One of the biggest regrets in travel is an unsuccessful attempt to find traditional, local, “home cooked” meals. Food has a powerful way of allowing outsiders an intimate understanding of local culture. Tasting a “home cooked” meal can explain better than any textbook what is important to the people of a given region.
“Foreign Foodie Friends” is a web-based network for locals and visitors to connect and share a culinary experience. Each member will be able to utilize the site both as a foreigner and as a host. The network will allow members to post a profile of what “home cooking” means to them and also allow dietary restrictions to be made known.
Target Market – The most important audience for this site is the “foodie” at heart. You do not need to be a chef or an expert in cuisine. All you need is to share an appreciation of food, culture, understanding, and adventure. You don’t need to have traveled far or you could be from the other side of the world. Everywhere you go has the potential to be an experience. Why not make it a culinary experience?
Ex Factor- The uniqueness of this site is that you will have a local guide willing to share this culinary experience with you. He/she will be able to introduce you to what “local” food means to them. And, in return, back home, you can share your “local cuisines” with those who may travel to your home.
Goals and Objectives-
The main goal is to give travelers a truly unique dining experience. We want to give people the opportunity to get off the beaten path and not feel lost. This is an opportunity to avoid tourist traps and get a real taste for what’s cooking.
As a host, members are encouraged to share what their town or region has to offer. It’s a time to be proud of where you live and show it off. For the adventurous, it can also be a time to show off your personal cooking skills.
The ultimate goal, however, is beyond the food on the table. The goal is the connection and conversation that will happen over the meal. You can learn the intricate details of new land, or you can learn about your home through the eyes of a traveler. We hope that the intercultural conversations will bring about understanding and knowledge.
Safety- Safety is top concern for our members and for us.
Communication-Anonymous email feature will allow members to communicate and plan their meals together. No personal information needs to be shared unless individuals are comfortable to do so.
Ratings and Recommendations- Members can rate and recommend other members based on their experience with that individual. This will help build a member’s profile and make them more or less desirable to choose as a dinner guide or guest. This feature will keep all our members honest and safe.
Restaurant vs. In-home Meals- As a responsible network host, the site will include safety tips and discussions about traveling and eating with other members on our site. As travelers begin to use this site it will be recommended to meet other members in public restaurants. If the opportunity should arise to attend an in-home meal, we will encourage our members to use precautions. Our top concern is that all our members be safe and smart.
Action Plan
Develop the foundations of the site within 6 months.
§ Build the site
o Profile layouts
o Search functions
o Rating/recommendations
Initially, we may start in a hyper local scene and expand out, allowing word of mouth to catch on. The expansion should be progressive, adding new locations every few months.
Along with location expansion we will keep members excited with local meet-ups, restaurant coupons, and shared stories.
The opportunity to share such a cultural and culinary experience is one of a kind. I’m excited at the possibility of making this more accessible to fellow travelers.
Thank you.
This is a well thought-out plan and I am a big fan of the idea. I like the idea about rating the “home cooked meals.” Yet, is Ropa Viejas in Cuba or Bangers and Mash in England worth me investing into the idea.
ReplyDeleteThis presentation didn’t have enough sell. There should have been a dash of late-night infomercial minus the $19.99 introductory price injected into the pitch. It didn’t give me a good enough reason why I should invest time or money into this venture.
Then again maybe the idea sells itself. Food is always a good way to someone’s stomach and eventually their wallet. Most people will pay top dollar for a great experience. Your idea has the potential to be a great experience. So where do I sign up?
I enjoyed your presentation very much. It really is a great concept.
ReplyDeleteOnly a couple of suggestions:
1)Add bullet points to your slides. I always think a presentation could potentially be a leave-behind. It helps give the audience enough information so they don’t forget what you presented.
2)You really should use headers on each slide. You’ve used them in your summary, just move them over to the slides.
I would never recommend snapshots for a presentation, but I like them here because of your subject. Which just goes to show you, never edit first. Never say never.
ReplyDeleteThe snapshots have a quality you’d have to work hard to reproduce, but they are not perfect. Some of them are a little too casual. A flash lighting up a littered floor could be cut.
But their lack of polish, everyone interrupted by a too bright flash around the table, sells exactly what you are selling.
They are intimate. They are real. And often, which goes to show your credibility, they are international too. Some of them look too much like restaurants. I want to see exactly the situation you are promoting: people that are clearly foreign strangers enjoying someone else’s home and food.
I would ask your family and friends for more of these photographs. Create a Foodie Facebook page and a contest searching for people’s best foreign meal experiences with photographs. Collect those photographs. Buy the rights to some of them.
In terms of your structure, it is good, but keep going. It reads a little slow. There is some great phrasing here, but you are still repeating yourself at times. Try and not use words twice, like opportunity. Describe the opportunity once.
You are still writing to think, rather than explaining your final thoughts. The last sentence of some of your sections is still your best. We hope that the intercultural conversations will bring about understanding and knowledge. That should be right up front.
Again, your action plan is thin. Even though it doesn’t seem that difficult to role out yet another website, that is the wrong attitude. Plan your design. Think about how you can provide safety better than dating sites. Think about the unique nature of your project. Think about your website content and promotions and participant goals. Have specific numbered deliverable goals. Know exactly what your promotions/events are going to cost.
This can be as real as you want it to be.
Good work.