Interview 11 Analysis

Semi-Structured Interview
Interviewee: 40 year old mother living in Barcelona, Spain. Is a stay at home mother of one and also is a home-stay mother for an American student currently.
Interview duration: 20 mins

For this Interview I explained Q-cocino and all of the features it would have to offer. I explained both what the freemium model would be and the advertisements that would come along. I then explained to her the Premium version and explained the difference between them. After that I asked for what she though and what she would pay if she would pay for the application.

Summary:
As a home stay mother she thinks that the concept of the product is great. Having to prepare 3 meals a day for the program makes it very hard to make a variety of meals and planning for the week is also very difficult. She said she however doesn't know if the product would work for because she says it sounded complicated. She said she would pay up to 2 or 3 euros a month if the product was simple to use, but though with so many features it would be to complicated and she would not end up using it. She also was very interested in the shopping list aspect because it would make planning for the week much easier. As I though she was losing interest in the product she explain that she had been on a strict diet due to health problems. I explained that she could specify this in the database in order to get meals fit for her circumstance. She said that finding meals and products will very low sugar and salt has been difficult and this would be such an aid to her, again, if it was easy and convenient for her. I asked if she had any recommendations of features that would make her decide to try and hopefully use Q-cocino on a daily basis and she said:
1. Make sure it is simple so that older people will be able to navigate the application
2. Include video clips and pictures of what the ingredients and final products look like so people know what they are shopping for.
3. Be able to share with friends your profile and what you have cooked as recommendations of what to eat.

Interview 10 Analysis

Semi-Structured Interview
Interviewee: A 22 year old male. Living with his girlfriend and a student in Barcelona Spain.
Duration of interview: 20 mins

1. Learning about his cooking and eat habits:
He explained that this is his second year living in Barcelona and will study for two more years here. He and his girlfriend(also was present during the interview) explained that with so many expenses as a student and living on their own, they prepared most meals at home and usually was very basic and cheap. They ate out once or twice a week and usually as a special occasion on the weekend. Both having different schedules attending different Universities finding time to cook and shop together was difficult. "We usually go together to the supermarket once a week and spend a lot of money and stock up the fridge for the week ahead". He tries to buy fresh vegetables and fruits and buy his protein fresh also, but it is normally to expensive for him and frozen food last longer and is less expensive. When I asked him what a typical dinner was like a said that normally they had pasta a few times a week or meat and a vegetable. They both explained that they knew the basics of cooking, but would consider themselves novices.

2. Introduction of Q-cocina:
When I told them that our group was developing a application that simplified cooking in so many ways, they both said they loved the idea but were aware of numerous other applications that provided a similar service that they had actually tried and never used again. The did however specify that they never have heard of programming the ingredients into the application and generating a library of possible meals. They both said that was something they really though could help them. Neither of them had any dietary needs but said they could see this being life changing to someone with an allergy or a vegan/vegetarian. They also focused on the shopping list that Q-cocino would offer to the premium members. They gave the idea that you could look through the database of recipes and choose a bunch of them for the week and the application would generate everything you needed to get on the one trip to the supermarket. He also said that neither of them have ever used cookbooks or the internet to get ideas from so this application would be hard for them to use in a routine. Which seemed to be a problem with many of the interviews conducted.

3. Explaining advertisements and costs:
After explaining both models of or application I asked them to put a price on what they would be willing to pay for it. Being students they said that they hardly every pay for any application and never have paid a monthly fee for an applications. They said that the features that would be beneficial to them would be on the premium model, but they would never pay monthly for it. They said for someone with an allergy or with more money they could see them spending 2-3 Euros a month for this service. However, surprisingly they said a .99 or 1.99 Euro one time price would be something they might pay for just for our freemium model, which was a huge surprise because they said they hardly ever pay for applications. I think there where some features that they really liked and would give a chance, but I got the feeling that they would not be frequent users and would probably end up downloading the application and never using again.

Jack Formica

Interview 9 Analysis

Semi-Structured Interview 9
Interviewee: 28 year old male. Living alone in Barcelona, Spain. Works as a voice actor from home. Approximate interview time: 15 minutes

1. Finding out about his cooking and eating habits:
    He explained that his occupation is very on and off and some weeks he will work 20 hours a day and others he will work only a few hours from home or have the day off. This job makes eating and cooking very irregular for him and he could not give a week in routine because " With a different client or job each week, Its very difficult to keep a routine especially cooking and eating". He explained that cooking has always been a passion of his so on his days off or when he isn't in the studio or the office all day and night, he prepares a very nice meal and invites friends over. He indulges when it comes to food shopping and buys ingredients of the highest quality because nutrition is of great value to him. He wishes he could go to the market and buy fresh everyday in order to prepare more impressive lunches and dinners, but with just starting his career, usually stocks up at the supermarket on Monday and will go to buy fresh ingredients from a market on Friday or Saturday. He wishes he could cook everyday like he does on the weekend and explained, " I am always trying to learn to cook new dishes and different types of cuisine".

