28A- Your Exit Strategy

My Exit Strategy

As I have said before the reason why I came up with the idea for Gator Garnish is, my friend and I went to a culinary club meeting on campus and when we arrived it was a cold large kitchen with people all in corners talking among themselves. When it was time to eat no one helped cooked and we were fed serving sizes of vegan cookies. I want to show people there is more to cooking then that, I want to show young adults that they can cook food that tastes good. I intend to work with the business as long as I can I would like to keep the environment very young adult-friendly so when the time comes I will pass on teaching to a person I see fit whether that be family, friend, or student. I will make the business decisions for the business then hopefully pass the business on to my children. The reason why I have chosen this exit strategy is, it fits my business perfectly. I want Gator Garnish to always feel like a home away from in order to do that having it stay in the family would help with that. Also, I personally would like to pass something that I love and is my dream on to my children, I think Gator Garnish would be something that I would want to stay in the family. I feel that my number one priority while crafting Gator Garnish was making sure the student learn, I think keeping the business within the family would only help with making sure that the business stays in the right hands and Gator Garnish can continue to do its best to teach the joy of cooking to young adults.

27A- Reading Reflection No.3

Andrew Carnegie, David Nasaw

1.   What surprised me the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie that surprised me the most is what he decided to do with his fortune. The fact that he decided to become the world’s largest philanthropist and donate so much of his money was extremely surprising to me.

b.      What did I admire the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie that I admire the most is his ingenuity. When faced with a multitude of struggles his intellect and intuition is what helped him build his empire.

c.       What did you dislike the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie I dislike the most is the way he treated his workers. It is documented that his workers would be under paid even though they were working long hours in extremely dangerous and hazardous environments.

d.      Did the entrepreneur face adversity? Then what did he do? – Andrew Carnegie has faced a lot of adversity in his life and part of the reason why he was able to create his dynasty was due to how he handled the adversity. When faced with bills that could have driven him bankrupt Carnegie revolutionized the steel making process cementing him in history.

2. What competencies did I observe? – The skills that I observed Carnegie has is he is a sort of jack of all trades. He understood business and steel making so he used his knowledge and proficiency in those two subjects and used that to build his business.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing? – I was extremely confused when he decided to use his fortune for philanthropy without thinking about his family or workers first, as the workers were under paid.

4. What two questions would you ask? – The first question I would ask is “Why steel?”, the reason why is, we know that he revolutionized steel making but I would like to know what motivated him to want to do that. The second question I would ask is “What message would you like to leave to the world?”, the reason why is, I want to know what moral compass drove Andrew Carnegie and I would like a deeper understanding of how he thinks.

5. What was the entrepreneur’s opinion of hard work? – I believe that Andrew Carnegie would think that hard work is necessary to create success. It was those sleepless nights that Carnegie worked despite almost being bankrupt that created his fortune and legacy.

26A- Celebrating Failure

My Failure

I would say that my largest failure of the semester is not releasing any music. I have been making and producing music since I was a freshman in high school and one of my largest goals right now is to release a project of music. I told myself this semester would be the time that I would release some music, but I have yet to release music and it is my largest regret. The main reason why I feel as if I have not been able to release music is fear. I have taken days of work and deleted it immediately because I am afraid of the reception I will get. This is an issue that I am working on but multiple times I have deleted completed work because I was afraid it was not good. Another reason why I have not been able to release music is because I am currently going through a writer’s block. It feels almost like I am not motivated to work on music because I am not getting any new ideas.            What I learned from this situation is to give yourself time. Sometimes we get caught up in how fast life moves and we give ourselves these expectations that we feel we have to live up to. Sometimes it helps it stop take a deep breath and not put unnecessary pressure. It's good to keep some pressure on yourself to the point where it makes you competitive. But stressing yourself to the point where you aren’t able to function is redundant to making progress. Another thing I learned is to take things one step at a time but give 100 percent to that one step. Sometimes when we fail its easy to get trapped in our own minds and stay negative/ self-depreciative. But it is important to keep moving forward even if it is a crawl. For a very long-time failure terrified me, it scared me because I placed the world on my shoulders when the issues, I was scared of failing were simple. That was because I was in my own mind. I now handle failure as motivation.  In life failure is something that can either break you or strengthen you, the key is how you use it. I have accepted that failure is a part of life but, I put my best foot forward towards doing the right thing so even if I fail I know I gave my 100 percent.

