Venture Concept No. 1

The potential customers of my venture are college students living in dorms or apartments without yard space for a garden and would like to cook their own food using fresh organic ingredients. The nature of the need is characterized by university students’ interest in organic foods, but there is also the aspect of higher prices compared to processed alternatives. College students are on a budget, so lower prices of substitutes offer a greater incentive to buy processed foods over organic.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, consumer demand for organically produced goods continues to display double-digit growth, providing market incentives for U.S. farmers across a broad range of products. Fresh fruits and vegetables have been the top selling category of organically grown food since the organic food industry introduced their products in the retail market over three decades ago. Also, from what I have observed on a micro level, it seems that quite a few university students are interested in organic food products.

The market is defined geographically by the Gainesville region near the University of Florida campus and demographically by college students in that area. As for growth, the market would be defined geographically by university campuses with suitable agricultural climate.

Customers as defined by the demographic described in the above paragraph are currently satisfying this need by going to organic markets occasionally. From customer interviews, university students usually buy their ingredients and snacks at the same type of grocery stores that they went to before college. Examples in Florida would be Publix and Winn-Dixie. They are quite loyal to what they use now, but customers also seem interested in shopping for organic food more often if given a platform that allows them to save both money and time.

As of now, the opportunity is relatively small compared to ventures that introduce some completely new product. Since my venture is more of a “recombination” innovation, as discussed in a past lecture, and is limited to a specific region, the ‘size’ of the opportunity is not that great. However, if the venture successfully capitalizes on the organic food trend among college students, then there could be potential for growth in opportunities.

The “window of opportunity” will probably be open for as long as college students continue to be interested in consuming organic food products.

My venture allows for university students to consume fresh organic ingredients at a lower cost in the long term.

The venture would make use of local garden spaces near UF. The local farm is maintained by a professional. Consumers pay at the onset of the growing season for a “share” of the anticipated harvest. Once harvesting begins, they periodically receive shares of produce. They can then choose which kinds of organic, locally grown produce they want delivered to their doorstep based on quick, yet tasty curated recipes they like on the mobile app. The mobile app allows users to track their produce delivery, choose which shares of produce they want based on the curated recipes they like, and share ideas with other users. The venture integrates mobile technology with the model of community supported agriculture.

It makes money as users pay a fee to subscribe to the local community supported agriculture initiative. Another revenue driver is the limited advertising space that other businesses could make use of on the mobile app.

The competitors are retail grocery stores and farmers markets. Their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities would be the lack of a food delivery app and regional focus.

The distribution and business location play important roles in defining the business concept. Product distribution would use of smaller fuel-efficient vehicles. An efficient, small scale supply chain could save costs, which would be valuable to the venture. Location is important because it would be located near UF campus.

The roles in the venture would be mostly agricultural-based. It would have 4 divisions – farm, administrative, technology, and management. I am not sure about the specific number of employees, but maybe 20.

The top resource is the venture’s supply chain. It makes use of sustainable practices in the form of fuel efficient, smaller transportation vehicles, a niche market, and the benefits of being near a university in order to benefit students.

The next product would be simple food prep storage containers. This product would make for a good complement to Fresh Campus because it would hopefully increase customer satisfaction with organic foods by making them easy to store. Also, it helps busy college students plan their recipes over the course of a week so that recipe preparation is convenient and quick in order to work with a student’s schedule. Leftovers will not be characterized as messy and gross as they used to be.

If this venture were to be a real thing, in five years I would like to incorporate the business in other university campuses. As an entrepreneur, I want to work for a large company that allows for employees to approach work with an entrepreneurial mindset. The word for that is “intrapreneur”. This first venture helps me achieve this goal by allowing me to learn about and experience the entrepreneurship process. It was interesting to work on this venture, as it relates to agricultural economics. While I am not interested in agricultural economics as a career, it was cool to research aspects of the subject and explore new topics that I was previously unfamiliar with.