Developing New Business Ideas: Ice Creams - Essay Example

? Design Project Ice Creams which are one of the most consumed products, were once suffering through intense crisis. This primarily happened because companies were running short of ice cream dishes or carriers and as a result they could not match the market demand. Ice cream has an interesting historical background. It was first introduced somewhere in 1700 but it was not in the form of pure cream rather it was only pudding (Jennings). The new business idea was so popular that soon it transformed into ice cream form which we eat today. However, packaging of ice cream on commercial basis was always a problem for mass producers. Initially they used to supply the product in cups but in the early 1900 manufacturers identified a strong need of introducing ice cream carriers which were less costly and more productive. John was too frustrated those days because of the increasing raw material cost. He has been into the ice cream manufacturing industry since last twenty years but now he was facing immense difficulty in meeting up all the business expenses while maintaining good profit margins. His company used to do business in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. They had paper cups, glass jars or even plastic boxes in order to store, transport and sell the product. However, due to the changing business scenario and the advancing technology the prices of ice cream carriers raised beyond expectations and hence the major ice cream manufacturers including John’s ice cream had to plan again the entire business strategy. Developing a new business idea so as to cater the needs of customers is very difficult and risky. Ideas can be generated through various sources but the most common and widely applicable source is brainstorming (Bragg). Paper and plastic carriers were very costly, they were incurring huge wastage and the natural environment was becoming contaminated. Considering this scenario and the declining company profits, John called his managing team including supply chain managers, financers, marketers and the advisors. After two months of intense brainstorming and parameter analysis they finally decided to introduce an entirely new ice cream carrier which was not only cost effective and friendly to the environment but it was also the most feasible, interesting, tasty and edible ice cream carrier ever produced. So now John was out of his initial frustration period he knew his need i.e. an ice cream carrier which could be eaten away along with the ice cream. However, the next stage was even more difficult as the team of researchers was still uncertain about the exact ingredients they must use to make the carrier eatable and safe to health. One of the advisors analyzed the cooking books to find a recipe for carriers which could easily hold ice cream for a longer time period without melting it away or soaking its moisture. Hence pastries and creams were thoroughly studied but since both of these were naturally soft materials and could not hold ice cream in the required solid form for a considerable time period therefore they were ultimately rejected. Then John evaluated the effectiveness of ice cream carriers made from flour. These were also rejected because of water absorption. Hence the frustration for not being able to implement the business idea was initiated and now John started to spend some more time in kitchen so as to identify the best possible material which could be used as an ice cream carrier. While introducing a new product or even making an innovation in the current product range there is significant value of time. Company has to profoundly move from product details, ideas, development, screening and finally the introduction (Fuller). All of these procedures must be followed in a timely manner. But here the time was running fast and the profits were decreasing even faster. It has now been one year that the entire team was evaluating different ice cream carriers. Some of them proved to be highly absorbent while others were too hard to eat with the ice cream. Consequently, John had to ask his advisors to come up with another idea other than the eatable ice cream carriers. This was even more costly because in this case the entire team was going to lose a significant amount of energy and monetary resources spent on the previous idea. In the midst frustration, regret and disappointment, John had an excellent thought which later formed the foundation of eatable ice cream carriers in the coming years. One day he was baking biscuits in his home kitchen. It was Sunday morning and he was trying to reduce work stress by serving his family. In order to cook three layer biscuits with cream in between he poured very little quantity of batter into the mold. When he baked it for some time he realized that some of the ingredients were missing and hence the biscuit layer was very thin and could be easily folded. He picked up a part of layer and folded it into a cone shape. Later to make it little harder he baked it for some more time and hence it became crunchy biscuit cone. Instantly he poured some ice cream into it. The entire experiment gave remarkable results because the ice cream was not melting neither the biscuit cone was absorbing its moisture. It was overall crunchy, tasty, eatable and highly presentable. The ice cream cones were later modified with the help of Mrs. A.B. Marshall’s recipes in which she has thoroughly discussed the baking procedures of biscuit cones and how they could be utilized as ice cream carriers (Broomfield). Now the very next step was to make a marketing strategy consistent with the price and profit margins. Previously the company was selling ice cream at $5 per scope where the profit was only $1. But now after introducing the biscuit cones John could easily manufacture and sell ice cream at $5 with only $2 cost. This implies that the entire raw material cost was decreased by 50% and hence the company could enjoy a better market performance. Moreover, the engineers associated with the manufacturing process of new ice cream carriers were determined to install a plant within next three months which could also increase the profits while lowering the material cost to a greater extent. However, for installing a new ice cream carrier plant John needed significant finances which he decided to acquire from few of his friends. The finance manager finally calculated the entire business plan in terms of raw material cost, pricing, loans etc. Finance report revealed that the company can achieve competitive advantage by applying the devised strategies. But another important hurdle which came into the way of John’s ice cream parlor was to keep safe the secret recipe of biscuit cones so that the competitors could not come up with a similar product. For this purpose the company further researched and made the cones highly customized with different flavors and textures. For additional surety, John got a patent for manufacturing the basic sugar cones and the waffle cones. So now the competitors could not harm him by manufacturing the same product. Hence ice cream cones were first introduced in 1904 (Ice Cream Cone). Within five years of operations after introducing the new biscuit cone ice cream John’s company was able to pay back all the liabilities while earning significant profits. Considering its growing stage and high potential in the consumer market the investors decided to make immense investments. Eventually John turned the company from sole proprietorship to corporation. Works Cited Bragg, Andrew, and Mary Bragg. Developing New Business Ideas: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating New Business Ideas Worth Backing. Harlow, England: Prentice Hall, 2005. Broomfield, Andrea. Food and cooking in Victorian England: A history. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2007. Fuller, Gordon W. New Food Product Development: From Concept to Marketplace. Florida: CRC Press, 2005. Ice Cream Cone. The Great Idea Finder. 2005. Web. 21 Oct 2013. Jennings, Sally. Ice-Cream Cones. Senior Living Magazine. 2011. Web. 21 Oct 2013. Read More