WHITE PAPER Food Industry Ecosystem: Meal Kit Delivery Service Industry Case Study: YummChef
MS STRATEGIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN | INTEGRATIVE STUDIO 1 | SPRING 2016 ONLINE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
07
1. Introduction
08
Executive Summary
34
Competitive Analysis Revenue Model
Project Overview The Opportunity
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4
36
Marketing
The Key Findings
Marketing Insights
The Business Case
Brand Attributes
Who We Are Team Members and Locations
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Finance
About Us
39 4. Applied Research 40
Innovation Workshops
Context + Overview
Business Development
The Students
• Challenge
Master of Science in Strategic Design and
• Objective
Management
• Methodologies
Integrative Studio Setting
• Outcomes
Integrative Studio PGDM 5200 Course Outcomes
Logistics
Virtual Studio Operations
• Challenge • Objective
The Challenge Our Original Challenge
• Methodologies
Our Inspiration and Original Case Study
• Outcomes Finance
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2. Approach
• Challenge
20
The Process
• Objective
Team Structure
• Methodologies
Methodology
• Outcomes
Design Thinking
Marketing
Empathy Maps
• Challenge
Business Model Canvas
• Objective
Qualitative & Quantitative Research
• Methodologies
Field Research
• Outcomes
Case Study
Group Collaboration
Presentation #1 (Test Case)
What We Learned
• Case Insights - What We Learned Roadmap & Course Outcomes
53 5. Synthesis 54
Gathering Insights
3. Early Research Findings
Customer Insights
32
Research Findings
Business Partner Insights
33
Business Development
• Pivot (Evolution)
30
• Alignment with Business Development +
YummChef Value Proposition
Marketing based off Daniels needs
Field Research and Testing The Learning Plan 34
Logistics Exploring Workable Models
55
Hypothesis Customer Design Challenges Business Design Challenges
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6. Ideation
60
Ideation Process
109
Revenue Channels Marketing
Sample Idea Clusters • Creating Actionable and Affordable Marketing Plan and Strategy for Launch • Offer Development and Targeted Merchant
Robust Business Model
111
Consideration and Challenges
112
Expansion Strategy
113
Conclusion
Outreach • Market Analysis and Operational Environment
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9. Appendix
Pivot In Focus
116
Glossary
Recommendations
Business Model
• Fulfillment Model
Channels
• Ecosystem Model
Customer Profile Customer Segments
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7. Business Concept of FoodEase
Cost Structure
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Business Concept - Foodease.com
Disruptive Innovation
Fulfillment Model
Ecosystems
Ecosystem Model
Experiment / Test Exponential Organizations
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8. Prototyping + Testing
Fulfillment
72
Prototype Development
Fulfillment by Amazon
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Fulfillment Model
Innovation
Ecosystem Model
Key Activities Key Partnerships
Design Process for Prototype Development Brand Development
Key Resources
Iteration 1
Minimum Viable Product
Iteration 2
Networked Business Models
Iteration 3
Open Business Models
Iteration 4
Open Innovation Prototyping
FoodEase Brand Journey
Reverse Innovation
Brand Name Creation
Revenue Streams
FoodEase Logo Creation
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Prototype Iteration 1
Sustaining Innovation
89
Testing
The Pure Place Value Map
Consumer Insights
Value Proposition
Supplier Insights 98
Prototype Iteration 2,3,4 Notable Iterations • Consumer Side • Supplier Side
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Bibliography
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INTRODUCTION
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this white paper is to showcase our 15 week long journey, with the aim of embodying the design thinking process. Being true to the process, our ability to ‘embrace the chaos’ yielded innovative results, leading us to the articulation of a new business model with the ability to create, deliver and capture value.
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PROJECT OVERVIEW Our primary focus for this body of work initially began with an exploration of playing the role of consultant to start-up meal kit delivery provider, YummChef in its preparation for launch. Over the 15 week semester, our goal was to use YummChef as a live case study to go through the stages of the design thinking process; moving through the ‘metaphorical squiggle’ to clarity of concept. In good fashion, our objectives and approach pivoted several times throughout the 15 weeks, enabling the team to deliver a tangible, creative outcome. We were scheduled to meet with YummChef CEO, Daniel Buelhoff periodically to present our learnings and suggestions to him with the final aim of presenting a pitch deck and white paper of our insights and strategy across four verticals; Business Development, Logistics, Marketing and Finance. As such, our work spanned various phases in the strategic design process, from market research, stakeholder focus-groups & workshops, to ideation on enhancement opportunities for the start-up’s business model. Through our immersion in the study of the food industry, the team found ourselves questioning YummChef’s core business model and found validation in our business acumen from the fact that YummChef was in-parallel pivoting very rapidly -
often mirroring the insights we had independently learned. Coming to the collective realization that our ideation process had to lead to intriguing business concepts beyond YummChef’s core value proposition, which was centered on the meal kit delivery market, we decided to pivot and pursue our own direction; choosing to operate independently and without restriction to YummChef, being grateful for the opportunity that Mr. Buelhoff had inspired for us. Beyond creating our own business plan, our journey offered organic team pivots too. From four teams focusing on the functional verticals (Finance, Business Development, Marketing, Logistics), we moved to two (Business Development, Marketing) based on Mr. Buelhoff’s feedback, and ultimately evolved to work as one large group when we landed on our own business model. We quickly realized there was untapped potential in the food industry at large and chose to create a business model that didn’t necessarily compete with YummChef, but instead would invite the likes of YummChef to have presence on a platform that could bring together the existing silos of the food industry; all into one cohesive platform with the aim to create a place to access, explore, share and connect on all things food for both suppliers and consumers!
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THE OPPORTUNITY Thus, our new business FoodEase.com was born; a digital platform with the go-to-market strategy around solving food fulfilment challenges for suppliers and consumers in New York city. The ultimate vision was to become a comprehensive ecosystem with the ability to cater to all things related to food across all stakeholders, functions, and services. The evolution of this opportunity was driven by two key entrepreneurial learnings; firstly that pivots are imminent and thus our big picture ecosystem was likely to shape organically which leads to the second learning to start small by providing a compelling solution in order to attract our first adopters.
THE KEY FINDINGS Competitors The food industry is highly siloed into the following categories: food delivery services with Business-toConsumer interface (Example: Seamless); last Mile Services (Example: zipments.com); food providers with in-house logistics capabilities (Example: Blue Apron); companies that have fulfilment capabilities but aren’t purely food focused (Example: Uber/ Amazon); companies that have created food ecosystems (Example: Epicurious) and; companies that have created ecosystems including food (Example: Pinterest).
Industry experts’ studies Our research validated for us that no such platform currently exists, giving us the first mover advantage a rare occurrence in this new economy.
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31 million Americans care deeply about the food they eat.
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Food as we know it today can by and large be categorized across 4 major categories; cookedmeals, meal-kits, groceries and catering– across five stakeholders; restaurants, meal-kit companies, grocers, caterers and chefs.
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The potential size of our market is mammoth $649.087 billion was spent in supermarket sales 2015; $709.24 billion was spent in restaurant sales 2015; in 2015, meal-kit industry has been valued at $1.4 billion ; in 2014, the catering industry was valued at $ 8.67 billion and; 941600 chefs in America make anywhere from $46,000 to $60 million per annum.
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$165 billion worth of food is wasted every year in the US.
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Increasingly, Americans choose to eat at home as opposed to going to restaurants.
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In 2015, there were 904 million online food orders.
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Millennials eat 24/7 - food opportunities for suppliers can be around-the-clock.
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Discovery is a ‘must-have’ food attribute identified by the Food Marketing Institute identified in 2014. [1]
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41% of Americans looked for food inspiration online in 2014.
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Americans experimented with alternative eating styles in 2014.
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Increasingly, Americans choose to eat at home as opposed to going to restaurants.
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In 2015, there were 904 million online food orders.
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Consumer studies •
Consumers are seeking choice, discovery, and flexibility in one place.
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Food fulfillment services need to fit more seamlessly into real, everyday life - meeting a variety of needs and circumstances.
Millennials eat 24/7 - food opportunities for suppliers can be around-the-clock.
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Consumers are seeking social, emotional, and sensory connections in their food experiences.
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Discovery is a ‘must-have’ food attribute identified by the Food Marketing Institute identified in 2014. [1]
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Consumer personal interest, accomplishment, and skill mastery is important as an emotional job to be done.
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41% of Americans look for food inspiration online in 2014.
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Americans experimented with alternative eating styles in 2014.
Supplier studies •
Expanding supplier reach is difficult due to expensive and inconvenient logistics infrastructure requirements.
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Business partnerships must reduce perception of risk and streamline business processes.
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Inspiration and customer data is a functional job to be done.
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Fulfillment opportunities need not be purely virtual and one to many; they should blend physical and virtual experiences.
OUR STUDIES - SAMPLE SET OF 15 PEOPLE
1 | “11 Interesting Facts about America’s Eating Habits”, Institute of Food Technologists, accessed May 7, 2016, http://www.ift.org/newsroom/news-releases/2016/january/15/interesting-facts-about-americas-eating-habits.aspx
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THE BUSINESS CASE FoodEase go-to-market strategy is that of solving fulfilment challenges for suppliers and consumers in New York City. The strategy relies on a simple and compelling solution to attract customers onto this two-sided platform, thus building a valuable database which in turn generates the potential for powerful analytics which acted upon would result in loyalty. Capitalizing on this loyalty from suppliers and consumers alike, the eventual goal is to become a food ecosystem which has the power to utilize data generated on-platform to perennially evolve into an ‘everything food’ space with the seamless ability to scale exponentially.
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Figure 1 - Expansion Plan
WHO WE ARE
Roxanna Zarnegar Instructor | New York, U.S.
Akilah Brewer
Anja Botnen
Washington D.C., U.S.
Gothenburg, Sweden
Caitlin Workman Kansas City, U.S.
Carla Marsh New York, U.S.
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Elizabeth Stefanski
Ishita Chaudhuri
Leatrice Lu
Lisha Davis
Rhode Island, U.S
Washington, U.S
Manila, The Philippines
Philadelphia, U.S
Miguel Bastos
Natalia Velasco
Natasha Campbell
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Chicago, U.S
Vancouver, Canada
Priyanka Sachdev
Sarmad Usman
Singapore
Lahore, Pakistan
448 years combined loving food
81 years
35 years 28 years
18 years
combined experience leading ventures, innovation, and design teams.
Design Leadership:
Venture Leadership:
Innovation Leadership:
Akilah Caitlin Miguel Natalia Lea Anja
Ishita Priyanka Sarmad
Elizabeth Carla Lisha Natasha
Figure 2 - Our Experience
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ABOUT US CONTEXT + OVERVIEW
THE STUDENTS
Our global economy is a complexity of rapid fire changing standards for the production and management of information, services, and experiences, where leaders must be malleable and equipped with innovation skills and tools. The Parsons School of Design Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management (MS SDM) program prepares students to operate in an evolving global economy, helping them confidently create, manage, and lead existing and future design processes.
The thirteen design students are early to midcareer professionals bringing diverse cultural backgrounds, varying degrees of knowledge and experience. While their backgrounds are different, each is interested in complementing academic and professional accomplishments with professional application that includes exposure to sophisticated real-world perspectives on business, operations, sustainability, management, leadership, entrepreneurship, design innovation, and design research supported by the SDM program. The group’s collective expertise represents 35 years in Design Leadership, 28 years in Venture Leadership, 18 years in Innovation Leadership and importantly, 448 years loving food!