25A- What's Next

Existing Market: As for what’s next for Gator Garnish I truly believe that networking is the way forward. On Twitter, you see it every day a young aspiring chef posting photos of his food in a post letting people know that they are available for catering services. I believe extend my cooking classes reach is what truly important. Spreading the word through social media, in conjunction with the real-life classes and the YouTube cooking video would truly create a viral product. Having a foot in every form of social media so you can get the most widespread demographic is my end goal with Gator Garnish. I spoke to three sophomores in my bio study group about the market and my product. I explained my product and all the parts of it and asked the first question “What should I be adding to my product?” Ana S. said, “Fun events like Taco Tuesdays and tender Thursdays.” She elaborated that by having these special events where we sell food, we can get more and more young adults into the class. Michael C. said, “A discord chat where all people can join and get updates about event and classes.”. Next, I asked the final question “What do you think people will want next?”, Frankie P. said “More volunteer work honestly, instead of only just feeding the less fortunate more volunteer opportunities like a soup kitchen or food drives would be a good addition.”, I walked away from my interviews with a good idea of how Gator Garnish should evolve with business.

New Market: A completely different market then the one that I am catering to would be to open a restaurant or deli. The reason why this would be the opposite of my product is, I deal with teaching people how to cook so they can be independent of restaurants. I believe that this information will be extremely valuable to my product because once people who are not remotely interested in cooking hear about the value and the opportunity to give back Gator Garnish provides; I think they will give it a second thought. On this note, I spoke to Lucas T. and Shania S. young adults who do not cook and have no desire to learn, and I explained what Gator Garnish was and what it offers. I also explained the community giveback day and using the feedback I received about my idea from the last set of interviewees, I also included the fact that we would also do food drives and soup kitchens. When I finished my presentation, I asked my first question “How do you think people

like you will receive my product?” Lucas said, “I honestly think it would make be people give cooking a second thought, when you explain how much they’re receiving for the price I think they would at least give it a shot once.”.  Finally, I asked, “What do you think I should add or change to reach the most people.” Shania said, “Personally I don’t think the patreon page should be exclusive to club members, you should have a separate twitter or Facebook page so people can always keep up with the club or its events.”, this surprised me because I had never considered this I thought that updating the club was all that matters but keeping a strong online presence is vital to keep the product afloat.             I am not very surprised by this new market because just as my main market the thing that will get the customer to purchase is convincing. If I can sell my product properly and relate it to the customer personally then my product will keep growing. My main market and opportunity have not changed as it coincides with this new market I have discovered. I need to take this information and cultivate Gator Garnish so it could be open to as many people as possible.

24A- Venture Concept No.1

Business Name: Gator Garnish

Opportunity: My opportunity is called Gator Garnish and I created it to fulfill a dream. I have loved cooking as a hobby since a small child and as soon as I could I started cooking. I started with small things like pasta then I moved and now I am an experienced home cook. This skill became extremely important to me when I entered college. I saw the type of food that was in the food halls and I knew that it was not the right food to be eating. I am extremely thankful I could cook because it has helped me in so many situations where I was hungry, and I needed a meal countless time. As I moved on though I saw many young adults that just did not know how to cook. I would ask why they never learned how to cook, and they said it was either because they were too lazy to learn, or their parents simply did not teach them. This and the uprising of fast food and restaurants with delivery services such as Uber eats, and Bite Squad have more and more young adults not learn how to cook. This is why I created Gator Garnish. I wanted a way for young adults to have a safe and fun way to learn the joys of cooking themselves without any other cook limiting their ability. I wanted young adults to actually have a way to learn how to cook and not just have gluten-free cookies shoved in their face. This is an opportunity that will be here for a long time, and the need for young adults to learn how to cook will only grow from here on out.

