Venture Concept No. 2

The potential customers of my venture are college students living in 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. This venture aims to provide a service through a mobile app that allows students who live off-campus to get the benefits of garden-grown produce without the need to dedicate their own time and energy towards gardening. It also provides students the ability to customize their orders and have them delivered to wherever they are residing off-campus via a mobile phone app.

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

The venture would make use of local garden spaces near UF. The local farm is maintained by a professional gardener. 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 an app. If something like a bad harvest were to occur, the venture would probably have to source produce from other places. 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 in a 'social network type' of design. The venture integrates mobile technology with the model of community supported agriculture. It also provides customers the ability to visit the garden / farm and actually see where their food is coming from.

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 platform and regional consumer focus of something like a university campus.

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.

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, sometimes referred to as an “intrapreneur”. This first venture helps me achieve this goal by allowing me to learn about and experience the entrepreneurship process. While I am not interested in agricultural economics as a career, it was cool to research aspects of the subject and explore new topics.

Summary of Feedback

I received four comments on my blog post, and all of them noted how they liked the amount of detail I included in the venture concept. I was told that one way to improve it was to explain how the share of the crop system works and how one would benefit from the venture other than just ‘low costs of organic food’. I was also asked how the venture would respond to situations like a bad harvest or severe weather. Feedback was also provided on consumer demographics, noting that most students who live on campus have meal plans so the venture should be marketed towards students who live off-campus. Lastly, feedback was provided about the structure of the venture concept. In the first venture concept post, the breaks in the paragraphs in the middle disrupted the flow of ideas.

Some Changes Made Based on Feedback

I kept most of the details from the Venture Concept No. 1 post, but I also modified it in various areas based on what I learned from the comments. I added a part that explained another qualitative benefit of the venture – that customers who are interested in visiting where their food is grown. I also added detail on how the app can help others who share the same interests in organic products build some kind of ‘community’ by sharing ideas. For organization, I deleted some paragraphs that did not seem to ‘go with the flow’ of things. I added a part on sourcing from other back-up places in case of something like a bad harvest. I revised the primary consumer demographic to be mostly off-campus students.