24A Venture Concept No. 1

Planet Green

Opportunity:

I have identified an opportunity for an affordable vegan friendly restaurant with a diverse menu near the University of Florida campus. Most vegan students, teachers, and locals currently cook meals at their own homes or pay higher prices to eat the same vegan meal at local restaurants. Many University of Florida students are becoming vegan for the following reasons:

·      Healthy lifestyle

·      Environmental reasons

·      Animal rights

·      Self-image

This opportunity arises from the lack of healthy vegan friendly restaurants in the Gainesville area. Vegan students and locals are tired of eating the same meal at their sorority house or constantly cooking meals at home. Although some restaurants in Gainesville may offer a few limited vegan options, these restaurants usually only provide salad or beans. A healthy restaurant just opened in Gainesville; however, the restaurant charges exorbitant prices for vegan meals. Therefore, vegan customers are looking for an affordable, diverse menu in one restaurant.

The market for potential customers encompasses a broad range. After conducting interviews around campus, I found both male and females in the age ranges of 18-22 who decided to go vegan. Sorority girls at the University of Florida make up a higher percentage of vegans on campus than males at the University of Florida. Not only do undergraduate students partake in a vegan diet, but I have also discovered teachers in the 30-40 year old range who identified themselves as vegan. Athletes, body builders, and gym rats in the Gainesville area also maintain a vegan diet to maintain the best shape and health.

Potential customers are satisfying their needs through the following ways. Vegan sorority girls at the University of Florida are mainly eating the same salad from the salad bar at dinner. Some students are cooking all their meals at home to avoid eating the same meals daily. While some vegans prefer cooking at home, the vegans who like to eat at restaurants usually only have the option of Grill Fresh or Designer Greens with limited menu options. I should be able to persuade the customers who eat at their sorority houses and the other restaurants to purchase my vegan meals and eat at my restaurant to find the cheapest, most delicious options in Gainesville because they do not seem extremely loyal to these methods. After I market my restaurant properly and word of mouth spreads about the affordable prices and various options, I am sure I can convince the vegans who cook at home to step outside their comfort zone and try my restaurant.

This opportunity for a vegan friendly restaurant should exist for a time unless someone quickly capitalizes on this market with a major lack of competition in the Gainesville area. If I can open the first vegan friendly restaurant with decent prices and various options, I can maintain a huge competitive advantage and profit over future restaurants that will open.

Innovation:

I have developed an effective solution to the fully satisfy the unmet needs of vegans in the Gainesville community. Although my solution proposes a unique vegan restaurant, some restaurants do currently exist with vegan options in the Gainesville area. I plan on offering my potential customers a wide variety of vegan options on my menu for low prices. Not only will my restaurant use fresh ingredients shipped from all over the United States, but the staff will also be able to educate customers on the ingredients of every dish and the most popular meals. You can order vegan-friendly pizza, snacks, and meals for an affordable price. Instead of breaking the bank to keep a vegan lifestyle, you can actually afford the fresh vegan friendly meals I will offer. I would ideally like to open my restaurant in the downtown Gainesville area as a family owned restaurant with a very warm and friendly atmosphere. The diverse menu will denote all the ingredients used in our specially designed recipes and the calorie count. In addition to serving customers inside our restaurant, we will offer takeout and delivery to accommodate the busy schedules of our customer base. I will make a profit by selling vegan friendly meals to my customer base for cheap prices. For example, I will offer vegan friendly pizza with different toppings for the low price of 5.99.

Venture Concept:

My venture solves the problem of the lack of vegan friendly restaurants around campus. Potential customers will buy the diverse and delicious meals I am offering to satisfy their unmet need of healthy vegan foods in the Gainesville area. Customers will choose my restaurant over other restaurants and home cooked meals because I will provide the highest quality meals for an affordable price. Instead of paying high prices for meals in other restaurants, customers can purchase my uniquely designed healthy meals for a price that fits their budget.

