Assignment 4 - Forming an Opportunity Belief: A Twist on Opportunity Identification

I find there to be a strong unmet need in the field of healthy eating. It seems that majority of the people I talk to are “trying” or want to eat healthier but either don’t have the time, say it’s too expensive, or a combination of the two. Most college students and a lot of the working class have this need. This need was revealed in 2014 when the World Health Organization released a study stating that most of the worlds obesity was caused by fast food (www.who.int). Since then, the need for quick and easy health food has become more and more prominent. Meal prepping is a trend that seems to be exponentially growing in order to meet this need, however some people grow tired of this quickly and/or lack the time/motivation to prepare every meal for the week ahead in one fatal swoop. I’m 75% sure this opportunity exists.

Interview 1: 20 year old female who goes to school full time and works part-time

1.     Has your diet changed since you moved to college?

a.     Yes, I used to eat maybe once a day but much healthier food. Now I mostly eat at work because it’s much cheaper plus it’s tasty. On top of that, eating right is expensive. I didn’t have to pay for my meals when I lived at home, eating my veggies was as simple as asking my mom to buy them when she went to the store.

2.     How is your current diet?

a.     It’s decent, I try to eat healthy when I can.

3.     How satisfied are you with yourself, regarding what you consume on a daily basis?

a.     Well I don’t eat often but I’m usually pleased with what I do eat. Lately I’ve been slacking because I’m just really busy with school and work.

4.     Do you want to eat healthier?

a.     Of course I do.

5.     Why don’t you?

a.     I just haven’t had the time lately, plus my bank account is looking slim. Usually when I cook it’s pretty healthy but who wants to make dinner when you get home from work at midnight? Not me.

6.     Have you considered meal prepping?

a.     Yes but most of the time I don’t feel like it or I have better things to do. All of my “free” time is spent studying and going to class. Meal prepping takes a long time and I’m not always in the mood to make what I’ve made for myself. The closest thing to meal prepping I do is making a large dinner and saving leftovers for a second meal later in the week.

7.     Do you have any other methods or alternatives you use in attempt to improve your diet?

a.     Yeah, I try to get lower calorie options when I go out and I try to consume as little carbs and sugars as possible. I think Chipotle and Bolay are both really good, healthy alternatives but they can be a little expensive. Usually if I eat at Blaze, I get the cauliflower crust rather than the traditional and I try to use cauliflower instead of rice. Other than that, there aren’t a whole lot of great options for healthy alternatives.

8.     Do you have any potential solutions for not being able to eat as healthy as you’d like?

a.     It would be nice if someone would prepare my food for me so I can focus on other things, but isn’t that the case with everything? I might as well get married haha. Something else I think everyone would like to see is an actual healthy fast food restaurant that doesn’t break the bank. Chipotle isn’t that pricey but it’s also not really fast food. I want like a healthy place with a drive through.

9.     How long have you felt this way?

a.     I mean I’ve always wanted to be healthier, both with my diet and my overall exercise. I’ve never really been one to enjoy fast food but I guess I didn’t really notice my need for quick, healthy food until senior year of high school to freshman year of college. That’s when I started getting a busier schedule.

Interview 2: 19 year old male, fulltime student and unemployed

1.     Has your diet changed since you moved to college?

a.     Yep, I eat two less meals a day now

2.     Why?

a.     I forget to eat a lot and I’m too busy to go to the store.

3.     How is your current diet?

a.     I rarely eat but when I do I usually throw something together based on what’s in the fridge and pantry and then I’ll go out if I’m feeling saucy.

4.     How satisfied are you with yourself, regarding what you consume on a daily basis?

a.     On a scale to 0 to 5, I would give it a 2 and that’s only for the creativity in my meals.

5.     Do you want to eat healthier?

a.     Haha yeah probably…that would be good.

6.     Why don’t you?

a.     Healthier food usually costs a lot more but I generally forget to eat sometimes.

7.     Do you have any methods or alternatives you use in attempt to improve your diet?

a.     I just need to remember to eat more, maybe a schedule or something

8.     Have you considered food prepping?

a.     Ooo no I have not, that’s actually a good idea.

9.     Do you have any potential solutions for not being able to eat as healthy as you’d like?

a.     Meal prepping is for sure a good one and creating a schedule and actually scheduling in meals.

10.  How long have you felt this way?

a.     Mainly when I first started college, but I’ve always kind of been not good at eating.

Interview 3: 21 year old male, fulltime student part time worker

1.     Has your diet changed since you moved to college?

a.     Yes

2.     Why?

a.     I started working out and cared about what I ate

3.     How is your current diet?

a.     Kind of shit because I stopped working out, but I eat pretty well when I cook.

4.     How satisfied are you with yourself, regarding what you consume on a daily basis?

a.     I mean I’m happy eating anything

5.     Do you want to eat healthier?

a.     Yes

6.     Why don’t you?

a.     Because I’m not working and since I’m not working out I feel less inclined to eat well.

7.     Is there a reason you’re not working out?

a.     Because I’m lazy and a piece of shit.

8.     Do you have any methods or alternatives you use in attempt to improve your diet?

a.     Not really, I try to choose the option that is the highest in calories so I can put on weight.

9.     Have you considered food prepping?

a.     I used to when I’m working out a lot but not lately.

10.  Do you have any potential solutions for not being able to eat as healthy as you’d like?

a.     I need to stop being so lazy, but it would be nice if there was a place that would make healthy food for me that didn’t cost a fortune.

11.  How long have you felt this way?

a.     I’ve always sort of felt this way, but especially since I stopped working out.

Reflection:

With these studies, I’ve gathered that there is definitely a need for affordable, non-time-consuming to obtain. I was surprised by how little the students wanted to meal prep and even more taken back by the fact that one of them had never even heard of meal prepping.

Summary:

I still strongly believe that the need is now more prominent than ever. I’ve talked with many people about this issue but never had the chance to formally sit down and actually discuss the issue. 2/3 of them suggested a restaurant that was healthy and not expensive which is in popular demand nowadays but seemingly impossible to achieve which further proves my point. Not only do I see an unmet customer need but a potential business if I can figure out a way to keep the cost of health foods to a minimum. With that being said, I’m not sure if offering healthier options would improve the business model of restaurants since it would only benefit those who eat there out of convenience rather than sustenance. However, I do believe that potential and new business should try to focus on providing healthier foods since it is a prominent unmet need.