Growing Your Social Capital

At first I wasn't sure who to meet with for my domain expert but then I realized that a restaurant right in the heart of midtown just might be the right business to talk to. I went in to speak with the owner of Grill Fresh and learned a lot about the business through the eyes of the owner. Mark has lived in South Florida all his life and went to school at the University of Miami to receive a degree in business. His background in business and the fact that he has created a successful restaurant with similar ideas as the one I am creating made him the perfect option for my domain expert. Mark has made it a goal of his to offer people nutritious yet delicious food that is sourced locally from farmers. Grill Fresh prides themselves on obtaining locally sourced food from the community which is something I hope do with my business. I explained my business proposal to him and he was intrigued that it was more designed for meal prepping and eating healthy continually. Marks idea for Grill Fresh started when he was sick and tired of eating fast food and wanted to have something that was more filling and healthy. The exchange went well and I was able to get a lot of helpful feedback that he has learned throughout the years of owning this business. He was able to give me the name and phone number of one the distributors that they use to get the locally sourced vegetables that they use in their meals. Having a domain expert like Mark will be beneficial to my business because he is able to offer insight into the ins and outs of a business such as the one he has created and the one I hope to create. 

Since the market I am targeting is so vast it was a bit difficult to find a expert on the market. After much research I was able to find a business that offers meal plan recipes and helpful tools that help those get started meal prepping. They offer customers a place to start with their meal prepping journey but in a different way than I intend to. The owners have multiple degrees ranging from business, exercise science, and a nutritional specialist. They combine to offer their customers the best possible advice and helpful tools to get them on track with meal prepping. By targeting a specific group of meal preppers they have a unique insight into the market and just how to get people to use their service. I told them about my business when we talked over the phone and they loved the idea of actually meal prepping for people and selling to food to them directly for up to 5 days. They were able to give me more information into certain foods and ingredients that are beneficial to someone who meal prepping. The nutritionist on their team gave me a phone number to a local group in gainesville that is dedicated to providing help to those looking to make lifestyle changes starting with food. Everything I learned will help me further my business and expand my network for the better. They were able to connect me with other people around the community that might be interested in helping my business grow and become the best it can be. 

Finding a supplier was one of the easier tasks to find for this assignment. When I was speaking with Mark from Grill Fresh, he so kindly gave me the name and number of one of his multiple suppliers for the locally sourced fruits and vegetables they buy. He put me in contact with Red White and Blues Farm here in gainesville which supply a lot of fruit to many businesses around the area. I wasn't able to speak with the owner but the man I spoke with was very helpful. Justin went to school here at UF and got a degree in horticulture. Before going to school he lived on a farm with his family and helped his dad raise the livestock that they would distribute. His unique experiences gave him the perfect insight into being a supplier and getting his locally grown food to the community. After telling Justin about the business I was creating he was very interested in the opportunity to become one of the suppliers if it got to that point. I started asking about pricing for wholesale orders such as the one I would have to purchase for the business. They do a lot of large scale selling in and around the community so he was very informative on what I would need to do. The Red White and Blues farm even though they mostly sell fruits they are still able to enhance my networking abilities. By putting me in contact with other suppliers in the area for vegetables and other local ingredients that will enhance the food. 

This assignment was very enlightening into the world of a business owner and what really goes on in the day to day operations. This assignment enhanced my abilities for future networking events because it taught me that anyone might be able to help you further your dreams. If you find the right people that will listen to your proposal and seem intrigued they might be more than willing to offer their support. All 3 of the people I talked to gave me the number of someone who might be able to help me expand my business. It was slightly different from networking events in the past in the way that this was more of a targeted networking experience for a specific purpose. Going in and talking with these different business owners made me realize that they went through the same things starting out and know what it is like to create something from the ground up.