4A: Forming an Opportunity Belief
My Belief: I am under the belief that college students are afraid to cook their own meals because they're scared of how bad they are at cooking from their own experience. Cooking basic dishes is a relatively easy skill and I don't understand why more college students don't cook more. Instead, they resort to eating out and this tends to be very expensive as it adds up.
Description: College students, for better or worse, are lazy. Why take the time to go grocery shopping, cook, and then do the dishes after when you can get a meal delivered to you while you're sitting on the couch watching TV. Thus, the unmet need is hunger and the need to satisfy this is driven through laziness rather than action. If college students had more initiative instead of resorting to the easy option, they'd find themselves making more healthy and cheap meals rather than the fast food they constantly order through delivery services. This need has always existed and is going to further increase since technology is advancing and delivery service companies are thinking of new and creative ways to capture upon this laziness and have college students food arrive to them faster than ever.
Interview 1: My first interview is with Jared Weinerman. He's a finance major and a senior at the University of Florida. He gets food delivered to him at least once a day. I asked him questions related to the need for him to get his food delivered. He stated that when he gets hungry he doesn't think about cooking himself up a meal and rather wait for something to get delivered to him. He states that when he's hungry he's not thinking of making himself something as it's too much work. He experiences this need only when he's hungry and it only started to develop once he got to college. As his roommate, I've started to try to initiate him to cooking his own meals rather than order out so much. I've been trying to teach him to see cooking as a sort of fun activity rather than a chore. He has started to enjoy the rewarding feeling of cooking a meal and enjoying it.
Interview 2: My second interview is with Kyle Leeman. He's also a finance major at the University of Florida. While he doesn't get his food delivered to him as much as my other roommate, he still gets food delivered to him frequently. He has a car so it's easier for him to get his groceries at Publix. The nature of his need states from him not wanting to put the effort to drive to Publix every time he gets hungry and cook himself a meal. As I'm also his roommate, I've decided to go with him to Publix once a week to encourage him to think of grocery shopping as a fun activity rather than a chore. I taught him to love the fact of not knowing what to buy and to love shopping rather than hate it.
Interview 3: My last interview is with Mitch Harounian. He's a general business major at the University of Florida. During his freshman year, Mitch found himself gaining a considerable amount of weight because of how frequently he ordered in. During his sophomore, junior, and senior years Mitch ordered in much less frequently and amplified the amount of times he stayed in to cook his own meals. I asked him where his needs previously came from and how they've changed with the change he made in his eating habits. He stated that he used to order in food as an instinct when he was a freshman, not realizing the potential future consequences. Now, he's made an active effort to cook food himself. He stated that the health and cost benefits far outweigh the comfortability aspect of ordering food.
Reflection: I've learned that my belief effects more people than I could've imagined in different ways. While seemingly a simple decision, the decision to order in food or cook food carries several potential outcomes. This has brought into my attention that laziness among college students is a severe issue. All 3 people I interviewed find themselves eating out most meals even though cooking seems to be the far better option from a cost and health perspective. Although I only interviewed 3 people, I think this is a great sample size for all college students.
Summary: I definitely think the opportunity is there to capitalize on my belief. If I get people to understand the benefits that are attached to cooking your own meals and realize the negative impact that ordering in carries, I can get people to join my movement and understand how serious my belief is. Especially with how today's college students are so health-conscious, it's easy to see how successful my opportunity can be. All the healthy restaurants in Gainesville are wildly successful because of how rare they are compared to the plentiful amount of fast food restaurants available. Thus, I think my original belief stands and that I can definitely make a successful opportunity out of this situation to start getting college students to cook more with my ideals.
Description: College students, for better or worse, are lazy. Why take the time to go grocery shopping, cook, and then do the dishes after when you can get a meal delivered to you while you're sitting on the couch watching TV. Thus, the unmet need is hunger and the need to satisfy this is driven through laziness rather than action. If college students had more initiative instead of resorting to the easy option, they'd find themselves making more healthy and cheap meals rather than the fast food they constantly order through delivery services. This need has always existed and is going to further increase since technology is advancing and delivery service companies are thinking of new and creative ways to capture upon this laziness and have college students food arrive to them faster than ever.
