Together - The UF Campus Cooperative
Opportunity
I
will be analyzing my idea for my on-campus co-op through this venture concept
plan. When creating this opportunity, I first had to identify my target market.
This target market consists of University of Florida students. This market is
defined geographically in the Gainesville, FL area because that is where the
University of Florida is located.
The
future customers for this business concept are currently satisfying their needs
by trying to prepare health conscious food for themselves, or just paying more
money than they would like to for healthy, fresh foods on or near campus. Customers
that are currently satisfying this need may have loyalty to certain
restaurants, but they do not hold full loyalty anywhere.
I
believe that this opportunity has lots of potential to be big. UF has a very
large student body and even if a small percentage of the students held interest
in this idea, it would be enough to begin and expand this idea even further. I
think that this window of opportunity will stay open for quite a long time.
This need has been around for a long time because students are always hoping to
strike a balance between health and time. I think this would be an excellent
strategy that takes both of these factors into consideration.
Innovation
This idea stemmed from my
belief that the UF campus should have more health and price moderate food
options open for students. Through this, I developed an idea that the student
body should take this into their own hands by creating something that would
satisfy all of their different needs.
Through this, I developed
a concept for an on-campus co-op. This co-op will be a store/restaurant that
works with various different departments and organizations at the University of
Florida. Essentially, this co-op will be student run and student planned and it
will be a place where students can purchase high-quality food for low prices.
By partnering with the University of Florida agricultural departments and the
local Gainesville community, students will have access to fresh, local, and
seasonal produce.
This produce alongside
other local ingredients will be used to create fresh meals and snacks for
students that participate with the co-op organization. The students that choose
to take part in the co-op will volunteer for a certain number of hours per
week. This volunteering shift will give these students access to low-priced food
options provided at the co-op. Students who do not want to be a part of the
volunteering program will also be able to participate, they will simply
purchase meals at a higher price point than those that volunteer.
When I envisioned this co-op
I actually pictured a non-profit organization run through the University of
Florida. I think that the system of belief behind this cooperative is
togetherness and a central focus on health and ease. While I do have other
ideas that will generate a profit, I think that for this topic particularly, my
entrepreneurial spirit is not capital driven.
Venture Concept
What are the
reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to
switch?
Customers would switch to this product because of the
simplicity and because the “green” students at the University of Florida would
appreciate the motivation behind the project. I think that in order to make
students switch, we would need to advertise on multiple different platforms and
we would need to recruit a trial group for the campus co-op to make sure that
the process flows smoothly.
Who are the
competitors? What are their possible
weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
The main competition for this business will be the
Krishna lunch that is on UF campus everyday. This would be the principle
competition because it is inexpensive, healthy, and vegan. However, the timing
of the lunch makes it inconvenient for some with different class schedules.
What role does packaging, your price points,
distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business
location play (if any) in defining your business concept?
Each of these factors will play a small role. Packaging’s
role will be important because packaging must be eco-friendly and as minimal as
possible. Location is also extremely important because UF is an extremely
spread out campus, so a prime location will mean a lot in terms of the business’
success.
How would you organize a “business” to support the
ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many
employees? What roles are in the venture?
I would start this
co-op off as a student organization and I would go via existing organizations and
garner interest before beginning the venture. Then, I would start the venture
off with approximately 40 employees and then increase the number with time if
necessary. The idea behind this co-op is that everybody does their part, so
keeping it small in the beginning is essential. There will be many different
roles, there will be administrative roles, culinary roles, and customer service
roles mostly.
What are the
reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to
switch?
I
don’t think that it will be difficult to get customers to switch to this
organization because I think that they will support the cause. I think the best
way to get them to switch, will be to educate them on the offerings and
benefits of this type of organization.
