Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Assignment 29A – Venture Concept No. 2


Assignment 29A – Venture Concept No. 2

·      Opportunity:
o   There is currently a shortage of bars in Midtown. It is often overcrowded and the lines are long, causing students to wait long amounts of time when they go out.
o   The forces that create this opportunity is a lack of options in midtown, a large number of UF students who enjoy going out, and the size limit of people allowed inside of each bar/restaurant. There is a large window of opportunity that will be open until these three forces in the environment are solved.
o   Geographically, this market is specific to Gainesville, FL, where University of Florida is. Other colleges certainly have similar issues, but for my business market it is local. Demographically, I am mainly targeting any UF college student who is between 21-25 years old.
o   Currently, customers satisfy this need by either not going out at all, going downtown, or going to Midtown dealing with the long lines and crowding. These options are not ideal when students are looking to go out to Midtown. They are not loyal to these options, because they are hoping for a night out at Mid and it is being disturbed.
o   Potential Customers: UF students, Gainesville residents, and visiting families/potential students who are looking for somewhere to eat or go out at in Midtown.
·      Innovation:
o   What it is: This is a business that is a restaurant during the day and a bar at night that is located in Midtown in Gainesville, Florida.
o   What it does: This offers UF students a new option in Midtown. People get tired of going to the same places over and over and this will offer a fresh, unique choice. The goal of this business is to create a new atmosphere for UF students to experience in Midtown. We will be listening to feedback from students to make it exactly what they want it to be.
o   How it works: This will be a bar/restaurant that allows anyone in during the day and only those 21+ in at night. There will be a bouncer at night who checks ID’s. On popular nights, only students will be allowed in through proof of a school ID. Food will be served for the entire day and at night. There will be TV’s, tables, and numerous bars throughout the bar/restaurant. At nighttime, the upstairs will turn into the club/bar scene with a DJ and dance floor. The downstairs will remain the dining area, which will be a more relaxed environment.
o   Potential Profits: This business will be profitable when students choose to come here, instead of going to the other options in Midtown. There will be many costs, including alcohol, food, necessary dining pieces, live music, and many other things. Profit will come from people buying food and drinks and paying cover on busy days.
·      Venture Concept:
o   Solution: My innovation will address the above concerns, of overcrowding, long lines, and lack of options, by creating a new choice for people to go to. By adding a new business, it will automatically improve on lines and overcrowding because it is a new option for people to turn to when going out to eat or going out.
o   Why will customers buy: UF students enjoy going out in Midtown and people like going to Midtown for food. Providing both of these options in a new environment will bring people to my business.
o   Switch: Some students are committed to certain bars when they go out. However, when a new place opens, everyone is curious what it will be like and will go at least once. I hope to have designed my business well enough to gain customer loyalty.
o   Competitors: My competitors will be any bar or restaurant located in Midtown. Their possible weaknesses are that most of them have been around for a long time and they are doing the same things. People may be getting tired of going to them.
o   Price Points: This is important. Because we are in a college town, food and drinks cannot be too expensive. Students are looking for cheap options. Promotions throughout the week will help with this. However, it cannot be too cheap or else we will not profit.
o   Customer support: Customer service will be important. It is important people enjoy coming to our business, so they will keep coming back. Employees will be trained for this.
o   Customer experience/business location: Both are very important for my business. Location is already decided, so I need to focus on experience. People go to restaurants and bars for the experience. It needs to be an appropriate atmosphere for Midtown, but different enough people choose to come here over other places.
o   Employees: I am thinking of having around 20 employees to start with. This will include management, wait staff, bouncers, and potentially a marketing team.
·    Unfair Advantage: The excitement of a new bar opening in Midtown is my unfair advantage. This is something other bars cannot replicate and there is a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of this.
·    What’s next: Find investors for this business proposal and provide Gainesville with a fun, unique restaurant and bar!
·    For me: Separate from this idea, I hope to eventually be able to work directly with people to improve their lives, specifically with their financial decisions. I would potentially like to open my own business giving financial advice.

Feedback: I only received positive feedback on my last Venture Concept. So I decided to read through it again and try to improve upon it the second time around.
o   Shorten the overall paper. The format is easy to read, but it is too long
o   Combine ideas, some of it feels repetitive
o   Market specifically towards college students
o   Emphasize the experience that your bar will create, not just the technical aspects
o   Consider taking out irrelevant details in the Venture Concept, don’t include a part if it doesn’t relate to the business
How I’ll Adapt:
o   To make it shorter and cut out irrelevant details I took out the distribution and packaging sections. They weren’t adding any value to my venture concept. I also took out some of the information from my Opportunity section.
o   I took out a few parts in my Innovation section, to try to make it less repetitive.
o   I decided to only mention marketing towards college students in this version (other than in the potential customer section). In my last Venture Concept I mentioned Gainesville residents and people visiting the area numerous times. I feel like this can take away from my main goal, to reach a large number of college students.
o   Lastly, I decided to add a sentence in the Innovation section touching on the atmosphere we are looking to create. I want the reader to know our business is going to be focused on what college students want.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Alyssa,

    With the recent news that a company is trying to buy out The Swamp Restaurant, a restaurant that has been a crucial part of college students, to build luxury apartments, I support this idea even more. I think that Midtown needs more restaurant’s and bars than apartments. With swamp potentially being torn down, this will make the overcrowding issue every greater to the people in Gainesville. I think your price points will be the main pulling point for your venture. Like you said, because we are college students and funds are limited, it is important to make your food and drink affordable, and I think promotions will draw people in.

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  2. Hey Alyssa,
    I think overall you have a very solid venture concept. There is not really a need for a new bar in Midtown in my opinion. There are already more than enough and people still just go to the same two bars. That is just my own personal opinion, however. I think you did a good job of adapting your venture concept according to the feedback you received. You really improved your innovation section and overall it was a very solid venture concept.

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  3. Hi Alyssa, I totally agree that there is still a huge need for a new bar space in Midtown. I definitely think consistent customers of Midtown bars grow tired of going to the same few bars and a new one could even out the crowds and stir excitement within your target market. Since Cantina closed a few years ago, the opening for a new, competitive and popular bar has not been filled and definitely creates the opportunity you are describing.

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  4. Hey Alyssa! I think that this idea is good, however it might be very difficult now with the news of the apartment development in midtown. Also, there was Cantina before, but it closed and the area has been packed. This makes me think that another one could help the crowding issue, but you would need to compete with the development currently. I say good luck and I hope you would be able to get this rolling if you were to actually push for it. This looks improved from the last one. Again, my only issue is keeping up the revenue to compete and keep the location now.

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