All,
Many thanks for the comments and feedback. Ok let’s get more specific!
I am not a chef but a creative problem solver; in my ‘day job’ I find solutions to customer problems. The idea came to me a while ago that whilst I love cook books and I have a number (as many people do) I don’t find them to be very efficient. In a typical book there may be half a dozen recipes which I would use. This is mainly because I don’t like the ingredients in the rest. Is it a problem that I have selves of inefficient cooks books are do I stop buying them, no. But why? Either because there isn’t really a problem or that cook books are inspiring as consumers want to cook more interesting, exciting and healthy meals. To me this is category which ripe for enhancement. Even if it isn’t a big problem for customers I do see that that the status quo could be improved.
So this got me thinking. What if I was able to tell you what food/ingredients I like and (perhaps more importantly tell you) what I don’t like and then recipes I search for only contain foods that I love, with none of the foods I don’t! What if I could even go further and buy a cookbook of these recipes and creat my very own bespoke printed cook book!
So I thought that surely someone has done this before and if so where can I buy this as I think it would make a great gift for me but also for a loved one. However when I looked into it couldn’t find it. The closest I have come across is a website (Yummly) which lets customers select ingredients, but it is not intuitive and pretty clunky) and a company which launched last year called This is your cookbook. This lets users print books on demand BUT the user has to select each recipe and the process is pretty laborious. With my solution I envisage it being as easy as creating in 2 minutes (gift for Mum, she is a vegetarian who loves Italian foods but doesn’t like mushrooms) to letting the user spend time to select the ingredients, allergies to exclude, calories, cooking time etc.
I have been cagey about sharing my idea as since I haven’t launched it yet. I don’t have the content to make this work and therefore it could be argued that I don’t have anything. However I do have the name, the trademark, a prototype, business plan, the system designs, the global print solution. However I am missing the most important ingredient, the content. So I probably don’t have anything as content IS KING, but I have the determination to make a success of it.
In terms of the target segment and content, my solution is versatile; from the fussy eater to the perfect gift for the loved one who has everything, I do think this could work with many different content types, indeed it could provide additional ways to monetise existing printed content enabling users to select the recipes that they would love. However it is important that the content is inspiring but can be made by the ‘average’ consumer.
Anyway I hope this gives you more information, I would appreciate any further comments, suggestions or advice.
Thanks
Stuart