4A - Forming and Opportunity Belief

1. An Unmet Opportunity

An unmet need occurred to me one night sitting at GrillFresh across from Midtown with my roommate. There are no dessert shops within a 5-minute walk of Midtown and those places that serve some type of dessert are closed by the time the clubs close. The hundreds of students standing in line before the club might want a quick snack while they wait or after the clubs close, the drunk students heading home might have a late night craving for something sweet and chocolaty. I know from personal experience that my cravings for something sweet and chocolaty always come at night but by then it becomes more of an effort to satisfy that craving. This seems to be a universal need that's existed long enough for places like Midnight Cookies or Cookiegasm, who specialize in late-night desserts, to pop up. And while these places exist and even deliver, they fail to meet the location need, time need, and price need of a lazy, impatient, poor college student at Midtown. Thus, the potential market aforementioned is forced to go home unsatisfied or walk to the nearest 24-hour CVS and buy an overpriced pint of ice cream. I would say I'm 75% sure this opportunity exists.

2. Prototypical Customer:

• College student (majority female)
• Often at Midtown
• On a budget
• Usually in a group
• Drinks alcohol/goes to clubs

Potential Customer No. 1

This customer stated she often has late night cravings at night. Given the scenario of leaving Grog at night wanting a cookie/brownie, I asked her what she would do to satisfy this want. She replied, "I would probably order Midnight cookies if I couldn’t drive." I then, asked her to rate this solution based on location, time, price, and overall satisfaction. I also asked her willingness to pay for this type of product. Her response:

• Location (1: easy to get, 5: very difficult): 5
• Time (1: no wait, 5: long wait): 5
• Price (1: dirt cheap, 5: expensive): 4
• Overall satisfaction (1: Extremely disappointed, 5: Highly satisfied): 2

Willingness to pay: Free-$3

One interesting thing customer 1 said was that her level of intoxication affects how willing she is to buy food. She said, "When I’m drunk, if it’s in front of me or offered to me, I will eat it." That leads me to believe that just being exposed to a dessert when intoxicated increases the level of want.

Potential Customer No. 2

This customer also stated she often has late night cravings and after a long night out, she wants to eat. Given the same scenario as customer 1, customer 2 said she would go to Steak and Shake. Rating this solution on the same scale she answered:

• Location (1: easy to get, 5: very difficult): 1
• Time (1: no wait, 5: long wait): 1
• Price (1: dirt cheap, 5: expensive): 1
• Overall satisfaction (1: Extremely disappointed, 5: Highly satisfied): 5

Willingness to pay: $1-$2

I'm particularly surprised about the ratings of Steak and Shake in relation to Midtown. Unless you are driving, it is quite far away, and I know from personal experience and others' stories that Steak and Shake is notorious for long wait times. Otherwise, their price is good and their food is satisfying.

Potential Customer No. 3

My last interviewee says she often has late night food cravings but "wants more fatty food". When given the same scenario as the previous customers, she responded that her go-to would be the POD market on campus. She then ranked the POD as follows:

• Location (1: easy to get, 5: very difficult): 4
• Time (1: no wait, 5: long wait): 1
• Price (1: dirt cheap, 5: expensive): 4
• Overall satisfaction (1: Extremely disappointed, 5: Highly satisfied): 3

Willingness to pay: Free-$2

When asked if she was satisfied with this solution, she responded, "We need to have more locations on campus that are open longer (for those that go out) and make sure they accept flex bucks!" This supports my own thoughts on the subject. What was particularly interesting was when asked if there was anything else she'd like to see at Midtown she responded that she wanted more healthy options despite craving fatty foods at night. As far as healthy options, there is Pita Pit and Grillfresh, however, these are full meals and take a while to buy.

3. Summary

I still believe the opportunity exists, though there are more options than I had originally considered. From the data above, it sounds like despite the inconvenience of having to drive or walk somewhere to get the food, people are not that upset by that. However, if the option were made available in the right place at the right time at the right price, I believe people like my interviewees would buy it. Entrepreneurs should certainly adapt to their customer's feedback because ultimately the customer is who will decide if the business will fail or succeed. However, in a situation like this one where it sounds like customers are satisfied with their current way of addressing the problem, they might not realize there is a better way of doing things until someone shows them.