2. Introducing our product:
    I explained to him that a group of a few students and I were developing a mobile application that would allow for him to learn different recipes and be able to generate a list of recipes with the food available within his kitchen. After explaining to him all the other features our application would offer, he seemed very interested in the product. He said that when he has the time to cook he personally enjoys looking through cookbooks and planning out meals. Time and ingredients are not an issue for him because he bases his day around shopping cooking and entertaining his friends. However, during weeks where he has a project that requires ridiculous hours of work straight, this would be a lifesaver to him. He said "when I am busy I often just take out a pizza or make a sandwich for myself, whatever is quick and easy". He said if he was able to program what was available to him and they could make a meal in a short amount of time, that was healthy and delicious he would absolutely try the product and use it on the weeks where he was swamped with work

3. Discussion of advertising and pricing:
    I explained how we would have a freemium application that would have the basic features, but we would also have a premium account which would cost a fee, but would offer so many more features. He said that he would absolutely download the free version because that would solve the problems that he faced. loving to spend time and cook when able to the premium version would not really be what he was looking for because he enjoys looking through cookbooks and taking the time shopping and preparing. He did say however with the smart phone "boom" he could see his friends who are similar to him using the application and paying up to 2 euros for the service. When I explained advertisements on the free version, he had no problem that as long as it didn't completely interfere with the service the application provided. " Every free application has advertisements, but people still use them, so I don't think the free version having them is a problem at all".

Jack Formica

Empathy Map Analysis

LET'S GET CLOSER TO OUR MARKET: EMPATHY MAP

Since we start our project, we've been trying to identify and analyze our target market. However, it is difficult to get to know them deeply and understand their thoughts and behaviors. In order to expand our knowledge, we decided to do an empathy map including the three types of customers we target: the student, the business man and the mom. Here are some pictures of theses activities to give you an idea how this help us to be more involve with them.

The empathy map help us to identify four factors that influence the behavior: What they hear? What they feel? What they see? What they say or do? You may think that these are questions easy and maybe without connection about our topic, however, getting to know theses customers and understand why they behave, what are they decision factors and influences could help us to develop and create a more effective and efficient solutions for them. Let's get start!

We are going to continuo working on this and we are going to update it soon with more analysis and conclusions! 

By: Silvia Rubio and Eva Borisova

Interview 8 Analysis

INTERVIEW 8 Analysis

The interview proceeds as follow.

1- Introduction of the product to the interviewee.

Interviewee: Female of 45 years old. Mother of 2 children (5 and 7 years old). She works as Human Resource Manager in a multinational.  She lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Time of the interview: 25 minutes

Summary

1. Question about her routine in the kitchen and cooking habits.

She used to go to have lunch at home every Monday and Wednesday and, some cases, when she is able, she likes to go also on Friday. Her husband worked as a CEO of a big company and he never has time to go and eat at home, so she is used to cook for herself. Her children have lunch at school, but in some occasion she pick them at school in lunch time in order to have more time with them; she arrives very late every day and she does not have time to spend with them during the week. She likes to go once a week to the supermarket, every Tuesday she organizes everything to have at least 1 hour for this activity. She likes to plan what to buy and then plan the week lunch table in order to buy all at once and diversify in her food. However, she always ended eating simple and easy dishes, almost always with salad as a first dishes and a protein for the second one. She likes to take care of her diet and she tries not to eat to much carbohydrates, such pasta, pizza or hamburger.

2. Introduction of the service

We start talking about the service that I was offering. She was interested with the filters where she can choose among different categories. She was very positive because additional to that, she would not need to be worried about what she's missing to do a specify dish and also because she would get more easy and simple recipes.

She was worried about how to identify the food on the application. She suggested that the application could save the latest usage in order to not to introduce the food every time they open the application. She suggested that the application would start after the first use with the question "Did you buy anything else from the last day?. Also I added the suggestion of the "New fridge" when the users what to start all over.

3. Price and advertising

When we start talking about how much she would be willing to pay for such service, she was a little confuse. She did not use to pay for any application, but she knows that her husband does. I explain her that similar applications have a prices between €0.9 and €3.99 and she took a good reaction because she compared with a cookbook that can varied from €10 to €50, which she thinks is ridiculous. She ask more about the different service that the free and the premium account would offer, and she stayed that she would pay no more than 4€ if this app would make her life easy and give her more time with her children. She was very interested in this because every feature I explained to her, she looked to how this could help her to spend more time with her boys. 

Regarding the advertising model, she didn't like it. She complaint on how many adds she use to see every day all places and sometimes when she gets an add email, she gets frustrated. That's is why she was more convince that she will pay a little more in order to don't have advertising.

By: Silvia Rubio 

Interview 7 Analysis

INTERVIEW 7 Analysis

The interview proceeds as follow.

Interviewee: Female of 23 years old. Student and living alone. Barcelona, Spain

Time of the interview: 20 minutes

Summary

Introduction of the product to the interviewee.

The interviewee seems to identify the problem and explain me that she faces situations like this very often. She gave me details about a situation happened the previous week with his boyfriend. On Saturday afternoon, they were together watching movies in his apartment. They went out the last night so they woke up late and they haven't eaten anything for lunch. They were tired, exhausted and they did not want to go out from the apartment because it was raining. They decided to have a late lunch at home with the ingredients they have and no need to buy anything; a simple, quick and good lunch. However, they spend almost thirty minutes deciding what to prepare because any option they give, the other was not agree; because he/she ate last day or she/he did not want at that moment or it took a lot of time or they always ended eating the same. She stayed without options and, creativity or cook' experience are not their strongest skills. At the ends, they went to the restaurant in front his apartment. She would like to stay at home, she explains but "we would be ended in a discussion other way".

