Interviewing Costumers No.2

After the first interviews I went over what my costumers had told me about their on-campus dining experiences and tried to identify an opportunity. The majority of them mentioned that on-campus dining lacked quality and diversity, so I brainstormed over those points. I thought that since a lot of them would either cook their own meals or eat off campus. These two things would provide both healthier and more diverse options. So, I came up with the idea of creating a new restaurant on-campus. This restaurant will host cooks from all around Gainesville. A different cook will be cooking for us each day, with a different menu each time. This menu, however, will include all kinds of food for vegetarians. vegans, meat-lovers etc. The restaurant will serve both lunch and dinner. Another feature is that students will be able to see the menu on-line and will have the opportunity to order an extra plate online to-go for half price. This is another way for students to start investing money into food they actually like. Finally, there will be supermarket (discount) coupons distributed to everyone who gets a meal, so that people get the extra motivation needed to go and buy their own groceries. This is my business idea, at the moment.

I realized, however, that in order to get important feedback I would have to interview people that have diverse experiences of on-campus dining. The only thing I changed in my questions was that I made them more focused on asking about the quality of food and asking them how on-campus dining can be improved - to also prepare them for my business idea. Luckily, a lot of people liked my idea and especially the fact that you get an extra plate for half price.

Since I've become an "expert" in interviewing costumers my three tips are the following:

1) Warm the costumers up with questions about themselves. If they are really nervous try to be extra friendly and ask them more about themselves.
2) Pay attention to what they are saying and reflect briefly on their opinions, as if you were having a normal discussion. Don't keep asking questions because this shows you don't care about their answers.
3) Thank them for their time at the end. This way they'll will comfortable and satisfied with the interview overall.