What
is one thing that all people on this planet have in common? Our need to feed ourselves. Unfortunately in the college setting this is
in the form of fast food and vending machines.
Many young adults today do not know how to cook or have very poor culinary
skills, and their confidence/self-esteem reflects this. How can we fix this in a world of frozen food,
fast food, and convenience mindset?
Three words – The Food Pack- my product provides the consumer with the
ingredients they need along with easy to follow steps (or online tutorial) on
how to prepare home cooked meals. They
will learn and develop their culinary skills, build confidence in the kitchen, and
be exposed to different cultures through their cuisines. I am certain that this
product will be successful, and as a responsible, goal oriented, and organized entrepreneur
myself and my team will make cooking an experience to remember!
Through
research conducted, when given the choice students would rather buy their meals
out (which is very expensive in the end) because they simply do not know how to
cook. Many reported that they do not
know what goes well together, how to prepare meals, and some are even
intimidated by the idea of just frying an egg!
Many of us often stick to what we know, and after a while making what’s
essentially supplying our bodies with nutrients has become boring. How awful is this? Especially with being in a country that has a
supply of fresh ingredients to choose from.
Do you know how lucky we are?
We
need to change this perceptive of looking at making our meals as a chore and
rather see it as a way to improve and nourish our bodies while making an
experience out of it!
The
consumers I want to reach are mostly students between the ages of 17-25. During this time young adults are living away
from home in a new environment, their responsibilities have increased while
their budget has decreased. It’s fair to
see why many resort to fast-food or poor quality processed foods, rather than
homemade meals. During this time frame
students are making decisions, learning lessons, and developing skills to use
for the rest of their lives. One of
those skills that students develop is cooking, as long as they give themselves
the chance or opportunity to learn.
Without the basic knowledge of cooking they will be forever reliant on
the restaurant chains around them, frozen and premade food, or the person they
might live with. If one does not eat, they will not survive or be healthy, the
same applies when a person decides on eating something unhealthy.
Today
the grocery industry is far different than what it used to be in the
1940s. A single grocery store sells all
merchandise we need. The market is ran
by consumer demands, people are all about convenience but also want
options. We are slowly transitioning
from the packaged food era to fresh food. In fact a major deciding factor in
grocery store choice for 75% of consumers is whether or not the store has a
produce department. This department
includes meats, seafood, local produce, and bakeries where they can see the
processing and handling of products in person.
With a switch in viewpoints on
the importance of having fresh ingredients comes along the need and want to
learn how to prepare such ingredients.
This is where my product comes into play!
I
am offering a product that contains all the fresh ingredients students will
need to cook along with directions/video links on how to prepare the
meal. Within The Food Pack will contain the
necessary ingredients to prepare a meal. There is no need to go and buy
20 different items that you may only use a few times. There are so
many venues we can go with this product! We can teach students how
to cook healthy meals while expanding their culinary taste buds. We can have
lines for Indian, French, South American, African, Middle Eastern foods you
name it! Not only can they make themselves dinner or lunch but we could
also have Food Packs for deserts, breakfast, and snacks. Imagine they
could make their own granola bars, crackers, and for breakfast they could even
learn how to make Beignets from Café Du Monde! How fun does this sound? Unlike
other pre-made boxes that only focus on desserts or breakfast, The Food Pack
covers it all. There will be options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desert, and
my personal favorite snacks.
Now that students have
the ingredients in The Food Pack, the next thing they need is equipment to
prepare their meals. Our next venture is
My Kitchen, the kitchen essentials set. Nothing's worse than not having the
proper equipment for cooking. That's like showing up to a baseball game with
a hockey stick. Sure you can improvise but it's not the same and
your performance will reflect this. I want to sell a box of all the necessary
and must have cooking tools. None of this broken up,
buying separate items, let’s get it over with and give
you exactly what you will need, the essentials! People will feel even more confident and more
likely to want to cook. Nothing's better than using your new set of
knives that actually slice through chicken rather than mutilate them.
It will increase consumer loyalty, and
we can have the tools color coordinated to make it easier for
people following The Food Pack recipes.
For instance “To slice the chicken use the purple knife.
To chop the carrots use the orange knife. Sauté the green
beans in the yellow pan”.
They will carry the
skills and techniques they learned from preparing meals with The Food Pack and
My Kitchen. They'll gain confidence in what they are doing and continue to
develop their skills. Who knows they
might then pass on what they learned to their children!
