Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

My venture is based on the unmet need of consumers not knowing restaurant wait times before arriving at an establishment. I found this unmet need after thinking about my own unmet needs and developing an idea that would be able to capitalize on that concept. The potential customers for this business venture include consumers who want to enjoy a meal at a sit-down restaurant but also place an emphasize on valuing their own time and having knowledge of how they are going to spend their time while at a restaurant. The main forces in the environment that are driving this unmet need are a growing culture that stresses the importance of time and the growing technology industry that has transformed the way we do business. Demographically and geographically, consumers can be found on a wide range of both spectrums. This unmet need is not limited by geography or fits only a certain demographic- it places higher prominence on the consumers themselves and their personal values and ideals. These ideals include how they view time, restaurant experiences, and technology- all of which are exhibited in my business proposal. Currently, this unmet need is not being satisfied fully. While some restaurants offer call ahead seating and will almost always tell you the estimated wait time if you call over the phone and asked, these options are not very convenient and have the chance to change in a short amount of time. The window of opportunity for my venture has the possibility to stay open as long as there is not a similar idea launched that would be able to solve the unmet need in a similar way to the one I am proposing.

Innovation

My innovation to solve this unmet need is an app called "Dining on the Go" that would show consumers real time updates on restaurant wait times. Users would be able to log onto the app and view restaurants in close proximity or look up specific establishments and see the current wait time for dining in. These times posted on the app would not only be updated by consumers who are experiencing the wait, but also by the restaurants who want to provide the best experience possible for their customers while also managing expectations. The app would have a monthly subscription, but in order to entice consumers to update their own wait times to the app to help others, we would have a tier system that lowered the price of the product based on how many times you helped update restaurant wait times in the app.  

Venture Concept

The unmet need of not knowing restaurant wait times before arriving to a sit-down restaurant will be solved with the development of my app. By allowing consumers to easily log on to an app that will not only show restaurants in your proximity but allow you to search any desirable venue, customers will have access to information they currently do not have access to that creates an unmet need. I do not think it will be fairly hard to get consumers to use my product as there are currently no other methods of solving this unmet need besides calling each individual restaurant and inquiring on their wait times- this process is tedious and often slow. Any possible weaknesses include any competitors who would be able to come out with a similar style application that would show restaurant wait times. Also, this app relies on the fact that people who dine in care enough about their experience to download and actively use this product in order to avoid waiting. A unique aspect of my business model is the pricing model. By rewarding customers who give back to the app by offering a lower subscription cost, this encourages consumers to not only use the app for their benefit but also return that favor to others who use it as well. If I were to develop this business, I would have to hire someone to actually develop the software for me as I do not have any experience in that field as well as a small team at first to help with administrative tasks such as financials and advertising.

The Three Minor Elements

I believe that my company’s secret sauce includes multiple things. First, there is currently no other product on the market like this one that would offer a similar idea and resource. Secondly, the pricing model would encourage more use of the app and maintain the continuity of it throughout time. My next venture for my business proposal includes taking the development of the app one step further by including restaurant reviews and information right in the app in order to provide all valuable information in one easy location for consumers to quickly look at and evaluate. In five years, I would hope that my business proposal would be an app that a large portion of consumers are familiar with and have used before. A possible partnership with a company such as Yelp would be an interesting take on my business as it would allow a unique opportunity to build a relationship with a well-known name while also providing my customers with more.  This is simple an additional innovation that would fit in with my overall venture, however, baby steps.