9A- Testing Hypothesis 2

9A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview Questions:

1)      How old are you?

2)      Do you consider yourself someone who watches for their health, and chooses to be healthy when you can?

3)      Do you ever find yourself wanting a healthy meal on University of Florida’s campus but can’t pick a restaurant to eat because of lack of options?

4)      WHY do you find yourself wanting to eat a healthy meal?

5)      Do you feel other students and faculty on campus share your feelings towards eating healthy and being fit?

6)      Does distance ever affect whether you choose to eat at a restaurant?

7)      Does price ever affect whether you eat a restaurant?

8)      Are you more concerned with eating a healthy meal for the health benefits it provides, the taste of the ingredients, or for another reason? If so, what is that reason?

Interview #1: Myles                  

Myles is a 22 year old male who is a full time student at the University of Florida. According to his interview, he is in fact someone that watches his health and tries to eat clean whenever possible. Some of the most important pieces of information that I gathered from my interview with Myles is as follows. He does indeed feel UF has an apparent lack in healthy food options on campus, and those that he does feel are healthy are either way too far from his classes, or not worth the money in terms of price and quality of the meal. He felt there were in fact a larger number of students that felt the same way in terms of trying to stay fit than those that simply don’t care about health at all, and feels being healthy is the “norm”. Finally, he felt that when he chooses to eat a healthy meal, he does so for a combination of taste, price, health benefits, and abiding by his daily macro-nutrient intake. This was surprising because I didn’t initially picture him as someone who was that committed to being healthy.

Interview #2: Debbie

Debbie is a 47-year-old faculty member for the University of Florida. She is indeed someone that tries to eat healthy and stay active, yet doesn’t consider herself a die hard health addict. When asked if she ever finds herself trying to eat a healthy meal on UF campus, she replied that she often finds herself leaving campus and coming back because “The only real healthy options on UF campus is Croutons, and that place is very average”. In addition, she said she takes both price and distance into account when choosing where she wants to eat out, and this is why she often finds herself simply eating fast food on campus because there isn’t a restaurant that appeals to both of these aspects. Finally, Debbie said that she eats a healthy meal primarily to keep her calorie intake low, but she also pays attention to how tasty the meal is.

Interview #3: Wyatt

Wyatt is a 22-year-old male who is currently enrolled at the University of Florida full time. Wyatt does not truly consider himself someone who watches his health compared to some of his peers, and chooses taste and price over other aspects when deciding what he wants to eat. However, with that being said, Wyatt also felt there was a lack of healthy food options on campus, and although he is not one to constantly be watching his weight and what he eats, he also craves healthy meals at times and feels UF never truly fulfills this need. Wyatt, like the two interviewees before him, felt both distance and price were important factors when deciding what he wants to eat, but he also reiterated the fact that he cares most about how delicious the meal tastes.

Interview #4: Daniel

Daniel is a 27-old-male who does not work at UF nor take classes, but lives in Gainesville and often finds himself on campus. When asked if he cares about being healthy and eating clean, he replied that he usually does not and this is “most likely the reason I am overweight”. Daniel was an interesting choice to interview because I have known him for quite some time and knew he was not really one to care about weight-lifting or being healthy, yet he is definitely a foodie and therefore his insight in terms of whether or not he still enjoys a healthy meal was important in determining the bounds of my opportunity. Daniel supported the idea of adding another healthy restaurant option to UF campus, not only because he himself feels there is a lack, but he is awestruck at the number of fast-food restaurants and lack of quality meals. Daniel values taste and health benefits the most from a healthy meal, which definitely enlightens a boundary in the sense that even people who aren’t avid lifters or fit freaks, still do enjoy eating a healthy meal for its benefits.

Interview #5: Ashley

Ashley is a 20 year old female who is a full time student at the University of Florida, and in addition, she is actually on the school meal plan. Although I had no idea she had a meal plan, this was very eye-opening in terms of identifying another boundary because I had no thought about a way of tying the meal plan into my restaurant at all, and this gave me a whole another group of prototypical customers in whom I can appeal to. After the interview with Ashley, and as the only interviewee who lives on campus, I valued her responses to these questions tremendously because who would know better about the on-campus dining situation than someone who lives there? What I found is that Ashley finds herself eating fast-food for both lunch and dinner, since each meal is included on the meal plan for no additional cost. In addition, she lives in Rawlings, which is quite close to Reitz union food court in addition to a Subway being attached to her building. Although she does like the meal plan, she has found herself eating fast food on a daily basis, and also feels a strong need for more healthy restaurant options on campus and included in the meal plan.

Summary:

After conducting these five interviews, and getting a broad range of people who have different lifestyles, ages, gender, and health situations, I feel I was able to better identify the boundaries of my opportunity. The boundary of “Who” was most enlightening to me, as I interviewed a couple of people whom I thought would be indifferent to the idea of having a healthier restaurant option on campus, but actually preferred the idea to the current standing of fast-food franchises. Another aspect I found interesting after the interviews was the idea that I could incorporate the meal plan into my business model, and even students who don’t often find themselves eating healthy or trying new foods may be more open to coming to my restaurant if they can do so without spending money using the meal plan they purchased.

Inside the Boundary			Outside the Boundary
Who is in	Students and Faculty who always value health, People who crave healthy meals, People who eat healthy meals for their health benefits, Students on the meal plan	Students and Faculty who are okay with eating fast-food, People that feel the restaurant too far or too expensive,	Who is Not
What the Need is	A healthy option for food on campus, A good alternative to fast-food chains on campus and surrounding areas, Good food	Solution for people who want to continue eating fast-food and high calorie meals, A long sit down meal, A high calorie, high fat meal	What the Need is not
Why the Need Exists	No true alternative for delicious, healthy food on UF campus	Trying to get UF meal plan associated with the restaurant, appeal to broad range of consumers using high quality and low price	Alternative Explanations