The people who have this need are the exhibitors of show animals and their parents. This is a need that is currently under-met, with a very limited supply and high demand. This need is located in Central Florida, particularly Polk County. Currently, the customers are meeting this need by shopping for brand name show feeds that are expensive and limited in terms of options. This opportunity could be very big, expanding from the current local area to the state and at least the region. The window of opportunity could close at any time.
The innovation that I am offering is a new animal feed that will serve as a show animal feed. It will be more inexpensive than the current feeds and will serve as a complete ration, not requiring customers to mix the feed with other products to meet their animals' needs. The exact price will be determined by the cost of manufacturing the feed, however the plan is to cut out the middleman and therefore keep the price lower. This will be done by selling directly from a mill; most feed stores mark prices up at least 20%, in my experience. Cutting this markup out will keep prices down.
The main two reasons that customers would switch are to receive a ration that is complete and because the new feed will be more inexpensive. It will be hard to get some to switch and easy to get others; it will depend on the particular person. All in all, most people will be likely to start out buying a few bags and trying the feed before they commit to switching all of their animals over to it. The competitors are Purina and Nutrina, the current two brand name feeds that have show feeds. They both have one main weakness; their prices are very high and customers do not appreciate that. If the business were to remain local, less than five employees would be needed. It would be made about two to three times a week in the mill and the same people would be able to serve the customers when they come to pick the feed up. As the market expands and the feed sells in new places, more people would be needed. The roles would basically be the same, as long as only one main feed was sold. If this expanded, a sort of feed store could be started, complete with managers and lower level employees.
The advantage that I would have in this business are my contacts. From feed representatives of 'rival' companies to the people that would actually be buying the feed, I know many people in the area that are involved in the industry.
Next for this venture would be expanding. This can be done in two ways. The first is expanding to new areas/markets. The second is expanding to new species; if we start out with only swine and cattle feed, we could expand to chicken or sheep feed in the future. One possible and very large way that this could be expanded into other breeds is by marketing it for pets, as well. By developing a new dog and cat food, for example, this would reach out to a much larger group than simply those that own show animals.
In five years, this feed company could easily expand to cover the entire state, either all operating out of one location and customers coming to me or by having different locations spread about. The main thing that I aspire to be in the next decade is successful and profitable; this company has the ability to make me both in at once.
2. I received one comment on both of the posts that relate to this one. They both explained that they liked my idea and thought that it was very thorough, with one piece that the individual felt that could be added.
3. There were no changes to my idea from the first to the second draft of it; instead, one item was added. The concept of not only expanding to other show animals, but also to begin to go into the pet food area is one that I had not thought of, but am glad to add to the potential future plans of the business.