MASTERS IN STRATEGIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT
INTEGRATIVE STUDIO PGDM 5200 COURSE OUTCOMES
The MS in Strategic Design and Management is a 36-credit program that integrates design thinking, leadership, and business strategy. Classes are structured to replicate real-world industry scenarios, providing hands-on experience in designing, managing, and improving design-intensive and creative firms and helping students develop their capacity to inspire and lead creative teams. [2]
The uniqueness of this online integrative studio course is the ability to bring students from all around the globe who collaborate via various media platforms, i.e. Canvas, Zoom, Whatsapp, email and other social media platforms to complete the project and course. For example, the thirteen members of this spring 2016 online Studio 1 course virtually collaborated from the Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States on a weekly, and sometimes, a day-to-day basis. The use of online tools are crucial in our virtual classroom
INTEGRATIVE STUDIO SETTING
environment. Canvas and Google Drive are the main platform in which we share information and engage in discussion. Zoom conferencing and our in- person ”Intensive Week” helped build a good visual and team foundation. Participation and communication are the key component to a successful semester. Team coaching with the instructor is available on a bi-weekly or weekly basis.
Integrated Studio PGDM 5200 explores the overlap between business and design. It brings together the students’ backgrounds and current professional and educational contexts, with complex multidisciplinary projects requiring iterative, collaborative and innovative responses. [3] Integrative Studio 1 is run like a strategic consultancy, where the design thinking process is applied to an external partner’s business. In the studio, a comprehensive brief is derived from a real case, or provided by a live project partner, and requires the students to work in research teams to ultimately make a prototype and then intensively critique those prototyped interventions. This course is designated to test skills accumulated in prior classes, coupled with knowledge from relative fields of expertise. It draws heavily from the parallel class in design leadership. The final findings and proposals are presented to colleagues, experts and stakeholders for critical feedback. After completion of this integrated studio,
The program kicks off with an intensive week, which allows classmates to connect in person and meet the faculty who will facilitate the journey. Taking place the week of January 19th - 23rd, 2016 at the New York Campus, classes began at 9:00 am from Tuesday through Saturday.
students will have applied a range of research methods, ideation processes, and theoretical frameworks by which to make reasoned judgments about strategic responses to complicated situations.
2 | “Strategic Design and Management (MS),” thenewschool.edu, accessed April 25. 2016, http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/masters-design-management/
3 | “Course Catalog,” thenewschool.edu, accessed April 25, 2016, https://courses.newschool.edu/courses/PGDM5200
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THE CHALLENGE OUR ORIGINAL CHALLENGE Our mission as a class was to conduct deep dive design research and ideation to validate a business concept in the market, helping it prepare for launch and early stage growth. By analyzing YummChef’s business model, strategic partnerships, web interface and design, the initial goal of the class was to identify areas of opportunity to project where YummChef can be in the future by developing these innovative ideas within these identified areas of opportunity. The brief for this studio, reflecting the courses being done in parallel, concerns the interface between workspace and workflow tools on the one hand, and organizational culture and practices on the other. The process was framed with discrete tasks and multiple milestones. The flexibility granted to online courses was an opportunity to explore new ways to practice our learnings that derived from the four “D’s of design thinking: Discover, Delivery, Design and Deploy. 16
OUR INSPIRATION AND ORIGINAL CASE STUDY Our Studio 1 external partner for this project started out with YummChef. We were introduced to Daniel Buelhoff, the CEO & Founder, and the Yummchef website in Beta. YummChef aims to provide freedom of choice and diversity to its consumers by connecting them to the marketplace of established restaurants and chefs. The Restaurant/Chef Marketplace offers meal kits and recipes instantly delivered for a better home cooking experience. YummChef offers the following features: •
Meal kits (recipe and ingredients)
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Chef-fixings and products (prepared specialties) from selected restaurants and professional chefs enriched with video and photo cooking instructions for home cooking
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No commitment - cancel at any time without penalty
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No monthly fees
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No set-up fees
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24/7 access to all your order and sales information as well as customer data
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Full control over store hours, daily quotas, menu items, pricing, delivery options and pickup times
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YummChef Support: Should anything go wrong, we’re on it. We take customer questions off your hands, so you can focus on running your business
The meal kit delivery service industry is trending. New York-based meal kit services such as Blue Apron, Plated and HelloFresh deliver several meals with pre-measured ingredients to customers’ doors every week, along with lavishly illustrated recipes. The three companies launched in 2012 and now operate nationwide, serving more than a million meals a month combined, garnering an estimated $150 million in venture-capital backing. [4] The industry is becoming inundated with meal/dinner kit options for singles and families who are too busy to cook their own meals, limited in skills, or lacked the interest to cook. These dinner kits come with all the ingredients needed to prepare a home-cooked meal. According to the consultancy Technomic, the global mealkit market topped $1 billion in 2015 and is projected to hit $10 billion by 2020. [5]
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4 | Anne Kadet, “Testing New York’s Meal Kit Delivery Services,” Wall Street Journal, last modified November 14, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/metro-money-testing-new-yorks-meal-kit-delivery-services-1415994739
5 | Bryan Walsh, “How I Taught Myself to Cook – with a Kit,” Time, 187, no. 10 (March 21, 2016): 62. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 25, 2016).
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APPROACH
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THE PROCESS Our approach is rooted in design strategies - a set of human-centered methodologies that enable learning by doing. Design strategies is is a useful construct, helping practitioners move from the unknown to the known in fairly rapid processes. The process started with discovery - understanding the problem/ opportunity, moving through to deployment -
arriving at a solid concept. This process focuses on the need to finding, understanding, creating, thinking and doing. At the core of this process is the bias towards action and creation; by creating and testing something your can continue to learn and improve upon your initial ideas. [6]
Uncertainty / Patterns / Insights
Clarify / Focus
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Reseach
Concept Prototype
Figure 3 - Design Process Squiggle
Figure 4(a) Design Process Graph
6 | “Design Thinking Process,� Stanford d School, accessed May 7, 2016 http://dschool.stanford.edu/our-point-of-view/#innovators
Design
DISCOVER > survey empathize explore
DELIVER > articulate connect define
DESIGN > apply ideate prototype
DEPLOY test evaluate present
Figure 4(b) - Design Process Phases-definition
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Figure 5 - Our Approach
TEAM STRUCTURE
METHODOLOGY
We organized our team structure to support our primary learning objective:
Throughout the process the team used a variety of tools and methods, contained within the design strategies framework. These included:.
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To become subject matter experts in the design process, rather than the food industry. Thus deep diving into separate departments to avoid redundant outcomes.
Groups were created based on the main concerns identified through the industry such as logistics, finance, business development and marketing. These four areas played a significant role in establishing a final prototype. Each team went through each phase aligning around cross-functional themes that established the end result through the design process described above.
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Each team designated members for subject matter experts to understand the needs of each segment through the design process. The outcomes became a larger collective to share in findings. The final team went from four functions to integrating on the key elements to be addressed in a successful business model based on the requirements of the food industry. Once we approached the design phase, the team realigned to then be able to apply and test the model designed with in the ideal environment to gain a deeper insight into what would be deployed. These teams then consisted of prototyping and testing. In the end the teams shifted once again to be able to produce the final actionable items which are the white paper and presentation.
DESIGN THINKING Design thinking is a mindset that assumes a “beginner’s mind,” is rooted in empathizing with consumers, and maintains a bias towards action.
EMPATHY MAPS Empathy maps are analytical tools that help designers capture of users are thinking, feeling, seeing, and doing. [7]
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS The Business Model Canvas, is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool. It allows the user to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot business model concepts in a creative way. [8]
7 | “Empathy Map,” Stanford d School, access May 7, 2016 https://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/empathy-map.pdf 8 | “Strategyzer,” The Business Model Canvas, accessed May 7, 2016, http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc
QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative research is primarily exploratory in nature. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. [9]
FIELD RESEARCH Field research can also be considered either a broad approach to qualitative research or a method of gathering qualitative data. The essential idea is that the researcher goes “into the field” to observe the phenomenon in its natural state or in situ. As such, it is probably most related to the method of participant observation. The field researcher typically takes extensive field notes which are subsequently coded and analyzed in a variety of ways. [10]
CASE STUDY Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community. Typically, data are gathered from a variety of sources and by using several different methods (e.g. observations & interviews). The research may also continue for an extended period of time, so processes and developments can be studied as they happen. [11]
9 | “Snapsurveys,” What is the Difference between Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research?, accessed May 7, 2016, http://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-qualitative-research-and-quantitative-research/ 10 | “Qualitative Approach”, Social Research Methods, accessed May 7, 2016 http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualapp.php 11 | “Case Study Methods”, Simply Psychology, access May 7, 2016, http://www.simplypsychology.org/case-study.html
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PRESENTATION #1 (TEST CASE) To get the class aligned with the idea of focusing on the food industry we were presented with a case study to form inspiration for our YummChef Challenge. We were presented with the El Bulli: The Taste of Innovation case as first individual assignment to try the following: 1. Make one of the recipes in Exhibit 8 in the case 2. In 3 pages describe your experience from the starting point to eating point: finding the ingredients, following the recipe, cooking the meal. 3. Extract the key learnings from this exercise and apply to YummChef. 4. Work individually or in pairs.
Case Insights - What We Learned
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Figure 6 - ElBulli Restaurant
OUR APPROACH The class deep dove into the process of creating recipes from the world renowned ElBulli with the hope to get sensitised to the idea of cooking restaurant league meals at home. Apart from being a fun process, the team began to draw transferrable parallels to YummChef.
EL BULLI LEARNINGS APPLIED TO YUMMCHEF
Figure 7 - ElBulli Workshop
LESSON 1: Cooking and eating is an emotional, personal experience “If you want to be memorable, make people feel emotions” - From deciding to use a recipe, to gathering ingredients, to preparation ending in a desired outcome, each stage of the cooking experience is highly personal and customized. As such, to make the experience memorable, the process should evoke positive feelings which entices the cook to repeat this experience, yearn for it almost, to celebrate and feel the beauty and magic of the senses. YummChef can consider optimizing each stage of the experience to amplify positive emotions and minimize negative ones.
LESSON 2: The element of surprise and delight “If you know nothing about what to expect, it’s like magic” - A design criteria can incorporate the element of positive surprise to fuel curiosity for how the recipe will turn out. Playing on the idea of reinventing the concept from El Bulli, YummChef can delight users by delivering the unexpected by the way the ingredients taste, take on new forms, or new twists on classic recipes. Some sample ideas include: • • • •
Use of uncommon ingredients that may be reminiscent yet distinct from other ingredients (i.e. substituting potato for yucca) Create unexpectedly delicious tastes or combos (i.e. turning beets into a dessert, blending sweet and savory ingredients) Deliver creative ways to serve and dazzle guests (i.e. serving lollipops for appetizers) Celebrate vibrancy of colors, seasonal recipes
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LESSON 3: Draw inspiration from unlikely places “We can learn about innovation from lots of places...to create is not to copy” - Just as El Bulli head chef dispatched the restaurant staff to study techniques from people, places, and things such as other chefs from around the world. Getting inspired by seasonal ingredients at quality food markets, by art and architecture means that inspiration can also come from sharing ideas and observing innovation in unlike contexts. El Bulli is consumed with urgency to reinvent and continuously create a new identity, and the underlying creativity can be spawn from beyond the kitchen. As Daniel thinks about how best to gather recipes, we urge him to consider where and how the recipes can manifest. Perhaps a beautiful piece of art can inspire the creation of a new recipe, that may resemble the artwork itself, or emote a similar feeling when consuming it - lightness, joy, playfulness, etc. Beyond the meal itself, can we experiment with the packaging, branding, or marketing strategy to draw inspiration from uniquely memorable experience elsewhere? Can we find new ways of serving food to spur creativity for users that results in endless possibilities of delight, turning home cooks into imagination artists on how/when to serve?
