12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Assignment 12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #1

Segment: Demographics (Age) - All of the students I interviewed were between the ages of 18-22 and in the undergraduate years in college. I chose this segment because these are the people who would most likely want to utilize a Panera location on campus.

Interviews:

1. Brooke - 21 years old, senior year

• Brooke tends to stray away from eating food whenever she is on campus because most of it is fast food and things she doesn't like to eat. Because she lives in an apartment, she tends to cook her own food or use UberEats to deliver food to her apartment. Whenever she does go to campus restaurants, she will only go to Subway or Starbucks because those are the only two that have healthy options and/or coffee.
• She would be extremely interested in a Panera on campus because she likes to drive to the one on Archer, but often gets annoyed because it is so out of her way. She tends to eat at a restaurant about 4-5 times a week and stated that if there was a Panera, she would go there at least once a week. She also said that she gets annoyed because whenever she is sick she has to go to Publix to get soup and having a Panera would make it much easier to get soup delivered.

2. Peyton - 19 years old, freshman year

• Lives at Rawlings Hall and has to eat on campus on the weekends because she does not have meals available for her at her sorority. Because of the limited amount of healthy food options on campus, she typically goes to Publix every weekend and will cook her own food in order to stay healthy. Sometimes this is inconvenient for her and it takes her a long time when she would rather have a quick meal. 
• If she does opt in to eating on campus, it would be 2-3 times a week. She would love to see a Panera on campus because it has all types of food and there are many healthy options. She also likes to try new coffee places and would love to get coffee from Panera instead of Starbucks.

3. Jolie - 18 years old, freshman year

• Jolie lives at Broward Hall and has a meal plan at the dining hall. She finds herself spending a lot more of her flex dollars and regular money at other locations on and off campus because not all of the dining hall food is adequate enough. She has Subway at least twice a week because it is one of the only healthy dining options. Because she does not have a car, she can only go so far off campus for places to get coffee and study. She gets annoyed at how busy the Starbucks locations get. 
• Jolie finds herself eating food outside of the dining hall 5-7 times a week. If there was a Panera, she said she would love to go there all of the time for the food and for a place to study. At her home in Long Island, she would often go to Panera to study when she was in high school.

Findings from Research: 

All three of the girls I interviewed would be interested in putting a Panera location on the University of Florida campus. The girls complained that there are not a lot of healthy food places on campus, so this would be somewhere they could go to a lot. The girls also stated that putting a Panera on campus would allow for UberEats and other delivery services to reach their apartments.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I think that the segment of undergraduate students is going to be who is the most excited about this business opportunity. Although not every student will use the Panera, I believe that most will think it is an excellent restaurant to put on campus. Panera is a one-stop shop for any type of comfort food, coffee, study dates, etc. Adding this restaurant on campus will surely be a plus in the long run.