1) You
I am a Redshirt Junior on the University of Florida Swimming
Team. I am originally from New Zealand and have been in Florida for 3 years. I
am a Horticultural Science major. Being a student athlete, I live a very fast
paced and time restricted lifestyle. Therefore, I have had to manage my time
effectively to balance school and swimming. I believe time management is relevant
to many other people in today’s busy society. I am experienced in using
applications on mobile devices, as I often use aps to manage my life; to
communicate with family at home, to order food, to assist my school work, to
email school and swimming related people.
2) What are you offering to customers?
I am offering an app that connects customers and restaurants,
letting you check out on your time. This allows you to beat waiting times for
the check and get on with your busy life. The server would give you a number at
the start of your meal which correlates with your meal number on the app, when
you order food or drinks, the restaurant will enter this in the system, so you
can pay for everything when you are finished. They will be notified when you
pay.
This app is for customers and for restaurants in Gainesville.
It is designed specifically for students, aged approximately 18-24, in
Gainesville as this is a University town and nearly 40% of the population in
Gainesville are students. Specifically, the app targets Sophomores, Juniors, and
Seniors, students that have transport, do not consistently eat on campus, and
are readily involved in activities. The restaurant will correlate order numbers
with tables and this will upload to the app so the customer is able to access
their order. This app has more of a focus on students, as they are growing with
the new age of technology, and, in general, are time restricted by living
busily. They also tend to have up to date and modern technology. Although
parents and high school kids are also busy, students tend to have cards to pay
with and the technology available for this.
This app can help daily life and benefit both restaurants
and customers. Restaurant business might think, what are they getting out of
this? But saving time for customers also means that tables are cleared faster
and new customers can fit in, meaning more productive flow of customers.
Servers can also focus more on attending to customers ordering food and
providing quality service as they have one less task to do. The stress of
taking a long time for the check and receiving criticism from customers diminishes,
meaning happier staff. Customers can save valuable time where they could be studying
for a test, doing activities with friends, or going to appointments.
5) What are your core competencies?
EasyPay is a way to beat time. But beat time with things
that you already have with you. You already have your phone, and you already have
your card information, why not utilize them? This is focused on not only
efficiency, but effectiveness also. Effectiveness which stems from being
proactive and making the most of every day. Through my experience of
restaurants in New Zealand, and England, I can provide a unique perspective. I
also have an advantage as I am an athlete and in the age where cell phones can
assist everything. I also have access to athletes who live very busy lives for
feedback.
Evaluation:
This is based off the idea that
students will be using cards rather than cash, so I need to find a solution to
serve a larger demographic. The app could maybe signal the server to say to pay
with cash. I believe I need to develop more skills about making an app, and
also learn more about the experience of being a server, and what restaurants
view about the waiting time. Therefore, I would get the business’s opinion too.
I also have a problem when it comes to people who do not mind waiting. Some
places already have solutions to this problem, so I would need to prove that
mine is better, this could be through gathering more resources. Being an
athlete and international student fits well with this plan but I definitely
think the skills and experiences section is still lacking.
Great evaluation at the end. It is crucial that you get restaurants feedback on this since they will also be your customer and users of this application. It great that you have identified that people with cash might no need it, and have found a route for them to go while still using your service. And ultimately, YES, learn a little bit about the technical skills needed to grow and build any business you plan on being involved in. This will make the people you hire to do the real app developing respect you for also knowing a bit of their field, and it will also allow you to monitor the progress and your employees with a bigger perspective. My favorite example of this is how Elon Musk knew nothing about building rockets but took it upon himself to learn everything he could so he could be as competent and engage in conversation with the actual rocket scientist.
ReplyDeleteHello Georgia, I love your idea. This is something that is very innovative and useful. I cannot believe this is not already something that is being used. This product will help both restaurants and its customers. It will speed up the process as well as make it easier. I can see this turning into a multi billion dollar app being used all around the world.
ReplyDeleteHey Georgia, I really like your idea and I feel like it would work exceptionally well in college areas because it would save students a bunch of time and also benefit the restaurants as well. Since technology is advancing at such a rapid rate, it would be very nice to see us adapt and use it to our advantage.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really cool concept and can be seen similarly to whatever overarching company owns Chili's. They have little iPads on stands called "Ziosks" that allow you to order food, pay your check, and even buy games to play whenever you so choose. The problem with their concept with how often these freeze up and restart; every time this happens your whole order and tab is wiped clean and you need personal assistance to move on. With your idea being in an app it would allow people to use their smart phones, which are incredibly more reliable devices.
ReplyDelete