What's Next?

Off course, once I find success with my venture concept, I will want to expand. This could be done in several ways…

-          Similar products, new market

-          New products, existing market

-          New products, new market (would be the most radical change, so I would likely avoid this)

Choosing which direction to go would largely be based on environmental factors and customer feedback.

Existing Market. 

Interview #1: The main suggestion I got from this interview was to use my existing infrastructure to deliver other products to athletes. We discussed possibly creating an automated delivery system for other (non-meal) goods, such as athletic tape. With this, I would create partnerships with other companies, fostering more growth as an online retailer for all things “athlete lifestyle”.

Interview #2: We talked about ways to foster greater connection between the brand and the customers, namely by providing other nutrition-related services for athletes. These could include nutrition seminars (perhaps online at first), cooking classes, and cookbooks to make things on your own. With this approach, my business would act as a one stop shop for everything fitness and food.

Resulting Plan:  Based on my own expectations and the feedback I received from customers, I have come up with a very tentative path to expand my venture in my existing market.

As my first expansion, I would create a few electronic products: an e-book with cooking/grocery tips, a few recipes, and meal prep ideas; and a video series about performance nutrition. This would add revenue drivers and offer more value to existing customers.

If this is successful, and lots of people are aware of my service, I will…

Create a cookbook. This would offer yet another revenue driver, and it would allow me to expand my channels of distribution. It would offer more value to existing customers, and it would attract more athletes who enjoy cooking on their own. The meal delivery service and the cookbook could mutually benefit each other, as people who like my recipes may consider buying the pre-cooked meals, and people who like the meals may also want extra recipes to make.

Incorporate live performance nutrition seminars and cooking classes, which would be held at events attracting athletes. To make them more exciting to customers, I would bring in well-known elite athletes to talk about their diet.

As more and more athletes find out and use my service, I will create partnerships and offer other things besides food, overall promoting athletes to live their best, healthiest, and most successful life.

New Market.

New Market: Kids! Or rather their parents who do not want to pack lunches and cook for them.

How my venture concept will create value for my new market:

So many parents have trouble feeding their children healthy food, and my venture is here to change that. I will create a new meal delivery brand in my company that provides dinners and packed lunches geared toward kid’s nutritional needs and dietary preferences.

Interview 1: I interviewed a working mom who wants her kids to eat well but is too busy to cook for them all the time. Usually, when they get home from school, they fill up on snacks available in the pantry. They typically do not enjoy the food she makes for her and her husband, and she often finds herself picking up fast food for them on the way home when they have sports practice, and she usually has to spend extra time making something special for the kids on other nights. Packing lunches is a whole different story. She believes a meal delivery service would be an immense time and energy saver, and she thinks her kids would enjoy having homemade food ready for them when they want it.

Interview #2: For this interview, I reflected on my childhood eats with a friend. We talked about important features of the service and example meals…

Example meals:

·       Burrito bowls with fresh vegetables, homemade sauces

·       Whole grain focaccia grilled cheese with veggies and dipping sauce

·       Flatbread pizzas with fresh vegetables

·       Pastas including protein and veggies

·       Soups

·       Breakfast dinner night (ex: waffles/pancakes made with whole grain oats and fresh fruit compote)

·       Healthier desserts – something for kids to look forward to

Pre-prepped lunches to pack

·       Wraps, grain salads, pasta salads, etc.

·       Sides of fruit

·       Healthy snack bars (perhaps partner with other start-up healthy snack companies)

·       Whole food snack mixes

·       Yogurt parfaits with fun mix-ins

Allergen friendly options

Different portion sizes

Easy to heat up/prepare so older kids can do it themselves

Satisfying enough for sophisticated adult palettes, fun enough for kids

Reflect:

Basically, I learned that this market may be even more attractive than my existing market, as there is a huge customer base of people with the unmet need discussed. Plus, there is a lot of room for expansion.

The service would work similarly as it does for athletes, but delivery days would be altered to fit the school week, and marketing would be extremely different. Many of my assumptions agreed with things people discussed in interviews. It is also important to note that no service like this exists! Overall, this expansion could give my venture a whole new purpose and path to success.