peer review

Elevator Pitch Proposal:

The purpose of my business is to provide a product that will not only enhance the taste of popcorn at movie theaters and other businesses that use large amounts of popcorn, but to also save money for these businesses and save time. A reason I thought of this solution is from seeing the conveyer belts used in McDonald’s to make drinks for drive through customers. An issue that has been brought up to me is the fact that the popcorn at the movie theater cannot be fully covered with butter with the current butter pumps. That led me to come up with a solution for making the popcorn at movie theaters more enjoyable, and an idea that saves movie theaters time and money when it comes to concession stand lines. The product I came up with is a combination of the use of a popcorn machine and the use of a buttering device similar to the usual buttering pumps. However, this popcorn machine would have buttons to detect how much popcorn is needed based on the order placed and it would know how much butter to disperse based on the customers preference. So, essentially, the customer would be able to request the level of butter dispersed based on a light amount, medium amount, or large amount. This machine would take the popcorn that is popped and place it in the assigned container based on the size selected and as the popcorn is being placed in the container, butter is being dispersed by and overhead pump that is rotating to coat each piece of popcorn. This would essentially be more convenient for movie theaters as their employees at concession stands could grab the other products the customer is needing rather than taking time to grab popcorn. Also, the customer would not have to worry about stopping to get butter after receiving their food. Overall, this product saves employees, movie theaters as a whole, and customers time by providing a service that requires no labor besides pressing buttons. The target market for this product is essentially movie theaters. They would get the most value from this product because movie theaters make money from selling popcorn. The competitors that I found were a little difficult to find, but I found HTMarket and Popcorn Supply Company online. They produce butter dispensers that are seen in movie theaters, so they would be my direct competitors. However, I would be at an advantage as my single product would be serving a purpose that two of my competitors’ products would be serving. Also, this would save movie theaters time and money as the popcorn would be put into containers while their employees could be doing other tasks. This would save customers time as well. The concession line would take less time and customers wouldn’t have to stop to try to butter their popcorn only to fail and add too much just to the top layer. The money I would need to produce this product would be for building a prototype and the product itself, getting a patent, marketing, funding for a place to produce and keep the machines, and for wages for those who would help me make these products. To roughly estimate the total costs to first start the business would be around $16,000. This does not include a warehouse or factory as the business would have to get much bigger to require these costs. The team members that I would need are someone to build a prototype or design the full product as I am not very artistic and to start, I would maybe only need another person to help with marketing or sales. That position would be debatable as when I would first start my business, I would want to find ways to save money. But later on, if the business is successful, I would hire salespeople, a marketer, and an accountant if need be.