In this assignment, I am required to find a solution to a customer need.
Remind me again; what's the problem?
Many students are poor, yet we have a reputation for eating out a lot. I think we would be able to save more money if we had the option of heating up food from home on campus. All the students that I have spoken to agree! It doesn't make sense to buy a $5 sandwich from Starbucks when we could just starve through lecture instead and eat at home. Furthermore, it would provide us with an opportunity to make healthier choices because the only food options on campus are Starbucks, Panda Express, Chipotle, etc. None of these places offer the option of purchasing a healthy meal at a reasonable price. And many of them require a hike! Not all students are able to get to the other side of campus for lunch between classes and wait in a 10 minute line for a meal that doesn't provide proper nutrition.
So what's the solution?
My solution is to set up heating stations around campus - mainly in libraries. These heating stations would consist of microwaves and sanitary wipes. Ideally, three or four microwaves would be provided and students can maintain them by cleaning up after themselves. I think it would also be a great idea for there to be a frozen foods vending machine near this heating station for students who didn't bring a meal but still want something hot and at a more reasonable price. A $0.94 chicken pot pie is filling and certainly a more financially feasible lunch than that $5 sandwich from Starbucks.
Rana, I like your idea of heating stations around campus but things take a bit to heat up even in microwaves. It takes a few minutes for food to be heat up and only having three or four microwaves would not be suffice. The heating stations would need a communal heating device that is big enough for ten to twenty people to put their food into at the same time. If not, I don’t think the microwaves will heat enough people’s food at the same time for it to be an opportunity UF would invest in.
ReplyDeleteHey Rana, great idea. I think that having heating stations easily accessible to students would only improve the student body's quality of life. I always feel like i'm spending too much money eating out, and this would help me budget significantly. I feel like their are many students that are in similar situation as me, and this would help them as well.
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