For her answer, she was very interest about the service that I was explaining. And she liked the idea to used the mobile because she is not to involved in cooking and she would not want to spend money and buy a whole book about recipes. She asked me if the service would be for iOS and for Android to, as she has a Samsung Galaxy 3. It is something to take into account, because it is not enough that our target market has a Smartphone, we need to know if they use iOS or Andorid. We haven't decided yet, and also there is the option to design the service for both, but first we need to analyze the cost of it.

After evaluating the service, we present both the free and premium model and ask them how they would set the break-even point between both services. The prices provided oscillated between 0.90€ to 3.99€, based on other type of products similar or related in the application market. She was not very happy about the fact that she needs to pay. She told me that because she is not too involved with cooking, she would not buy it for any price. But, I started asking her about the time she used to go home and cook by herself, or how many times she repeat the same dish in a week. She realized that the problem was more a need rather than a whim. But she would like to try first before setting a price willing to pay.

Then I went through the advertising model. The first reaction of her was negatively; because one of the most complains of other applications he uses is related with to much advertising. We need to take this into account when deciding the advertising model, because this is going to be one of our revenues channels but we don't want to make it uncomfortable for the users.  

 By: Silvia Rubio 

Interview 6 Analysis

INTERVIEW 6 (PROBLEM RECOGNITION)

This first interview was mainly focus to take more information about the targeted customer and analyzed more in deep the need and how we can provide a better solution. This interview is to add more information and go forward from the surveys. 

Interview 

Interview specifications: Male, 26 years from Barcelona, Spain. He works as a Junior Sales Manager in a start-up company.

The Interview proceeds as follows: 

Tell me how you or your household usually handles cooking dinner?

I live with two roommates, a girl and a guy. We used to have dinner together because it's the time to share what happen during the day. I work not so far from home as well one of my roommates. Sometimes we met at the apartment to have lunch together. The problem here is that I have to work mornings and afternoons and for me; lunchtime has become a space to take a break and be out of the office issues for a moment. I like my lunchtime but i can't think to go home and prepare my lunch because it takes a lot of time and sometimes I prefer to sit and relax and wait until someone come with the food. When I go to have lunch at home is because my roommate had prepare something and she calls me to pass over; but that happens once or twice a week. When we cook together, we usually divide the roles of the kitchen; one go to buy the ingredients, the other cook and the last he is in charge to wash the dishes. Despite the roles are very clear, we always ended doing all together. That happen when we plan a special dinner, but because my work and their daily activities, we haven't have time to do it for at least 2 months.

How often a week are you cooking a meal, either for yourself or others?

I really don't know. If I need to generalize I can say that I cook at least once a week for lunch. But there are some weeks that I cook twice or three times because I have time.

Have you ever tried any methods to improve cooking at home, such as cookbooks, other mobile applications, websites, classes?

Yes. When we first moved to the apartment, we bought a cookbook. Our plan was to cook delicious dishes and enjoy lunch and dinner time. Buy we used once if I'm not wrong. ("Why?") Because for each dishes it required many ingredients we didn't have and that we don't used them so much. And at then end, the rest of the food that it lasted and we didn't used it went directly to the garbage because we didn't know what else to do. Also because the dishes described in the cookbook are target for special events, and because our apartment is very little, we don't do too many reunions here.

We haven't try any other method rather than mom recipes or suggestions. Despite all of us are older than 25, we have a good family relationship and we still have contact with them; it is not unusual to call and ask for ideas or to know how to cook something.

If you could improve anything about your daily cooking routine, in which way would you improve it?

Well, I used to go to the gym at least three days a week. Now with my work it is almost impossible. I go once the weekend and that's it. I've not too much involved with diets, but I like to take care of my health.  Every time I go to restaurants I like to choose a healthy dish. But, you know, in restaurants and especially in random bar that I use to go, they cook with a lot of oil.

Interview Analysis

As the interview went through, the interviewee was becoming more and more interested on the topic. It is a perfect target customer as we described its problems and his needs. He has the problems that we already identified and additionally we find another factor that we can take use of: What to do with the food that you buy to do a specific dish and then you don't use it any more because you don't know how. This approach reaffirms one more that our idea could be used also to solve that problem.

The next interviews are going to be more related on the solution and not in the problem. Meanwhile, we are going to keep analyzing the market in order to get a specific market size, their attitudes, behaviors and routines in order to be more involved with them and understand more about their problems and how we can give them an effective and efficient solution. 

