Product Idea and Audience:
Our product idea is to replace the marshmallow in s’mores with a Tang Yuan. The Tang Yuan s’mores are a fusion of international and Chinese culture, Tang Yuans are a traditional Chinese dessert eaten during the Lantern Festival, whereas s’mores are a popular campfire snack in America and Canada. This fusion of traditional desserts would attract a wide variety of target audiences since it could attract consumers from both Western and Chinese cultures who are curious or seek new food experiences. Our product will be sold at a street food vendor since street food vendors are currently popular and would attract more consumers who are curious about new food ideas, this would also be good for foods fusing International and Chinese culture since it wouldn’t be considered “overly sacrilegious”, and consumers would be better at accepting new foods. Thus, derived from the product idea, our audience would be teenagers and young adults, since the consumer would technically be more open to new ideas.
Plans for Data Collecting & Modelling:
We are currently planning on making the Tang Yuan s’mores and doing a blind taste test to see which flavors, amongst red bean paste, sesame, and peanuts, would taste better; however, this would only be done with a small number of testers (people from our group). We are also planning on doing a consumer survey to collect a larger amount of data, with 40 people to get more accurate data. The consumer survey would include photos of the product that we made for taste test. For modeling, we will be doing a financial model for the costs of one s’more and finding the recommended sales price in acknowledgment to competition, rent, labor price, cost, and revenue.
My Role:
I will be primarily in charge of the financial model and will also be helping Lilian in making the product.
Challenges:
Our main challenge is finishing making and taste testing the Tang Yuan s’mores on time. We are planning on having 6 variations, with 3 flavors of Tang Yuan: red bean paste, black sesame, and peanuts, and 2 methods of cooking: frying or boiling the Tang Yuan. We will be making 4 trials for each of the variations since we have 4 members in the group and each of us will taste test all of the variations. We will need to be clear on the recipe and procedure of making Tang Yuan s’mores and we will need to multitask to finish making all the Tang Yuan s’mores in one kitchen session.