20A--Growing Your Social Capital

1. 

a. Owner of "New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co."--chain of restaurants in the New Orleans area.

b. domain expert, he started as a bus boy and has worked his way up to the point of co-owner of his current restaurant.  He has worked at some of the finest restaurants in the city, and his had both failures and successes in the restaurant business.

c. I found the person because my mother served as a waitress when he was a busser, and she got me in contact with him via text.

d. I sent him a video of my elevator pitch and asked him to evaluate it and give me a tip on the food quality aspect of the restaurant.  He told me that the most important thing to do is make food the same way every time--quality and repetitiveness are keys to having success.  The return expectation is for me to be able to show him how he helped my business.  He is adamant on taking his advice not only because of his experience, but also because he has failed in the restaurant business in the past.

e. This man will help enhance my ability to exploit the opportunity because he has succeeded in one of the most competitive culinary environments in the world.

2.

a. Manager at Felipe's in Gainesville

b. Market expert, turned a build your own burrito restaurant into an outdoor patio restaurant that students fill up to enjoy burritos and Margaritas.  He saw the potential of the restaurant with the lots of open space, great outdoor area, and great location close to campus, and he began to advertise happy hour with great deals.  Now, Felipe's is a hot spot for students to unwind and enjoy drinks and atmosphere.

c. I came in contact with him one weekend while I was there and asked him how this restaurant, which is a normal restaurant in my hometown, is closer to a bar in Gainesville, and he told me how they transformed the public view of the restaurant.

d.  He told me that he realized the potential of Felipe's as a bar when he saw the patio space that the outside seating area had.  So, he planned on clearing it out one Friday afternoon and advertising with flyers on campus that they were serving bogo Margaritas.  The people showed up, and from then on Felipe's as we know it was born.  He said you have to think like a college kid when you are in the business of serving college kids.  He compared his vision of the restaurant to when he was in college looking for houses to rent.  He saw a house, looked at the patio and thought how great it would be to host gatherings.  He told me he had that same feeling with the felipe's patio when he first started working there.  In return, he said that he'd stop by if my business every got off the ground, and he'd let me know if I wasn't using my space efficiently.

e.  Having him in my network will not only help me to form ideas, but it will help me to model my business after one of the most successful college hangout destinations in Gainesville.

3.

a. I talked to an employee at Captain Sid's Seafood in Metairie, LA, one of the the largest seafood suppliers in the state of Lousiana.

b. He is a supplier of fresh catch to restaurants all over the city, and Captain Sid's his been in the business for 60 years now.

c. I found the person by walking into their seafood market earlier this week, told him about my business opportunity, and asked if I could ask for advice.

d.  He said he'd give me one piece of advice--to understand that suppliers will go the great lengths to make sales with a restaurant.  Suppliers are the salesmen of the restaurant business, and they never want to lose a client.  In return, I thanked him for his time and told him I would patronize his market for the foreseeable future in New Orleans.

e.  This connection can help me to gain leverage over my future suppliers to maximize cost-saving potential.

This experience will affirm to me that any encounter with a person can be a networking event. No mater where I am or what my objective is, there truly always is a networking opportunity available.  This experience was different than some of my past networking encounters because I had to seek out these people; in the past friendly conversation has led me to forming a new network.  I am still relatively new to networking, but this assignment was truly the first time I have actually had the intent of forming a network.