LESSON 4: Success is an iterative process, leverage expertise in one setting to further grow capabilities:
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El Bulli’s annual recipe catalog exists to receive discovery credit for techniques, generates revenue, but most importantly, tracks innovation evolution trends in the restaurant industry one of the ways El Bulli has married its desire to hone cooking artistry with practical application is through the participation of side projects in adjacent business lines. Whether is the hotel and fast food space or through consulting, extensions of the el Bulli experience has afforded the owner unique opportunities to diversify revenue streams while experimenting with ways to stretch its brand.
This is something that YummChef can also consider: •
• •
Are there additional revenue streams on the experience journey they may spotlight? Perhaps pioneering new technology on food storage and delivery to maintain highest quality and freshness? (Roxanna highlighted the particularly freshness and quality of ingredients) Vertical integration options to cut down on delivery time and reduce burden to store orders for restaurant partners? Sustainable packaging to draw eco friendly users in? Could Yumm Chef itself define and maintain an identity that lends itself to successful application in related fields? i.e. cook-wear, hashtag social communities, etc.
As YummChef launches and grows, it’ll be interesting to see how their brand identity may evolve over time. It is possible that the original brand attributes could morph into something entirely different, possibly more powerful through the experiences of users.
LESSON 5: Food preparation can be enhanced by creating an ‘experience’ around the dish • storytelling tools via video or pamphlet talking about the origin and creation • detailed serving suggestions which include tips to enhance the flavours • well designed instruction cards on ‘how to eat’ the dish that can be propped up on the host’s table
LESSON 6 : Enriching the cooking experience by providing users transferrable techniques • Providing techniques that can can also be used in similar dishes • Use gamification methods to engage users and build brand loyalty • Teach users plating techniques which encourage them to attribute plating successes beyond the particular recipe to YummChef on social media
LESSON 7: Quality, nutritional value and origin of produce is important • Sensitise consumers to where the produce is from, how and when it was procured, and what its nutritional value is. Perhaps create icons for packaging that showcase this at a glance • Consumers should believe that competitors cannot match up to Yumm Chef’s ingredient quality standards.
LESSON 8: Innovation and appreciation is a strong allure when cooking • Tell the story of the genesis of the unique dish • Provide separate beginner, intermediate and master innovative tips. This progression can again be converted into an engaging gasification exercise to help build a community beyond the service proposition. • Changing menus weekly or monthly. This will in turn limit the amount of variables too which will help in logistics.
LESSON 9: Alignment of expectations is important for inexperienced home cooks • Rate menus on parameters such as ‘level of ease, shortest cooking time, most impressive etc… in order to show them what to expect before they commit • This in time will have the capacity to change consumption patterns around meal-kits, and for YummChef to be a first mover in achieving this
LESSON 10: Restaurant created meal-kits may not be as big an allure to consumers as YummChef thinks • Yumm Chef could potentially tie up with restaurants and chefs only to provide recipes and ‘special sauces’. They could become brand ambassadors as opposed to working partners. Further, it could tie up with warehouses and vendors to create ‘Preparation Units’ to assemble and dispatch the kits. This would reduce the margin of error as the restaurant’s/ chefs increased as well as logistics issues.
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Figure 8 - ElBulli Workshop Results
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ROADMAP & COURSE OUTCOMES:
INTENSIVE WEEK Priyanka Sachdev Ishita Chaudhuri NatashaCampbell
History of YummChef and the founder / How it works currently
Miguel Bastos Sarmad Usman Leatrice Lu
Industry analysis growth patterns and growth potential
Lisha Davis Anja Botnen Elizabeth Stefanski
Field testing / Competitors / User dataw
Carla Marsh Natalia Velasco Akilah Brewer Caitlin Workman
Our approach
Figure 9 - Our Four Teams - Intensives (Logistics, Finance, Business Development, and Marketing
INITIAL ALIGNMENTS Priyanka Sachdev Ishita Chauduri Natasha Campell
Logistic strategy
Miguel Bastos Sarmad Usam Leatrice Lu
Financial strategy
Lisha Davis Anja Botnen Elisabeth Stefanski
Business development: Chef / Restaurant / Customer engagement and development strategy
Carla Marsh Natalia Valesco Akilah Brewer Caitlin Workman
Marketing strategy
Figure 10 - Our Four Teams - Semester (Logistics, Finance, Business Development, and Marketing
ROADMAP 29 History
Logistic
Industry
Financial
Prototyping
Pitch deck
FoodEase
Field
Development
Approach
Marketing
Design + Research Brainstorming
How to workshops Synthesis
Figure 11 - Roadmap
Testing
White paper
Interation Business model Rational
Finalization
Outcome
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EARLY RESEARCH FINDINGS
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RESEARCH FINDINGS 32
While we initially organized around functional teams (marketing, logistics, finance, and business development), we chose to conduct this process collectively. This process allowed each team to immerse themselves in the food experience and gain understanding into consumer needs. While we were learning, there was a particular focus on detecting the relationships between stakeholders within the food ecosystem, and uncovering the impacts that they have on each other. After gaining an in depth understanding of YummChef’s business model, we assessed stakeholders along the supply chain and also studied consumer across various segments. Recognizing that YummChef intends to launch locally in New York City, we wanted to further understand the nuances of the food marketplace. and frame out opportunities and
challenges in navigating towards the goal. In order to complete a competitive mapping, we explored direct and indirect competitors in various markets (domestically and internationally) to gather potential points of differentiation and ways to build awareness. This work spanned across markets, vertical and horizontal integration, from production to logistics to partnership arrangements in order for us to predict growth, sales projections, and identify potential challenges. For example, we explored the financial structure of Blue Apron (meal kit delivery competitor) to gather insights into real time business constraints. This was followed by a thorough research of YummChef’s operations, organizational structure, commercial viability, and offer. We looked at similar models in other countries (i.e. FoodPanda in Pakistan) to identify bottlenecks within the supply chain, outlining potential criteria for decision making.
Business Development
YUMMCHEF VALUE PROPOSITION: • • • •
Chef inspired recipes Simplicity of preparation Guidance in cooking process Comparable price point with other providers (Blue Apron, Plated, Hello Fresh)
THE LEARNING PLAN Utilizing surveys, interviews, and field observations and trials, our work for consumers explored the following : •
What they enjoyed and disliked about the meal preparation experience
FIELD RESEARCH & TESTING
•
What resources they utilized to help in the food process and why those were utilized
In order to gain an appreciation for the user experience, we crafted consumer studies around various types of meal experiences i.e. from take-out and home delivery services to dining out. This process unearthed a host of pains and gains, along with gaps in fulfilling functional jobs to be done. Recognizing that the New York City meal kit delivery market was already saturated, we worked to understand the potential to differentiate, delight, and create a connection between food and social/ emotional experiences.
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The role that food and meal experiences played in their daily living
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What would compel them to turn towards a meal kit provider vs. not
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What the competitive opportunity set for meal kits truly entailed
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How might we craft an offer and pricing formula that would work for adoption
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What design attributes were most important in a food/meal provider
Artifacts along the way included documenting the current and ideal customer experience journey map. Insight themes were mapped to form specific design challenges and business opportunity areas. Ideation was conducted in rounds at the functional and integrated levels to produce a set of most attractive features for both suppliers and consumers alike. We crafted design principles to help us prioritize and discuss the incorporation of features which evolved through iterations. Lastly, after arriving at a cohesive business concept, we developed a prototype for marketplace validation and feedback. Simultaneously our consumers and suppliers co-created throughout the process , helping us not only create new ideas but filter and curate our existing ones.
Exploring from a business partner’s’ perspective, our team explored: •
Various operating models to determine partnership potential
•
Pains and gains related to logistics, revenue stream, customer experience, and brand/ reputation
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What are the key areas of uncertainty and key dependencies in the operating and supply chain
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What would compel suppliers to partner with a platform like YummChef
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How we could integrate existing processes or introduce new ones that were “worth the hassle”
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Logistics: •
Most restaurants offer delivery in New York City
•
Logistics is seen as the most critical aspect of any food operations (according to suppliers)
•
While growth is desired, introducing new processes into existing workflows is not
•
Delivery service providers struggle with consistency and despite poor customer service, the hassle of switching prevents many restaurants from doing so
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Warehousing and delivery hubs are on the rise, along with commissary kitchens where much of food preparation, assembly, and delivery can be outsourced and scaled
•
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Perceived risk includes: preserving the quality of food, timeliness, storage, waste, food safety in consumer kitchens with “Do-It- Yourself (DIY) preparation, cancellations
EXPLORING WORKABLE MODELS Our team studied various logistics models which can be suitable for YummChef in terms of operations, supply chain, risks and returns. These included: • • • • • •
Meal Kits –Standard Meal Delivery Chef’s coming Home Gourmet Grocery Stores Deliver Uber Eats Category Farm to Table
Finance: The team conducted research to gauge how well online food businesses are performing in the market. Benchmarking was done on major competitors (Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Plated, etc.) in order to study impacts of different strategies on company’s financial position, to determine most attraction options.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS The prices of Blue Apron, Plated, and HelloFresh range from about $9 to $12 per person per meal, included shipping. Validating through consumer research, we gathered that YummChef should fall within this range unless a truly compelling offer justified a premium. We also wanted to learn how these companies established their operations and ramped up in their offerings over time.
Blue Apron: Blue Apron found its footing earliest and raised funding quickly, holding the current market share leadership. Selling 3 million meals a month as of December 2015, and generated more than $300 million in revenue last year with current valuation of $2 billion.
Plated: Plated has grown slightly slower, but recently picked up momentum. Data shows that the company was expected to generate over $100 million revenue in 2015 and has raised around $56 million to date.
Hello Fresh: HelloFresh is a German startup that launched in the US in 2012. It is the only international supplier, delivering 4 million meals per month and has raised $192 million from investors.
All three competitors operate under a subscription based model and focus primarily on meal kits. The challenge for YummChef is how to attract volume from consumers if it insists on a “no subscription” model. Potential solutions would be leveraging Flash Sales to generate up to 200 meal kits a day or leveraging social media to promote private access events. [12] Indirect competitors are Fresh Direct, Maple, restaurants (dine out), and grocers with prepared meal options. Also, our research indicated that due to price point and lifestyle choices, consumers may view social experiences (going to a bar) or purchasing something in a similar price range (music or accessories) as competition for the same spend.
REVENUE MODEL Interviewing one of YummChef’s early partners Distilled restaurant, we learned that the current revenue agreement allows YummChef to take 1520% commission per order, equating to an estimated 300 meals per week. Working through same revenue projections, Distilled indicated that it would be satisfied to generate up to 15% of weekly revenues from this distribution channel. Currently, the largest cost drivers for YummChef include: • Business acquisition/marketing • Smart packaging to enhance food quality • Delivery services • Preparing copyrighted videos for dedicated chefs for these restaurants • IT costs to maintain website
12 | “PrivCo”, The $5 Billion Potential of Meal Kits. “Just Add Cooking”, accessed May 20, 2016, updated July 21, 2015, https://www.privco.com/our-research/about-us/the-5-billion-potential-of-meal-kits-just-add-cooking
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Marketing: Beginning with a similar process of studying the industry and competitive set, marketing also conducted research to uncover: • How existing offers are defined across the industry • How value propositions are being expressed • How existing providers represent their brand attributes and messaging • What marketing channels are being utilized to drive awareness and adoption • Are there potential points of differentiation we can offer Tools we utilized to do this work also included SWOT analysis, stakeholder mapping, and value proposition canvas.
