Testing the Hypothesis

1.  The Opportunity is the need for a chicken restaurant at Midtown in Gainesville.

2.  The who--People who frequent Midtown
     The what--they are unable to enjoy good chicken when at midtown
     The why--people want a good chicken place at midtown, to go with the other food options at midtown

3. Testing the who:  Everyone in my who has this need, but the city of Gainesville as well as a chicken chain restaurant or an entrepreneur with a recipe for chicken could have this need as well.
    Testing the what: While Relish may have chicken on the menu in some way, and so may Pita Pit (I am not exactly sure), chicken is only available on a limited basis and is not the main focus of those places.  Gainesville residents who live go to Midtown is a boundary because not all uf students go to midtown, but the need also exists for UF students because the chicken restaurant could attract new customers and patrons.
    Testing the why:  boundaries of the "why"--People want a good chicken place at Mid for many reasons.  For a student who lives nearby, he would like to be able to walk to get chicken.  For a student who enjoys going to the bars, he might want the chicken place to eat chicken after going out.  For people who spend time at nearby Lib West and Study Edge, they may want brain food.  I think the why holds for everyone and the reasons for the way are broad.

4.  Interview 1:  In this interview I talked to my roommate who does not go to Midtown that often, I asked him who would benefit from this new chicken place, what he would want in a chicken place, and why he thinks Midtown would benefit from having one.  He said he thinks all UF students would benefit because chicken is hard to come by around campus unless you live on campus and want to heed the terrible hours of the campus Chick-Fil-A's.  He said people who go to bars, live in the area, and study at the nearby libraries at all hours would benefit, but he thinks the people who satisfy the "who" are people who would want chicken at night, which sets a boundary on the who for sure.  For the what, he says he would want a fast food type chicken place, which also puts a boundary on my "what" because I think that of people want a fast food place at midtown, what is stopping them from hopping in their cars and going to a nearby drive thru.  So, this may set another boundary on having a chicken place that people can walk to.  For the question of why a chicken place would be nice, he says that the mere option of another place being available at midtown is enough to make him want to go, which is a very good response because some people may love variety however they can get it,

Interview 2:  I interviewed a girl who works at Study Edge at midtown.  She thinks the boundary on who is limited to UF students only, which is a good point because why would anyone not a UF student go to midtown? This makes me think if a chicken place could generate revenue from non UF students.  For the question of what I asked her what would a chicken restaurant add to the area she works in.  She thinks a chicken place would add appeal for people who are around midtown on a daily basis would want to try it because it's new and would add more character to area.  She also thinks that having healthy chicken options would give people who can't find healthy options a reason to come to the chicken place.  Her responses to the questions of what made me realize that having a chicken place extends beyond my original what, which is that people can't simply have chicken at mid.  For the question of why people want a chicken place, she answered simply, and it builds on her last response: people want a chicken place because there is not one.  I do believe now that this boundary is need based for the lack of not having a chicken option at midtown.

Interview 3: My third interviewee is a line worker at Pita Pit at midtown , who I asked a few questions after I ate lunch.  I asked him informally about the who, what, and why for a potential chicken place at midtown.  He says that a chicken place will attract chicken fans from all over the city if the chicken is considerably tastier than competitors.  I never even considered this before chatting with him, because I thought there would be a boundary of just uf students in the area.  When I asked him about the what, I phrased the question to Pita Pit, asking what his patrons like the most about Pita Pit.  He said the location and variety are what sets them apart from competitors.  This answer made me realize the importance of the location that meet the "what" of this opportunity.  If a pita place can do well because of location and many menu items, so can a chicken place, which will have more common items.  This question also answered my "why" because people want that extra option--why? because people want more variety.  Through my first three interviews, I have found that people wanting variety in both food items and restaurant choices is a theme in these interviews.

Interview 4:  I interviewed a restaurant manager, a friends of my mom's, in my hometown of New Orleans.  I cut to the chase with him and told him my idea.  I then asked him about who he would be appealing to, what we're providing, and why I would consider opening a chicken place in the location.  He took a very product based approach, which I thought was interesting hearing Dr. Pryor discuss the chicken restaurant that opened without knowing how to make chicken.  He told me that given the need, that there is no chicken place, the business can prosper with good chicken, and that made a lot of sense to me.  The location is perfect, we have a customer base already with uf students and people who go to midtown.  This adds some closure that the boundaries are well set up for success.

Interview 5:  For this interview, I decided to do something completely different from the previous three and call my brother who goes to college in Georgia.  I told him about midtown, and its role to the community at UF, and then told him the need and my opportunity.  I then asked him if he thought he would have this need if he was a student at UF, this question will help the "who" boundary.  He said yes, but only when he wanted chicken, and if it's not better than Chick-Fil-A he would only go after going out.  This made me wonder....how might this affect the boundary of who has our need.  However, I still see the need being bigger than just people who want food after going out, because my brother does not understand the convenience that midtown is to UF students.  This question also answered the "what" question to me, we have to be able to serve good chicken to fulfill the extended what boundary, that people may not want the chicken if it's considerably less tasty than Chick-Fil-A.  For the question of why, I asked my brother if the "why" which is people wanting to be able to get chicken while they are at midtown, is justice for the need of simply not having a place to eat chicken.  He said that it was, but make sure not to operate the business based on that need, to keep the need in mind that having a chicken place is advantageous, but the business still needs to operate smoothly.  This helps the "why" because I now see that a business, even if it satisfies a need, has to accomplish goals other than merely accomplishing a need.

Given these interviews, I learned a lot about this opportunity.  My current belief is that success of this business based on the need of chicken.  Given this need the business will be successful.  However, what I learned from these interviews that I previously did not know gave me insight to broadening the needs of the people to come to the chicken restaurant.  The Pita Pit worker told me about how they believe their customers love their variety of menu items, and the New Orleans restaurant owner told me that we can extend our need and change the who aspect to "everyone needing to try this chicken" if it is that good.  The "what" aspect of the need has changed a little bit, going from chicken based on the need from a variety of chicken dishes, as stressed by the Pita Pit and Study Edge worker.  Variety also caters to "why" aspect of the need.  A new why, the why of "People will want to try our chicken because it's a new place" was very nice to hear because it adds another aspect to the need.  Overall, I think that this opportunity fulfills my specified need and other needs that I received from my interviewees.