Innovation: Culinary classes are not a new thing; they have been things for a very long time however the quality of teaching they provide is another story. Most of the culinary classes I have been to have cut corners and done everything in their power in order to maximize profit for themselves. Why is my class different? Because the emphasis is on the student, the student is the top priority. My job is to teach how to enjoy cooking and that means I give the best teaching and materials I can to the student. Other cooking clubs and classes don’t even let the student cook. They just prepare the meal in front of them then lets the crowd try small serving sizes of the food. That is not the joy of cooking. To me, if someone joins a cooking class its because they want to learn how to cook, that is why in my club the main priority is making the student is in control of the meal at all times. There should not be a moment where the student should wish they were actually learning or cooking. When they finish that meal, it should be because of their own hard work. That is the difference between my club and the others. Other culinary clubs focus is showing that food tastes good. My priority is showing the student that they made that food taste good. But the class is not the only thing they receive. For only seven dollars a month the student gets access to the class every week, along with access to our patreon page. The club patreon page will have updates for the class and dozens of regular and video recipes that I will not teach in class. Also on Fridays once a month we will take the meal that the students cook and use them to feed the less fortunate. This is a value that other culinary clubs would charge hundreds of dollars for. Yet my club is offering all of this for seven dollars. The value is what distinguishes my clubs from others.

Venture Concept: The need that I am trying to address with Gator Garnish is the rising epidemic of young adults not cooking, and to try to give back to the community. I hope to solve this issue by providing a cheap cooking class that’s run by young adults in order to show the joys of cooking and help young adults be more independent. I will do by providing a safe and enriching environment with fresh high-quality ingredients, the recipes will be taught by individuals with cooking and teaching experience and there will be enough food for leftovers as well.

The three minor elements: First my most important service or resource in my club will be the community giveback day. Even though the need for volunteers is so great barley any young adults do. Also, when it comes to food the less fortunate are almost mocked every day with how much food the U.S waste daily. The ability to feed another less fortunate person is something that brings any new young adults to the club ready to learn. The next venture I would like to pursue is competitive cooking shows, for example, I take 4 novice young adult chefs and have them cook meals for a panel of judges and we give them super expensive and high-quality materials to cook with. Either that or becoming a YouTube personality like Binging with Babish. Finally, to be completely honest I am not really sure where the venture would go personally my mission is to teach how to love cooking. If the venture becomes wildly popular and more and more class kitchens open up in Florida that would be the endgame. But overall my mission for the venture is to help young adults grow more independent and mature through cooking. Everything else hopefully will fall in line after that. Where I want to be in life is helping people learn to love what they cook that means my place will be at the head of Gator Garnish I just hope to be able to use what profit I make back towards helping the student and improving the class for the students. Because this is my mission I believe the venture will achieve my vision if I do what I need to do to provide for my students.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advanatge

1.      Environment

a.       Valuable- A good learning environment is what distinguishes a mediocre or enriching classroom. It is extremely valuable to have a safe and relaxing learning environment in order to have the students in the best condition to learn.

b.      Rarity- A good learning environment is not extremely rare but in the culinary community it should not be considered a plentiful commodity. But my kitchen will be a safe classroom where the student will not feel pressured and their creativity can work freely.

c.        Imitable- I believe that the environment that I will create will be one of a kind, because the people who are working will be the age of the student, it will feel like working with your peers rather than just taking orders. It will be more of a club than a class.

d.                  Substitutions- I do not believe that there are any substitutions for a specifically crafted safe environment. When the students walk into the kitchen it should feel like walking into a friend’s house.

2.      Recipes

a.       Valuable- The most vital part of any culinary class is the recipes. The most important thing to anything culinary is food that will actually be cooked. That is why I am making sure the recipes I use are fun, fast, cost-effective, and most importantly delicious.

b.      Rarity- A cooking class with good recipes is very rare because most cooking clubs think people just want to learn how to make chicken nuggets, fries, and cookies from hand. They do the bare minimum and you receive the bare minimum. The recipes that will be taught in my class will be delicious recipes that can feed many a full table of people.

c.       Imitable- Good recipes are very hard to imitate because when it comes to food most of the time everything is very calculated and specific. Especially when it comes to ratios and spices. That’s why the recipes for the classes will be worked out and tested before with the right amounts and calculations are given to the student so they can make the best tasting meal.

d.      Substitutions- They are some substitution that can be made to some recipes but for certain family recipes or foods they are recipes that cannot be substituted.

3.      Community Giveback

a.      Valuable- I believe that giving back to the community is a priceless commodity that society needs more of. There is no better use of time than helping the less fortunate.

b.      Rarity- Volunteering is not rare per se, yet so many humanitarian centers need volunteers. Not enough people are actually volunteers. So even though this is not rare people not volunteering is making it rare.

c.       Imitable- I believe that the system that I have would be extremely hard to replicate because of the creativity of the idea. I have never ever seen a culinary club cook meals for the less fortunate.

d.      Substitution- As I said in my rarity section, they are other substitutions to volunteer, but people do not do it because a lot of the time people are very self-centered. My club changes this by having the volunteer work be the work they are paying to do anyways. The student is still learning how to cook three meals, but the only thing is different is the meal is given to someone less fortunate.