I would create my restaurant by hiring servers, kitchen staff, and social media marketing team. I assume I would probably have around fifty members on my staff to maintain the upkeep of the restaurant. The support of customers will disseminate the high quality and low prices to persuade other vegan customers in the area to eat at my restaurant. The customer experience also plays an important role because customers who have an excellent experience will become regular customers and encourage others to eat at my restaurant.

My venture’s unfair advantage is my unique business concept and lack of competitors in this industry. The unique meals and lack of competition provides me with a competitive advantage to capitalize on the market.

The next step in this venture is formulating the unique recipes and meals for the restaurant and accumulating funds and sponsors to cover start-up costs.

I would like to see my restaurant running smoothly and satisfying the needs of vegans in Gainesville. If I can garner enough support, I would like to expand my vegan restaurant into a chain within the next decade. Expanding my restaurant into a nationwide chain will help me achieve my vision of owning multiple businesses.

22A Elevator Pitch No. 3

Although I did not get any feedback on my last elevator pitch, I revised a few things on the third elevator pitch. I created a better hook to grab customer attention, and I was calmer pitching my idea in this last elevator pitch.

23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     Unique Business Concept/Lack of Competitors: I am creating a vegan friendly restaurant in Gainesville with very few competitors.

·      Valuable: It is valuable to start a business that has very few competitors.

·      Rare: It is a rare idea because no one else has opened a restaurant that offers an entire vegan friendly menu.

·      Inimitable: While people may be able to open healthy restaurants, no one will be able to copy my exact recipes and menu.

·      Non-substitutable: No one will be able to substitute my restaurant for another vegan friendly restaurant.

2.     Financial Capital: Fundraising Expertise: I have developed fundraising skills and funded projects in the past so I can apply my past experience to help me raise money for my restaurant.

·      Valuable: It is very valuable to know how to raise money for your business idea.

·      Rare: I can utilize my fundraising skills to cover start up costs and fixed costs until I can start earning a profit from my restaurant.

·      Inimitable: Although fundraising is imitable, most people will not be able to raise as much money as I know I can for their ideas.

·      Non-substitutable: You can utilize others to fundraise, but I will save a substantial amount of money by fundraising on my own.

3.     Social Capital: UF Greek Life. As a UF student and member of Greek life, I can market my restaurant to Greek life and offer discounts to Greek life members to gain their loyalty as customers.

·      Valuable: My friendships and the Greek community can help me find customers who are interested in a vegan friendly restaurant.

·      Rare: UF Greek life students will communicate to other students about the quality and affordable prices of my meals.

·      Inimitable: It would be hard to copy my restaurant idea without the connections and relationships I have in the Gainesville community.

·      Non-substitutable: You cannot substitute my connections with Greek life.

4.     Social Capital: Leadership Experience: I have leadership experience from service projects and clubs that I can implement to open a successful restaurant in Gainesville.

·      Valuable: It is very valuable to have leadership skills that can help me fund, organize, and start my own business.

·      Rare: Anyone can implement a business; however, not everyone has strong leadership skills.

·      Inimitable: Everyone has leadership skills, but I possess unique leadership skills and years of experience that can help me succeed in my venture.

·      Non-substitutable: I can’t substitute the skills I have received from past projects and club memberships.

5.     Support of my sorority: I can find members of my sorority who are interested in helping me start my restaurant and marketing my restaurant to other students around campus.

·      Valuable: It is very valuable to have a client base before you open a restaurant.

·      Rare: It is rare to have so many friends that are willing to help you find vegans and students interested in eating healthy foods to try your restaurant.

·      Inimitable: Other people could copy open healthy restaurants; however, they will not have a diverse menu of vegan friendly foods.

·      Non-substitutable: I do not think I would be able to find such large support anywhere else in Gainesville.

6.     Social Capital: Organizational Skills: I am a very organized individual that plans everything out in a planner. I could use my organizational skills to plan out the costs and necessities to open my restaurant.