By: Silvia Rubio 

Interview 5 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 22 years old, student living with flat mates. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

She liked the idea but unlike the previous interviewees accepted she wasn't sure it was for her. She said she was actually ok with eating similar things and she was sure she followed a healthy diet. Although she did say she would download the free version 'just in case'. She did not mind about advertising as long as it would 'let me do what I am doing and not interfere with my application and what I am doing with it, I don't like annoying advertisements' with no distinction between the forms of advertising but did note that the one she would least want to see is the fixed ad between stages of recipe/pages.
On the other hand when talking about the payment and explaining the freemium model and the premium version with its added characteristics she said 'I don't pay for any app, I don't think I'd pay for this one either and therefore I am not sure about any price I would put it but maybe something like 1€ wouldn't sound too expensive'

Conclusions:

- Although this interviewee falls into one of our target profiles she was not open towards trying this app or using it on a daily basis because it seemed she had 'everything under control', this showed us that we should not be too sure upon the fact that all students living alone will have problems with cooking or knowing what to cook
- On the other hand we also saw the fact that especially out young target market are price sensitive and that based on the previous interviews and this one it is clear that users are very used in not paying for any application and therefore seem to expect the apps for free
- Up until now we still don't have a clear view on what kind of pricing to put to the application
- One clear conclusion from these 5 interviews is that fixed ads between stages/recipes are not the best option

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 4 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 45 years old, owner of an SME with 2 kids. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

The interviewee seemed positive towards the app but I perceived she was not as keen on trying it as the previous interviewees, due to the lack of time. She found the app useful especially for her kids, due to monotonous dishes they 'always end up eating pasta'. She would like to find healthy alternatives her kids would enjoy. On the other hand she would be worried that the dishes proposed might have spicy ingredients, or wine in them and therefore would like some kind of filter or a stamp which would mention that the dish is ok for kids. This filter might also be 'I would like to be able to introduce into the app the fact that I have kids, or how many people we are in the family so the dishes could be in accordance with her family. She also mentioned that for a varied diet it would be good for the app to include seasonal ingredients, such as fruits. She would be willing to pay for a premium version if it had adaptation for kids but she would like to try it for free first. This interviewee did not propose a price she would be willing to pay, as she did not know the market prices for the apps and was firm on her decision to first try the app before she could put a price on it. On the other hand ads did not worry her and said that she would not mind any type of advertising as long as it would be 'reasonable' from where reasonable ment 'not too many ads, I don't want to be bombarded with them just like on TV'

Conclusion:
- In order to satisfy this target market of parents with kids we would need to adjust certain features of the app
- Advertisements seem unimportant as long as they are 'reasonable'
- Seasonal ingredients could be introduced
- Some demographics could be asked the user when creating an account at Q-cocino
- Stamps such as 'not recommended for kids' or 'very spicy' could be introduced

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 3 Analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 40 years old, independent Business woman working at two jobs. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

The interviewee is happy with her current eating habits, but does accept that sometimes she does not know what to cook or how to diversify her diet. She likes to eat healthy but prefers dishes which take little time to cook. She has no specific nutritional preferences such as low carb diet or vegetarian diet.

When presented with the idea she was positive about it. But thought that for her to be able to use the extended version she would need more 'I don't usually pay for applications, so I need them to really have something which interests me, I would say maybe let me try the premium version for a month before I need to pay for it'. She also did not seem very keen on the 'monthly payment ' You would get me scared with that, I would prefer a yearly fee, or a one time payment'. For the adverts she rated them from least to most 'annoying': Product placement, Pop up advertising and lastly fixed ads between recipes/pages.

She also mentioned interesting features which could be included in the app:

- Suggested decoration for the dishes
- Suggested products to acompany the product such as white wine for a dish with fish
- She would like the app to ask her if she had a microwave, an oven, gas or electric...etc.
- She would like to see the average price of the dish she is cooking
- She would also like to see the calories of each dish
- Most importantly she mentioned she would like her preferences to be saved by the app, and as she usually buys similar things and has always the same things in her fridge she would not like to have to introduce it every time she opens the app

Conclusions:

- We will evaluate the additional features mentioned in this interview, which have given us a fresh look of what can be added to the application
- Not keen on buying the app by paying monthly, would take her time in evaluating the app
- Has noted that she would be interested in trying the free version
- Would like the app to be more friendly, that is suggesting wines for dishes for example
- This interview gave an insight that this app could actually be seen as a chef in your kitchen who helps you with everything

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 2 Analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:
We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking
 where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ (this time the interviewee was not presented with this price range but asked about their opinion, and what monthly price they would be willing to pay).
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structured Interview: Female, Spanish, 26 years old, part time worker. Approximately 15  minutes of interview.

My second interview was conducted to a 26 year old female, living with her partner and working part time. They are worried about saving up costs, especially because one of them is not working at the moment. She is starting to become more conscious about the importance of a healthy diet both for her and for her partner. She is also aware that most of the healthy dishes she know of are usually expensive,  require time, or require her searching through the internet or buying a cook book. She is worried about monotonous cooking habits as she says 'Sometimes I don't know what else to cook'
Her initial statement about the app when hearing about it was 'The idea is great, it would help many people who don't know what to cook in their day to day life'
The advertising didn't constitute any problem, 'it's free and it helps me, I don't mind if there is some usual advertising, like in most of the other apps'.
On the price issue the interviewee was not too keen. 'I wouldn't like to pay a monthly fee, it sounds like I am tied to something else and I have to pay monthly, maybe an anual fee or just a download fee would be great' 'I wouldn't pay for it probably, the features you siad where in the free version would solve my daily problems anyway'

An interesting thing was brought up when the interviewee was asked if there was something this application lacked. She said 'maximum price for each dish, for example: rice with mushrooms and oregano is a dish that costs you 4€, that would be nice to know and to see how much you are actually saving up with the app'