4.      High Quality Cooking Materials

a.      Valuable- Other than the actual recipe the materials that go into the meal is the most important factor. Fresh and high-quality meat and veggies are vital because I am trying to show young adults do not have to survive on stale low-quality food.

b.      Rarity- When it comes to high quality materials it is not rare for a culinary club to use them, however, it is not conventional for financial reasons.

c.       Imitable- Any culinary club could use high-quality ingredients but will not because they try to cut corners. My club will not cut corners at all and will be providing good quality fresh ingredients.

d.      Substitution- When it comes to food ingredients, they are no substitutions for quality. If you use poor quality ingredients the meal with not come out well.

5.      Cooking Tools

a.       Valuable- The actual tools that are used to cook are extremely important. My associates and I love the world of cooking so all the tools used will be new and high-quality tools.

b.      Rarity- High-quality cooking tools are not rare, but you will not find them in most culinary clubs and classes because many will cut corners to save money. But I believe that it is vital that the students use the best tools.

c.       Imitable- This is the only part of my club highly imitable because all it takes is buying the equipment. But it’s only the cooking tools so it only makes sense others will have it as well.

d.      Substitution- They are many other substitutions to high-quality cooking tools the only issue is that the choice to downgrade may hurt in the end when the tool breaks during cooking and another has to be bought.

6.      Patreon Page

a.      Valuable- The patreon page will be extremely valuable because it will be the way the class is updated, it will have dozens of new original recipes I won’t teach anywhere else, and it will have YouTube recipes that you can follow along.

b.      Rarity- This extremely rare because I will not have those regular and video recipes anywhere else.

c.       Imitable- This would be extremely hard to imitate because of the regular and video recipes that I will upload will be completely original.

d.      Substitutions- They are some substitutions like just watching other recipes or looking at other culinary recipes for information.

7.      Teaching Experience

a.       Valuable- Having experience teaching is priceless when you are going to be a teacher. I have experience as a teacher and tutor.

b.      Rarity- It is not rare to have teaching experience but not all have it.

c.       Imitable- There is not much you can imitate when it comes to experience.

d.      Substitution- As a teacher, they are no substitutions for the experience because have the real-life knowledge and ability to relay information to a class is vital.

8.      Youth Staff

a.       Valuable- The staff on hand that will assist me teaching will also be young adults so the environment for the student will always be consistent and comfortable. Relating to the customers is the number one thing you need to do to sell your product.

b.      Rarity- When it comes to culinary class this is extremely rare usually the staff and assistants are older in age.

c.       Imitable- This is a resource that is imitable but not many young adults can cook to the the point where they would feel good teaching how to cook.

d.      Substitution- When it comes to teaching young adults, they are no substitutions for a relatable environment. This turns the class from just a class to a club and group of people who love to cook.

9.      Price

a.      Valuable- Money makes the world go around. The breaking factor for most of the customers that encounter my product will be the price. If the price is not worth the service, the product will not be bought.

b.      Rarity- The fact that I am offering my club at a price of 7 dollars a month is very rare. For the services that I am giving I am offering a very generous price.

c.       Imitable- This is very imitable other culinary classes could charge this price, but they won’t. Because their focus is cutting corners and making money.

d.      Substitution- They are no substitutions for a price, for 7 dollars my club is a price that other culinary classes and clubs would laugh at. For the price, my club is the best bang for your buck.

10.  Food Amount

a.      Valuable- At a cooking class the number one thing the student will think about is eating. They will want to actually eat the food they cook and if the amount of food is not substantial enough, they will be disappointed.

b.      Rarity- Actual sizable amount of food in cooking classes is very rare. Usually, they will want you to cook one mini serving and expect you to be satisfied. I will be showing how to cook at least 2 servings of each meal.

c.       Imitable- This is an extremely imitable resource, but many will not because they are more focused on making money instead of teaching cooking.

d.       Substitution- They are no substitution for meal size. When people eat, they want enough food to satiate them until they are hungry again, a small meal size will cause disappointment and lead to a possible cancellation of the service.

