Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

One of the first things I noticed when I got to the University of Florida is that the city of Gainesville is filled with a multitude of very diverse places to eat. These people love their food and understand that college students are more likely to eat out or buy meals because its faster and easier than cooking their own meals. It didn't take long for my entrepreneurial mind to start working, I knew there was a market and I just couldn't think of something that could be new, exciting, and that actually could be successful. During my second year of college an idea came to me. I realized what need wasn't being met. I finally understood where I need to focus my thinking on. There was no accessible late night healthy food option. Where could college students get their late night cravings met by a healthy food option? There weren't any. Pizza, burger, wings, etc. That's what their options were. So I saw the potential in the healthy food crazed Millenials at UF. This trend towards being more aware of what you're putting inside your body is taking over the world, and many more people are starting to see the benefits. The group more attracted to this trend are the young people, the aspiring Millenials. As of right now, the only way on-campus students satisfy their late night cravings are through ordering delivery pizza, or from one of the delivery companies. The price of a meal, plus the delivery charge, plus the tip for the driver can get costly, which is why sometimes students opt out of satisfying their needs. I see this as a big opportunity to create something that students will get excited about and will be willing to try and if satisfied will continue to eat.  I see this window of opportunity being open for as long as there is no one that comes up with this idea, and I can't imagine that it would take for someone with the resources at hand to realize.

Innovation:

Having said that, I want to discuss what my innovation is. My plan is to get 3 food trucks and out of them sell healthy meals and snacks that students can buy from 8 pm to 3 am. The way it will work is that, using a mobile app, students will request a food truck. They cannot request their food truck to come just to them, instead they call it to the nearest food truck hub (my plan is to designate various locations around campus where the food trucks will park for a certain amount of time and sell food). The person could be lucky and have a food truck hub right in front of their dorm but if not, then it will be less than a 5 minute walk away. the more people that request a food truck to a certain location the quicker it will come. My plan is to create a menu that will, ideally, only contain meals strictly under $6, along with snacks for $1-$2 and bottled drinks. Since I am not a food expert, I plan on hiring a chef to help me create a menu.

Venture Concept:

My innovation will address the need for late night cheap healthy food option for students on campus. It will cater to them great food at a low price and with the comfort of not having to go far or pay for a delivery. I think costumers will buy into my business because it will make them feel less bad about themselves for getting hungry late and eating something that is damaging to their health. I imagine that it will be difficult at first, and that it will take a lot of marketing and publicity to kick start the business, but I feel that in due time I will gain a following. My main competitors are all the food options in the area, and the companies that specialize in just delivery. A possible weakness of this idea is the university. It will take many permits and I will probably have to jump through lots of hoops to get it approved by the university and to get their permission to sell my food on campus. Once I get past those difficulties, my main objective will be to create a following and to keep my customers happy. The way I will keep them happy is by keeping my employees happy, and ensuring that they give customers the best possible experience. I hope that as my business grows I will in turn have more food trucks at my disposal and definitely expand past the campus. Also, if it turns into a huge success, I can be almost certain that it could succeed in any university campus.

Minor Elements:

I think what I will have that will allow me to separate myself from my competitors and will make it difficult for them to copy my eventual success is that I understand the mind of the broke college student. Not only that, but I understand that cheap food is not their only concern, and that it is important to eat healthy food as well.

For my next venture after the food trucks, I wish to imitate what I want to do at UF and do it at FSU or UCF.  This will expand my business and through word of mouth create an instant interest in my business at each of those schools.

If my business is successful, and I find myself bored after a decade, I hope that I have enough resources to start another business. Don't know what it would be, but possibly in the same area.