Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity. An opportunity may be defined as a group of customers with unmet or under-met needs.

Students all over the country need to study to complete their education. It is a fact of the university life that cannot be avoided. Because of this, students deeply desire to have their own special place to get away from the world and set their mind to truly learning more about what they want to do for the rest of their lives. This provides us with a unique opportunity to create a place that someone, hopefully many, claim as their secret place. College students also have a funny way of always wanting to express themselves; to make themselves stand out from the rest of the crowd. This being so, we have a unique niche to fill as not many restaurants, libraries, or coffee shops currently allow students to “make themselves at home”, so to speak.

Our market currently consists mainly of 18-25 year old college undergraduates, graduates, and young faculty. Geographically speaking, they are relatively centered around the better part of the University of Florida campus, or within the parallelogram that archer road, 34^th, 13^th, and University make. This window of opportunity will begin to close as prime locations begin to be bought out by large apartment complexes and successful chains make their way into the hot spots around mid town.

Innovation. An innovation may be defined as a new or creative service, product, or process that may be applied in the marketplace to address customer needs.

My innovation, The Smoothie Pit, is a casual, modern, hipster smoothie café with a specific focus of creating spaces for students and professionals alike to escape from their homes to work diligently on whatever it is that their needs call for.

We will be selling healthy smoothies using real fruit, natural ingredients, with a heavy dependence on natural flavors and add-ins. Coffee, cinnamon, peanut butter, almond butter, coconut milk, and chia seeds are all examples of the kinds of options that customers will have available. Our cost drivers will include a flat rate smoothie price for three categories; Simple (Strawberry Banana, Mango Orange, etc.) starting at $4.50 for our one size, more complicated (Chia seeds, acai, coffee, protein powder, dragon fruit, etc.) at $5.50, and build your own with 4 add ins for 5.75. This will give students the option to stay under $5 for those who want to save money and go for a more basic smoothie. Our other cost drivers will be sandwiches that range from 2.99-5.99, depending on the ingredients and size. Salads will also be on the menu, from 2.99-10.99, depending on the size and ingredients. We want to make healthy food available for students, but also keep in mind the success of the business.

We will provide free WIFI of course, and will have hammock racks available for their own use if they choose to bring their own (This of course could be a liability, but we will look into legal matters later).

We will also have an app that they can acquire rewards points to earn free add-ins, smoothies, and even a free hammock with enough points.

Venture Concept. A venture concept may be defined as the application of a specific innovation to address a specific opportunity

I truly believe that my idea for the new smoothie business will satisfy the desires of students and professionals currently. No other place allows college age students to bring their favorite hammock into their place of study, or even have a comfortable place to sit. My competitors would be Starbucks, tropical smoothie café, and Pascal’s. Price point is huge because students will go where the cheapest, most fun place is to be. If we have fun, but our product is too expensive, no one will come. We will need a team of about 30 employees to staff each day and market our business around campus. We will give our employees access to free smoothies and discounted food while working and a 60% off while not on shift. I believe that a good business starts with treating your employees right from the beginning.

The three minor elements

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be.

I think our hammock racks, natural ingredients and options, study rooms for groups, and our comfortable, unique seating will give us the competitive advantage that we need.

Second, what’s next for the venture?

After we launch, we will need to get in contact with study organizations and connect with their managers to see if hosting one of their study sessions would be an option.

Third, what’s next for you?

In five years, I hope to have 2 locations around Gainesville and one-two in Tallahassee. I think that Florida State is another school with a great opportunity for students to experience something new with their eating habits and study space.