Conclusion- Overall, I felt that my recipes are the most important part of my product. When people go to a cooking class, they are expecting recipes that are fresh, fast, and delicious. If it is none of those things, then why cook it? I believe that having a well-rounded set of recipes will keep the students coming to learn and expand their repertoire.  

19A- Idea Napkin #2

Idea Napkin #2

You. – Hello, I am Aaron I am a sophomore here a UF and a Biotechnology major. I am a Home Cook. I have been cooking from the age that I could barely see over the stove top. I was home alone a lot as a child, so I would watch YouTube videos on how to cook easy recipes like eggs and pasta then slowly worked my way to where I am now where I could practically cook hundreds of recipes. I am experienced in most styles of cooking including baking and pastry making. I have served as an apprentice to my godfather who is a sous chef at a restaurant. I also have experience as a teacher through music, but I am confident I will be able to teach cooking in an effective matter. My aspirations for the club are to be able to teach young adults the joy of cooking, this project would be a passion project so it would be the main focus of my time.

What are you offering to customers? – What I am offering to my customers is a cooking class that will meet once a week (usually Saturday) and I will teach a three-course meal meaning an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The best thing about these recipes is they are affordable, fast and easy. Also, you get to take the leftovers home. With the due of 7 dollars a month you also get access to our patreon[AB1]  page that has dozens of recipes and access to our YouTube page which will have dozens of new video recipes taught by myself and my assistants. Did I mention my class has a way to give back to the community as well? On a Friday we take the meals we cook that class and we feed the homeless and less fortunate.

Who am I offering this product to? – This product is for any young adult that does not know how to cook. It does not matter how much you know how to cook, all that matters is that they want to learn and have fun.

Why should they care? – The reason why people should care about my product is the value. With the 7 dollars that they pay they would get a value that cooking classes would charge hundreds of dollars. While at the alternatives paying all that money gets you a meal that you barely cook. You get no new knowledge, nothing of value. At my class all materials and cooking utensils are provided, not to mention the patreon page that gives hours of more content and recipes.

What are my core competencies? – What sets me apart from the alternatives is the fact that I am providing a safe an easy learning environment with a value that you cannot find anywhere else. I am also providing a service that usually costs an arm and a leg for a low price. The quality and value of the product alone at its price distinguishes itself from any other cooking or culinary class.

I thoroughly believe that all the elements of my product fit well together. The reason why I feel this way is because this was intentional. I crafted all the parts to this idea in order for them to complement each other. If an idea was not efficient or did not work them, it would not be in my product at this point.

Feedback Memo- The two points of criticism I received that cultivated my idea are 1) Be more transparent with the recipes I will be teaching, and 2) Make sure the recipes are what young adults actually want. In order to do this, I laid out exactly what recipes will be taught and the quality of the recipes. I want my customers to know exactly what they are getting when they pay the class dues.

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 [AB1]

18A- Create a Customer Avatar

This is Alonzo, he is a 19-year-old sophomore in university studying biology. He lives in a nice apartment across from campus and drives a relatively new silver-gray Kia. Some of his favorite activities include playing Video Games, playing soccer, and martial arts. He has a great group of friends, and they usually do dinner parties at his house on weekends, but he always brings some hot meal from Publix or Whole Foods. He loves watching Binging with Babish, Matty Matheson, and other popular YouTube chefs. He wants to cook but is scared because every time that he has tried to cook, he’s either made a huge mess or he has hurt himself. So, he has recently started cooking eggs due to YouTube tutorials and is joining a cooking club in order to push himself further.

Final Questions

To be completely honest I have a lot in common with my character avatar, like the content we like to watch and sports that we enjoy. This is not a coincidence because I crafted my character avatar in my image except, I couldn’t cook. I crafted my avatar in my likeness because I feel like I have the life of a normal person who would join my club. Cooking enthusiast that can’t but want to learn how to cook, this desire is what will lead them to my product. That and the great value.

17A- Elevator pitch 2

Reflection
The most important piece of info or feedback back I received was that I related my information to the customer and to me that meant a lot. Because in order for a product to be successful it needs to relate to customers needs. No feedback I received was wrong or silly, but the feedback that was most useful was the advice to relate my product to my customers more and to be more familiar with the concepts of the product.

Changes
The changes I made to my next elevator pitch was I changed my location in order to focus on relating my product to the customer. Also, I made an extra effort in order to relate the concepts of my product to my customer.