In interviewing customer's, I found this assignment very broad and open-ended, so I just went for it. I began by brainstorming possible opportunities in Gainesville as a college student, as I figured it would be easiest to find customers at that age. My mind wandered to the idea of food- specifically in midtown as many students like to go out at night or grab a bite to eat during the day. Something I always have trouble with is that if I'm craving a late-night snack, there aren't a lot of healthy options, especially in midtown where I like to go on Friday and Saturday nights. I thought about how popular food trucks are becoming, and went from there.
I stopped random people in my neighborhood and asked them if they would allow me to interview them. Although some seemed uncomfortable, they all agreed. I came up with broad questions just to get an idea of college students' taste. I didn't mention anything about what the questions would be about and kept it very broad. The questions I asked were the following (tentative based on their answers):
What do you think college kids look for when they are deciding what they want to eat?
How has being in college affected your personal eating habits?
Do you like to eat out? how has it affected your budget?
If you could change one thing about the eatery in midtown, what would it be and why?
Why or why not do you think midtown would be a good location for a late night food truck?
I began by having each person state their name, year in school, and what they are currently studying.
My video accidentally cut off here, so I apologize for it being in 2 separate videos. (I felt bad asking her to start over!)
After talking to these 5 individuals, I understood health and budget are really important to students, for the most part. They all loved the idea of a food truck behind midtown, for snack purposes and for the drunchies (drunk munchies) college kids get when they've been drinking. After talking to them, I furthered my idea of a healthy alternative to food- a healthy food truck behind midtown in which the food changes on either a daily or weekly basis- kind of like D'lites, the ice cream shop that changes flavors everyday. I think although health and cost are important, so is variety, so you don't get sick of the same food all the time. I have yet to figure out what type of food kids want that would be healthy and cheap, but I like this idea because it can serve well during the day- possibly could be open 24 hours, doesn't have to be just late night eatery. Hope you all like this idea as much as I do!
I love your concept and think you may be onto something with the eatery or food truck for the area that caters to your customer (students on a budget).
ReplyDeleteMy suggestions for your next questions:
1. What is it that bothered you the last time you visited a food truck? If they have not visited a food truck, why have they avoided them, is their a personal concern?
2. What did you enjoy the last time they visited a food truck or eatery? I think this is a good time to find trends in what is important to that particular customer you are speaking (such as service, food, area, etc). You can then branch off of what their response is such as if the food was great, find out why it was great.
I am by no means any expert, but feel you have a good proposition, that you can dig a bit deeper with each individual in order to fine tune your own entrepreneurial idea.
You seemed very comfortable and calm, hope I can gain the same on the next go round.
http://sonjasevolution.blogspot.com/2016/01/customer-interviews-no-1.html
Hey Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching your interviews, you were very confident. I liked that your questions were broad like you said and they couldn’t be answered with one or two words. Also, your idea seems very interesting, back at home food trucks are a big thing and there is plenty of people lining up to them each night. Good luck with the next interviews!