The Colorado-based fast-casual restaurant, Noodles and Company proposes to introduce a restaurant at the University of South California. The restaurant will be accessible to the students and the faculty members in the institution. Since the university has students and staff members from different ethnic backgrounds, the company is uncertain of whether or not the students and the faculty will constitute a good customer base for their products. The business is also not certain of which noodle types are most preferable for the student community at USC. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not Noodles and Company’s business idea is viable on campus.
Opening a noodle restaurant on campus is a proposal that requires a deeper understanding of the various underlying issues associated with it. For example, the company needs to find out whether the noodles will be adopted by students from different races and ethnicities. If the noodles will be adopted, the company also needs to find out which specific types of noodles should and should not be offered at the restaurant. Understanding this case is important because it will help the top management team at the company to determine whether or not the business idea is worthwhile and reasonable considering the fact that there are several restaurants and other businesses dealing in the food industry at the university (University of South California).
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My reason for selecting this issue is that, as a university student, I understand that food is an important part of a student’s life as it gives them the energy necessary to read and carry out daily activities. More specifically, I chose this issue because I understand that a majority of college students are more often preoccupied with studies and always prefer eating fast foods (Delions et al. 2014). Therefore, I believe that selling noodles on campus would be a good idea because it would be convenient for most students.
To examine whether or not the business is viable, I will prepare a focus group discussion session with a few students and staff members to understand their food preferences while on campus. The FDG will rely on several questions that will prompt the students to discuss amongst themselves and give their ideas or opinions concerning an issue (Stewart & Shamdasani, 2014). In this case, the issue under discussion is the restaurant project proposed by the Noodles and Company. The following are the specific questions that I will seek to answer in this paper:
What do students at the University of South California prefer for food while they are on campus?
What type of noodle is the most popular to students and staffs at the university?
Does the university’s diversity affect the type of food choice the students have?
Method
Procedure
One focus group discussion session was conducted at the University of Southern California and lasted for ten minutes. The short period of time taken to conduct the FGD would ensure that boredom and monotony were eliminated throughout the activity. The moderator of the group was a graduate student in Communication Management program at the University of Southern California. Students (from Freshmen to Ph.D) and faculty members from the institution were screened through a short paper survey that was filled by the participants. Each participant was reimbursed with a $50 gift card from Noodle Company and given a free sample to take home as a sign of gratitude for their participation.
Participants
The FDG involved four female participants: three full-time students and one full-time worker at the university. While the worker was a Hispanic, the student participants represented different ethnicities including African American, Caucasian white and Asian. The female faculty member was 30 years old while the students’ age ranged from 17-24 years. All the participants took food from within the school.
Place
The FDG session was held on campus, in one of the lecture rooms located at Wallis Annenberg Hall. This site was chosen because it was familiar to all the participants involved. The moderator was at the hall on time and was prepared to carry on with the survey.
Recruitment
All the participants were emailed about their invitation to participate in the focus group discussion and the details on the same. They were recruited at the Leavey library and screened through a short paper survey.
Focus group questions
The focus group questions consisted of four major parts and each part had a different set of probe questions. The major parts included restaurant preference and attitude, nutrition preference and attitude, noodles motivators/limitations and competitive positioning. The moderator addressed each part one after the other in that sequence. Probe questions under part one (restaurant preference and attitude) sought to find out the students’ restaurant preferences and their attitude towards the food options offered on campus. An example of probe question used was “what do you like about the food options at USC”? Probe questions under part two (nutrition preference & attitude) sought to identify the nutrition preferences of the students and their attitude towards the foods offered on campus. Examples of questions used in part two included “what types of carbohydrates do you prefer?” and “How nutritious/healthy do you think of the foods offered at school are?” The third question sought to answer the question on what type noodles the participant liked most giving choices such as pho, Udoh or chow-mein noodles. Other questions that were asked can be viewed in the moderator guide in the Appendix part of the paper.
Findings
The three students who participated in the FDG reported that they enjoy taking noodles once a day while the worker reported that she always prefers taking a heavier meal like whole foods. Out of the four participants, only one participant reported that she likes Mexican foods while two participants enjoyed Asian dishes. Only one participants liked pop culture foods such as burgers and fries.
All the four participants reported that they take most of their meals within the campus and that they like it because it is easy to get. The students (3 participants) reported that they liked the food provided on campus because it was tasty and affordable. The worker, however, did not like fast foods which are often eaten by the students. Instead, she liked whole meals due to the health benefits associated with such food. Three of the participants reported that the variety of foods offered in the school was scarce and that more food varieties should be offered. The students loved pasta noodles compared to other noodles that were available on campus. Two of the students said that they preferred their noodles served with soup while the other student said that she preferred noodles served with salads. The worker did not consume noodles in her diet.
While the four participants were from different ethnicities, only three of them liked tasty spicy foods in their diet (other ethnicities other than Whites). The three students concurred that price was a major factor that determined what they ate in the school. However, the price factor did not seem to be a major issue for the worker. With regard to allergies, all the participants confirmed that they would consume noodle products without any effects on their bodies. All the participants argued that they would prefer eating noodles from Noodle and Company restaurant because it offered different types of noodles. They also said that they would eat from the company’s noodle products because they have a catchy original taste which was better than noodles offered in other places.