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Recognizing that YummChef is an early stage venture, we explored the most cost effective and lowest points of entry for beginning to craft a marketing plan. We explored possible options with co-branding through packaging, advertisements, and other revenue generating ideas. We also studied online digital marketing and social media channels, utilizing them as opportunities to generate awareness while building engagement. We applied this lens to thinking through how to garner new consumers as well as deepening loyalty with existing ones. Turning towards our target audience, the team sought out to discover what drove their buying decisions. Through interviews, surveys and focus group research, we arrived at the following set of insights around offer prioritization, usage and lifestyle integration, along with messaging:
Marketing Insights: •
Consumers for the meal kit space valued time, ease of use, and convenience
•
There could be multiple decision makers and types of consumers within a household
•
With varying degrees of skill, the labeling of “easy” or “difficult” also varies across audiences
•
We are in a post social media world - integrating our platform with common social media sources is expected and valued
•
Food is a multi-sensory experience - in addition to taste and smell, attractiveness of packaging, logos, sustainability markers, and food appearance itself mattered
•
Food is a product, meals are experiences which often associated with other social elements i.e. family gatherings, celebrations, music, etc
•
Meal kits, even for super users, were not the only source of resources being utilized. They were supplemented with trips to the grocery store, dining out, ordering in, etc
In searching for buying patterns that might tie to food’s emotional connection with consumers, we attempted to map out brand attributes that might appeal to users. Recognizing we would be late market entrants, our goal was to anchor around differentiating factors, being thoughtful around how to also build in feedback loop mechanisms within the model to detect how well various messages are resonating. We arrived at the following guidelines for crafting our brand:
Brand attributes: • Personal - how might we tell the story and form a connection with various types of users? • Customized - how can we help scale and operate efficiently while preserving choice for users? • Engaging - from social media to active participation and feedback, how can we create excitement, a sense of community, and celebrate the natural ways that food is apart of daily living? • Collaborative - meals are highly social and relational experiences, how do we involve various stakeholders in the business i.e. chefs, consumers, suppliers? • Affordable - what are the boundaries for what’s perceived to be affordable and value added? • Mobile - how do we make it easy for people to travel, access, and interact with planning? • Rewarding - drawing inspiration from the power of networks and gamification, how might we build loyalty and drive advocacy over time?
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APPLIED RESEARCH
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INNOVATION WORKSHOPS Early and throughout our market research, we emphasized the importance of incorporating the user voice. As we were still learning about the food industry and its various stakeholders, we also took the opportunity to engage with some consumers and suppliers, through a series of workshops, targeting learnings around our functional work streams, as well as their experience journey maps. Some parameters for the workshops were the following:
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We also took into account some of these questions throughout the workshop as a guidance to obtain successful results: •
What are the optimal ways of coordinating design capabilities and knowledge flows?
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How can new combinations of each element such as tactics and strategies generate new outputs?
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What are the key drivers of high quality innovations?
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What do you consider the most basic infrastructure/foundation of your knowledgebrokering model?
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Co-Creation (invite someone who is in a similar situation as YummChef, to join the workshop)
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The workshop must help generate ideas related to your team’s area
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What elements, tactics and strategies should be used to maximize efficiency?
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Guests can include customers, restaurant owners, logistics supplier, chefs, etc.
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How fluid is your brokering process?
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List the objectives and communicate them at the beginning of the workshop
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What activities are conducted to leverage tacit knowledge?
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Ideal outcome: generate 2-3 ideas that you can apply to the final project
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How can you measure efficiency and productivity?
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Document the Workshop, use images to illustrate the workshop activities
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How reliable is this model?
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How is design imbedded in this structure?
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What would happen if design elements were removed?
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What new design capabilities need to be added to improve your model?
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP Our Challenge: How might we better understand our customer, and use their latent needs to imagine a clear value proposition for customers and value chains alike?
Objectives: • Discover customer insights • Validate YummChef value proposition • Create and build customer experience
Methodologies:
THE (UN) FOCUS GROUP A technique designed by IDEO, the (UN) Focus group brings a small group of diverse users together. It uses projection a ctivities to go deep into people’s knowledge, dreams, and h opes - surfacing unmet needs. Unlike focus groups that seek to validate an idea, (UN) Focus groups enable cocreation of future facing concepts, and enable the testing of existing concept assumptions. 42 Figure 12 - Focus Groups
Outcomes: Each participant shared a story in which all participants actively engaged in the elements of the experience as well as the characteristics of the story while considering: • • • • •
Would I pay for this? If so, how much per person? What don’t I like about this experience? How might I improve upon this experience? What would be a “premium” upsell?
Figure 13 - Workshop Outcomes
Figure 14 - Workshop Outcomes (2)
Insights obtained included: 1. Food planning is not done for all meals - it is the result of a need for ease in our fast paced lives. 2. Meal “experiences” satiate a social and emotional need for people who want to slow down and connect with their friends and family. 3. Meal planning is not a daily experience, but weekly / seasonal experience. While meals are planned, they also have to be flexible to changing demands and commitments. 4. People like the creativity that comes from designing good meals under unusual constraints. 5. People are seeking connection through their food experiences - either to their food or to others.
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RATIONAL MIND Tasting food combinations and seeing how others bring t hem together catalyzes people’s creativity. Premium experiences need to be social connecting people, community and food. Will pay for a food service - $15/$20 per person
Figure 15 - Insights
EMOTIONAL MIND
WISE MIND Food sourcing and sustainability is an important buyer value. Freedom of choice fuels commitment i.e. no subscription
“Chefs Like Me” is a much more compelling value proposition than the “ Be Like a Celebrity Chef.” Meal experiences are an o utlet for people’s own creativity. Priority value adds include play lists, gadgets, and social communities.
LOGISTICS WORKSHOP: Challenge:
Methodologies:
How might we understand the untapped needs and opportunities in the supply chain specific to fulfillment and logistics?
The Logistics team sought insights from three entrepreneurs in the food industry. All candidates shared a unique vantage point from different aspects of the industry and utilized:
Objectives: •
Gain insights that can be applied to YummChef’s logistics.
•
Gain insights that can be differentiator for YummChef.
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Figure 16 - Workshop Tools
•
Phone interviews: unconstrained and not overly structured, to elicit what naturally comes to mind with food logistics opportunities and challenges.
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Skype call: a structured video call via Skype using images of workshop tools.
•
In-person workshop: used projection activities, such as diagrams and flash cards to get at tacit/ latent needs of the users.
Outcomes: The three participants were able to provide valuable insights from their experience not only to the logistics side of the business but also to all team areas.
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Figure 17 - Workshop Tools (2)
FINANCE WORKSHOP: Our Challenge: Given that the food industry is a razor thin marketplace, where scaling profitably is crucial to survival, how might we best structure cost centers to compete as an early stage venture?
Objectives: To learn how to prioritize expenses and how to manage challenges, risks, storage, deliveries and other incurred costs involved.
Methodologies: Zoom call: A video call via zoom, using a structured interview with a focus on expense analysis. Brainstorm session on Mural. Using ‘sticky notes’ to gather all answers and inputs.
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Figure 18 - Finance Workshop Zoom Interaction
Outcomes:
•
Several insights surfaced that served as early stage guiding principles for solution designs.
•
Costs that are unrealistically high such as rent or over-the-top packaging can set YummChef up for failure specially with a low working capital. The finance team wants to make sure there is enough capital for all the uncertainties they are going to face in the initial period of operations.
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Increase profit margins
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Working with the right vendors to ensure they are buying the right items for the right price. We also want to focus on streamlining logistics to determine the most efficient delivery schedules for the online orders. Deliveries must be done with speed and accuracy to avoid “deadheading”.
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Keeping YummChef overhead low.
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Controlling food, labor and logistics costs are essential. With proper sales forecasting YummChef can prevent overspending on staff and supplies and still provide impeccable service. Careful planning, monitoring and evaluation can continually manage these expenses.
•
Avoid unnecessary spending/not spending more on expenditures than what YummChef will earn.
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Figure 19 - Workshop Questions and Subjects
MARKETING WORKSHOP Our Challenge: How might we create a strong and cohesive brand to represent YummChef
Objectives: Clarify YummChef’s brand position by: How are they different? Who is their audience? (customers) How they should speak to their audience? What is the story they have to tell?
Methodology: The marketing team had a Chef as a participant during their workshop, he brought his expertise as a chef and entrepreneur to the interview. Zoom call: Structured interview via Zoom, using co-creation brand exercises. 48
•
Onliness Statement
•
Zag Statement
•
Brand attributes
Outcomes: The collaboration throughout the workshop was key to obtain the results the Marketing team was looking for. The team set some Rules of play: •
The more ideas and concepts, the better.
•
There is no right or wrong answer.
•
All ideas are good.
•
Steal from each other, we can build better ideas together.
REFINED ONLINESS STATEMENT What: the ONLY online, chef-inspired, meal kit marketplace How: that films chef-taught insider tutorials for upscale cuisine Who: for working professionals and food enthusiasts Where: living in the Big Apple Why: who want to learn from the masters When: during a time of decreasing personal freedom
Figure 20 - Marketing Workshop Onliness Statement
ZAG STATEMENT YUMM CHEF IS THE ONLY curated meal-kit service THAT teaches you to cook chef-inspired dishes through video tutorials
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Figure 21 - Marketing Workshop Zag Statement
BRAND ATTRIBUTES Key words evocative of Yumm Chef’s brand:
Exploratory Personal Curated
Experience
Achievement
Surprise
Foodie
Convenience Social
Fun Artful
Figure 22 - Marketing Workshop Brand Attributes
Quality Emotional Mastery
GROUP COLLABORATION Following our functional working team workshops, the aggregation of our findings resulted in an integrated insight map across consumers and supplier groups. It can be seen below:
WHAT WE LEARNED Sharing functional expertise as a result of our dedicated focus helped build greater overall knowledge of the various requirements of success for a business concept. It was validating to see the outcomes of our workshops overlapping in various areas, which helped us crystallize areas needing further exploration.
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CUSTOMERS
RESTAURANTS
Potential users of meal kit delivery service, home chefs
Partners who supply ready made meal kits, recipes, or space
CHEFS Brands with following known for unique recipes, personalities
COMMISSARY KITCHEN Space to prepare, assemble, store meal kits; film videos
DELIVERY PROVIDERS
YUMM CHEF
Can be existing, embedded with partners or new providers
Hub and facilitator of meal kit marketplace
CUSTOMERS INSIGHTS THEME: Embedding meal kit into real, everyday life Food planning happens routinely but not consistently Meal prep has associations w/ special events & occasions Freedom of choice & f lexibility fuels commitment
THEME: Meeting people where they are in skills & interest New definition of convenience and guidance to reduce “risk of mess up” “Chef like me” is more compelling than celebrity chef Skill mastery is its own reward NYC chef hype is real but lacks connectivity
THEME: Make it social, connecting & human
THEME: Aligning pricing, competition & creativity
Food is a social & emotional experience Food choice is a reflection of people’s values and lifestyle Delight can be derived from surprise Joy of learning Story of our connection with food: story of dish, serving tips
Price of meal kits competes with other culinary, social, & lifestyle decisions People are more willing to pay a premium for an experience – connecting food/friends, unlocking creativity, healthy competition
MISCELLANEOUS: “How might we use the power of narrative to create connection & loyalty to our meals?”
