M&J Catering and Hosting will be a business initiative, which will be comprised of four major elements. However, one should note that an isolated and prefabricated business model cannot be integrated at its fullest without some form of preliminary testing and measurements. Therefore, it is critical for such an approach to utilize the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which will offer the core of the product or service (Dennehy et al., 2019). In other words, MVP will be the initial practical implementation of the business model in a real market, where customers are able to give feedback and provide directions for improvements (Olsen, 2015). The selected target segment will be based on the cuisine option for vegans, which primarily focuses on avoiding animal products as food ingredients.
The Minimum Viable Product will be built based on the vegan option, where meals will adhere to the desired restrictions. It is important to point out that one of the essential aspects of M&J Catering and Hosting is the use of grills and smokers for meats. Thus, the cuisine will not abandon the given advantage by merely replacing real meat with vegan analogs. In other words, customers will not be deprived of the experience of grilling, smoking, and sauce utilization. The MVP will include vegan meats, pasta, Indian Frankie, mushroom burgers, Mediterranean eggplant wraps, lentil soups, peanut butter cookies, brownies, ice creams, and puddings. Therefore, there will be a total of ten vegan meals, among which six will be regular ones, and four will be desserts. Such a cuisine option is consistent with the selected value proposition because it is minimal but still provides a variety and diversity to customers. The main reason is that it includes typical burgers, meat-like products, street foods, culturally-derived foods, regular soups, as well as delicious desserts.
One should be able to understand the customer priorities in order to relate MVP features. In the case of M&J Catering and Hosting, the majority of customers will be NYC-based, which means that they will be highly diverse, both culturally and socioeconomically. The MVP will be effective at identifying the valid and implausible aspects of the business because it combines a minimum range of foods, which will satisfy a vegan’s dietary needs. For example, street food options might be appealing to people, who wants to have a vegan option, but does not wish to spend too much. The presence of ethnic food, such as Frankie, will be appealing to individuals from India, who are most likely to be vegan or vegetarian. Therefore, the MVP is the most compact package, which suits the diverse setting of New York City and its customers.
The test plan for the MVP will be simple in terms of offering the service for a minimal price or free. Firstly, a list of upcoming events with potential vegan customers will be created. Secondly, they will be contacted by M&J Catering and Hosting with an offer of hosting the event. The next step will focus on the ones who agreed to have the company’s services. However, it is important to note that if there will be a multitude of accepted offers, only the ones with the most vegan participants will be prioritized. In order to avoid hurting the company’s brand and reputation due to potential rejection, the service might not be provided through the presentation of M&J Catering and Hosting. Therefore, the metrics will be manifested in customer recommendations, client ratings, and the popularity of certain meal options. In the case of logistics and operational plan, all heavy grilling and smoking equipment, as well as food ingredients, will be transported to the site, and some will be put in freezers. However, the majority of preparation will be done prior to transportation in order to speed up the on-site cooking process.
References
Dennehy, D., Kasraian, L., O’Raghallaigh, P., Conboy, K., Sammon, D., & Lynch, P. (2019). A lean start-up approach for developing minimum viable products in an established company. Journal of Decision Systems, 28(3), 224-232.
Olsen, D. (2015). The lean product playbook: How to innovate with minimum viable products and rapid customer feedback. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.