Conclusions:
- Positive attitude towards app
- Interested in trying out the free version
- Doesn't mind about any type of advertising
- Is price sensitive and proposes a price of: 2-5€ but as a single download, no monthly fee
- Thinks the basic version may cover her needs
- New characteristic could be added: average price per dish

By: Eva Borisova

Interview 1 analysis

The Interviews proceeded as follows:


We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ which are the market prices for such applications.
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

Semi-Structure Interview: Male, Spanish, 23 years old, student. Approximately 15 - 20 minutes of interview.
My first interview was conducted to a male 23 year old student, living with his parents but who has problems cooking for himself at lunch time when his parents are not at home. This is also the case on weekends with cooking dinner. He does not think he can follow a cook book and frankly has never tried it, although he has looked into the Internet for recipes but never know what to look for, where and how. He also has the problem of not having specific ingredients such as vegetables or spices he does not usually have at home.

When he first heard the idea he was positive about it and said that it seemed that when he was tired or stressed about cooking "Q-cocino would do it for him". When explained in further detail he was not sure up to what extent it would be easier for him to consult the app rather than go onto the internet or use a cookbook but was instantly retained by the fact that the recipes will only be using the ingredients he has. After the full explanation the result was: "I would very much like to try out this app, and if it really does what you say it does I would be glad as it would make my cooking time much less stressful", "I would also like to eat healthier, but as it supposes such a mess for me to just cook something I like, I don't even bother try to cook healthy meals, this would be a plus!"

When asking about the price and the advertisement he mentioned:
"I wouldn't pay for the application unless I tried it and found real value in it for my day-to-day cooking, then I would be willing to pay up to 1-2€ a month probably"
"...if the app is free I would not mind at all having ads as long as they are not too insisting, i wouldn't mind short popup ads as many applications have nowadays, but I wouldn't like having product placement especially if a recipe depends on a specific sauce only one brand has [...] they (fixed advertisements between phases of the recipes) wouldn't be a problem as long as they are not there every time I want to switch a recipe or a page inside a recipe"

Conclusions:
- Positive attitude
- Needs to try version to be 100% sure
- Adjusted to ingredients is the differentiation from competitors, the next big feature is cooking time although this one does not suppose a great differentiation from competitors
- In this case the nutritional values are extra benefits
- Adverts are ok as long as they are not too frequent or too abusive in any form
- Price should be decided once free model is tried out (this backs up our freemium version model idea)

By: Eva Borisova

Video presentation of Q-Cocino

Startup Dashboard Extension

This is not a substitute but an EXTENSION to our preliminary dashboard

Click on the picture to see a larger image

By: Eva Borisova

Survey analysis

From our survey we have deducted the following:

Demographics of our survey:

18-23 years - 73.7%
24-35 years - 21.1%
36-50 years - 5.3%

All contestants where residing in Spain and Spanish speakers

Two most popular profiles retrieved from our survey:

PROFILE #1: 

Has lunch at home 4-6 times per week
Likes to cook at home
Cooks based on his/her likes with no specific nutritional requirements
Laziness stops him/her from cooking more often
Lacks recipes to try new dishes
Goes grocery shopping 1-2 times per week
Shops with a shopping list
Does not have time to look in cook books or the Internet for new recipes

PROFILE #2: 

Has lunch at home every day
Does not like to cook
Has specific nutritional requirements such as low carb diet, celiac, vegetarian...etc.
Lacks time to cook
One of the major problems is that he/she always ends up cooking the same meals
Goes grocery shopping less than once a week
Does not shop with a shopping list
Never has the ingredients recipes on the Internet, in Apps or cook books ask for

From here we have designed the options which will be included in the application:

Free model:
Input ingredients
Input time requirements
Share the recipes

Premium model (0.99€):
All of the above and...
No ads
Nutrition habits: Choose if you are vegetarian, vegan, celiac...
Nutrition preferences: italian food, asian food...
Exclude ingredients: e.g. exclude cheese
Personalized grocery list
Discounts in local grocery stores
Video Tutorials
Save favorite recipes

Another Scenario Study

Situational Study: Exchange Student Living in Spain

 John, a twenty-one year old male attending La Salle University. John currently living with one other roommate similar in age and also a student was a perfect candidate to observe and study to see whether/how Q-Cocina would work for him. With very few ingredients in his refrigerator besides the very basic eggs, cheese, milk and bread most days he opted to make a really basic sandwich or ended up spending a lot of money getting fast food or take out that was very unhealthy. He explained that he wanted to eat healthier and loved to try new foods, but his lack of cooking knowledge and time to learn made it only practical to eat sandwiches or get food from restaurants. He also explained how much money it is to eat out almost everyday and as a student he has to compromise other spending in order to get food. He only goes to the grocery store once or twice a week and usually does not have recipes or meals in mind, but purchase what looks good, easy to prepare and cheap. With not having the time to shop for groceries daily each trip to the store is usually a time to stock up and resupply the basic ingredients that are constants in his refrigerator.

