July 13, 2009

Grocery Delivery Business Idea- Shreveport

Why is there no Grocery Delivery service in Shreveport? Surely there are other people like myself here in town that have come to despise going to Walmart or Target. Surely those people also have disposable income ($10 per delivery to spare). It's a small price to pay for not having to get out in the 107 degree heat and fight the crowds for hot pockets and toilet paper (must buy in pairs).

I tried to do the math on making a successful go at starting a delivery business in my off-hours. I ran into a couple of problems.

1) I don't have enough energy. It may be that I don't sleep well at night or have sleep apnea... I'm not sure. Either way, when I get home from work I don't want to do a dern thing that resembles work.
2) See #1

The thing is, I think it could work here. It could work like this:

1) Create a website that listed a large selection of available items, with their prices and pictures. (Companies exist that will provide a database of food items with prices and pictures).
2) Allow users to register and purchase groceries at your prices (hopefully priced between walmart and brookshires prices). If the order is placed before 3PM, it will be delivered the next day. Add $10 for orders under $100, 10% above $100.
3) Have the website print a master list of groceries ordered by 3PM, combining all orders into one big list. Shop Sam's and Walmart, etc. for all items.
4) Bring groceries home, split into individual orders.
5) Refrigerate necessary groceries.
6) Deliver groceries the following day.

The main thing someone would want to do would be limit the delivery areas initially. I imagine that targeting an area like South Highlands (small, upper middle class area) would be a good way to fine tune the business.

If I were a college student with the ability to create this website, I'd be all over it... but I'm not. I have a full time job, bills to pay and little energy. It doesn't seem like it would take much... a website that can accept credit cards, a decent size car, grocery skills, a few ice chests, and a heavy heap of time and patience.

Posted by Jordan at 10:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 5, 2009

Assemble the Brain Trust!

braintrust.jpg

It must be nice to be rich, or CEO or politician and have a team of knowledgeable advisors to give you advice.  When you have an idea, you can run it by a few people and get informed opinions at each step of your decision making process. 

I, on the other hand, don't fit into the CEO, politician or rich category.  Most of the time, I just run decisions by the dog and if he doesn't argue against me, I proceed.  It's no brain trust, but it'll do in a pinch. 

This past weekend, I came up with another business idea (not new, just new to my city).  I ran it by the first line of defense against fruitless labor and thoughts, the family and a friend or two.  After receiving a decent response from most, I realized that I still needed some insight that I probably couldn't find without finding someone who's tried something similar, or just trying it for myself. 

Normally, I'd turn to the internet in situations like these (finding products,travel destinations, factual information,etc.) , but the internet doesn't offer what I'm after here.  I need a decision engine, and I don't mean Bing (sorry Microsoft, but the phrase doesn't fit the functionality).  It really would come in handy for all the ideas that pass through my mind.

Oh well, my ADHD will probably take over in the next few days and I'll be on to a new idea.  I should probably just focus energy back on my existing side projects, and getting them up to 100% before moving on... but a brain trust would still be cool to shoot ideas past every once in a while...

I'm listening to:
Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries
Posted by Jordan at 10:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack