9A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

9A – Hypothesis 2

For this assignment, I found it fairly easy to find people who were just outside my boundary. The amount of people who track their food on a daily consistent basis is small. Here are the people that were included in my interviews:

Brent, 24, New to food tracking

Marlana 22, Server at her family mom and pop eatery (Sweet Yams)

Nick, Experienced Food Tracker

Gabby, 27, Tracks food but rarely eats out

Emily, 27, Experienced Food Tracker

Who: Three out of the five people that I interviewed were just outside the boundary. The people that fall outside of my boundary share a lot in common by tracking food or Marlana works for her family that could offer a scannable menu. The reasons for just being outside the boundary are because they hardly eat out so they do not see the need or benefit someone would get from having a scannable menu. Gabby said she wasn’t inconvenienced by putting in her food the way she does now. Marlana felt as a smaller establishment, she doesn’t know what kind of money that would take because they do not update their menu often.

What: My opportunity is based upon personal experience with tracking food and the effort it takes in trying to remain compliant when eating out. My goal was to make it easier for the health-conscious consumer to enjoy their meal times more when they go out. Brent mentioned he was feeling unsure about maintaining consistency in tracking his food because he often forgets or its too hard to guess how many calories are in a food if he can’t find it in the app. Marlana does not like the idea because most healthy people don’t go out to eat. (Haha) I thought this was an interesting take from her because her restaurant is geared towards gluten free, vegetarian soul food.

Why: No, I did not feel that the underlying cause of the outsiders need was different from the inside boundary.

Summary: Despite the outside boundary of my market not really liking the idea of the service/product, there is still a lot of promise for my opportunity within the fitness and food tracking market of people. Emily mentioned the market of people who track their food as being small. While I agree, that didn’t stop the success of fitness trackers themselves in the market. Therefore, I know exactly what my market is and have learned it is not for small businesses even if they do promote to be healthier.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who: Chain Restaurants and people who use food tracking apps.	Who: People who have no interest in tracking their calorie intake. Small family owned restaurants, people who cook at home, or people who track but don’t go out to eat.
The need is: Wanting to cater to health conscious customers. Consumers want easy.	The need is not: The need is not going to make people eat healthier or encourage people who don’t track their food to suddenly track their food.
Why does it exist? Today’s society is becoming more health conscious. People wanting to become healthy and restaurants are offering “light menu items.”	Alternative Explanation: Tracking your calories is not easy. Especially if you do not cook at home.