Free research proposal on healthy delights: a social innovation proposal

Executive Summary

In the book The Entrepreneur’s Manual, Richard M. White, Jr. states that business plans are “ road maps” for business creation: “ You identify your origin, select a destination, and plot the shortest distance between the two points.” In this particular business proposal we will provide a through inside of our healthy bar chain restaurants named ‘ Healthy Delights’. Our main aim is to help eliminate the dangerously increasing epidemic of obesity not only amongst adults but also the children within Canada. By providing the society with an opportunity of quick access to diet healthy fast food at reasonable prices we will encourage health friendly eating as an alternative to fattening unhealthy fast food options. We have provided the investors with an insight on our various strategies and financial forecast. Also we have provided a prediction of the measurement of our success rates based on social, economic and environmental returns.

Introduction:

In recent years, publications such as ‘ Obesity’ by Public Health Agency of Canada have amplified the raising concern for unhealthy food practices in Canada. “ Healthy food” has become an important matter of concern for numerous organizations and governments. Hence, it is the existence of concrete initiatives that measure how progressive a country is in its capacity to offer healthy food choices to its residents. This business proposal entails an initiative to cater to the healthy food opportunity in Canada. We have defined an initiative to open a bar chain of nutrition food and diet meals under the name of ‘ Healthy Delights’. Think Thin Weight Loss Corporation is a leading provider of products and programs in the diet and nutrition industry. This chain restaurant bar will focus on specializing in providing a wide range of organic healthy and diet food option. By offering superior healthy meals, engaging in innovative marketing practices and establishing strategic partnerships with producers and suppliers of healthy food products, the restaurant will sustain an adamant commitment to providing extremely high quality healthy food opportunity to the increasingly health conscious consumers, certifying a reasonable return on the investment the shareholders.
According to an article ‘ Obesity in Canada’ published by Canadian Obesity Network ‘ one in four adult Canadians and one in 10 children are clinically obese, meaning six million Canadians living with obesity require immediate support in managing and controlling their excess weight’. It also states that obesity is a leading cause of ‘ type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer, the condition impacts those who have obesity, their families, employers, neighbors, health practitioners and governments.’ The following graph depicts the obesity figure of Canada, which according to sources has tripled in less than 30 years:

Source: Health – Obesity

Literature Review:
There has always been a staunch relationship between diet and disease, viable eating modifications that would impact the risk for disease have been hard to accomplish. ‘ Whereas individual factors are traditional explanations for the inability of some people to change dietary habits, little research has investigated how the physical availability of healthy foods affects individuals’ diets’ (Morland et al). As the problem of obesity is alarmingly increasing, the concern authorities have carried out more and more researches to find out the effect of food options in the surrounding on the health of individuals. As per the finding of a renowned study ‘ Obesity prevalence and the local food environment’ by Cummins et al state ‘ that that types of food stores and restaurants influence food choices and, subsequently, diet-related health outcomes.’ This outcome is consistant with many other researches, which conclude that there has been a significant impact on the dietary intake of the residant of the type of food options available to them. An important conclusion drawn from the results of another research study depicts that ‘ the lower the ratio of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to grocery stores and produce vendors near people’s homes, the lower the odds of being obese’ (Spence et al). Therefore the vicinity of the unhealthy environment to individuals proves to be a significant reason in their threat for the obesity. Based on the above-mentioned research we came to the conclusion that if people are given the choice of good healthy diet restaurant it might play an important role in mitigating this prevalent disease of being overweight in Canada. Also we further investigated that according to statistics healthy food in Canada as well as America is generally more expensive, only catering the needs of the affluent individuals of the society. Numerous studies have shown that ‘ neighborhood differences in the price and availability of food, with ‘ healthier’ foods generally more expensive, and less readily available, in poorer than in wealthier communities’ (Cummins et al).  Hence, we will provide healthy food opportunity to not only wealthier families but also target low-income families by charging reasonable prices.

