12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment

Since I am looking to open a plant-based fast food restaurant, I picked people who are all into plant-based eating. All of the people I am speaking to also happen to be students.

Interview #1

This person is a vegetarian and is frequently on the go because they are taking a full course load and also work a part-time job. They don’t usually have time to meal prep, so they end up eating rather poorly, be it not eating proper meals or simply scarfing down French fries until they’re full.  They frequently are looking for inexpensive places to eat that have plant-based meals, and there are couple that come close, but nothing like what I have proposed.

Interview #2

This person is a vegan blogger and also notices this problem. She wonders why it is taking so long for more all-plant-based restaurants to pop up considering that the vegan population is growing rapidly all over the world. They usually end up spending unnecessary money eating out to save time.

Interview #3

This person is vegan as well, and often wishes that there was a place that they could get good vegan food prepared for cheap. They expressed to me that they are simply lazy, and missed being able to stop at a place like McDonald’s for food when they were hungry.

They all had the same Google search key words: vegan restaurant near me, cheap vegan food, plant-based, vegetarian restaurant

What I learned:

All of the people I spoke to seemed to have the same understanding of the need for something like what I have proposed. Aside from either just buying the more expensive food or trying to meal prep, these people didn’t really have an alternative.

Conclusion:

Because the group I have chosen to interview is one that leads a very specific lifestyle and is strict about not breaking it, they all tend to act in the same ways. My segment is one with strong beliefs in how they eat.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

I chose to read about Elon Musk.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

1)

-       I was very surprised about Elon’s upbringing. I had no idea that he was bullied as a child. When I see people of that sort of status, I  never usually think of them as being someone who was ever vulnerable.

-       I admire his sense of vision. Yes, he is a genius, and very creative, but the way he is constantly envisioning something greater and will settle for no less than saving the entire planet.

-       I didn't his lack of care for family matters, and emotional relationships in general.

-       Elon has encountered adversity and failure, and still does up to this day, such as with his many failed rocket launches. But he continues to push forward. He learns from his failures, and uses them to help him improve his ideas.

2)

-       Elon exhibited competencies for perseverance and idea development, as well as for an ability to use current information to predict the next wave of trends.

3)

Something that confused me in the reading was Elon’s mistreatment of an employee who was expecting a child.

4)

-       I would ask Elon, “Do you believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life?” I would ask him this because of the fact that he is so intent on getting humans to Mars and granting us the ability to colonize space.

-       I would then ask him, “What would make you think that said extraterrestrial life would be fine with humans colonizing planets that aren’t our own?” I feel as though he would have a very interesting and out-of-the-box response to this.

5)

-       I think that Elon’s opinion of hard work is that it is of the upmost importance, being that he strives to be a prime example for his employees. I agree with his view and feel as though a company or project is much more successful when the head is a leader instead of just a boss.

10A - Elevator Pitch No. 1

Here's my elevator pitch!
It's about something that I'm much more interested in and is an idea that I believe is more concrete, so I will be shifting from my previous idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OHYdP55X8A

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

1.     Me – My name is Joshua Shane Philoctete. I am a talented artist and musician. I have engineering experience, specifically with prototype design, which gives me an edge in problem-solving. As far as my aspirations, I would like to be a successful musician and artist, and have that lead to me building my own artistic brand. I would also very much like to open an all-vegetarian and vegan fast food chain.

2.     What I’m Offering – The product/service I am offering to customers is a vegetarian/vegan fast food restaurant.

3.     Who I’m Offering it to – I want to create this sort of fast food vegetarian/vegan restaurant for the vegans and vegetarians ( in Gainesville, for example) who don’t have time to meal prep all their food and don’t want to have to shell out lots of money on eating out.

4.     Why do they care? – Customers will pay lots of money for this sort of fast food restaurant because as the number of plant-based eaters grows in society, the lack of easy places to grab food that doesn’t ruin the wallet is becoming more and more of a problem.

5.     Core Competencies – For one, I am a plant-based eater. So this problem applies to me as well, which means I have first-hand knowledge of how this problem affects my customers. I also have very strong people skills and customer service skills in general, so I am very good at identifying an individual’s problem at its core and coming up with an efficient solution that leaves them happy. This would work out very well in a restaurant scenario.

I feel like all of the elements of my business plan blend well together. I would say the only elements of my business plan that wouldn’t fit as much with my business idea is me, really. My skill set may not necessarily suit the goal, but I don’t think this is extremely important, because all the other pieces fit really well.