4A - Forming An Opportunity Belief

Step 1: I believe there exists a need for a secure, temperature controlled lock box to be used inside a refrigerator. The target market for this invention would be consumers who do not wish for the food they put in the refrigerator to be eaten by other individuals at their workplace or home.

Step 2: I have often heard the complaint from neighbors, friends, and coworkers alike that anytime they put food in the refrigerator someone else in their home or workplace will eat their food while they are not looking. Currently the method of combating this dilemma are simply putting sticky notes on containers of food to ward off potential scavengers, however if the issue persists there is little to nothing the owner can do to stop this. It is due to this factor and the fact that this has been a long established issue that has never been resolved that I am 75% confident that this is a need of consumers.

Step 3: The protypical customers for this invention would be consumers who live in multi-person households or workers who share a refrigerator at work.

Step 4 Part 1: I started off by interviewing my neighbor Zachary, who lives in a household with three other relatives. Zachary stated that he would certainly buy this product if it were to become available as nearly every time he orders food for delivery or brings home leftovers the rest of his household would eat the food he had saved for later. Zachary had attempted to hide his leftovers in a spare refrigerator to resolve this issue but had no success as his relatives simply found the extra refrigerator and ate his leftovers anyway.

Step 5 Part 1: The discussion I had with Zachary has given me enough information to conclude that this need does actually exist. The issue he had encountered with family members eating his leftovers and food he has set aside for another period are very similar to the experiences I had that inspired me to form this opportunity belief. Zachary also provided evidence to suggest that current methods to satisfy this need are ineffective and that the product I have described would fill this gap.

Step 6: I repeated this interview process twice more.

Step 4 Part 2: For my second interview I traveled to the nearby University of South Florida's Tampa campus and interviewed Jaycea, a student living on campus. Jaycea stated that as he buys food from the store to be used such as cheese and ham for sandwiches his roommate will take them and use it all before he even gets a chance to use them for himself. He added that is very irritating and that he is always getting angry at his roommate for this reason. Jaycea also expressed that a simple lock box would not help him in his situation as he often leaves his keys in his dorm room where his roommate could easily access them and open the lockbox. He instead stated that he would prefer if the lockbox was password locked rather than locked with a key.

Step 5 Part 2: The interview with Jaycea provided me with some very useful information regarding the needs of potential customers. The conversation indicated that the device I described could also be used for groceries that the user would like to keep from being as well as the previously stated safety for already made meals. Jaycea also shared a concern that I had not previously considered regarding the fact that family members could simply find the key to access the device. A password protected lock is a great suggestion that could attract a larger range of customers such as Jaycea.

Step 4 Part 3: The final interview performed was with Charles a concierge worker at the Towers Of Channelside in Tampa. Charles shares a refrigerator at work with his co-workers and states that these co-workers constantly eat his food despite him having labeled his lunch with a sticky note. Charles stated that he would certainly buy this product if it were to become available.

Step 5 Part 3: Speaking with Charles has confirmed my belief that there is a market for this device among workers who share a refrigerator and lunch place and do not wish for their lunch to be disturbed by their co-workers.

Step 7: Based on these interviews it would seem that I was correct in my belief that there is a market for a product such as this. As a result I believe my initial opportunity belief is still valid and that this product could assist customers both at home and at work with the issue of another individual eating the food they save for later. However, I did receive some suggestions on how to improve my initial idea from these interviews such as the implementation of a password protected lock rather than a key lock. Without this insight the product would likely not be purchased by a wide majority of customers who would like to use this device at home as relatives could easily find the key to the device. Based on this I believe that entrepreneurs should certainly adapt their product based on customer feedback as these ideas could very likely be shared by many more customers looking to buy the product and thus could generate a higher sales amount.