There is an opportunity...
... to aid the segment of middle-class adults and families in Gainesville, Florida in their lack of satisfactorily healthy and tasty food. This group of people are restricted by their schedule or their lack of cooking ability.
The prototypical individual with theses kind of issues is an employed, young parent, most likely white, most likely female, with their own private vehicle. They might have a gym membership. They might go to church. On average, they tend to spend about $40-$50 per head each week on food.
The bottom line is that
1.) They have a kitchen,
2.) They have the ability to reliably get groceries,
3.) They are not using points 1.) and 2.) to eat good-quality home-cooked food as much as they want to.
The need to feed themselves and their families is satisfied by processed, prepackaged foods, food pickup from restaurants or fast food, and also home-cooked meals plus leftovers. The majority of these choices do not satisfy the demand for healthy lifestyles. A certain portion of the identified segment also has an unsatisfied desire to shift to a more ethical and local diet.
If we restrict this area of opportunity by geographic terms to either within the city limits of Gainesville, or at most 1 mile out from the city limits, then we still have a sizeable population to consider. Approximately 130,000 people live in the city, and if we take an educated guess that 30% are middle-class adults, and realistically say that half of them fit the 3 qualities that compose our bottom line, then that is 14,500.
Out of that segment, only a few realize that they have this issue, or are dissatisfied enough to be actively looking for or considering a change in the way the get food on their plates. A pessimistic/realistic estimate for this few would be 1%-3%, giving us 145-435 people.
It would be even more realistic to say that a large majority of this few will not be doing much about changing their diets any time soon, unless they are marketed to with a quick-fix solution. This is assumed to be the case since changing one's diet is not an easy or immediately gratifying thing to do.
My name is Adi. I am a college student with a lot of free time and a passion for cooking who is looking to move to Gainesville.
We've all heard of the idea of a private chef. Someone hired by a rich guy to really wow his guests at a dinner party, or perhaps prepare meals on the regular in his mansion.
Well what about a private cook for the common person? No need for scallops or prime rib every day, just help mom and dad by having dinner on the table before they come home and make extra for leftovers.
The simplicity of this innovation is just as strong as the idea of expanding this resources to a wider customer base, namely, the one identified above.
Right now I envision providing a fresh cooked dinner, plus a two more lunches and dinners as leftovers with some different dishes, at $75 for a family of 4 and $40 for a family of 2. I could also expand into snacks, like a dozen gourmet cookies for $5, or scotch eggs (see pic) for a $1 each.
I am willing and able to research recipes using affordable ingredients sourced mostly locally, make set menus that can be prepped ahead of time and completed in a prospect's home kitchen, have these set menus available to see online on a friendly website, manage my social media persona, thorough in some specials now and then, bing bang bosh, and we have ourselves...
... to aid the segment of middle-class adults and families in Gainesville, Florida in their lack of satisfactorily healthy and tasty food. This group of people are restricted by their schedule or their lack of cooking ability.
The prototypical individual with theses kind of issues is an employed, young parent, most likely white, most likely female, with their own private vehicle. They might have a gym membership. They might go to church. On average, they tend to spend about $40-$50 per head each week on food.
The bottom line is that
1.) They have a kitchen,
2.) They have the ability to reliably get groceries,
3.) They are not using points 1.) and 2.) to eat good-quality home-cooked food as much as they want to.
The need to feed themselves and their families is satisfied by processed, prepackaged foods, food pickup from restaurants or fast food, and also home-cooked meals plus leftovers. The majority of these choices do not satisfy the demand for healthy lifestyles. A certain portion of the identified segment also has an unsatisfied desire to shift to a more ethical and local diet.
If we restrict this area of opportunity by geographic terms to either within the city limits of Gainesville, or at most 1 mile out from the city limits, then we still have a sizeable population to consider. Approximately 130,000 people live in the city, and if we take an educated guess that 30% are middle-class adults, and realistically say that half of them fit the 3 qualities that compose our bottom line, then that is 14,500.
Out of that segment, only a few realize that they have this issue, or are dissatisfied enough to be actively looking for or considering a change in the way the get food on their plates. A pessimistic/realistic estimate for this few would be 1%-3%, giving us 145-435 people.
It would be even more realistic to say that a large majority of this few will not be doing much about changing their diets any time soon, unless they are marketed to with a quick-fix solution. This is assumed to be the case since changing one's diet is not an easy or immediately gratifying thing to do.
And this is where I come in...
We've all heard of the idea of a private chef. Someone hired by a rich guy to really wow his guests at a dinner party, or perhaps prepare meals on the regular in his mansion.
Well what about a private cook for the common person? No need for scallops or prime rib every day, just help mom and dad by having dinner on the table before they come home and make extra for leftovers.
The simplicity of this innovation is just as strong as the idea of expanding this resources to a wider customer base, namely, the one identified above.
Right now I envision providing a fresh cooked dinner, plus a two more lunches and dinners as leftovers with some different dishes, at $75 for a family of 4 and $40 for a family of 2. I could also expand into snacks, like a dozen gourmet cookies for $5, or scotch eggs (see pic) for a $1 each.
I am willing and able to research recipes using affordable ingredients sourced mostly locally, make set menus that can be prepped ahead of time and completed in a prospect's home kitchen, have these set menus available to see online on a friendly website, manage my social media persona, thorough in some specials now and then, bing bang bosh, and we have ourselves...
... a Venture Concept!
I will create Flavor for Hire, LLC.
Flavor for Hire will offer to cook for customers in their home kitchen using our own ingredients and tools, and cleaning up after ourselves. The 'why', or the 'sizzle', that is essential for the customer to believe in and for us to deliver is that Flavor for Hire is for people who want a healthier, less stressful, and more enjoyable lifestyle.
A lot of people are willing to pay for food that increases their quality of life, and people will pay to ensure they get that food, so long as they are able to trade-off money for time and life improvement.
Flavor for Hire will be competing with all convenience items of food, like frozen pizzas, take-out, ingredient delivery options, like Blue Apron, and, in a way, grocery stores. The connotations of expensiveness or frivolity that come with hiring a private chef is a large hurdle to overcome. Offering an initial free mini-trial to a select few to sort of get word of mouth moving would help overcome this.Being able to deliver on promises and maintaining hygiene, timing, and consistency will be difficult. Getting a Serve-Safe license, having streamlined menus, and getting a reliable mode of transport will all address those issues.
Researching profit margins should not be an issue, once overhead can be more reliably estimated, which depends on me getting an apartment with a kitchen to base the business in.
Flavor for Hire will be me, and I will be Flavor for Hire. I have no plans to expand beyond Gainesville or even operate for more than 2 or 3 years. I plan to not hire, except, possibly employing a part time guy with a truck to transport me where I need to go.
After this 2-3 year adventure, I close up shop and move onto a career in my chosen field of politics. This is an entrepreneurial side hustle which will give me an outlet to cook good food for good people.
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