BUSINESS PARTNER INSIGHTS THEME: Perception of risk Partners prefer scale and predictability: subscriptions, concentrated marketing efforts Risk management levers may limit innovation ideas Quality must transcend skill in application
THEME: Ease of integration into existing processes Technology is an enabling table-stake Integrating new processes into existing ones lowers barriers to entry i.e. meal prep = part of normal prep
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THEME: Speed of success
Theme: Food biz is about relationships:
Only 1 first impression Attraction pricing could impact perception of brand Survival of the leanest Exclusivity can be an asset, only if beneficial Speed of early success grabs attention & race for affiliation
“Marketplace” has multi meaning Food industry is relationship base Personality & face of YC matters to partners Dynamic between meal kit & dine in experience Community thinking Merchants are looking for connectors to drive biz & efficiency Delivery partnerships can be sticky
MISCELLANEOUS: Chefs perceive recipes as differentiators Health craze is perceived by chefs, sustainability, sourcing Mastery of skill is a badge of honor
DESIGN CHALLENGES - Opportunity Areas to Align and Explor “How might we design the YC service to fit a variety of lifestyles?”
“How might we make the experience fulfilling for various types of cooks?”
Figure 23 - Integrated Insight Map
“How might we appeal to the emotional aspect of the food experience?”
“How might we help partners maintain quality control & manage risk?”
“How might we help YC integrate with biz partner processes?”
“How might we create a community for partners within the ecosystem?”
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SYNTHESIS
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FROM INSIGHTS TO DESIGN CHALLENGES/OPPORTUNITY AREAS In preparation for our midpoint review with Daniel, our work involved the curation of consumers insights into themed clusters, followed by mapping them into a set of distinct design challenges to address specific business opportunities. Spanning the spectrum of our stakeholder map (commissary kitchen, delivery providers, caterers, chefs, restaurateurs, and consumers), our goal was to represent the intersection
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Figure 24 - YummChef Purpose, Goals & Approach
Figure 25 - YummChef Ecosystem
of their interests in order to accomplish a desirable, viable, and feasible business solution. Depicted below is our process of reaching that intersection, with consumers representing the “desirability” component, business partners and YummChef as the “feasibility” and “viability” components.
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITY AREAS Embed meal kit into everyday living. Offerings need to fit into our everyday lifestyle, featuring choice and flexibility.
Meet people where they are in skill and interest levels Users are both novice and experienced, and are seeking opportunities that both meet their skill set, and also challenge them to advance..
Create social, community, and emotional experiences People often associate food with life experiences; human interactions involving family and social connections. Food experiences nourish the mind, body, and soul.
Align price competition, and creativity Paying a premium for meal kit is driven by choice and potentially favorable if the value proposition is competitive. Compromising the amount dedicated for leisure activities for mealkit experiences is not a viable option.
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Figure 26 - YummChef Customer Insights
BUSINESS PARTNER INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITY AREAS Perception of risk management impacts partnership decision
Maintain the social and relational aspect of the business Business development occurs organically and is highly relational with established vendors, restaurants, culinary professionals, and purveyor relationships.
Suppliers are seeking solutions that reduce the perception of risk, including quality control of food, ramifications of decisions, and managing expectations.
Guarantee a market to speed adoption of supply chain
Integrate easily into existing processes
Chefs need a reason to come to the marketplace in advance of the consumer market being built.
Suppliers have existing processes, and new solutions must find opportunities to integrate easily into existing processes.
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Figure 27 - YummChef Business Partners Insights
Each theme was then phased into design challenges in preparation to revisit the market to be further validated in order to optimize the best solutions for the YummChef ecosystem brand.
PIVOT EVOLUTION Our client validated many of these insights and expressed excitement to co-create with us on the corresponding design challenges. He also articulated a larger end state for YummChef to transcend meal kit delivery towards a comprehensive ecosystem model. This approach would allow YummChef to control the process involved in delivering meal-kits, sans the food preparation and operation responsibility through building a marketplace within the culinary industry, and shifting the business proposition to a macro level. Additionally, YummChef wanted to explore ways to exceed traditional performance based on marketing and better ways to show ROI with a focus on marketing (for consumers) and business development (with partners & merchants), new goals were established to support the realignment of the YummChef business model:
ALIGNMENT WITH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING This new sense of vision and direction created an opportunity for our work to pivot once again. Our team consolidated from four individual working groups (Finance, Business Development, Marketing, Logistics) to two working groups, integrating Finance and Logistics into Business Development and Marketing remaining its own entity. The Marketing goal being to execute a cost-effective and sustainable marketing strategy for YummChef and Business Development targeting new customers retention and generating revenue.
Hypothesis Customer Design Challenges - making YummChef a competitive and viable option
Hypothesis 1. How to drive business? 2. Validate business model and ways to scale to other locations? 3. Does Business Development have to stay with vertical positioning or can there be an extension of a “food marketplace�?
Business Design Challenges - establishing continuity for business sustainability / longevity
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IDEATION
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IDEATION PROCESS Utilizing both customer and supply side insights, the team conducted rounds of ‘thinking out loud’ brainstorming sessions to ideate on possible solutions to address our collective design challenges. The ideation sessions cut across all functional teams and both user groups, yielding over 80 ideas, which were organized into various business opportunity areas to depict the strongest themes. Additionally, we synched
up the previously determined pains and gains to these ideas, to begin crafting what the ideal user experience might look like. In doing so, we were able to tease out the most salient needs, along with a prioritization of how we might introduce the various concepts into first the fulfillment proposition and ultimately the food ecosystem.
1 - Create actionable and affordable marketing plan & strategy for launch Proof of concept: Subject matter experts Gamification, ego boost Loyalty and rewards
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Live communities WOM marketing Community celebrities
Branding: Good housekeeping seal eBay like rating system Powered by Yumm Chef
FitBit integration Concierge concept
Relationships: User communities for rating, sharing, creating recipes Contests Snap Chat & periscope to “make it with me”
Standard code of quality Technique rating system Gamification on highest rated meals, chefs, skills, sharing
Direct consumer feedback Yumm Chef made celebrities i.e. Yelp & Linked In influencer
Rewards & discounts
Global chefs network for ethnic cuisines Communal cooking (cook for each other, share to scale) 2 - Offer development and targeted merchant outreach Offer: Development: Teach everyone (customers & chefs) Experience kits
Services: Teaching/training platform
Enablers: Big data play
Pre-made meal kits Skill levels w/each meal
Incubator program for chefs
Meal planning process: Ask “Luigi” kitchen guide What’s trending now suggestions (big data)
Party in a box, basket of joy based on occasions (impress a date, hostess hero, holidays)
Boyfriend playlist (food genres, special occasions)
“Come cook with us” for users
Build predictive analytics on what people might want next (based on grocery, eating out)
Figure 28 - Sample idea clusters from early brainstorming sessions
3 - Market analysis and operational environment IDEA CLUSTERS: Skin in the game De-risking, risk pooling/sharing Relationship lattice with adjacent businesses Life style integration
Partnership types: Distribution ownership Groupon/living social Digital content partners Grocery chains Health stores/gyms Local farmers Charitable orgs for % of funds
Consortium approach to recipe development
Sommelier clubs for food/ wine pairings
Seamless web as a partner, pulling common/recent orders to form meal kits
Food Network endorsing “Chefs tested, New Yorkers approved�
Dating app integration to share meal kit experience Locally sourced only
Figure 29 - Sample Idea Clusters (3)
Communal usage DIY production/ assembly Modularize experience/ process
Financial risk: Subscriptions Guaranteed minimums 1st lost capital CSA model (chefs) Free trial, pay only for ship
Figure 30 - Sample Idea Clusters (4)
Memberships for food community: Just cook Just storage Work for you (consulting)
As we began to synthesize market and user insights for ideation, we began to drive clarity around key pains, gains, and jobs to be done for consumers and suppliers in the food ecosystem. Below is a sample of that work:
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Who is the user?
People who eat in NYC restaurants for: Leisure Health & Nutrition Social gathering Adventure Inspiration People who use meal delivery for: Special occasions Daily meals Restaurants who offer: Dine in Take out Meal kits Meal delivery providers already in operations: Plated, BA, Maple Fresh Direct Chefs & bloggers: With a following Constantly looking to refresh ideas
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Figure 31 - Pains and Gains
What is the problem to solve? Consumers: Restaurants are a luxury experience not everyone can afford Convenience & access for families may be limited Access to location & reservations Lack of personaliza- tion Niche tastes Delivery cost Suppliers: Overhead Consistency Capacity Downtime Supply Creativity Expansion limitations Regulations Pick/pack, storage, shipping Speed/time Marketing Biz savvy Logistics
How do we solve it?
Democratize the restaurant experience by: “NO reservations” - Allowing people to build their own concept of restaurant at home “You are a food hero” - Creating everyday celebrities Get groceries from around the world.(it’s possible to follow a chef or an ammator cooker in India and get the ingredients from the local store there to make exactly the same dish) Change the delivery game by: “Information is power” - Solving for food logistics & data mining for existing providers “Outsource the messy” - Introducing scheduling tools to coordinate delivery between all suppliers
How do we test it?
Exposing our ideas to the public (consumers and suppliers) with: Storyboards User scenarios Website mockup
PIVOT IN FOCUS As we were preparing our design principles and ideation synthesis, we received communications from Daniel that indicated he was again pivoting the YummChef business model, In response to that news, the team regrouped with the intent of collectively deciding what level of engagement we would like to pursue with YummChef in order to gain the most out of our design thinking journey. We arrived at a new focus for the remainder of the engagement; one that would no longer focus on providing solutions solely for YummChef but instead would draw upon our learnings thus far, while allowing us to explore an unconstrained optimal solution. The team acknowledged that YummChef has been a true inspiration in us delving deep into the food industry and Daniel’s insights invaluable in encouraging us to pivot internally. The result was a realigned effort to: draw upon our learnings with YummChef to build the most effective business model in the food / meal experience space,. In effect, if we were to be true to the design process and unearth a set of solutions most desirable, feasible, and viable for the marketplace, what might that model look like?
While ideating as a class, with disruptive innovation in mind, we opted to create a food marketplace that would serve as a one-stop shop for consumers. This marketplace would aim to disrupt the existing silos of the food industry, inviting them all to partake in this new food community. In time, we envision this community to organically grow into a neutral food ecosystem based on the contribution and discovery opportunities the platform will create for both suppliers and consumers. Realizing that our idea was conceptually compelling but in practice daunting and not to mention unaffordable, we were inspired by Netflix’s debut. Netflix offered ‘no late fees’ as a simple differentiator from the existing physical video-rental industry causing instant consumer adoption. So what was our ‘no late fees’ parallel that allowed us to enter compellingly into the mammoth food industry? With an aim at ease of adoption, we decided to start soundly small and build stalwart fulfillment infrastructure to attract the large audience of small food suppliers who we learned find it difficult and expensive to both fulfil logistics requirements as well as expand their reach.
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FOODEASE BUSINESS CONCEPT
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Thus, our start-up FoodEase was born; A name that resonates with our value proposition with the clever play on ‘Foodies’ and ‘Food made Easy’.
