Forming An Opportunity Belief

1/2: With the exponential growth in Gainesville’s population, I believe there’s a huge opportunity to start a large-scale farmers market in the West Gainesville area, near Archer Road. This area of Gainesville is ridden with corporate and national fast food and supermarket chains, like Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Publix, and Whole Foods. Most of the University of Florida’s student population lives within a mile of this strip of Archer, and there are no local grocery or restaurant options. This leads students to choose more quick and unhealthy options, due to the convenience. While people can go to Publix and Whole Foods to get their produce, fruit, and meat, these options are expensive, making affordability tougher for college-age residents. This opportunity of a local farmers market is clearly there because of the lack of local options and the growing need for fresh food in this area of Gainesville.

3: The prototypical customer is anyone who regularly buys groceries in the West Gainesville area, from 34th Street to I-75.
4: Iteration #1 - Amanda B.
Where do you usually do your shopping?
A: I go to Publix and Trader Joe’s.
How often do you shop on Archer Road?
A: I go shopping on Sundays.

Would you benefit from a daily farmers market near Archer Road?
A: Oh yeah, definitely. I’d rather go to a farmers market than Publix.

Why would you benefit from a farmers market?
A: Publix produce and meat is pretty expensive, and I think a farmers market would be cheaper. I don’t get money from my parents, so I work to be able to go to the grocery store. Having a cheaper, fresher option would be so much better.
Have you thought about the opportunity of a farmers market before now?
A: Not at all, since literally all of Archer’s options are just big chains.

Do you regularly go to the downtown farmers market?
A: No, it’s too far. I don’t have a car.
Iteration #2 - Jacob S.
Where do you usually do your shopping?
A: I go to Walmart.
How often do you shop on Archer Road?
A: I eat out a lot, so maybe once a month.
Would you benefit from a daily farmers market near Archer Road?
A: I guess it would be cool to have a farmers market in that area.
Why would you benefit from a farmers market?
A: I wouldn’t benefit personally, but I know a lot of people would like to have a fresh market in that area. Archer is full of fast food, so it would be nice.
Have you thought about the opportunity of a farmers market before now?
A: Not really.

Do you regularly go to the downtown farmers market?
A: Not at all. I didn’t even know there was one.
Iteration #3 - Bismarck C.
Where do you usually do your shopping?
A: I go to Earthfare and Trader Joe’s.

How often do you shop on Archer Road?
A: Every week.
Would you benefit from a daily farmers market near Archer Road?
A: Definitely! I love the farmers market in downtown Gainesville, but it’s a bit far for me.

Why would you benefit from a farmers market?
A: Having a farmers market near me would be amazing. I’d go there instead of the supermarkets I go to.
Have you thought about the opportunity of a farmers market before now?
A: All the time. I grew up on a farm, and always thought about how great it would be to bring farmers from all over to this area.


5: Reflection
These encounters went different than I expected. Most people are happy going to Publix or Whole Foods, but Amanda works for her food, so the chance to have a cheaper option like a farmers market was great for her. Jacob, like many residents, prefer faster options like those on Archer, and are resistant to cooking at home. The farmers market would not have much effect on him. Lastly, the best interview was with Bismarck, which is the perfect customer for the potential farmers market. This is who the market would be for.


7: Summary
While I thought everyone would be excited about this potential opportunity, I guess the customer base is much smaller than I expected. Many people would benefit from a fresh farmers market, but most are religiously attached to Archer’s fast food and corporate supermarket options. I realized that customer feedback is extremely important to figure out who your customer base is and the interest in your idea,

Comments

  1. Alex FastJanuary 21, 2019 at 10:33 AM

    Great post, Federico!

    Considering UF is such a large school with a huge agricultural college and surrounded by farmland, it's surprising that there isn't a large farmer's market to tap into the city's young population's desire for healthy local food. However, one must consider the trade-offs. Farmer's Markets are most often not open for long, daily hours like Publix and Whole Foods. In addition, from my own personal experience, there doesn't seem to be much difference in price and the only noticeable difference is in non-organic produce, but for many people, the ease of Publix (like familiar parking and layout, a one-stop for everything and not just produce as well as not having to deal with multiple vendors) outweighs the savings of a couple of dollars. Still, I love farmer's markets and supporting local farmers, craftsmen and cooks and I'd be happy to see more of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amy CookJanuary 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM

    Hi Federico! I love your idea of the farmer's market. You may know this, but there is actually already a Gainesville Farmer's Market in Bo Diddley Plaza every Wednesday. There is also a Farmer's Market in Haile Plantation every Saturday. I know both of these locations are a little bit further from Archer, but they are still quite close to the Archer area. It also may be difficult to find a location around Archer that is spacious enough for the vendors to set up and has enough parking for patrons to visit. Maybe you could think through these current problems related to the opportunity or think about another way so you can accomplish your goal of providing the people of Gainesville with healthy food!

    ReplyDelete
  3. KirbyMcMullenJanuary 21, 2019 at 7:50 PM

    Fredrico,
    I really like this idea of starting up a farmer’s market more on that side of town. Every Wednesday there is a local farmers market that is held downtown. I do think this gets a lot of attention and a decent amount of people go. If there was a bigger scale around the archer area, I think would it would attract a lot more college students, whereas the one downtown is more Gainesville locals.
    -Kirby

    ReplyDelete

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