 John is a perfect candidate for the use of the Q-Cocina application. His lack of skill and knowledge in the kitchen, but his desire to learn and eat creatively and healthier would be solved by Q-Cocino. He indicated that he was very limited with time, but wanted to buy more food from the markets. Unfortunately, John never knew what to do with the things he would purchase, so Q-Cocina would help him not only expand his culinary skill, but also learn about new foods and recipes indigenous to the Spanish region. He explained that he would be willing to pay for this application not only a initial download fee, but monthly or annually too because in the long run he would be saving a lot of money and gain a skill that he never possessed before. Without even knowing of the product he explained that he was desperate to change his eating/cooking habits within the home.
By:Jack Formica

What we have done so far

This is a brief illustration of our strategy for Q-cocino study so far:

Click on the image to see it larger

by: Silvia Rubio

Update on Survey results

Here is an update on survey results and translation of final questions to English. Some of the primary questions posted on October 29th 2012 have been changed after a secondary analysis.

Questions:

¿Reside usted en España (Si la respuesta es no, abandone la encuesta)?  - Do you live in Spain? (if the answer is no please quit the survey)

Si y tengo menos de 18 años - Yes, and I am under 18 years old

Si y tengo 18-23 años - Yes, and I am 18-23 years old

Si y tengo 24-35 años - Yes, and I am 24-35 years old

Si y tengo 36-50 años  - Yes, and I am 36-50 years old

Si y tengo más de 50 años  - Yes, and I am over 50 years old


¿Con que frecuencia comes en casa?  - How often do you have lunch at home?

Cada día - Everyday

de Lunes a Viernes - Monday to Friday

4-6 veces por semana - 4-6 times a week

1-3 veces por semana - 1-3 times a week

Nunca - never

¿Te gusta cocinar en casa?  - Do you like cooking?

Si - yes

No - No


¿Tienes alguna necesidad especifica a la hora de cocinar (puedes escoger más de una respuesta)?  - Do you have any specific requirement when cooking? (you can choose more than one answer)

Si, nutricional (Vegetarianos, Baja en Calorias, Celiaca...etc.) - Yes, nutritional (Vegetarian, low carb, celiac…etc.)

Si, puramente según mis gustos - Yes, but purely based on my likes

Si, tiempo de cocción - Yes, time of cooking

No - No

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify


¿Cuales de estos motivos te llevan a no cocinar? (puedes escoger más de una respuesta)  - Which of these stops you from cooking? (you can choose more than one answer)

Falta de tiempo - Lack of time

No se me da bien cocinar - I don't know how to cook well enough

Por pereza - I am lazy

Falta de ingredientes específicos - I lack specific ingredients

Cocinar variado me sale caro - To cook varied dishes is too expensive

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify


¿Con que problemas te encuentras a la hora de cocinar?  - Which of these problems do you face when cooking?

Me faltan ideas/recetas para cocinar - I lack ideas/ recipes to cook

Cocino siempre lo mismo - I always cook the same things

Cocino casi siempre comida pre-cocinada - I frequently cook pre-cooked food

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify

¿Cuando fue la última vez que comiste lo mismo que hoy?  - When was the last time you ate the same as today?

Hace más de una semana -  over a week ago

Hace una semana - a week ago

Hace menos de 2 días - less than 2 days ago

Hace entre 3-6 días - 3-6 days ago

¿Con que frecuencia vas al supermercado a comprar comida?  - How frequently do you go to the supermarket to buy food?

Cada día - every day

1-2 días por semana - 1-2 days per week

3-4 días por semana - 3-4 days per week

5-6 días por semana  - 5-6 days per week

Menos de 1 vez por semana - less than once per week

Otro (especifique) - other, please specify

¿Vas al supermercado con una lista?  - Do you shop according to a shopping list?

Si - yes

No - no


¿Por que razón no usas herramientas como Internet, recetarios, aplicaciones para innovar en la cocina?  - Why don't you use tools such as the Internet, cook books, apps to innovate in the kitchen?

No tengo tiempo - I don't have time

No entiendo bin las recetas - I don't really understand recipes

Nunca tengo los ingredientes que me piden - I never have all the ingredients they ask for

Otro (especifique) - Other, please specify

Answers until 04/11/2012

By: Eva Borisova

Survey

As part of our research we are conducting a survey for the Spanish market, and it can be seen and answered below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SB56PLC

En estos momentos estamos llevando a cabo una encuesta sobre nuestros potenciales usuarios, estariamos agradecidos a su colaboración:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SB56PLC

By: Eva Borisova & Silvia Rubio

The problem; a step forward

The Problem: A Step Forward

The question of What to cook today? is very common. But for our research, it is not enough to say that it is common, we needed to simplify and be more specific and look for people who really have the same problem and what are other challenges that they could face in that type of situations. In the latest post we have seen different scenarios where people could use our solution. But now, what we need to do is to examine the really problem.

For that reason we designed a survey. The questions were extremely chosen in order to provide useful information.

Age:

Sex:

Nationality:

1. How many days a week do you eat at home?

2. Do you like to cook at home? Which is the moment you like the most of the cooking process?

3. How many times do you have to cook during the week?

4. What do you do before and after lunch and dinner time?

5. Do you choose what to eat according to any requirement? For requirement we mean health food, gluten-free...?

6. How often do you go to the supermarket? Do you use to go each time do you need something or you wait until the fridge is empty?