Interview 1: My first interview is with Jared Weinerman. He's a finance major and a senior at the University of Florida. He gets food delivered to him at least once a day. I asked him questions related to the need for him to get his food delivered. He stated that when he gets hungry he doesn't think about cooking himself up a meal and rather wait for something to get delivered to him. He states that when he's hungry he's not thinking of making himself something as it's too much work. He experiences this need only when he's hungry and it only started to develop once he got to college. As his roommate, I've started to try to initiate him to cooking his own meals rather than order out so much. I've been trying to teach him to see cooking as a sort of fun activity rather than a chore. He has started to enjoy the rewarding feeling of cooking a meal and enjoying it.
Interview 2: My second interview is with Kyle Leeman. He's also a finance major at the University of Florida. While he doesn't get his food delivered to him as much as my other roommate, he still gets food delivered to him frequently. He has a car so it's easier for him to get his groceries at Publix. The nature of his need states from him not wanting to put the effort to drive to Publix every time he gets hungry and cook himself a meal. As I'm also his roommate, I've decided to go with him to Publix once a week to encourage him to think of grocery shopping as a fun activity rather than a chore. I taught him to love the fact of not knowing what to buy and to love shopping rather than hate it.
Interview 3: My last interview is with Mitch Harounian. He's a general business major at the University of Florida. During his freshman year, Mitch found himself gaining a considerable amount of weight because of how frequently he ordered in. During his sophomore, junior, and senior years Mitch ordered in much less frequently and amplified the amount of times he stayed in to cook his own meals. I asked him where his needs previously came from and how they've changed with the change he made in his eating habits. He stated that he used to order in food as an instinct when he was a freshman, not realizing the potential future consequences. Now, he's made an active effort to cook food himself. He stated that the health and cost benefits far outweigh the comfortability aspect of ordering food.
Reflection: I've learned that my belief effects more people than I could've imagined in different ways. While seemingly a simple decision, the decision to order in food or cook food carries several potential outcomes. This has brought into my attention that laziness among college students is a severe issue. All 3 people I interviewed find themselves eating out most meals even though cooking seems to be the far better option from a cost and health perspective. Although I only interviewed 3 people, I think this is a great sample size for all college students.
Summary: I definitely think the opportunity is there to capitalize on my belief. If I get people to understand the benefits that are attached to cooking your own meals and realize the negative impact that ordering in carries, I can get people to join my movement and understand how serious my belief is. Especially with how today's college students are so health-conscious, it's easy to see how successful my opportunity can be. All the healthy restaurants in Gainesville are wildly successful because of how rare they are compared to the plentiful amount of fast food restaurants available. Thus, I think my original belief stands and that I can definitely make a successful opportunity out of this situation to start getting college students to cook more with my ideals.
I like your interest in learning why students do not cook for themselves more often and resort to buying prepared meals. I, too, also find that although cooking can be a long process, however, it really depends on the complexity of the dish. It is possible though, that one does save time from buying food if he or she is buying food that is particularly complicated. However, I do believe that learning how to cook is a beneficial life skill as you cannot always depend on others to prepare meals for you.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting and relatable post coming from one college kid to another. It is all too easy for students to forgo the grocery trips in favor of quick, already made meals despite the price tag attached to them. I think you're absolutely right about your belief and especially about how successful the healthier restaurants are in Gainesville. I really enjoyed reading about this, particularly the interviews with your roommates. It is curious to think how you took the initiative to promote healthier eating to your roommate, Kyle. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great observation, being a college student myself I see all too well the amount of times friends of mine go out to eat instead of even giving cooking a try. Personally, I love to cook, but this plays a huge part in Gainesville and how students here eat, especially with all the unhealthy chains in the area. I hope more people take your belief into consideration because healthy eating is a great thing everyone should be doing. Great Post!
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