24A – Elianoes Coffee
Opportunity:
The opportunity I found has to do with students and faculty at the University of Florida who like coffee but do not have the time to go to a store to wait in line for their coffee. These people have busy schedules and like to have a convenient option available for them when they need things. This is why I am starting a portable coffee bike. I will be able to meet customers in places like Turlington saving them time and cutting down on wait times with a flavored, premade coffee product. My customers are people who value quality coffee and their time equally causing them to seek a higher degree of efficiency in their schedules.
Waiting for coffee in a 20-minute line at Starbucks isn't always an option for people on campus. The nature of this need is that there is a lack of convenient coffee options on campus. In our increasingly convenience-driven society, students and faculty are searching for ways to fill their coffee addictions in a more efficient manner. Because the "coffee bike" is a relatively new concept, many people who spend significant time on our campus have never considered this as a fix to their problem. Thus, this has a bigger market potential than I currently know.
The average college-aged coffee drinker spends an average of $93 on coffee EACH MONTH. This is a tremendous market with great potential. I believe our company would gain a 10% market share very quickly because of the problem it fixes for students and faculty.
Innovation:
With my coffee bike, I will sell a premade, prepackaged, flavored iced coffee product in partnership with a local coffee company in Lake City, Florida. This product comes in a variety of sweetened flavors and is termed "coffee cooler". Every day we will sell one flavor of our coffee which will be different depending on the day. We will sell in two sizes: 16oz. and 24oz. Our prices will be rounded off at the nearest dollar, $4 and $6 respectively so that we will have a simple transaction process for our customers.
Venture Concept:
Currently, if you want coffee on the UF campus, you have only one option: go to a Starbucks. This isn't always convenient because there are so many students and faculty also waiting in their lines. My coffee bike will provide an alternative to this offering a quicker, more convenient option for my clients. As I begin to get more customers than I can handle, I will have to add more bikes to the business to reach the influx of clients. After we gain more of a presence on campus, our company could have multiple bikes in various locations on campus helping hundreds of students and faculty each time classes change. Being in convenient locations with a price affordable, great-tasting coffee option will allow us to have the reach I envision.
My Three Minor Elements:
1) The unfair advantage that my coffee bike will have is that I can sell coffee where the clients are so that they don't have to come to me. If I am able to meet them right where they are in places like the Plaza of the Americas, they will be more likely to buy from me vs. companies like Starbucks.
2) Once we get the basics of our business system down with each of our bikes, I want to be able to carry two flavors of coffee every day instead of one. Adding variety will help us reach more people. As long as we can maintain our speed in getting people through our lines, this could be a big next step for the business.
3) Within 5 years, I want to have 5 bikes all operating with two flavors profiting about $1,000 each day during the college semester. When the college is on break, we want to get licenses to sell in places like parades and malls. We can start providing for parties and other places until the students return.
The opportunity I found has to do with students and faculty at the University of Florida who like coffee but do not have the time to go to a store to wait in line for their coffee. These people have busy schedules and like to have a convenient option available for them when they need things. This is why I am starting a portable coffee bike. I will be able to meet customers in places like Turlington saving them time and cutting down on wait times with a flavored, premade coffee product. My customers are people who value quality coffee and their time equally causing them to seek a higher degree of efficiency in their schedules.
Waiting for coffee in a 20-minute line at Starbucks isn't always an option for people on campus. The nature of this need is that there is a lack of convenient coffee options on campus. In our increasingly convenience-driven society, students and faculty are searching for ways to fill their coffee addictions in a more efficient manner. Because the "coffee bike" is a relatively new concept, many people who spend significant time on our campus have never considered this as a fix to their problem. Thus, this has a bigger market potential than I currently know.
The average college-aged coffee drinker spends an average of $93 on coffee EACH MONTH. This is a tremendous market with great potential. I believe our company would gain a 10% market share very quickly because of the problem it fixes for students and faculty.
Innovation:
With my coffee bike, I will sell a premade, prepackaged, flavored iced coffee product in partnership with a local coffee company in Lake City, Florida. This product comes in a variety of sweetened flavors and is termed "coffee cooler". Every day we will sell one flavor of our coffee which will be different depending on the day. We will sell in two sizes: 16oz. and 24oz. Our prices will be rounded off at the nearest dollar, $4 and $6 respectively so that we will have a simple transaction process for our customers.
Venture Concept:
Currently, if you want coffee on the UF campus, you have only one option: go to a Starbucks. This isn't always convenient because there are so many students and faculty also waiting in their lines. My coffee bike will provide an alternative to this offering a quicker, more convenient option for my clients. As I begin to get more customers than I can handle, I will have to add more bikes to the business to reach the influx of clients. After we gain more of a presence on campus, our company could have multiple bikes in various locations on campus helping hundreds of students and faculty each time classes change. Being in convenient locations with a price affordable, great-tasting coffee option will allow us to have the reach I envision.
My Three Minor Elements:
1) The unfair advantage that my coffee bike will have is that I can sell coffee where the clients are so that they don't have to come to me. If I am able to meet them right where they are in places like the Plaza of the Americas, they will be more likely to buy from me vs. companies like Starbucks.
2) Once we get the basics of our business system down with each of our bikes, I want to be able to carry two flavors of coffee every day instead of one. Adding variety will help us reach more people. As long as we can maintain our speed in getting people through our lines, this could be a big next step for the business.
3) Within 5 years, I want to have 5 bikes all operating with two flavors profiting about $1,000 each day during the college semester. When the college is on break, we want to get licenses to sell in places like parades and malls. We can start providing for parties and other places until the students return.
Cason,
ReplyDeleteGood job identifying your strong resources and how you would differentiate your product from competitors. Elianoes Coffee would be a great idea to challenge the Starbucks monopoly. Personally, I hate being locked into Starbuck's prices, but this would be a great alternative.
Hello Cason!
ReplyDeleteAs always, great job on this!
Truthfully, I was confused if we had to follow the exact layout of the template provided for this assignment - so it was immensely helpful to see how you completed this.
If I could provide any feedback it would be to include some pictures and possibly concept maps to better illustrate some of your ideas and innovations. Whether it be a map of the University of Florida, what some coffee bikes look like already, etc.
Thank you for sharing.
Caitlyn Torres
Hi Cason! I really enjoyed reading about your idea. I think being able to bring the coffee to students is definitely an advantage. Additionally, I think it was smart to think ahead to when college students are on break. It's important to have a plan for when the majority of your market is gone. Especially with todays climate, we see the impact this can have on a small business. Selling at parades and mall is definitely a way to accomplish this. You could also consider selling downtown, where people are often walking from business to business on foot. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
ReplyDeleteHi Cason! Great post! I think your idea for the coffee bike is great and I personally hope this idea can truly come to life one day! I love coffee and sometimes even take the line at Library West as my break time because it is always so long. I also wake up tired some days because I was up late studying so I would rather have my extra time sleeping than get up to go buy coffee, but with your idea that problem would be solved! Great Post!
ReplyDelete