Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity
I believe the unmet needs for my customers is rather numerous. One of their unmet needs is the need for certain foods and ingredients. Another need of theirs is happiness, the joys that only a sweet treat can bring. I also believe an unmet need for my customers goes beyond just the food and what's in it, but also includes their social affairs. Dietary restrictions don't just restrict what foods they can or cannot eat, but also the places they can go and the people they can be with. In all cultures across the world, there is some form of bonding over meals. This is a time to relax, unwind and enjoy the company of your loved ones (loved ones being anyone from friends to family to colleagues). The changes in the environment that have created this opportunity is a mixture of things. One may be a evolutionary change in which more and more people have started to form allergies to certain ingredients, such as gluten. This may be a result of the shocking amount of processed chemicals that are more and more commonly being used in foods, specifically in the U.S. Another environmental change that has created my opportunity is a growing awareness of what people are putting in their bodies. Many more people are starting to take the quality of their food into consideration before eating. I think this also is due to the outrageous amount of chemicals being used in U.S. food market, and with more studies showing the harmful effects of these products, people are taking action.
People are just now reaching out and changing their routines to satisfy this need. This means that this is a growing market with lots of potential as it's fairly new and everyone is still trying to figure out which solution works best. This recent founding of this market means there is a lot of growth to come, which means big opportunity to those that jump on this ever-growing fad now.
I believe the window of opportunity for this market will be rather long as it keeps changing and new discoveries continue to be made. Though you might have to quickly jump into this market to ensure the unmet loyalty of this demographic now, I believe even if you miss this window, new loyalties can be made as opinions and knowledge keeps changing.

Innovation
I'm going to be selling bakery goods, this means foods such as cupcakes, sweet bread (like banana and blubbery), muffins, etc. The different between your normal cupcake and mine will be what's in it, ingredients wise. I will have three different styles of similar foods, so a vegan cupcake, a gluten-free cupcake and a sugar-free cupcake. So the vegan cupcake wouldn't have any eggs or milk in it and the gluten-free cupcake wouldn't have flour and so on. What this innovation will do is two things; one, it will create a sweet-shop for those that need these certain foods and, two, it will be bring together a variety of different dietary restrictions together under one roof so that this is no longer a "speciality" shop or food. I would be selling my baked goods at different prices depending on the product. A cupcake or muffin would probably be about $3 or $4, while a loaf of banana bread would probably be closer to $8 or $10. The price would also take into account which diet it followed. Gluten-free would probably be the most expensive so that price might be a dollar more than that of the other foods.

Venture Concept
I don't think for my particular product it's so much as "switching" as a searching. Because this is such a new market and so little currently exist and people are still trying to figure out the best fit for them in these new dietary lifestyles, there's a constant searching for what is better (tastier) and easier (more convenient). This is why I think my business will be so successful in giving this demographic what they want as the "sweets" for these diets are still being discovered through new ways of making them taste as "normal" as possible. My business will also be convenient as no longer will my customers have to search for the perfect recipe that maintains their dietary needs and then take the time to shop and bake these goods, rather they can easily divulge their sweet tooth with one quick stop to my shop. My competitors are other small restaurants that serve to similar diets as myself, this can range from the savory for dinners and lunches, to other sweet shops such as Karma Cream (a local restaurant in Gainesville that serves vegan ice cream and some other vegan foods). I think these competitors weakness when compared to mine is two things; one, there's very few speciality in which the shop is just a bakery, and two, mine would be one of the first to serve multiple dietary needs, rather than focusing just on one which is how almost all of the restaurants that currently exist are.
I think specifically the location would play into my business concept because if there are other shops already like mine that exist, there are almost none in Gainesville, or at least close to campus. My shop would be in the immediate surrounding area to UF's campus, most likely in the area of  University, 13th, or Archer. To start off with, my business would have very few employees. There would be someone to act as a manager/business/financial advisor, one or two bakers, and one or two cashiers that would also do any necessary bus work. This would total to about five employees for one location.

Minor Elements
My company's secret sauce will be our diverse menu in the fact that it serves so many common dietary needs.
My next goal for my company would be to bring in either more sweet goods that they could buy (that would fall under the existing diets we serve), spreading out into more dietary restrictions, or teaching baking classes.
I think the best way I can describe where I see my venture in five or ten years would be something similar to Sprinkles Cupcakes, a well-known specialty cupcake shop that I believe started in New York and has now spread across the nation with multiple locations. I want my business to become sort-of a franchise so that everyone no matter where they live can enjoy their favorite baked goods no matter what they're diets consist of, but I also want to make sure my bakery maintains a homey feel to it because that's how I imagine a bakery should feel. I believe this type of warm and welcoming setting for a bakery will succeed the most in accordance to customers' desires.
This first shop will help me as an entrepreneur because it will have started in Gainesville, a college-town is the perfect place to start a new business as you can get the most feedback and more people are more open-minded in the areas. I believe this opportunity will allow me to grow and learn the most to perfect and polish my business to be the most successful it can be.

Peer Feedback
Almost all of my feedback from students was positive. Everyone said they loved my idea and I seemed very creative and focused. I think that's a great impression to give as the founder of a start-up company in order to receive good feedback and lots of growing sales. One suggestion I received to see if I could work a deal with Publix or other local grocery stores to sell some of my products in their stores. I think that's an amazing idea so that those that have never heard of me and are just shopping for their grocieries see my locally-made food and become curious what that's about. Then maybe that can draw more customers to my stores. A lot of people said my company had growing potential beyond just Gainesville. However, as much as I want to see my company grow and succeed, I also don't want it to loose that homey feel and that locality factor. I believe my company needs a face no matter where it is, that means a hands-on manager and a hands-on team.

Revisions
The only revisions I want to make are in where I want my brand to go and what I want it to do next. Like I mentioned in the peer feedback section, someone mentioned trying to sell in local grocery stores. I absolutley love this idea and think it would give my company just a little bit of added revenue with a whole lot of added customers. Another peer review I wanted to look at was my What's Next post. Here, a lot of people reacted extremely positivley to my idea of going into catering/large orders. They thought this would be a great wy to increase my customer loyalty. This was my personal favorite of all the ideas listed in that post and it had the best reactions in the comments, so that would without-a-question be my next step for my business.