Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

I found three new teachers to interview. The first thing I asked was what makes you choose what you eat for lunch during the school day. One of them answered they go based on convenience, which is why they eat the school lunch. The second said she chooses based on healthiness, so she brings her lunch. The third said price, which is why she eats the free school lunch food. When asked if the school lunch were to improve would that influence your decision, the one who brings her lunch said yes while the other two said no but they would appreciate that.

I continued to ask them the questions like what matters most to them and what makes them feel they made the right decision, but all three were fairly consistent with their answers. The two that already eat the school lunch said they will continue to eat the lunch no matter what, but would definitely prefer the food get better so they would like a service like the one I'm providing. The third said that she will continue to bring her lunch, but what consdier switching to the school lunch if it got healthier. This made me realize that there is already a group of teachers and students that don't really care about the food quality and will eat it no matter what, which would give the schools less of an incentive to switch to my service, even if they agree it would be beneficial. I need to make sure when I am pitching my service that I really emphasize the need and benefits of it for my specific target segments.

Comments

  1. Angel Torres-VargasOctober 19, 2019 at 5:53 PM

    Hello Grant,

    Unfortunately some are just apathetic to how the world functions around them. I agree that you should be really intentional and specific of where you market your product. I can see the viewpoint of all of these teachers, especially the who gets free lunch. Free food is always a blessing for those who need it or stumble upon it, so there definitely has to be a price consideration. Maybe you can at least give one portion of food to add to the free lunch to get them a little healthier.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matthew MrnacajOctober 25, 2019 at 11:50 AM

    Hey Grant!

    I found your results very interesting. As you mentioned, ⅔ participants are indifferent to the choices in the menu, but one of them would actually switch to cafeteria lunch if it was healthier. I believe that if you were to make the lunch healthier, it should also be tastier. Most people - like me - associate healthy foods as raw broccoli with frozen carrots. This is far from the truth, however. That is why I highly recommend you market your product as both healthy and delicious. Also, I would highly recommend interviewing students. When I was in HS, I usually avoided the really healthy foods. I also saw so much food go to waste since students had to get a side of veggies or fruit when they didn’t want it. They would then proceed to the trash can and just throw it out. It was a sad sight.

    So healthy AND tasty. That should help you out!

    Best,

    Matthew Mrnacaj

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Healthier School Lunches Kids today aren't being served healthy enough meals from schools for lunch Who: Elementary School Kids What: Are not being served healthy meals by their schools Why: School's neglect the importance of healthy foods and resort to cheaper/easier options Hypothesis Testing the who: This problem can expand beyond just elementary school kids. Middle schools, high schools, and even college dining halls can have this issue, as well. It impacts younger students the most, however, because they are the ones who most need the nutritious value, and they are in less control of what foods they eat. Testing the what: There is an argument to be made that this country has issues with unhealthy food. My counter to that is that schools absolutely have the ability to serve healthier options, but they openly choose not to for financial or convenience reasons. Also, again, other people have options in terms of what they eat; kids stuck at school do not have a c
Read more

What’s Next?

     I think next, I would expand to bigger food packages. Right now, I am planning on doing three of them: basic, advanced, and premium. Once I get those up and running, I would expand to even more packages to allow schools more options. I asked three teachers what they would do next if they were running this business. One said that I should I move into the catering business. They thought that if schools saw that we are good enough to do catering than the food must be high quality and they would be more inclined to partner with us. The other two suggested more food options. I asked them about my idea to add up to 10 customizabile package options, and all three liked the idea.      My plan going forward would be this: I would add the custom packages to the potential options. Then, once I get big enough, I would expand into middle and high schools. After a few years of that, I would try to move into the college market. The amount of dining halls and fraternities/sororities that serve f
Read more