·      Valuable: It is valuable to be extremely organized because your concept will most likely fail without proper planning.

·      Rare: It is rare to be as organized as I am by writing down all appointments and assignments with specific times to complete them.

·      Inimitable: People will not be able to copy my organizational skills.

·      Non-substitutable: You can substitute someone else to plan; however, I believe my organizational skills are an asset to my concept.

7.     Relationships with entrepreneurs in the community: the relationships I have developed from communicating with entrepreneurs in similar businesses as me will support my restaurant.

·      Valuable: It is valuable to have connections with other restaurant owners in your area.

·      Rare: It is rare to develop three solid connections before evening opening your restaurant.

·      Inimitable: I do not think other people would be able to develop the solid friendships I have made with other business owners in the Gainesville area.

·      Non-substitutable: You cannot substitute connections that will help your business grow.

8.     Numerous scrumptious recipes: My menu will provide customers with numerous vegan friendly and delicious options.

·      Valuable: Other healthy restaurants do not have such diverse menu options that still taste delicious.

·      Rare: It is rare to find a diverse menu filled with all vegan options in the Gainesville area.

·      Inimitable: It will not able to be copied because I am making these recipes on my own.

·      Non-substitutable: You cannot substitute these recipes for others because they are very specific to deliver healthy and wholesome foods to vegan customers.

9.     Social Capital: Problem-solving skills. I developed problem-solving skills through previous jobs that I can utilize to help me if I can encounter any obstacles.

·      Valuable: It is valuable to possess problem-solving skills because I will be able to tackle any problems I may encounter in starting my restaurant.

·      Rare: It is rare to have sharp problem solving skills as a young entrepreneur; however, I love solving problems and finding solutions.

·      Inimitable: Other people cannot copy my problem-solving skills as I have learned these skills through challenges at work and home.

·      Non-substitutable: You cannot substitute my skills or my restaurant might face serious problems.

10.  Takeout and delivery of our vegan meals. My restaurant will offer takeout for customers and delivery to apartments and homes in the Gainesville area.

·      Valuable: It is extremely valuable to offer takeout and delivery so that college students can grab a meal quickly and efficiently from the restaurant or get it delivered to their home if they do not have time to come in.

·      Rare: It is extremely rare to find a healthy vegan restaurant that offers takeout and delivery.

·      Inimitable: Other restaurants can offer takeout options, but my restaurant will offer takeout and delivery with minimal wait times and delicious vegan foods.

·      Non-substitutable: You cannot substitute the high quality and healthy food my restaurant will offer with any other restaurants.

      After conducting a VRIN analysis, I discovered different resources that will help me to open my restaurant and maintain a successful business. The most valuable resource is probably my unique business concept and the lack of competitors in this industry. Gainesville lacks vegan friendly restaurants; therefore, I can capitalize on this market and develop a competitive advantage against potential competitors.

21A Reading Reflection No. 2

1.    Scott Adams provides insight into his own methods and formulas to find success. I found it very interesting how he emphasizes putting yourself first by maintaining good health before anything else to acquire success. You cannot succeed in life without taking care of yourself and putting your goals before anything else.

2.    The book connects what we learn in ENT 3003 because Scott Adams persuades readers to take control on their schedule; therefore, he underscores the need for time management and organizing a schedule that this class definitely helps us learn from the beginning of the course. 

3.    The exercise I would invent for this class based would include a documentation of your entire week’s schedule. Students would list out their daily activities and schedules of everything that they do in specific times and places. For instance, I would write I attend my International Business class in Heavener Hall at 11:45 am, then I attend the gym for 2 hours. This detailed schedule can help students organize their activities and keep control of their time.

4.    The biggest surprise in reading this book was Adams’ emphasis on personal health and positivity to succeed. I honestly always thought success came from working as hard as possible despite its wear on your mental health; however, this book has changed my perspective on the keys to success and helped me to see others’ mentalities on success.