Venture Concept No. 1

My business idea is to create a company named Food-2-You.  Many times I have not eaten dinner or ate terrible fast food because I was too lazy to go to the store and buy groceries.  This business will have someone go to Publix for you and get your groceries so you don't have to.  This is the next big idea that will entice consumers.  I know many people now who will pay 5$ to have someone deliver them a sub, with Food-2-You you can purchase healthy foods.  

Everyone around America is getting lazier.  They all want a quick fix for all of their problems instead of doing it themselves.  My company will help build off this laziness idea. The market, especially around college campuses tend to have a bunch of young adults who are always complaining about not having time to do anything.  For a small fee, Food-2-You can help save you the time so you can study or do other things morej.  Currently customers have to rely on unhealthy expensive food delivery services (ie. domino's) or go try to find a different way to get food.  This window of opportunity won’t be open long because other companies like amazon are in the works of making a business very similar to this.

I would charge customers a flat 5$ delivery fee, then for every item I would charge them .50$ up to 10 items.  Then if they order 10 or more items I would change it to .33$ per item.  This would only apply to customers within a 5 mile radius of the store.  If they lived further away, I would add a charge similar to how Uber charges people for rides.

I think customers will love this service because they can be lazy for a small fee.  This will also help a lot of people who do not have access to transportation.  As of now there are no competitors but in the near future Amazon will have a similar service, but you have to buy the products from Amazon and their prices may be higher than local grocery stores.  I would start off by creating the website and advertise it through the campus.  I would start off with only a couple of drivers then increase the amount as the demand for my service increases.

The most important part of this business will be the idea to delivery groceries.  I think the next idea I plan to tackle will involve an app that checks the freshness of food in your refrigerator.  In 5 years I would like to have Food-2-You be a chain business spread across the south and possibly have it set up where anyone could be a delivery person just like how anyone could be an uber driver.  

My unfair advantage

1. Only grocery delivery service in Gainesville [rather valuable now, we would be known as the first grocery delivery service in gainesville; anyone could really start this business with the right website]
2. ability to drive [not very valuable and nearly anyone can learn how]
3. Fast delivery time [semi valuable, I have a clean driving record and Im always on time; others can be as reliable as me, maybe]
4. Easy to order online system [I can make a good looking easy to read website; others could pay services/ people to make one; not very valuable]
5. Great looking staff [super important, very rare to find anyone better looking than me; very rare; cannot be copied]
6. Potential clientele (I have friends in frats who said their frats would like this service) [Semi valuable; there are multiple frats so I'm sure for the right price all of them would do this; depending on who knows who will probably get their business]
7. Knowledge of the area/ gps available [very valuable; I've lived in Gainesville for 4 years in 5 different apartments/ houses so I know how to dodge 34th and archer and university traffic well; can be copied if they have more experience]
8.  Great upbeat happy culture [possibly rare/ valuable; can be copied by others; but not everyone can create the same environment]
9. Bilingual [very valuable; many people are bilingual so not rare; anyone can hire bilingual people]
10. Reliable staff [very valuable; could be copied by others, depends on persons character; hard to find reliable people]

Growing My Social Capital

I met with a man named Mark Groveman.  He is my boss's brother.  He is in the same domain as me.  He has a MBA from some school in California.  I met him through my boss, and I emailed him after.  I met him and asked if he or if he knew anybody that was hiring recent college grads.  Adding Mark to my network will help me hopefully find a job in the future.

The next person I met was named Steve Malou.  He is a currently a supplier at a restaurant in Tampa.  He got a masters in Poli sci here at UF.  I met Steve through my roommate.  I spoke with him on the phone trying to find a job.  Adding Steve will help me know more people around Tampa and hopefully get a good job there too.

The third person I met was Pat Marin.  He is a manager at Publix in Tampa.  He told me he got a masters at USF and he has been a manager at Publix for 3 years.  He is the expert on my market.  I met him while applying to different positions in Tampa and emailed with him.  I also asked him about jobs and I hope he can help find me a good job.

This experience didn't feel all that special.  Meeting new people is a very important thing to do.  In the past I never went out of my way to really connect with strangers but now I realized that if I want a good job, I will probably need help getting there.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

Food-2-You

From my previous post not much has changed.  I received nearly all good feedback and the only negative feedback was that a business like this already exists.  I did some research and saw that they have no presence in Gainesville.