Opportunity
What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?
Era to era, the forces and changes in the environment transform, creating a unique set of living circumstances. Some individuals take advantage of these circumstances and turn them into opportunities; we call them entrepreneurs. In current society, one of our current concerns is caring for our physical world. The human population is realizing the gravity of the consequences of depleting our world’s resources and like any good entrepreneur, they are making innovative moves to solve these problems.
How is this market defined geographically and demographically?
Geographically speaking, the market is located in Gainesville. Demographically, the market includes the student populous of Gainesville, faculty, and citizens of Gainesville (to include the homeless population).
How are customers currently satisfying this need? And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?
Customers need their coffee. My coffee shop is just delivering their coffee in a sustainable way that helps the environment and populous of Gainesville thrive.
How big is this opportunity? How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?
This is a huge opportunity, but I think it is essential to act quickly, as Gainesville is seeing a sort of mini "hipster revolution," and with that ideas like sustainability, green technology, and taking care of our environment are being brought with it. I see the opportunity for this kind of innovation being open for only a brief amount of time 1)because I only see myself being in Gainesville for my Undergraduate Degree, and 2) because this kind of innovation requires fast action and cessation of opportunity before other companies catch on to how easy and effective green innovation really is.
Innovation
Explain what it is:
My idea is to introduce vertical gardening techniques to create green and social spaces that bring some life to underutilized spaces in Gainesville. I would like to start by converting an abandoned/neglected building and converting it into a green, sustainable cafe that grows its own produce and has social spaces for people to volunteer, socialize, and study. The next step would be an employment campaign for the homeless in Gainesville and create some kind of work exchange for taking care of the gardens and maintenance around the cafe. Studies have shown that green spaces improve morale, fight depression, and are natural stress relievers. I think it is really important to incorporate this into our daily lives to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
A second tier operation that would save money and maximize profit that will eventually be added is abandoning the use of non-biodegradable reusable utensils and converting solely to edible cutlery (a recent innovation). This will save an estimated $500 per year in the first year, only to be increased as we continue to see growth in popularity of our cafe. This will also cut garbage disposal costs by 1/3, allowing us to push funds in different directions, supporting other business activities.
What it does
I am providing a service that turns underutilized space in homes and industrial workspaces (like rooftops) into green space, beginning by converting an abandoned building in the city of Gainesville into a zero carbon footprint space and an example of how sustainable technologies can be used to make these dreams a reality. Eventually, this would be a service that employs the homeless of Gainesville as volunteers to help maintain the gardens/sustainable systems put in place by the business.
How it works
Beginning by converting an abandoned building in the city of Gainesville into a zero carbon footprint space, the sustainability cafe will become an example of how sustainable technologies can be used to make these dreams a reality. Eventually, this would be a service that employs the homeless of Gainesville as volunteers to help maintain the gardens/sustainable systems put in place by the business.
Funded by UF in cooperation with the city of Gainesville as a research project, I would be initiating action on this project with a research grant- hopefully as a piece of my senior project, and a way to leave a good impression on the city with the university that gave me so much opportunity.
Venture Concept
What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to switch?
My general target market would be the community of Gainesville, as this project aims to add value to the city as well as the people employed and supported by the city of Gainesville.
More specifically, the sustainable cafe would be targeting college students as the main source of income.
Next would be the middle-aged market, especially young families of Gainesville who are geared towards working to create a sustainable future for themselves and their families.
Finally, this would be targeting corporations (especially restaurants) that can implement the ideas of creating gardens in compact spaces to add value to their products and services by introducing homemade agriculture as well as providing a space that acts as a natural stress reliever, reducing stress as well as increasing productivity merely by improving the aesthetics of the workplace.
The beauty of this cafe is that it does not demand for any customers to switch to a new product; it is just making a regularly demanded product (coffee and cafe food) more sustainable and is offered in a more attractive, novel way. Also, the cafe offers ethical appeal that other cafes do not.
Who are the competitors? What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
Other competitors include Cymplify coffee shop, Pascal's, Curia on the Drag, and Maude's to name a few. All of these coffee shops are very "hipster," and I predict that my cafe would likely fall into the same category, but we differentiate in that we offer ethical appeal, and an atmosphere that will be unmatched. We also feature other specialities (like our edible cutlery) that others do not.
What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?
I suppose our "packaging" would be considered our outward appearance to our audience, which I have covered above. Naturally, people are drawn to nature and green spaces, and being able to reintroduce this concept into our daily lives is essential anyway. Customers will enjoy this, and this appeal with create an atmosphere, or "packaging" that no other coffee shop in Gainesville will be able to match.
Based on feedback given on my last venture concept, some changes that I made were:
- Incorporation of one more sustainable feature: edible cutlery
- Editing my venture concept for grammatical mistakes and including all ideas that I hadn't mentioned in earlier pitches
- Consider legal processes of hiring homeless people
- Did further research on the process of grant-writing and had the preliminary meetings with writers who have agreed to partner with me on the project of writing the grant