Market Analysis

Market Segmentation:
We have divided our target market into two groups families and individuals. Amongst these two groups individuals will make up our majority of customers at the lunchtime while families will comprise as our major customers in dinnertime. Healthy Delights will focus to operate as a fast-casual restaurant providing health conscious food. We would be competing against the numerous other fast food chains and conventional restaurants.
We will focus on these two particular target groups for various reasons. The working class comprises of mostly lunchtime business. Most of them are on a run to go out and grab something quick and easy within their proximity and that’s where the unhealthy fast food options come to their minds. By placing our healthy food bars on all the major work places we will provide them with a quick and fast healthy alternative rather than throwing themselves to the disease of obesity. As per statistics ‘ one-quarter of Canadians reported they had eaten something from a fast-food outlet in the last 24 hours. Men ages 19 to 30 were the most likely to get food on the go; 39 per cent of them had done so on the day they were interviewed’ (Canada turning into fast-food nation). These will provide us with the most business as increasing health awareness and weight consciousness have encouraged people to opt for healthy food options and avoid fattening unhealthy fast food. We will also focus to cater the dinning needs of the families with children. The increasing trend of weekly dinning out as an excuse to take a break from cooking and spending quality time together as a family, will give us the opportunity to make business. The ever-increasing obesity rate amongst the children in Canada, with over 30% of children and youth considered to be overweight there is a dire need of providing a healthy family dinning experience (Childhood Obesity Foundation). With a extremely limited eating places offering such kind of services there is a huger market that can be tapped in to make staggering profits.

Service Business Analysis:

Healthy Delights will run within the enormous restaurant business. Whereas this particular business industry has its booms and slumps, yet the variance is considerably lower than the economy. Individuals need to eat no matter what, and the increasing preference of the convenience of eating out results in a substantial motivation. The general condition of the economy has a much less impact of this particular business making it a much less risky business to invest in. The restaurant industry within Canada has mainly the following divisions:
– Fast food chains: Major market share; McDonalds & Burger King
– Pizza: delivery and dine in
– Buffets: all you can eat
– Lounges: combining food and alcohol
– Fine dining: typically at the highest price point
– Fast-casual: combination of fast service and sit down dining
(Healthy Restaurant Business Plan)
Healthy Delights will tamper in the most niche and new restaurant market segment by combining fast-casual as well diet healthy. This particular restaurant segment has experienced growth in reaction to the boosted awareness for the need of healthy diet conscious food, along with a sit down option, but with quick service. This is a result of ever increasing threat of obesity and the tied up busy schedule of people that forces them to grab meals outside their home. Our research on quick service restaurant in Canada has also shown that 64% of the total food traffic is captured by such kind of restaurants (Restaurant Invest). Statistics has also predicted that commercial food service is expected to grow an average of 1. 7% yearly from 2012-2016, outdoing the population growth rate of 1. 6% within Canada. There is not only an increasing demand for the healthy food within the Canadian restaurant market but also there is a future growth in the demand of quick service restaurant. Hence combining these two together we have a huge lucrative market where we can enter and capture the untapped market share.

Competitive Edge:

We will employ our two strong competitive edges to rapidly capture the market share. Our competitive edge is mainly based on the emphasizing and offering a quick service, diet healthy dining-out experience, which will be an alternative to the existing fast food restaurants offering unhealthy food to the society. Healthy Delights marketing strategy will concentrate on delivering this particular information to the general public that its chain restaurants offer a convenient, diet healthy dining opportunity. We will be the unique restaurants to not only offer healthy food but we would also improvise our menu to create delicious non fattening food for the kids and those adults that enjoy eating tasteful food. We plan on working with the best chef and government agencies who are exploring alternatives unhealthy fattening food that has lead to the epidemic of obesity not only within Canada but worldwide. Our second competitive edge will be the low cost food menu. Since we will be a casual bar chain restaurant we wont be having too many overhead cost marinating the ambiance of the restaurant. Moreover since we want to target not only the rich people of the society but also the middle and low income earners, our prices will be reasonably decided based on the average income within Canada. Moreover we will also collaborate with the government and apply for tax reduction since these chain restaurants will be working effectively to curb the alarmingly rising rates of obesity in Canada. The Canadian government currently has many initiatives going on against the obesity within Canada, hence we will help them and get numerous benefits in return. Healthy Delights sales plan will be focused on to converting prospective and first-time consumers into permanent consumers.
As a healthy restaurant chain competing with many well-established old fast food chains, we will mainly focus on the following two aspects:
– The significance of the dinning experience: As there are numerous restaurants and ready-made food being sold at various grocery stores, the consumer experience has tremendous significance in order to distinguish our self from the others. If we offer the client a tremendous dinning in experience with good service they will convert into long-term permanent clients. When a customer has a good experience at a restaurant, there is a significant chance that they will become a repeat customer. Moreover, good clients also become good messengers building up the reputation of the restaurant by communicating through word of mouth to their friends and relatives
– Quick-service, healthy food:  There is a massive demand for fast, convenient food, which can be eaten without dietary fears like obesity. There are not many functioning restaurants in the Canadian market that fulfill these particular criteria. Healthy Delights will fulfill this market gap. Our menu will offer assortment of vegetables and a variety of meats, which are grilled with or without healthy sauces adding taste-avoiding fat. Along with this we will also offer white or brown rice comprising of the starch portion of the meal. Moreover, there will also be a wide variety of the salad bar and fresh juices as an alternative of the soft drinks. As its also a family restaurant, we will also focus on providing a healthy yet tasteful meal for the kids comprising of low fat grilled burgers, baked chips etc.

