Living in Jacksonville, Fl is literally being surrounded by water everywhere you turn. From the river, beaches, creeks you can find something to do with water. Jacksonville is also a breakout city in the Craft Beer scene here in Florida. Craft breweries are popping up in certain areas of town but most of them do not offer a good selection of food if any at all. Many people such as myself enjoy going to these breweries to sit down and have a beer but then you have to leave and find a place to eat. This is not always convenient and leaves you wishing that you could almost have a one stop shop for your craft beer and meal needs. The problem with Jacksonville is that it is so large in land mass that to get from one area of town to the other can take you 30 minutes if not longer depending on traffic. Most craft breweries in Jacksonville have chosen locations fairly close to one another and this leaves the market wide open for other parts of town. I live in a area called Ortega and it is surrounded by people that love the water, a good time, and a nice place to eat. The closest brewery from this area would take you about 25 minutes to get to and there is no food served at this location. My idea would be to open a craft brewery that also serves as a seafood restaurant. Not only would this put a restaurant right by the river that serves seafood (makes sense) it would also serve as a local craft brewery. I'm 80% sure that this opportunity exists for this specific area and would be a success.
Prototypical Customer Interactions:
Male in early 40's (from Ortega area)
Do you enjoy craft beer?
-"Yes, my wife and I go to Intuition a lot downtown. The only thing that we dislike is the parking and traffic situation to get there."
Have you ever wished this area had a brewery that also served food?
-"It is something that has crossed my mind. I know there is a lot of untapped potential on this side of town and I feel that both young and older residents could enjoy something like that."
What if the restaurant served seafood as it's primary choice?
"I think seafood would be a good choice being that we are by the water. I'm not sure how well certain beers would pair with seafood but it could be good."
All in all if this brewery/seafood restaurant were to open would you be a customer?
"Absolutely, I know other people in this area that have talked about there not being much seafood choices around here and adding craft beer to the equation sounds like a win-win for the community."
REFLECTION:
I believe that with this male being in his early 40's played a part in his decision making. He drinks beer which is a plus and he also likes seafood. He would be the type of customer I would want and need to attract in order to keep things up and running.
Male in mid 60's (from Ortega area)
Do you enjoy craft beer?
"To be honest it is not something I have ever really cared about. It seems like it is alcohol for the younger age. I prefer liquor to beer anyway."
Have you ever wished this area had a brewery that also served food?
" I don't care so much about the brewery part but I am always hoping they will bring in more options for food."
What if the restaurant served seafood as it's primary choice?
-"I know that would draw in some crowds.It is hard for me to think of anyone here in Florida that does not like seafood. I imagine the restaurant would do quite well."
All in all if this brewery/seafood restaurant were to open would you be a customer?
"I would come for the seafood but not the beer. Also the atmosphere would play a big part in my decision as well. If this place was filled with a bunch of loud young adults I may go somewhere else."
REFLECTION:
I think due to this male being in his mid 60's and not having any interest in beer sort of shows me that there will be that challenge of drawing in non beer drinkers. It did give me hope though when he said that he would come for the food part. I am hoping that I could keep the atmosphere professional enough so that it can draw not only a young crowd but older as well.
Female in late 20's (from Ortega area)
Do you enjoy craft beer?
-"For sure, my girlfriends and I go into Riverside a lot to Bold City and some of the other local spots."
Have you ever wished this area had a brewery that also served food?
-"I have never really thought about it. If it were to happen it would save me a trip and I probably could just walk there which would be a added feature."
What if the restaurant served seafood as it's primary choice?
-"I wouldn't care. I most likely would only be there for the beer and a good time. If it were late and I needed a place to eat then I would grab a bite."
All in all if this brewery/seafood restaurant were to open would you be a customer?
-"No doubt. There are so many young professionals that live back in this area that I think it would have a ton of customers. This area needs to start catering to more young adults and try to get rid of the stigma that it is all older people living here."
REFLECTION:
This female would also be the type of customer I would hope to attract. She did shed light on the fact that she did not care about the food which could hurt the business if more customers adopted that philosophy. It would be great to have a customer like this come in for the beer but I would also like them to think of it as more than just a late night food stop.
SUMMARY:
I believe that this opportunity is there. I think that my thought process has changed a bit only because I know that I would have to add in the cost for food as well as beer. If the business takes a turn towards being more profitable on the beer side then I would have to make sure that I wasn't going to eat costs on the food side. The same would be if the restaurant was doing better then the beer. I truly though think that putting both of these together in a solid location could be a very successful venture. I don't think I would need to change to much from my original opportunity but I would have to talk with more people to get their opinions. I think customer feedback is huge when making a business decision. These are going to be the people helping pay your bills and if they aren't interested in what you are selling then most likely the chance of success is going to be minimal.
Garrett,
ReplyDeleteI think linking together a brewery and a seafood restaurant is a good idea! Although, I agree that certain beers won’t go good with the seafood. Maybe if you offer a couple options of food that are not seafood, that would help with certain beers that wouldn’t be a good pair. They wouldn’t even have to be meals, just appetizers. I live in Knoxville, TN and we have breweries that offer food and they are very successful. I always just end up ordering a bunch of appetizers there and so do a lot of my friends, so I believe having appetizers that weren’t seafood would cover up that problem. Either way, I would definitely come check out that Brewery with a seafood restaurant!
Garrett, I think you did a great job at examining the situation in your town and realizing that there is a problem concerning the proximities of breweries to each other. You came up with a solution to this problem to exploit this opportunity. I think it is a great idea to have a restaurant with the brewery but I think you should also consider having other food as well because not all people would want seafood with alcohol. My mom and sister actually both cannot drink alcohol and eat shrimp because for some reason that combination makes them sick to their stomach. Other than that, I think this is a great idea. Good work with this post.
ReplyDeleteGarrett,
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic business opportunity. I think every brewery should serve food because most alcohol is best consumed alongside food. This especially applies to beer and wine. I like that you chose to serve seafood, rather than Mexican or Chinese food, because of the area you are located in. Jacksonville is right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and I'm sure many residents in the area love seafood. Unfortunately, seafood is one of the most expensive categories of food in the world. Serving it would certainly jack up your costs, alongside the costs to employ kitchen staff, waiters, and other restaurant expenses. Starting off small scale and seeing whether consumers are spending more on beer or seafood will give you a good sense of which of the two to focus on more heavily when you decide to expand.