Case Study: Designing New Services & Defining New Markets for a Commercial Kitchen
Introduction:
Contented Chef, a PresCare for-profit business, wanted to maximise their investment in a commercial kitchen by increasing utilisation of the space and equipment. They wanted to grow their current offering and find new opportunities in parallel markets.
Solutions:
The Contented Chef engaged us to run a design process using our Smash, Mix, Make approach to identify and explore opportunities. We brought together industry experts, customers and staff people who could bring divergent perspectives and experiences to solve two common problems:
- What products, services and experiences are existing and new customers likely to purchase that is financially viable for us to offer?
- How can we differentiate ourselves through experience and services in a relatively undifferentiated sector?
Actions:
Our approach identified key customer and industry trends that are influencing how the commercial food industry operates. Building on these trends and analysis of the current Contented Chef business we generated more than 70 potential ideas covering a diverse range of opportunities, customer and market segments. The ideas were evaluated and prioritised with the top three most promising ideas supported for further design.
Each concept was tested with customers across the value chain, from decision makers to end-users, to understand how and why different customer groups would derive value from these concepts, and where the concepts were unsuitable for a particular segment. As a result, our big ideas that resonated with customers, became very specific, definable services and strategies.
Result:
This project defined one key growth market with a number of customer segments and ways to support customers in each segment with new channels and services. Each service is backed with a business model demonstrating the financial potential and required costs of each solution. We are now working with Contented Chef to bring these concepts to life through pilot programs with B2B customers.
Using our Smash Mix Make method, we were able to look beyond making existing customers happy, and identify new customers and markets where the Contented Chef could provide a competitive value proposition.
Originally published at www.designfarmco.com.au on November 8, 2018.
