24A- Venture Concept #1

• Opportunity 
• The biggest issue is that 30 to 40 percent of food is wasted in the United States. A large percentage of waste is due to food spoiling before it can be used. This waste not only 
• Single individuals struggle with cooking for themselves, becuase products are sold in large portions. A large portion of the struggle that these single individuals face is due to food spoiling before they are able to cook all of the food they have. Single individuals are obviously unable to eat the same amount of food as families. Smaller portioned food would be more cost effective for the single consumer. 
• The need that needs to be met is single individuals to be able to cook a variety of meals, without an excessive amount of waste. 
• The forces that allow this problem to exist are the lack of single portioned food products available in grocery stores, individuals desiring a variety of foods, and lack of time to prepare meals in advance. 
• The market I have in mind is most likely inside the United States, at least beginning. The company would target mostly college campuses, specifically targeting single individuals, which for the most part are concentrated in the college aged bracket.
• Based on my interviews, my peers are not satisfied with the current availability of a product like this. They feel that the other solutions contain far too many problems and are interested in a better solution. Therefore, they do not have any loyalty towards another option of any kind. The current solutions are not really tied to the products themselves in any way. The options are always extremely expensive and also temporarily fix a small part of the issue. The solutions require more money, which doesn't actually solve the issue at all, or require significantly more time or effort. 
• I think that this opportunity is actually quite large. Being able to target college students would be effective on the thousands of campuses across the United States. All college students struggle with money in some way, but these products would be beneficial to their way of life and eating. This also would be very effective for health conscious individuals, because it avoids eating out and allows for fresh products to be used, rather than wasted due to spoilage. 
• I think that this product has a very long window of opportunity length. People will always need food to eat, there will always be single individuals that want to cook. 
• Innovation
• My product is smaller packaged food options. These regular grocery store products will be offered in smaller or single person portions. These smaller portions allow the consumer to make a full meal for themselves, without having an extreme excess of ingredients. These smaller packages allow for fresh products, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat products to be sold to single customers. Once these customers have purchased these products, they are able to cook a full, regular meal for themselves, without a large amount of leftovers or the food going bad before they are able to prepare and eat all of it. 
• We are selling average grocery store products, usually consumed by single individuals, in smaller amounts. Each food product has a price per unit, ounce, pound, etc. This product would only be a few more cents per unit. 
• Venture Concept
• The reason for customers to choose this product is because it allows for significantly less food waste. This saves the consumer money overall. They also can save money by not having to purchase pre-prepared boxes of ingredients, because they are a lot more expensive. They are able to have a variety of meals, since they don't have to eat a large amount of one product, but rather smaller amounts of a larger variety of products. This product is also environmentally friendly, because it prevents food waste. 
• This current product is not on the market or in grocery stores. Large chains are only interested in their revenue, not in the customer's waste of food. This product doesn't exist, because they make more money when it's not available. However, when my company comes in and creates this product, it will be a prominent product in college and predominately single areas. 
• The packaging will vary for each product within the line of grocery products. Price points will remain at a reasonable level, similar to other grocery store products. It will be distributed in grocery stores, beginning in college towns and then spreading out to other areas. Customer support will be run through the grocery stores. We would act as more of a supplier than a direct seller. 
• organizing a business? # of employees? roles? Since the business would act as more of a supplier, than a direct seller, we would run as more of a factory plant. We would not produce the foods, they would be produced by the farms, and we would package them for the grocery stores. We would have a large number of factory employees to work on packaging. With time and growth, it would be beneficial to produce our own product, so then we would include farmers. 

I think what makes this product unique is the way it targets the consumers. The company is empathetic to an issue, as I understand and deal with it, so our first goal is to serve the customers. Their needs are better understood and provided for, than with large corporations. I think the next step is to talk to producers and to grocery stores. Once these connections are made and they approve of the product, it would be straight to production. The product would first be produced in college town areas, sold in grocery stores near campus, and marketed to college students. This product could grow and be helpful to families with different food preferences or it could be beneficial to elderly individuals who are also cooking for themselves. We would continue to grow our market and distribution in stores. I enjoy being committed and hands on with my projects, so in five years, I would still be working on and improving my business. I hope to be a larger company and more successful overall, but I would stay committed to making it the best it can be.