Financial Forecast:

The initial capital investment by the partners is $110, 000. We are also focusing on raising some grants from the concerned authorities of approximately $130, 000. The raised grant money will help us control the prices of our products. We as partners are also seeking to raise $300, 000 in long-term loans and $200, 000 in investment for opening up 5 chains initially with different locations within Canada. It will serve as a great investment opportunity for the profit-seeking individuals, with the following forecast:
(Source: bplans)
These forecast are based on the assumptions and market research that we carried out on various ethnic fast food restaurants within Canada.

Measures of Success:

We will imply 3 main ways of measuring the success of our chain restaurants economic, social and environmental.
Social Return:
In order to measure the social impact we would be working with the Canadian Childhood Obesity Center and the Canadian Obesity Network. In collaboration with these two agencies we would figure out the impact our restaurant chains are having on the obesity statistics within its neighborhood. We will try to analyze the if the preferences of the local people living within the vicinity of the restaurants have changed towards the healthy food, we are providing, from the unhealthy fast food options. These analyses would be carried through questioners and personal interviews conducted with the help of the above-mentioned agencies.

Economic Return:

The measures of our economic return will consist of the conventional ways. Profit and return on investment figure will be our main focus to maximize benefits for our investors. We would aim to increase the profit figures by increasing the sales of the restaurants not by increasing the prices. Other than that we would keep a strict control over the cost in order to ensure that money and resources are not being wasted and everything is utilized to its maximum potential. As mentioned earlier Healthy Delights will work on creating long-term permanent clientele, hence this would ensure a steady cash flow along with generous amount of profit and return on investment for the investors of the restaurant.

Environmental Return:

The prevalent threat of obesity within Canada has also affected the environment in a hazardous way. By eradicating this problem through providing a healthy food environment we aim at improving the living environment for the people residing within the locality of our healthy chain restaurants. ‘ Obesity is related to many medical problems such as diabetes. And, making medicine and treatments of these is not only expense, but it requires a lot of natural resources to be used in the process’ (Brown, J). We would investigate the medical statistics of the local health center. This will show the impact of the healthy eating facility on the health of the local population.

Conclusion:

We have presented the Canadian society with a viable solution to a serious problem of obesity prevailing in the society, through the opportunity of Healthy Delights. We will not only focus on eliminating this social admonition of obesity but also provide an good investment opportunity for the possible investors. As being a socially responsible citizen it is incumbent on us to provide the society with plausible social innovation opportunities.

Works Cited

Brown, J. (2010, January 1). How Obesity Affects the Environment. . Retrieved , from http://www. worldissues360. com/index. php/how-obesity-affects-the-environment-10835/
Canada turning into fast-food nation. (2007, January 1). Canada. com. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www. canada. com/vancouversun/news/story. html? id= 284fbbac-3be5-4498-92cb-065ebf37ab
Childhood Obesity Foundation. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www. childhoodobesityfoundation. ca/
Cummins, S., & Macintyre, S. (2006). Food environments and obesity—neighbourhood or nation?. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35(1), 100-104.
Health – Obesity. (n. d.). / Indicators of Well-being in Canada. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://www4. hrsdc. gc. ca/? iid= 6
Healthy Restaurant Business Plan. (n. d.). . Retrieved , from http://www. bplans. com/healthy_restaurant_business_plan/market_analysis_summary_fc. php#4. 3_Service_Business_Analysi
Morland, K., Wing, S., Diez Roux, A., & Poole, C. (2002). Neighborhood characteristics associated with the location of food stores and food service places. American journal of preventive medicine, 22(1), 23-29.
Obesity in Canada. (n. d.). About. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://www. obesitynetwork. ca/obesity-in-canada
OBESITY. (2006, January 1). . Retrieved , from http://www. hc-sc. gc. ca/hl-vs/alt_formats/pacrb-dgapcr/pdf/iyh-vsv/life-vie/obes-eng. pdf
Restaurant Invest . (n. d.). Quick-Service Restaurant Sales To Grow As Canadian Economy Begins to Expand. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www. restaurantinvest. ca/index. cfm? id= 43404
Spence, J. C., Cutumisu, N., Edwards, J., Raine, K. D., & Smoyer-Tomic, K. (2009). Relation between local food environments and obesity among adults. BMC Public Health, 9(1), 192.
White, R. M. (1977). The entrepreneur’s manual: business start-ups, spin-offs, and innovative management. Radnor, Pa.: Chilton Book Co.