7. How often do you go to eat out because you don't know what to cook or because you don't have time?

8. What did you eat today? When was the last day did you eat the same?

9. How often do you ask you friends for meal suggestions? Did you try them? If not, why not?

10. What are the main challenges you face to try new meals? 

11. Have you try to use a cookbook? How many cookbook do you have at home?

12. For people with children? Do you plan what to cook before going to the supermarket accoring to the meal plan for the week?

13. Do you plan what to cook every week/month/day?

The survey is already in process and we are looking to post the findings and the conclusion very soon! 
By: Silvia Rubio 

Preliminary startup dashboard

The research:

In order to get findings for our leap of faith questions we have designed the following mini-survey:

We introduce the product to the surveyee. After evaluating the product we present the freemium model asking where is the break-even point between the free and premium app they would find as reasonable. Then various pricing options are presented oscillating between 0.90€ to 3.99€ which are the market prices for such applications.
We will therefore present various models of advertising:
- Pop up advertising
- Fixed advertising between stages of recipe/pages
- Product placement

The research is ongoing until new version of the dashboard is posted

By: Eva Borisova

Spotting trends

Looking through the web in order to find trends on Spanish eating habits I have come across many news articles talking about the increasing trend on unhealthy fast food, many surveys asking about the favorite fast food 'dish' and other similar articles. But it is confirmed that the Spanish consumers are increasingly following a more unhealthy lifestyle due to other environmental changes such as a more busy life, the crisis which makes us work more, those who have less money start to spend less on food and therefore move onto cheaper unhealthy food and other similar cases.
One of the articles showed that 58% of Spanish workers claim to have suffered an increased level of job stress during the financial crisis, according to the Regus Business Tracker survey this trend also leads to a reduced water intake and meals are made at odd times and in an unbalanced way states the article.
Although this trend does not mean that Spaniards are not worried about their health it does mean they need a more efficient way in order to be able to follow a healthy lifestyle in such times as the financial crisis. It is often to find articles in the news with headlines such as: "Fast foods and bakery products double the risk of depression" and "Cholesterol and lifestyle habits determine 90 percent of heart attacks in the Canaries". 
On the other hand we should note that healthy trends have been found in areas such as Catalonia where  Sedentary lifestyle has been reduced since 2010 among Catalans, although obesity increases and the survey conducted by ESCA shows that Catalans are becoming more conscious about their health.
It is also important to note that in 2011 a survey stated that Spanish children are more obese than Americans the children obesity trend in Spain is of major concern and is important for us to note in order to research the parents market in Spain and find a posible target market in them.

By: Eva Borisova

Business Model Canvas New Version

Business Model Canvas updated as of 23rd October

Click on the image to see it larger. Or click here

Explaining the value proposition

Here are some points we would like to add as a extension to our value proposition:

Newness: There is no app like this in Spain. Creates into different meals what customer already has in the fridge adapting to his/her preferences.

Performance: Encourages healthier eating and cooking even though no time/creativity is initially available from the customer.

Customization: totally adaptable to the nutritional/time needs of each customer. Probably with a pro version even more customization will be provided.

Cost reduction: With a programmed menu, new dishes and efficient time utilization this app will save up money for customers as no food will be thrown away.

Accessibility: Available at any app store or on web and accessible from smartphones initially with iOS and Android and later with windows phone. Adaptation to iPads will also be developed. Convenience: any where, any time fast solutions.

by: Eva Borisova

Scenario Study #2: Welcome to Manu's Kitchen

Manuel Payà is a university student in Barcelona. He moved to Barcelona three years ago and he decided to start his college far from his family who live in Amsterdam. He was living in an apartment with three people.  They had a good relation from the beginning, but he realized that it was not easy to share his space with other people. His favorite time of the day was lunch and dinner, where he could be alone and in some occasion be surrounded with his roommates and commented the day. However, since he started to work as an intern every afternoon in a startup, he had to change his lifestyle and cut his time to cook. He had 45 minutes after class and before start working.

We wanted to experience and observe how this possible customer live, how he took decisions regarding what to cook, what he usually had in his fridge and what were the most common meals he ate. We decided to live with him one week, everyday going to his apartment in lunch and dinner time, be with him in the supermarket, and see how and when he decided what to cook.

He used to go once or twice to the supermarket to get what he needed. He used to buy always the same kind of food and prepare the same dishes. From tuna salad to grill chicken with mushrooms, spaghettis with tomato and cheese or Spanish omelet with bread and tomato. However, he explained us that because he had limit of time at this hour of the day, he did not wanted to experience new recipes and less to go and buy the ingredients he needed to follow what a cookbook specified.

So what we did the following week was to give him a list of different dishes he could make with the same kind of food he used to buy. Additionally, we offer different meals specially created for days with no more than 30 minutes to cook, or if he wanted more healthy dishes. He realized that with the same food he used to buy and with the same time, he could make a variety of more than 12 different dishes he would never try. He did not needed to change his routine and it gave him an easier and a simple way to enjoy his food.

Manuel decided to keep all the different dishes and one week later he was happy with the results. He enjoy better the time to cook and also he was surprise of how many dishes we could make with no additional effort. 

