, the restaurant owner brought up several key points that could hinder this opportunity, such as the human element being taken away. He believes that interaction amongst restaurant employees and customers is a big deal when it comes to a customer feeling at home and taking that away could potentially hurt the business more than it could help. 

Interview 2: In this case, I interviewed my aunt who owns a restaurant in NYC. She said that implementing technology could be a great idea, but also could bring forward some problems on the operations side. She elaborated on this by stating that things are timed in the restaurant business, and if everyone who came in ordered at the same time, the kitchen may get backed up and it could have a counterproductive effect. However, she noted that with the younger crowd dining out more, and them being more involved in technology, it could be a great way to attract them to come in. 

Interview 3: In this case, I interviewed my brother who goes out to eat a lot. I asked him his thoughts, as he would be a prototypical customer of this opportunity. He noted that it would be extremely beneficial, as he would be able to receive immediate service and get in and out as quickly as possible. He believes that with more millennials dining out, restaurants would attract more guests by utilizing technology. 

Interview 4: In this case, I interviewed my girlfriends’ father, who is a 56-year-old man and often goes out to eat. I asked him his thoughts on restaurants implementing technology, and he noted it may be difficult for older people to navigate through a tablet/device. He stated that it would cater more to the younger crowd. However, he also stated that his last dining experience was awful, and technology would have definitely enhanced the service he received. 

Interview 5: In this case, I interviewed a server of a local restaurant that I often attend. Although I could not keep her too long, I did get valuable information from this interview. I asked for her thoughts on implementing technology in restaurants, and she had an interesting view on it. She noted that it would be beneficial to implement both technology and human interaction in a dining out experience. That is, if she is super busy and cannot make it to the table immediately, it would benefit all parties involved if a customer could order through the tablet and get their drinks and food delivered to them promptly. However, the human interaction side of dining out would not be completely stripped from a customer. 

To summarize, I found a lot of valuable information through all of the interviews that I conducted. Throughout these interviews, I attempted to gather the viewpoints of several different parties. I received customer input, owner’s input, and management input. I found that although the opportunity does exist and could have its benefits, there are also obstacles that stand in the way of it. Fully utilizing technology in restaurants could take away from customers feeling like they are at home, and I came to the conclusion that implementing both technology and human interaction may have the best effect on everyone.

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

One opportunity that I have located in regard to economic trends involves the housing industry. I found this opportunity through several media outlets that have raised the concerns. The opportunity that exists is in homeowner financing. In Sacramento for instance, over 52% of people rent their homes. This has resulted in unpopular rent control laws and unhappy people. If there were an institution in place that could assist people in getting them into homeownership without requiring a significant down payment and fees, it would likely be a success and have a country-wide positive effect. I believe the information that I have found suggests an opportunity may exist because of the statistical evidence behind it. The prototypical customer in this instance would be anyone who does not currently own a home and wishes to. I believe this opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit because a large number of people would benefit from it, however it may be difficult to set up. I see this opportunity because I have done work in real estate and am knowledgeable on the difficulties of purchasing a home, from large down payment requirements, hefty closing costs, and immaculate credit scores to get approved for a loan. Now more than ever, people are renting, and homelessness numbers have increased, resulting in disliked laws and procedures in the world of real estate. 

Another opportunity that I have located in regard to economic trends involves companies and their current tendencies to hire less full-time workers. It is very common for companies in this day and age to hire part-time employees in an effort to keep overhead low, to remain flexible, and to stray away from paying employee benefits. However, this is causing a problem as hard working students with higher level degrees are finding it more difficult to find full time careers right out of college, and equally as important are having to pay extraordinary insurance expenses out of their pocket. An opportunity that I believe exists is in creating a more affordable insurance company for students with degrees that cannot find full-time jobs with benefits included. I found information regarding this topic through personal experience, as my three older sisters have college degrees and two do not currently receive benefits from their jobs. Any graduate student who does not receive benefits from their job would be a prototypical customer, and this opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit as many graduates would benefit from it. My personal experiences involving my sisters and their situations helped me locate this opportunity. 

An opportunity that exists in regard to regulatory changes is in the small business world. Government rules and regulations have made it tough on small businesses to actually run their businesses. An opportunity that exists would be in a platform that lays out the regulatory policies that small business owners must follow in a condensed and easy version. I found this opportunity through a business report article and believe the information within it support my idea because it makes it out to seem like small businesses often times have a tough time keeping up with government regulations that are constantly coming about. The prototypical customer is any small business owner and the opportunity is relatively easy to exploit as many small business owners are too focused on keeping up with regulatory changes as opposed to running their own businesses. I know a lot of small business owners and they all gave me insight to the constant regulatory changes, which made me form the belief. 

Another opportunity that I see existing in regard to regulatory changes is in regard to Airbnb. Many real estate investors have explored the opportunity of renting through Airbnb; however, regulations are arising prohibiting renting through Airbnb in certain areas. Much of these regulations are in concern with neighbors who wish not to have new people coming in and out of their neighborhoods every day, especially ones whom could cause disturbances. A solution to this problem could come in the form of a renting platform that ensures the people renting are credible and have no previous track record of causing disturbances in the past. This would result in the loosening of regulations, benefitting investors and those who wish to rent their homes while on vacation to cover expenses. I found this information in several articles and by watching the news, taking notice of the widespread information that is being posted on the recent breakthrough of Airbnb. I believe the information stated supports my idea as disturbances amongst neighborhoods seem to be the biggest factor in these regulations, resulting in difficulties for anyone looking to rent with more flexibility through Airbnb. The prototypical customer in this case would be Airbnb users and renters. My friend is a full-time Airbnb host, which gave me more insight to the regulations regarding Airbnb renting and how the issue may be solved.