Kyriaki Chanioti - EcoBites
Blog post #1
Describe the idea !
Annually, craft breweries are paying up to 16000€ to dispose their solid waste (wet spent grain). At the same time, half of the pet owners treat their pets as family members leading to increase investment in pet care. What if we could utilize the brewers’ leftovers by upcycling them into a sustainable snack for our canine friends?
Who are you?
I am by nature curious, optimistic and strive to improve myself and my skills everyday. The jobs that I had occupied myself with were as a food technologist in a snail production unit (Fereikos) in Greece, as a research assistant in United Kingdom and lastly as a baker, waitress in Paros, Greece where I come from. I just completed the most amazing master program in food innovation and product design (FIPDes).
What will you do during these three months? How will you spend the time?
➔ In depth research and creation of the business model for the dog biscuit project.
➔ Research possible industrial applications
➔ Engage with consumers and have feedback
➔ Creation of brand name
What do you expect to achieve during Leapfrogs?
Meetings and interview with the users
Written business model for the project
Engagement with dog owners and testing the prototype
Creation of social media account
Blog post #2
Tell us what you have done on your project so far during the Leapfrogs time.
From mid-June till July, I had met up and interviews with various actors. Some of them were brewers, academics, pet shops and dog owners to get a more holistic perspective towards my future customers. Created and shared an online survey to get more statistics on dog eating habits and their relationship with the snacking. Manage to formulate a business model with the obtained data. Investigate the possibility of another target group for possible utilisation the spent grain as a premium biscuit. Lastly, the brand name was set!! Yeei!
Has everything gone according to the plan? Has anything unexpected occurred? Has something been easier/harder than expected?
“Search for opportunities when you face difficulties”, that’s my advice for you. For my project, not all the tasks were fulfilled, and that’s ok. The unexpected for me as an exchange student living in Lund over summer was that almost everybody “vanishes” J. Therefore, the number of people wanted to have contacted were limited. The tasks mentioned above had their own level of difficulty, but the thing that seemed harder for me was to come up and stick to the brand name. Here having a group can be very beneficial. However, asking around and communicating my issue helped me to discover and go with it.
What will you focus on during the remaining time? Will you follow your original plan or has anything changed along the way?
In August, I will focus on social engagement and communicate my product as well as consumer empathy interviews. That will happen through the participation of the Malmӧ food festival and through my social account on Instagram. Also, I will investigate new ingredients to enhance the flavour and at the same time, have some trials. All this action are part of the plan, so I say that I continue with an end goal in mind. J
Blog post #3
How did you experience the three months?
It was fascinating to work on my project full time and take it to the next level.
What has been most difficult and what has been most enjoyable?
The most challenging part was to learn to ask the right questions in order to find out what customers problem was. Thanks to the mum test book, I learn a lot! The funniest part was the time meeting with dog owners, and their dogs tried my product =D
Will you continue working on your project in the future? If so, what is your next step?
You never know what the future holds for you. I aim to continue with the project because it has great potential to save our environment and also, I love interacting with animals.
My future steps would be to put real work in the social media account and try to find investors to back up my initiative.
What would you say is the most important lesson learnt while working on your project?
Try to adjust your sails to the current wind and don’t overdo it! In the begging you will desire to do everything, well, my friends it is not possible try to take it a day or a step at a time. Also, finding a project partner could be really tricky but very beneficial.
Do you have any tips to other new entrepreneurs?
Do it! Take that leap of faith in yourself and your idea!! The rest will fall into place once you have a precise aim of what you want to achieve! VentureLab is a treasured place were almost all your dreams and aspirations could become a reality!