Fulfillment model
While the long term vision is to create a one stop food shop marketplace that allows people to access, explore, share and connect on everything food we recognize the importance of building a series of steps towards that lofty aspiration. As a result, we created two business propositions with the aim to (1) enter the market and (2) reveal our ‘big idea’.
Ecosystem model
Digital Platform to solve fulfilment challenges between food providers and consumers in New York City.
Creating a comprehensive food ecosystem for the food supply/production & consumption industry. Below are a depiction of the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas for both concepts.
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS - (FULFILLMENT MODEL)
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Providers like: Restaurants Meal kit company Independent Chefs Suppliers like Whole Foods, Giant
Digital platform maintenance Delivery fleet maintenance Pick and drop
Companies with delivery trucks for hire
Digital Platform to solve fulfillment challenges between food providers and consumers in New York City.
Get customers via social media Keep customers using coupons and loyalty cards Provide fulfillment service packages for small to large businesses
Website Mobile App Social media
Families who cannot dine out Foodies looking for lesser prep time/planning time Fast paced lifestyle does not allow time to cook often Looking for healthy nutritious ordering choices Restaurants Chefs Meal kit companies having fulfillment as high overhead cost
IT team for Website & Mobile App Delivery Truck fleet Sales and Marketing team Biz Dev Customer Service Team
Delivery fleet maintenance cost (includes salaries and upkeep) IT infrastructure costs Licensing costs Money-back guarantee costs for perishables Liability coverage
Figure 32 - Business Model Canvas
Delivery fees from fulfillment service packages for small to large businesses
Figure 33 - Value Proposition B2C
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Figure 34 - Value Proposition Canvas B2B
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS - (ECOSYSTEM MODEL)
Providers like: Restaurants Meal kit company Independent Chefs Suppliers like Whole Foods, Giant Companies with delivery trucks for hire
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Digital platform maintenance Delivery fleet maintenance Data mining & analytics
IT team for Website & Mobile App Delivery Truck fleet Sales and Marketing team Biz Dev Customer Service Team Data modelling
A neutral ecosystem for the food supply/production & consumption industry Create community of partners within Foodease ecosystem by encouraging food merchants to develop e-marketing through engagements & business collaborations with relevant brands Driving online consumer volume, collecting relevant data analytics and providing food business consultancy by learning about consumer needs, market trends and how to innovate Affordable & mobile food platform Effective & specialized packaging Fast delivery Professional recipes Storage Triple bottom line - Environmental sustainability
Delivery fleet maintenance cost (includes salaries and upkeep) IT infrastructure costs Licensing costs Money-back guarantee costs for perishables Liability coverage
Figure 35 - Business Model Canvas - Ecosystem model
Get customers via social media Keep customers using coupons and loyalty cards Provide fulfillment service packages for small to large businesses Co-branding for providers
Website Mobile App Social media
Families who cannot dine out Foodies looking for lesser prep time/planning time Fast paced lifestyle does not allow time to cook often Looking for healthy nutritious ordering choices Restaurants Chefs Meal kit companies having fulfillment as high overhead cost Caterers/Event organizers
Synergies on revenue share model with health & fitness brands and nutritious food meal kit companies with concept of designer food Customized products - sauces, preserves, jams etc. Co-branding by putting brand logos on company’s packaging Time based marketing
Figure 36 - Value Proposition Canvas Ecosystem-Consumer B2C
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Figure 37 - Value Proposition Canvas Ecosystem B2B
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PROTOT YPING + TESTING
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PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT Following the creation of the two business propositions for immediate and longer term release, we drafted sample wireframes to depict both consumer and supplier user experiences. We represented the following features from both models to engage users with possible usage scenarios:
FULFILLMENT MODEL: (FEATURE CATEGORIES) • Shop - Consumers can buy cooked-meals, meal-kits, groceries and catering - across five stakeholders; restaurants, meal-kit companies, grocers, caterers and chefs. Suppliers can sell food in any of the above categories and utilize FoodEase marketing and fulfillment services. Furthermore, the member dashboard enables suppliers to make this experience as informative and intuitive as possible 72
• Discover - Customers begin to perceive the importance of food as an experience, without limitations of choice. Suppliers can benefit from learning from others and creating innovative products/ services and thus additional revenue sources
• Deliver - Seamless experience for suppliers to bring purchased products to consumers, using the FoodEase platform. Quality of product, timeliness, consistency, and packaging were explored
• Execution - Ease of use for consumers and suppliers with products and services on our platform
ECOSYSTEM MODEL: (FEATURE CATEGORIES) In addition to features in the Fulfillment model, the ecosystem model offers additional features of: • Inspire - Providing a platform for exchange benefitting customers by building a credible food community where consumers and draw inspiration and share ideas and suppliers can learn from industry trends and forge potential partnerships
• Share - Providing a platform to improve and create food products and services; offer up opportunity to collaborate and share resources such as excess supplies
• Community - Bringing people together i.e. social media integration for consumers, or connecting suppliers with other suppliers to functionally align or streamlining supply chains
• Customization - Options for consumption and supply respectively in ways users preferred. Smart data was offered up for suppliers via virtual dashboard to help drive decisions from insights
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: 1 - Brand Development Naming Co-creation Collaboration Refinement Selection Identity Development Ideation Collaboration Refinement Selection 2 - Iteration 1 Define Fulfillment vs Ecosystem User Experience goals, differences and challenges User Experience Maps Fulfillment User Stories: define user goals, pathways, content needs, functionality prioritization Ecosystem User Stories: define user goals, pathways, content needs, functionality prioritization Information Architecture Planning Fulfillment Information Architecture Ecosystem Information Architecture Wireframe Planning Fulfillment Wireframes Ecosystem Wireframes
3 - Iteration 2 Consolidate Prototype Performance and Insights from User testing Information Architecture Planning Iteration 2 Fulfillment Information Architecture Ecosystem Information Architecture Wireframe Planning Iteration 2 Fulfillment Wireframes Ecosystem Wireframes Web Design Evolution Home Page Shop > Groceries Page Discover > Themes Page Sell > Overview Supplier Dashboard > Overview 4 - Iteration 3 Internal Team Review Identify Areas of Note Web Design Evolution Home Page Shop > Groceries Page Discover > Themes Page Sell > Overview Supplier Dashboard > Orders Supplier Dashboard > Data 5 - Iteration 4
Web Design Home Page Navigation Page(s)
Working Prototype via Invision https://projects.invisionapp.com/ share/ZG77XZ9JM#/screens/ 156676888_Foodease_Consumer_ Home_Iteration2_V03
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FOODEASE BRAND JOURNEY BRAND NAME CREATION
FOODEASE LOGO CREATION
Our brand is symbolic of a lifestyle that promises a culture based on love and connection.
The visual brand has evolved from the idea that “food made with love becomes the key element for a delightful and delicious experience”.
It’s a promise of a community - and it is this community that will drive our strategic expansion. Community + Love will connect people in purposeful networks, enabling the global ecosystem to emerge in new value exchanges. The origin of the brand is the name. The name represent this community. We are a community of foodies, people who love food, who want to make that experience easy:
The simple act of cooking and eating together, sharing the experience connects people in a wide diversity of circumstances. This is critical to our value proposition. For that reason, the heart is at the core of the design and identity evolution. It represents the emotional side from each individual or community member.
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Figure 38 Brand Name Creation
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Figure 39(a) FoodEase Logo Creation
It represents how the platform will begin to connect people: •
First by building new value exchanges among suppliers.
•
Second by connecting suppliers with like minded consumers.
•
Third by enabling wholly new networks to form across and within suppliers/consumers alike.
These networks have the capability to expand their reach beyond geographical boundaries representing a broad and deep potential for growth of the platform, making the brand both a symbol of the community and a strategy for self-perpetuating growth:
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Figure 39(b) FoodEase Logo Creation
Figure 39(c) FoodEase Logo Creation
The marriage of this brand and logo create a promise for global community, exchange, and love.
Figure 40 FoodEase Promise
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PROTOTYPE ITERATION 1
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Figure 41 - FoodEase Architecture Planning
Initial Experience Maps and Architecture Planning https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1PLW9EzV lO8hi3tPuwV_2QxsOnVrzzaKWNO5vFtowgBY/ edit?usp=sharing
From here, we crafted a thoughtful plan to test the prototype with consumers and members of the supply chain (chefs, restaurants, food suppliers, etc.). Testing was conducted primarily on the following dimensions: •
Business model level (does the overall business model make sense and its desirability)
•
Component level (what features resonated most with expected use)
•
Design, branding, messaging feedback
In order to validate our ideas with the most reach, we conducted testing across several U.S. cities as well as a handful of international locations. Our consumer
Testing Parameters
subjects spanned the ages of 25-49, was mixed in gender, family makeup, and urban vs. suburban residents. Similarly, our supply chain representation pulled from various possible players in the future ecosystem, including a chef, restaurateur, food supplier, and nutritionist. A total of 14 subjects were engaged in this round of testing and yielded tremendous insights which allowed us to iterate on another version of the prototype. A summary of our testing approach, testing guide, card sort exercise (to prioritize features most to least likely to be used), and synthesis of insights can be seen below:
Customers
Suppliers
Approach:
Outcomes:
Outcomes:
10+ subjects, mix between user groups & gender, age, marital and children status
10 subjects across spectrum of WHITE PAPER PAGE characteristics
4 subjects representing chef, nutritionist, food supplier, and restaurant owner internationally
75 minutes (can combine) Testing guide, prototype, & card sort Insights & discussion to produce v2
Figure 42 - Card Sort
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Represented US and international Tested: Business concept (both models), features, design, marketing, and more...
Tested: Business concept (both models), features, design, marketing, and more...
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Figure 43 - Ecosystem Home Page - Consumer Menu Wireframe
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Figure 44 - Ecosystem Home Page - Consumer User Interface / Guest Home Page Wireframe
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Figure 45 - Ecosystem B2B Back End Wireframe
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Figure 46 - Home Page - Consumer User Interface Wireframe
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Figure 47 - Fulfillment Consumer User Interface Wireframe
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Figure 48 - Fulfillment Supplier Dashboard User Interface Wireframe
Figure 49 - Fulfillment Consumer User Interface Prototype
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Figure 50 - Fulfillment Supplier Interface Prototype
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FOODEASE RESONANCE TESTING 00. Protocol Overview Learning goals •
The goal of this round of testing is to evaluate the fit of the experience and value proposition proposed as mvp for the initial launch of the business. In other words, are these the right ideas for the target market’s needs and desires?
•
The quality evaluation will be analyzed by assessing responses to and engagement in activities related to food/meal experiences.
•
Get specific - understand how well the business model & features serve needs & likelihood of usage.
•
Get selective - understand how our features integrate into the user’s current flow and their ideal experience.
Learning plan Note: the following outlines a recommended flow of discussion. Because there will be much to test and gather feedback on, it will be important to keep the conversation flowing and time box the exploration as much as possible. 01 Setup (5 min) Goal: introduce ourselves, the project, and any recording devices. Answer any questions about the process. 02 Warm up (5 min) Goal: get to know the respondent, make him/her comfortable. Introduce the philosophical foundation for foodease and inquire into their personal experience with this type of service. 03 Business concept and core features (45 min) Goal: understand resonance, relevance and value of core features of the website and the content/offer driving the experience. Understand how concepts integrate into their current experience and ideals. 04 Card sort and feature rank (5 min) Goal: ask the user to sort the (xxx) features they are most likely to use in the course of their life or business. 05 General themes (naming, awareness, integration , design) (15 min) Goal: get directional feedback on matters that might will need further definition. Once all ideas have been shared and the user is familiar with them, get a sense of their expectations on how the prototype might be delivered to create the best user experience. Focus on the landing page, branding, assumptions & connotations arising from visuals/designs.
