Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

7a - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1)    Wait time in Restaurants

2)    Opportunity:

Students at the University of Florida get frustrated at wait times in restaurants because of busy class schedules.

-       The who: Students at UF

-       The what: They get frustrated at wait times in restaurants.

-       The why: Busy class schedules.

3)    Testing the hypothesis

-       Testing the who: It is not just people in Gainesville that have this problem but also people all over the United States. It is also not only students that have this need, but also all Americans due to the modern age and busy lives. However, I believe that in Gainesville, a large portion of the population are students meaning that this is a big customer group.

-       Testing the what: Wait time in restaurants could mean different things to different people. Frustration might also not mean the same thing to different people. Some people might get frustrated after 10 minutes, where as others might be 30 minutes. Then there might be some people that could not be bothered by waiting times at all, or just feel slight irritation.

-       Testing the why: The busy class schedules applies specifically to students, however, there could be other reasons as to why students are in a rush at restaurants such as recreational activities. Some people might not have anything after going to a restaurant but just get frustrated at the waste of time in general.

4)    Interviews

-       Interview #1

o   This student was a senior at UF. She stated that she is most often eating at restaurants on the weekend rather than the week days so most of the time she is in a rush to do other activities rather than going to class. She tries to go to events around Gainesville on weekends. However, she also stated that she gets frustrated with wait times even if she is not in a rush to get to other places. She just hates waiting, but will usually try and occupy herself with her phone or other people. She gets more frustrated when she has had a long day and is tired while waiting at the end.

-       Interview #2

o   This student is also in her last year of school and was an athlete for 4 years prior. She is still involved in the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, but this does not usually affect her frustration at restaurants. However, even though she is not competing in sport anymore, she said that she still gets frustrated as she continues to be active so when she goes to restaurants for meals, she is normally hungry so wants the food as soon as possible.

-       Interview #3

o   This student was a Junior. He normally chooses restaurants where he knows the food will be quick coming out, which is mostly what he’s worried about. He tends to go to eat at restaurants with friends, after he has done some kind of activity with them so is not really rushed for time.

-       Interview #4

o   This was an international student. She gets very frustrated at restaurants here as she said that back home you go up to pay when you are finished rather than waiting for them to bring the check, which is the part that she hates the most. Frustration for her was waiting for more than 5 minutes after finishing her meal. When asked which kind of people she thought wait time in restaurants affected the most, she said that she thought it would affect families more as parents are trying to get their kids to bed on time and that parents have their kids’ activities to rush for.

-       Interview #5

o   This was a sophomore athlete at UF. She gets meals provided for her during the week through her sport. So she does not usually think about wait time during the week. However, on Friday through to Sunday when she has to provide food for herself, she mostly cooks meals at home with friends. Occasionally she will go out to get food at restaurants but only really when she is going on date nights with her boyfriend. Normally she does not worry about the wait time during this, only at the end of the night when she’s tired and wants to go home.

5)    Summary: Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn’t know before?

-       From my interviews I learnt that it is mostly frustration due to going to other activities rather than classes.

-       I also learnt that most of the frustration comes from wait times at the end of the meal when waiting for the check. Some students, such as #3 goes to places where he knows the food will be fast, so waiting for food is not as much of a consideration.

-       It is clear from my interviews that sometimes people get more frustrated when they are tired at the end of the day and want to go home quickly.

-       From just interviewing students, issues with parents still were brought up. Maybe they would be a bigger consideration in other towns, not university towns in particular.

-       It was also clear that this sometimes affects people mostly on weekends rather than weekdays.