20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert

1) Who they are and what their background is.

I contacted my manager at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. My manager, David, has over 15+ years of experience in the restaurant industry. He has recently joined the Tropical Smoothie family this past year. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

This is the domain expert in my industry for this assignment. He fills this spot because of his amount of experience and knowledge of the restaurant business. He has also worked in a range of small local restaurants to large franchise restaurant chains. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I know this person because he is the manager that hired me and who I work alongside the most. I contacted them through a phone call. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

I asked him about the differences in operation when running a small family-owned restaurant versus a larger franchise restaurant. Specifically, I was most curious about budgeting, so I gain a lot of insight into the financial positions most small business owners are typically in. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Including this person in my network will give me a more developed perception of the managerial functions of a variety of restaurants. With their knowledge, I can gain a deeper understanding of what restaurants and/or corporations I should be targeting with my product. 

Market Expert

1) Who they are and what their background is.

I contacted a salesperson at Beltram Foodservice Group. She has been with the company for over 10 years and her business is directed towards foodservice equipment and small wares.  

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

This is the market expert in my industry for this assignment. Her expertise from selling products for restaurant operations for over 10 years qualifies her to fill this spot. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I contacted her through LinkedIn. I mentioned how I'm a student at UF and that this was for an assignment. She was very helpful and enthusiastic about it all. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

I asked her about her personal views on the general market and advice of reaching potential customers. She provided me with a lot of insight like how I should maybe dine-in at some of these restaurants and get a general feel to how they run. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Including this person in my network will give me a connection to contacts that are valuable to me when I have a physical product made to sell. Regina has sold aprons and other restaurant-related products so I can gain a lot of insight into the distribution of my product and conducting customer research. 

Supplier

1) Who they are and what their background is.

I decided to try to connect myself with someone from E&A Restaurant Supply. They are a family-owned and operated restaurant supply business based in the east coast. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

For this individual, I am filling the slot of the supplier. Since I plan of targeting my product to small and local businesses, I thought that this company could give me some insight since they operate on a smaller scale as well. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I found the company on LinkedIn and I sent a message to the company page since I couldn't find a specific employee to contact. I sent my message around four days ago and unfortunately, I haven't heard back from them. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

In my message to them, I included my interest in seeing who they supply to exactly and how they pricing works as they are a small supply business. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This company could provide me some contacts for when I decide to start production. Also, their client could be great businesses to talk to about my product. 

Reflection

Doing this assignment pushed me out of my comfort zone and gave me a better sense of the reality of my business. Before this, I did not know much about the bigger scale operational aspects of the restaurant industry and how tedious it can be. This assignment helped me realize that it is not that dreadful contacting people who I don't personally know. I always thought that doing things like this was easier in-person since I can physically see how interested someone is but this experience showed me otherwise.