Figure 51 - Testing Guide
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01 Setup (5 min) Find an area with a clear, flat surface that the respondent and moderator can sit around Introductions and overview •
Thanks for making time in your day to meet with us
•
We are working on a business concept to make people’s lives better with regards to food prep & meal experiences
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We’ve spent the past 3 months talking with people like yourselves, to understand what you do around this topic and learn from your experiences
•
I have some questions and exercises that i’ll refer to, but think of this as a guided conversation
•
There are no right or wrong answers; your opinions are what we value, so please be candid
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We believe that since everyone has experiences with food, and learning comes from many perspectives
Permissions •
You’ve given us permission to videotape and photograph you
•
Team roles - moderator, photographer, recorder, note taker - invite team to ask questions
90 02 Introductions and warm up (5 min) Now that we have the setup done, we can have a conversation. [Check that recording is ready] Introductions •
Please introduce yourself (name/age) and tell us a little about yourself.
Why we are here We have heard from foodies, families, chefs, restaurateurs and everyday people that the quality of their food and meal experience is an important component of their lifestyle. Exploration questions might include… •
What is your perspective on this?
•
How important is this to your overall lifestyle?
•
Why is it important?
•
What challenges do you face creating great meal experiences?
•
Can you share an example of a tool or method you have used that has helped you with your food prep or meal experiences.
Transition from this into the sharing of the ideas and features. ...We have developed a business concepts to support this theme of food preparation and meal experiences that we would like you to consider. We would like your feedback on whether or not they might be of value to you and your lifestyle and why.
03 Business concept and core features (45 min) We will present each of the following business concepts and features we are testing in the context of your daily living/business operations that emcompasses various ways you access food and prepare meals. We will not suggest where they might fit in the user experience but as the responder to tell us when it might be used. Foodease (fulfillment model) - consumer •
Discovery
•
Shop
•
Order
•
Delivery
•
Usage
Foodease (ecosystem model) - consumer Same features as previous model + •
Inspiration
•
Sharing
•
Community
•
Options
Foodease (fulfillment model) - supplier •
Access
•
Order
•
Partner
•
Deliver
Foodease (ecosystem model) - supplier Same features as previous model + •
Collaborations
•
Networks
•
Options
•
Data & insights
Each prototype will be shown and assessed at the business concept level and feature level. Approach and line of inquiry for all features… Lay the prototype in front of them. Ask what do they think the features is. Give them the opportunity to tell us what it is. If they’re having trouble tell the user story, on every feature
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•
Is this something you could or would use in the course of your life/business?
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Why? Why not?
•
How? When? In what circumstances?
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How does this compare with resources you have access to today?
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How might this be more useful to you, your family/friends or business/customers?
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What other alternative solutions can you imagine that might address this need?
•
What risks/concerns do you have about using any of these features?
Additional questions for specific features... User story (example): “what’s trending now” on ecosystem model - consumers The what’s trending now is a feature that allows users to see what’s most popular ingredients or recipes for this season so that they might make use of a seasonal item they might not have otherwise considered. Feature level inquiry (example):
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•
Are these specific trends helpful?
•
Would you prefer to have community based content as a default starting point?
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Would you value being able to pick and choose the type of information that you see that are customized to your food/meal preferences?
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Are there sections not included that would you like to see here?
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What would you expect to be able to do with this feature?
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Is there an alternative way you could see using this feature?
After reviewing business model(s) and all the features... 04 Card sort and feature rank (5 min) Card sort Ask the respondent to sort & rank the (xxx) features they are most likely and least likely to use. Co-creation Ask the respondent to quickly jot down any additional features they would like to see included. 05 General feedback (15 min) Naming •
Now that you have had a chance to experience foodease…
•
How would you describe it to a friend?
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What would you name it?
Awareness •
Now are are going to ask you about how you might expect to…
•
How would you expect to learn about foodease?
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Would you expect additional support to help you use the content and features seen?
•
How would you expect to be updated about new content and features?
Explore other channels… •
Foodease app
•
Co-branding opportunities
•
Advertisements
Integration & usage •
What is the most effective way that you currently access food options and create meal experiences?
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Can you see these features integrating easily into your current lifestyle/business?
Design •
Do the categories of features seen here resonate with you?
•
How intuitive is the content in each section? Does it make sense to you?
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Does it need additional context for you to consider further exploration?
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What does this page tell you?
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What is the tone/feel of the page/service?
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What attracts your attention?
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What stands out as interesting?
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What would you investigate first? Why?
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What does not seem interesting or relevant? Why?
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Does it resonate as something that could be of use to you?
Final question: What else do you imagine a service like foodease could offer? What’s missing? What would you value help with? Thank them for their time, answer any additional questions the responder may have. Ask if they are willing to participate in future rounds of testing.
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CONSUMER INSIGHTS AND CARD SORT: The highlighted (in red) sections of consumer and supplier insights denote the areas that were most prominently incorporated into the next iteration of the prototype, which can be seen below:
CONSUMERS
Testing for: Biz concept Features Design & misc
“Whatever you do has to fit into my lifestyle and can’t take away from my life…”
From Singles to Married consumers with families of various sizes, food and meal experiences are often the focal point of the family’s gathering. Choices matter. Quality matters. As does pricing, access, & convenience.
Key Takeaways
Features
Surprising/New Ideas
“I like to make it to control quality, unless it’s something I can’t make”...
“Food is a necessity, options are luxury, sweeteners”...
“Trying new things is a challenge, make it easy and fun”...
94 There is a fine line between providing variety and interjecting clutter into shopping convenience
Personalization takes on multi-forms: dietary restrictions, picky eaters, quantity of order size
Needs cluster around spectrum of planning ahead to unpredictable events impacting meal choices
Similar to buying clothing online, people cited missing ability to inspect food as a concern (Look Inside ex.) F
Routine (weekday) is associated with desire for ease/time saving and other times (weekend) can be a treat to relax with less constraints (F)
There is a higher expectation of availability/out of stock with online
Organic, healthy, diverse options are now table stakes People expect mobile technology to go with them throughout their day
Figure 52 - Consumer Insights & Card Sort
Trust is key: ingredient quality, timeliness of delivery, reliability Social/community can be perceived as a form of gamification if helps user feel or become a “community chef” (ST) Everyone loved the FoodEase name
Suggested we also utilize Amazon’s recommended pairings model (ST) Many consumers loved relevant, well curated ads promoting new products Suggested categories for special needs i.e. Diabetics, Baby, men, vegan, diet Incentives with gift cards (loyalty) 2 forms of marketing messages suggested: 1 for everday use, 1 for special occasions “impress a date” Wants personalized dashboard to include what categories to view (E) Wants what’s trending to pop & as another way for inspiration
Card Sort (#)
Consumer
Fulfillment model Discovery/Choices (2)
Shop/Order (3)
Delivery (4)
Usage/Execution (1)
Summary: People like the range of options but are concerned about quality & ability to inspect food
Summary: Pricing matters, as does quantity options. Can we allow them to compare prices (Priceline model)
Summary: Reliability, timeliness and alerts on delivery, along with flex ordering & when people aren’t home
Summary Time consumption and ease of preparation are most important, as was live help function (F)
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Ecosystem model Inspiration (5)
Sharing/Social Media (7)
Community/Network (8)
Options/Personalize (6)
Summary: People expects it to be free & visual - ways to integrate w/ existing sources? (social media) E
Summary: Likes this feature if it helps them generate a following to become a community chef celeb, not critical
Summary: Lowest ranking feature, value was derived from pulsing community for live help i.e. “how to…” E
Summary: Nice to haves include music & wine, but not if at a premium; personal dashboard was desired
Figure 53 - Card Sort Consumers
SUPPLIER INSIGHTS AND CARD SORT:
SUPPLYER
Testing for: Biz concept Features Design & misc
“I’ve been interested in online before, but it has to be easy, especially with delivery…”
Key Takeaways 96
“Food is my life, it’s my business’s life; make it my customer’s too”...
Various stakeholders in the supply chain were asked to react to our business concept, where growth of business and promoting a consistent brand image were highly valued.
Features
Surprising/New Ideas
“Make it easy for even me to navigate!”
“Let’s see how you can help me drive down costs”...
Suppliers want to be “in the know” for what’s trending with consumers and the competition (Data insights report)
Pricing wars - suppliers want orders to be at a premium yet their own orders for suppliers to be at a discount
They want to offer something unique, differentiating and be able to tell the story of what’s unique about them
Suppliers desire their own version of “Inspiration” feature i.e. to refresh menus, reflect their travels, what people are eating/talking about (E)
Quality of ingredients and maintenance of high quality for their products are key considerations
Look at feel of site needs to a) reinforce brand image of brick & mortar locations and b) convey quality without appearing too serious
“Telling the story” of product/ service options and why something is premium is challenging and desired (F) Waste & leftovers are to be avoided
Figure 54 - Card Sort Suppliers
Delivery is no one’s favorite outsource whenever possible with tracking
Suggested we offer a “private time with the chef” service, where there is live interactions to promote understanding and personal relationship Offer custom meal plans (nutritionist) Can we help them start their own line of product with FoodEase? I.e. sauce Suggested google maps feature to track local suppliers’ product availability Suggested using pop up locations for centralized pick up locations i.e. in brick & mortar stores, or “pick up” spot Can we help pool suppliers to get bulk discounts for orders
Suppliers
Card Sort (#)
Fulfillment model Access (3)
Order (7)
Partner (4)
Deliver (1)
Summary: Suppliers like the marketing span of online presence, opening new markets/ segments
Summary: Need help staying on top of what comes in & needs fulfillment, sorting
Summary: Need real time, pop up support system to help answer questions, trouble shoot, provide biz advice
Summary Timeliness, ease, and tracking are valued; suppliers prefer to outsource/allow 4 pick up
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Ecosystem model Collaborations (5)
Networks (6)
Options (8)
Data & Insights (2)
Summary: Primarily seen as a cost reduction measure, need for resource sharing to get bulk/ space discounts
Summary: Likes this feature if it can put suppliers in touch with other suppliers i.e. restaurant w/egg farmer
Summary: Lowest ranking feature, ideas included donations to charity, building more visual credibility over time
Summary: Highly sought after feature, suppliers want to know what/why items are most popular, new trends
Figure 55 - Card Sort Suppliers
PROTOTYPE ITERATION 2, 3, + 4 While the team made endeavours within our prototype exploration to predict what the ecosystem might project, we realised that it would be more productive to focus on our go-to-market fulfillment strategy. As one of the critical components of the ecosystem’s proposition is that it is social in nature, we realised
that our path to get there will be permeated with organic pivots that could only be predicted by data accumulation and actionable analytics. Thus, the reiterations of our prototype were focused on learnings during testing that impacted only our fulfilment strategy.
