After completing this assignment I began to feel more excited about my idea. I was able to get a better grasp on how the operations would actually go and make changes to my idea which will make the business more feasible. By doing the competitor analysis on Farmer’s Fridge I learned that the undergrad market for healthy vending machines was being underutilized. This is exciting because it presents an opportunity that I can make use of. Some things that I want to replicate are the recycling of the glass jars built into the vending machine, creating new food items weekly, and the sales tracking system they use to manage inventory. One of the biggest deviations I will have is that I am going to focus heavily on the NYC undergrad population. Through strategic social media marketing I hope to build a community of passionate students that will share their ideas for how to make my idea better. Farmer’s Fridge competitive advantage lies in their relationship with the farms where they get their food. Locally sourced organic food is a finite resource and it will be difficult for me to make an offer that will be better than theirs. I am going to pursue a similar value proposition because I believe this is something people need and I want to offer to my customers a product that is socially responsible. It may not be a good idea to move forward with the idea because of the labor intensive work that is involved. Food has to be made fresh and delivered everyday so it is a non-stop operation. I originally thought that the use of a vending machine would cut my costs by a lot because I wouldn’t be paying rent but because of the amount of work my employees will have to do I will probably not save any money just by being a vending machine.
March 1, 2021 at 2:48 pm
As I mentioned in my last comment, I would love this service at Baruch… assuming it was reasonably priced of course. I wonder if you could do rapid testing by selling the potential products as pop-ups and generate feedback from users, trying something new every week. Maybe this would look like a table selling food instead of a vending machine because of the barrier of entry. Curious to hear how you want to test.
March 1, 2021 at 4:23 pm
I like that idea! It is definitely going to be a challenge entering the market as a vending machine since I don’t have much capital. So I think a pop-up would be a good way of being able to get my products out there and who knows maybe it’ll attract investors. I want to make sure what I’m selling is what college students really want so it’s important for me to hear their opinions straight from them.
March 4, 2021 at 9:44 am
In a normal world, I would 100% endorse Leo’s suggestion. Sadly in this pandemic, we will have to resort to online means…but that will give you some great input too.
March 6, 2021 at 3:52 pm
Similar to Leo’s feedback, if current times were different or maybe in the future you could ‘set-up shop’ at the Vertical Campus, on the 2nd-floor lobby on any given school day between 12pm – 2pm (Reservations must be made through the Student Life office and you can say its for fundraising). Just bring all the snacks and meals that you would place in a vending machine, put a price on each, and see if Baruch students or staff purchase it.