We want to thank Manuel for his time and his contribution to this work! 
By: Silvia Rubio 

Venture risks

The following tables summarize venture risks depending on specific factors:
(These risks are a preliminary view, we are working on more risks and their evaluation)

By: Silvia Rubio&Eva Borisova 

Roger's 5 factors applied to Q-cocino

Relative Advantage: The only application with focus on the spanish market with such characteristics  

Compatability: Used with the latest technology in the market such as smartphones and tablets. It will start in Apple and Android devices and we have future plans to expand in Window’s phone as well as creating a platform on the Web.  

Simplicity: We want to make it as easy as possible (customized recipes in three clicks). The clients will be able to use the app intuitively.

Trialability: The standard platform will be free and following the freemium model we are going to charge only for the premium edition with extra characteristics. We are also evaluating a possibility to have a trial with full use and payable after an x amount of time, instead of a free+premium edition.

Observability: Marketing strategy will be based on word of mouth. As a long term option we would also like to include advertisement in supermarkets or in products where at the same time we will be advertise the brand inside the application. Difficulty because App stores are usually saturated and therefore visibility will have to apply to marketing to lead customers to look for it in the App stores.

Do you want to know more about Roger's 5 factors? click here
By: Silvia Rubio&Eva Borisova

Scenario study: Young with lack of cooking creativity

Potential user profile: Young student and professional

Eduard is a potential user of our product. He is 23 years old and partially lives away from home. He likes to eat home made food (no fast food or pre-cooked food). He usually has many ingredients in his fridge and has the time to cook but ends up preparing the same dishes day after day. This problem arises due to the lack of knowledge about cooking (he does know the basics) and therefore there is an invisible kind of barrier between him and a cook book. He is also a person who enjoys using technologies and owns a smartphone but would not stop to search on the internet for specific recipes which use just those ingredients which he has at home. He considers that most of the recipes require him to go to the store and buy things he never used and innovation with new ingredients is not something he would lik to try when he is hungry just before lunch hour because he does not want to risk cooking for an hour to find out he does not like the dish he prepared.

As he states his preferences are as follow:

- Cooking for beginners level
- No dishes which cook for longer than 1 hour
- No strange ingredients, he wants dishes with the usual stuff: chicken, beef, vegetables, pasta, rice, oregano, parsley and so on
- Easy to use system, he does not want to go through too many recipes and he like the explanations to cook simplified to the maximum, and if photos are available he would be even happier
- He would also like the app to be available on the web or directly downloadable for his computer as the screen is bigger and more comfortable while cooking

We can conclude that Q-cocino would be an app which would adjust to Eduard's needs but we are not sure if he would actually use it on a daily basis.

By: Eva Borisova

Business Model Canvas

Click on the image to see it larger. Or click here
By: Eva Borisova&Silvia Rubio&Jack Formica

Market Research and Ideas

To make it easy and be able to find the specific need and how we can approach it with a perfect solution, we decided to do a market research, starting with a methodology called observation. This is what we got:
easel.ly Here we can see different fridges and different food according to its owner. However, we saw that there are simple and very common dishes such as salads or spaghettis easy to prepare and that all the people observed share the same food but different ways. Just as quick fact, do you know that there are more than 8.000 types of salads and more than 5.000 different spaghettis sauces? But what we found was that people are used to do almost the same salad, the same meals over and over again. In the following pictures we can see different fridges and different food we found:

In order to design an application for superior to any similar service already on the market, we conducted surveys and questioned a wide array of potential consumers of Q-Concino. Even though our test subjects ranged in ages between 18 and 26, the majority of them faced similar problems when asked questions on why they didn’t cook. Interestingly, a large percentage of the people asked did want to learn to cook or advance his or her culinary knowledge, but either was never taught or didn’t have the tools necessary to learn (cookbooks, cooking lessons, etc.). Also most of the subjects being young adults either students or just entering the workforce said that the main reason cooking was such a difficult task was because they had very little time to shop and prepare a meal after their studies or work. The final main concern our test subjects revealed to us was that even though he or she had some knowledge in the kitchen, the lack of ingredients within their home made cooking a solid meal very difficult, forcing them to either order out from a restaurant or compromise with a simple snack or meal that lacked nutrition and was very expensive. From this research we looked at similar applications already available to see whether the concerns that were raised through our questionnaire were solved by these apps. Many of the applications were very broad and didn’t take into account for the ingredients available and listed very complex and labor-intensive recipes. Also none of the websites and applications targeted a specific type of person, which Q-Cocino would primarily focus on the Spanish population. With an exception to a few applications, the majority of the services we found we simply cookbooks on your phone, computer or tablet. None of them were interactive and customizable for the consumer to put value to.

Q-Concino would far surpass the conventional cookbook and create a new market for culinary applications. It would solve the questions and concerns that were raised during our research. With focus on simplicity, Q-Cocino would allow for its users to create delicious meals and learn to cook all while not having to put any extra time and effort shopping or looking through cookbooks. The problem we saw in our research allowed for us to create certain aspects of Q-Cocino that no other application had including: * Categories of different types of food (Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Etc.) * Recipes with allergies and dietary concerns (vegetarian, Vegan) * Recipes for those with time restrictions * Recipes with ingredients already purchased * Focus on Spanish culture

By: Silvia Rubio&Jack Formica