NOTABLE ITERATIONS Consumer side •
Consumer side:
•
Ability to browse across full spectrum of food options and one stop shop access
•
Lifestyle integration of offerings to ease selection and choice based on mood, routine, sensory selection options (degree of ripeness, expiration dates)
•
Meal planners and inspiration tools, also allowing us to begin tracking data/analytics
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Figure 56 - Consumer Home Page
Supplier side: •
Dashboard to depict order flow track history and tease with basic consumer analytics
•
Prompted wishlist to gather data to add/improve future services
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Brokerage consulting services to connect suppliers to ease supply chains and create new business opportunities
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Excess market to help offload excess supply before it becomes waste, allowing for buy, sell and donate
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Figure 57 - Consumer > Shop > Groceries
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Figure 58 - Consumer > Sell > Overview
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Figure 59 - Consumer Discover > Themes
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Figure 60 - Supplier Dashboard > Orders
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Figure 61 - Supplier Dashboard > Data
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Figure 62 - Consumer Dashboard
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BEGINNING TO DEFINE THE COMPONENTS OF A ROBUST BUSINESS MODEL As we compiled our findings, iterations, and most current prototype of the business model with its corresponding user experience, we accounted for our recommendations through the most viable and expeditious go to market strategy. While creating an ecosystem that brings together any and everyone still remains the final desired destination, we recognize the need to start small and build quickly, learning and pivoting along the way. Therefore our initial recommendation would be for FoodEase to launch with the fulfillment model, establish a loyal user base, infrastructure and data capabilities, prior to growing its services to stretch towards the ecosystem model. As we gauge how our business model intends to capture value, the following sections begin to envision possible revenue channels, marketing possibilities, preempted challenges as well as a high level expansion plan.
REVENUE CHANNELS The approach we took to exploring revenue is both diversifying and modularized because by design, we wanted to continue the theme of open architecture of choice, by introducing a multitude of ways a supplier can participate on our platform and test out the partnership. Starting off at simple entry, we’ve tried to represents possible Day 1 revenue sources beginning with our foundational offer. As our ecosystem evolves we imagine our revenue channels evolving too.
Fulfillment fees - to streamline supplier delivery logistics processes; from scheduling pickup to ensuring quality product reaches consumers on time and consistently. We would strive to do this seamlessly, offering up tracking and easy navigation along the way.
Virtual real estate fees - the ability to access, brand, and grow supplier business through Foodease while retaining their own delivery systems. With many NYC restaurants already offering delivery, this could represent a significant portion of our revenue stream. We would further offer two paths - a la carte, charging per transaction occurring on our platform and a broader subscription fee, in order to track and evaluate which option is more attractive to suppliers. In efforts to drive greater loyalty, we might provide discounts at certain sales break points/thresholds.
Advertising revenue - from providers in the food and/or lifestyle industry. Brokerage fees - revenue from services such as providing business consultation for suppliers or connecting one supplier to another on the network
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MARKETING Our marketing strategy consists of a four-fold process with the malleable properties to adapt as our business grows. As we have chosen to start in the large yet contained environment of New York City, our framework for targeted outreach and engagement took on both virtual and physical modes as they most accurately depict that rhythm.
Adoption Examples of this stage might include onsite promos, mobile app engagement or gamification tools in the virtual realm and niche events such as foraging expeditions in the physical realm.
Loyalty: Examples of this stage might include
Awareness Examples of this stage might include
newsletters and goodwill discounts in the virtual realm and food drives & crowdsourcing methodologies in the physical realm.
social media and e-advertising virtual realm and pop ups, event sponsorship or presence at heavy foodie foot traffic places like farmers markets in the physical realm.
Our intended goal is to expose consumers to components of the Foodease experience, while also fueling inspiration and gathering valuable data.
Consideration Examples of this stage might include email promos, flash sales and more customized advertising in the virtual realm and supplier certifications & event co-branding in the physical realm. 110
Figure 63 Marketing
CONSIDERATIONS AND CHALLENGES The ultimate goal of Foodease is to create a destination for all things food, connecting all people within the food ecosystem. With this lofty and aspirational goal, the following represent the most possible challenges our business could face in the marketplace as well as our responses:
Liability and Responsibility
Differentiation - the FoodEase platform offers a
Suppliers Circumventing the Platform to form Partnerships - even if suppliers do
full spectrum of food options, eliminating the need for consumer choice tradeoffs to meet the user where they are, provide easy access and one stop shop. Similarly for suppliers, we’ll alleviate pains around logistics, fuel the match process with consumers and maximize demand for unused capacity. Most crucially, FoodEase is a unique concept with no real competition - a rarity in this new economy!
Speed of Scaling - our business model is to be based on the conceptof exponential organizations. Initially we will focus on building physical infrastructure to become an indispensable asset to our suppliers. In time, we hope to build brand equity in the online community itself, easing the ability to scale.
Figure 64 Preempted Challenges + Solutions
- with food, comes the responsibility of critical liabilities- we intend to balance focus on customer service with risk mitigation, through crafting fair terms between FoodEase and our partners which allow for liability sharing.
circumvent the platform, in the interest of community building we hope to become an indispensable resource to them providing marketing, scalability, data analytics and consultancy services.
Tapping into Excess Capacity - in order to solve this real problem for suppliers and food sustainability at large, FoodEase introduces its excess market, for suppliers to buy, sell, or donate, to further extend a supplier’s brand and goodwill.
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EXPANSION STRATEGY The overall approach for FoodEase growth strategy is that of a fast ramp up period followed by a subsequent series of staggered enhancements. The first 24 months have been staged across 5 areas of focus, while the focus afterwards remains on a nimble model that can grow and pivot with active participation from consumers and suppliers The various stages are depicted below, and represent prioritized focus areas that may also happen in tandem.
Stage 1 - establish core functions of the fulfillment system
Stage 2 - enhance user experience with additional tools and resources
Stage 3 - build data models and analysis Stage 4 - commercialize on smart data and provide consulting for supply partners
Stage 5 - introduce additional products and services i.e. FoodEase merchandise
Stage 6-9 - assumed pivots driven by data analytics Stage 10 - Food Ecosystem Unicorn, born from customer insights
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Figure 65 The Expansion Plan
CONCLUSION In conclusion, we’d like to express that in arriving at our business model for FoodEase, we’ve had an enriching and nourishing experience, to say the least. Having defined how our model will create, deliver and capture value, our next steps are to test our model. This testing phase will begin with streamlining our model to identify early adopters and create a minimum viable product that is targeted at this group. We’d like to express our gratitude to our original muse, YummChef Founder - Daniel Buelhoff as well as our expert panel of judges including Venture Capitalist - Andrew Ive, Thumbtack Founder - Jeremy Tunnel and Digital Strategist - Tusy Culos, for validating our model and providing us constructive feedback to help us begin to shape our thoughts around a robust minimum viable product. The FoodEase founders (a.k.a MS-SDM Studio 1, spring 2016) intend to use our learnings to start small and thoughtfully in order to test, validate and pivot our model before we embrace the principles of exponential organisations, to scale what we believe could in time become the ultimate food ecosystem. We believe the boundless journey of our business model is only just beginning as we have conviction in the love and importance of food as being a universal dialogue, with the power to transcend boundaries of gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, socioeconomic status and even nationality!
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APPENDIX
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GLOSSARY Business Model Rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
single organization - or even any traditional industry. [C] [C] Eamonn Kelly, “Business Ecosystems Come of Age,” Deloitte University Press, accessed May 8, 2016 http://dupress.com/articles/business-ecosystemscome-of-age-business-trends/
Channels
Experiment / Test
How a company communicates with and reaches its Customer Segments. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
A procedure to validate or invalidate a value proposition or business model hypothesis that process [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Customer Profile
Exponential Organizations
The Customer (segment) Profile describes a specific
Closes the gap between the linear organization and its exponential environment. It is at least 10x more effective, efficient and / or faster relative to its linear peers in the same market. With an impact (or output) [that] is disproportionately large because of the use of new organizational techniques that leverage exponential technologies.[D] [D] Yuri Van Gesst, “Exponential Organizations,” esponentialorgs.com, May 7, 2016 http://www.exponentialorgs.com/page/description
customer segment in your business model in a more structured and detailed way. It breaks the customer down into its jobs, pains, and gains. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010 116
Customer Segments The different groups of people or organizations an enterprise aims to reach and serve. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Cost Structure Costs incurred to operate a business model. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Disruptive Innovation Describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.[B] [B] Clay Christensen “Key Concepts,” accessed May 7, 2016 http://www.claytonchristensen.com/keyconcepts/#sthash.WZN9lTj5.dpuf
Ecosystems Typically bring together multiple players of different types and sizes in order to create, scale, and serve markets in ways that are beyond the capacity of any
Fulfillment Process of taking an order and executing it by making it ready for delivery to its intended customer. It may involve warehouse pickup, packaging, labeling, etc. [E] [E] “Fulfilment,” businessdictionary.com, accessed May 6, 2016 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/ fulfillment.html#ixzz48JZuWhtV
Fulfillment by Amazon With Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Best of all, FBA can help you scale your business and reach more customers. [F] [F] “Fulfillment By Amazon,” services.amazon.com, accessed May 7, 2016 https://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/ benefits.htm
Innovation
Open Business Models
Innovation can be defined as the process of implementing new ideas to create value for an organization. This may mean creating a new service, system, or process, or enhancing existing ones. Innovation can also take the form of discontinuing an inefficient or out-of-date service, system, or process. [G] [G] “What Innovation,” its.yale.edu. accessed May 7, 2016, http://its.yale.edu/about/innovation-its/whatinnovation
Can be used by companies to create and capture value by systematically collaborating with outside partners. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Open Innovation
The most important things a company must do to make its business model work. [A]
The use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. This paradigm assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology. [I]
[A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
[I] Henry Chesbrough “Researching a New Paradigm,” Open Innovation, 2006.
Key Activities
Key Partnerships The network of suppliers and partners that make the business model work. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Key Resources The most important assets required to make a business model work. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Minimum Viable Product Build a minimum feature set that brings your value proposition to life and allows testing it with customers and partners. [V] [V] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Networked Business Models A state in which an interconnected system of organizations and their value-producing assets are working toward one or more common objectives. [H] [H] Larry Hawes,”What is networked business,” forbes. com, accessed May 7, 2016 http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhawes/2012/02/14/ what-is-networked-business/#46f73bfe5279
Prototyping The practice of building quick, inexpensive and rough study models to learn about the desirability, feasibility and viability of alternative value propositions and business models. [J] [J] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
Reverse Innovation When a multinational corporation learns to generate successful innovations in emerging markets and then exports that knowledge and those innovations to the developed world, new business possibilities suddenly burst forth. The limits imposed by its traditional operations become surmountable, and the company can rethink all its products and attack new markets in search of growth. [K] [K] “Reverse Innovation Playbook,”hbr.org,accessed May 7, 2016 https://hbr.org/2012/04/a-reverse-innovationplaybook
Revenue Streams The cash a company generates from each Customer Segment (costs must be subtracted from revenues to create earnings.) [A]
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[A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
viable, and differentiating product scenarios. This is often distilled into the single theory or product to create a positive ROI and provide market ownership.
Sustaining Innovation
Value Map
Sustainable innovation is a process where sustainability considerations (environmental, social, financial) are integrated into company systems from idea generation through to research and development (R&D) and commercialization. [L] [L] “Sustainable Innovation,� katerva.net, accessed May 8, 2016 http://www.katerva.net/about/sustainableinnovation
The Value (Proposition) Map describes the features of a specific value proposition in your business model in a more structured and detailed way. It breaks your value proposition down into products and services, pain relievers and gain creators. [A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010 Value Proposition The bundle of products and services that create value for a specific Customer Segment.[A] [A] Alexander Osterwalder; Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010
The Pure Place An ideal state and strategic, decision-making process where concepts are removed from contextual industry dynamics, incubated on the parameters of most lean,
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