Hi my name is Katie Austin and I am a junior at the University of Florida. I am a smoothie and health food enthusiast and am seeking to start my own juice bar. I am so sick of drinking sugar filled smoothies from the places here in Gainesville so I am going to start my own. I will run the store for the first year or two almost on my own to save money. Once we are an established store I will hire on a couple of employees to help me out. My juice bar will be open all day and through the night to give college students a healthy alternative at all hours. Our smoothies and food will be 100% organic but priced well and delicious. My biggest target are UF students because my juice bar will be located in midtown across from the library, although I think we will attract other people as well. Late night we will target students leaving the library so they no longer have to settle for a hamburger and can eat alternative. I am opening my juice bar because I care about the students of UF and their health. As a UF student I know how little healthy options there are for us nearby campus and I know how much of a demand there is for some. I am doing this for the people so that we can be a healthier campus. What we have that no one else has is well priced healthy food and smoothies. Forget about the $6 sugar filled smoothie and come try our all organic $4.50 smoothie. We provide quality food at a reasonable price.
My idea is starting to come together better but a lot of it seems a little unfeasible. I really want to provide well priced organic food but I also know how expensive it is to buy organic so I have a feeling it may end up being more expensive than I would like. I also think I may need to hire on at least one person to help me out so that I can get the sleep I need to function well.
The feedback I received didn't really help me that much because a lot of people just liked my ideas. I think had I gotten more constructive criticism, I could have continued to grow my product into what I hope it becomes. This has helped me understand how important criticism is, and how we really need it.
Hi Katie! I am always in the library late at night and am frustrated by the lack of healthy options available to me. I think there is definitely a need for something like this close to campus since there is nothing available now. I do think price point will be an issue since organic foods are usually expensive. I wonder if reaching out to local businesses and suppliers would help lower costs? How would you pay that first person your hire? I think that you should reach out to local farmers and grocers to try and see what the price of bulk ordering food would actually be. Here is my blog: http://meganerobb.blogspot.com/2016/03/idea-napkin-no-2.html
ReplyDeleteKatie, I'm loving your reason for your juice shop. I chose my venture idea due to the same need here at UF. I tend to make smoothies or juices at home due to the same reasoning your proposing your business. The local businesses offering smoothies add unnecessary amounts of sugar, when it has already plenty of natural sugars in its makeup with various fruits. The only concern is that in order for the fruit to stay sweet it must be fresh, so having that availability of perfectly ripe fruit can be costly, but definitely an obstacle that can be easily handled! Feel free to check out my blog: http://entgrod.blogspot.com/2016/03/idea-napkin-number-2.html
ReplyDeleteHello Katie, I enjoyed reading your napkin idea. As a healthy enthusiast, I will definitely be a repeated customer! I am sorry to hear that you could not get much feedback last time, so I will give you some ideas about the store. I think you should offer the customers to customize their smoothie option. I believe this sells point will attract more various kinds of people. Also, it would be nice to have other food menu in the store. Great Work!
ReplyDeleteYou can take a look my post here. http://yukikokurashima.blogspot.com/2016/03/idea-napkin-no-2.html#comment-form
Katie, I think a juice bar at midtown would do very well. However, I agree that a good tasting smoothie with organic ingredients at $4.50 seems unfeasible. Quality ingredients especially fruit, will be costly. I do think people who are conscious about their health are willing to pay for quality so I don't think you should worry so much about the price. If the juice is really good, kids will buy it. You should focus more on the quality and taste of your juice and promote a healthy atmosphere and lifestyle within your juice bar. If people feel healthy when they walk into your bar, and when they consume your products, $6 is worth it.
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