- Competitors:
Premade Meals:
Katie’s Plates
Nourish Foods
Fresh n Lean
Icon Meals
The Caf
Eat Clean Bro
Meal Prep:
Hello Fresh
Mealfit Birmingham
Sun Basket
Hungry Root
Blue Apron
Home Chef
Martha & Marley and Spoon
Daily Harvest
Fresh Direct
Green Chef
Veestro
Vending Machines:
Healthy You Vending
Naturals 2 Go
Canteen
Discount Vending
Vencoa Vending Machines
Vend Natural
Fresh Healthy
Food Delivery Services:
DoorDash
Waitr
GrubHub
Uber Eats
2. How do we differentiate from competitors?
Most healthy vending machines have snacks, drinks and frozen meals, including KIND bars and Naked juice, from well-known brands, and only some have packaged fruit. However, I have not seen any that have fresh food that is made daily or within that week. Although the problem of shelf life appears, this will differentiate us from competitors. In addition, we will specifically target college students and provide this healthy, fresh food at a low cost and convenience on college campuses. We will have partnerships with local grocery stores and restaurants to reuse their unwanted produce because a majority of supermarkets throw out most of their produce after one day. We also will stand out by eliminating food waste by giving unpurchased food from our vending machines to a local homeless shelter.
3. What specific problems within our idea will we focus on?
We will be providing healthy, fresh food while also eliminating food waste.
4. Is your proposed a product, service or both?
Both – we will be providing products (freshly packaged meals made from unwanted produce) while also providing a service (giving unsold inventory to homeless shelters). To stand out, we could just do the product because other companies do not provide that same thing, but to differentiate ourselves even more, we need both of the product and service.
5. What’re the specific components of your potential solution that uniquely solve this problem?
Our solutions are to offer an affordable price for college students, convenience for pre-packaged food that is located on campus and eliminates the need for cooking, and using unwanted produce from companies and giving unsold inventory to a homeless shelter that would otherwise be thrown away.
6. What specific questions does this analysis raise for you in terms of evaluating the viability of your idea?
What is the shelf life of the food?
What are the conditions for placing the vending machines on campuses?
What are the regulations and guidelines for getting food from stores and restaurants?
Will students be willing to pay with their own money for the products?
How many vending machines will need to be on each college campus to see a profit?
How often will meals be added to the vending machine?