Discussion
Interpretation of data collected
The data collected during the focused group discussion indicate that students at the University of South California would eat noodles more often than the workers in the school would. The female students who participated in the FDG reported that they would eat noodles at least once per day while on campus. This means that Noodle & Company restaurant would make some profits every day from the sale of their noodles. From the findings, it is also clear that noodles is more associated with females than it is to male. The fact that the participants admitted that they would choose to eat noodles provided by Noodle and Company means that their noodles products meet the interests of the buyers (students and workers within the school).
Explanation of findings
According to Dunn et al. (2011), argue that a majority of college students choose to fast foods while on campus for several reasons including, immediate satisfaction, peer influence and convenience. Students who east fast foods for satisfaction are always focused on satisfying their hunger needs (Alters & Schiff, 2009) rather than meeting their nutritional needs (Schlosser, 2001).With peer influence, a majority of university students would choose to buy fast foods just because their peers agree with them in doing so (Dunn et al. 2011). Students who choose to eat fast foods for convenience purposes are those who lack time for lunch breaks probably due to overload of school work and tight class schedule (Hales, 2015)
Noodles is somewhat a fast food product that is easy to get and whose preparation takes short period of time. From the findings, it is clear that students at USC would choose to buy the noodle products for convenience purposes. In other words, the students would rather buy these noodles rather than wasting time cooking while they have tight class schedules. The fact that the participants argued that they would choose to eat noodles because they are tasty is a clear indication that taste is another factor that influence college students to east fast foods rather than home-made foods (Housman & Odum, 2015).
Pricing is crucial in the food industry, and any company willing to tap into the food market must be ready to offer quality foods at pocket-friendly prices. Although the price factor was not an issue for the participants involved in the FDG, it is obvious that price is a factor that would influence students to eat fast foods. Therefore, if the noodle restaurant on campus provides the noodles at a pocket-friendly price, more students will buy their products.
Possible Implications
From the results presented above, it is clear that opening a noodle restaurant at USC will not only increase the variety of food options on campus but also help students to save time during their class or reading hours.
Problems Experienced
Though the focus group was a success, it did not lack some problems. One problems was that a small sample was used. This means that data from this FDG cannot be used to generalize the food consumption behaviors of the whole population considering the fact that USC has over 20,000 students with a large number of them being customers at the restaurants in the school. To correct the above problem, a larger focus group sample should be used.
References
Alters, S., & Schiff, W. (2009). Essential concepts for healthy living. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.
Deliens, T., Clarys, P., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., & Deforche, B. (2014). Determinants of eating behaviour in university students: a qualitative study using focus group discussions. BMC public health, 14 (1), 53.
Dunn, K. I., Mohr, P., Wilson, C. J., & Wittert, G. A. (2011). Determinants of fast-food consumption. An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Appetite, 57 (2), 349- 357.
Hales, D. R. (2015). An invitation to health: Live it now!. Stamford, Conn: Cengage Learning.
Housman, J., & Odum, M. (2015). Alters and Schiff Essential Concepts for Healthy Living. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Schlosser, E. (2001). Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Perennial.
Stewart, D. W., & Shamdasani, P. N. (2014). Focus groups: Theory and practice (Vol. 20). LOCATION:? Sage publications.
University of Southern California. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.usc.edu/
Appendix
Problem: Noodles Company try to open a restaurant at USC, they carry different types of noodles from the world. USC is in downtown Los Angeles that have different kinds of food on campus but they still not sure what type of noodle would be popular. Also, the types of menu choices/foods are important for the customer in USC.
● Goal: Understand the choices for students make for the foods selected at schools especially the desire of different kind of noodles.
● Participants: Students and faculties on USC campus, from Freshmen to Ph.D. Recruited at a leavey library and screened through a short paper survey.
● Reimbursement: $50 noodles company gift card and a free sample to take home.
I. Introduction/Warm-up
A. Please state your name, major/job and one of your favorite food.
II. Restaurant preference & Attitude
A. What is your favorite restaurant?
1. Specific probes: Italian? French? Japanese? Chinese? Mexican? Korean? Thai?
B. What do you like about the food sold at USC?
1. General probe: Other foods you’d like to see offered?
2. Specific probes: Fast and easy to get? Tasty? Food looks good? The portion?
C. What do you think of the service in the school cafeteria/restaurant?
III. Nutrition preference & Attitude
A. What would you like to have for them carb?
1. Specific probes: Noodle? Rice? Bread? From veggies?
B. How nutritious/healthy do you think foods sold at school are?
1. General probe: What do you care most?
C. What would you like to have with noodles?
1. Specific probes: Salad? Soup? Sweet?
IV. Noodles Motivators/ Limitations
A. What type of noodles do they like most?
1. Specific probes: Pho? U-don? Pasta? Chow-Mein?
B. What would prevent you from not eating here?
1. General probe: Why?
2. Specific probes: Price? Taste? Location?
C. What're your allergies?
1. General probe: What?
2. Specific probes: Gluten free, Sugar free, Organic food,
D. What’s your special request for your meal?
1. Specific probes: Gluten free? Meatless? Under 500 calories? Low-carb?
V . Competitive Positioning
A. Who goes to the restaurant on campus for noodles?
1. General probe: Can you list some reasons?
B. What keeps you to go to Noodles Company?
1. Specific probes: Rewards program? Enjoy the food? The diversities of food choices?
