Cliffs of Moher/Galway: Give us your observations on what stood out to you during your tour of the Cliffs of Moher and the City of Galway.
The Cliffs of Moher are just a stunning natural beauty out on the coast of Ireland. They were great to look at, and the atmosphere surrounding the cliffs was one of wonder and awe. Galway was a fun little adventure where we ate food and looked around some of the shops. The city had a quaint feel and it was enjoyable to walk around despite the rain.
FoodCloud: In preparation for your site visit to FoodCloud, this organization has a deep commitment to supporting the local food system in Ireland. Just from reading the article, it resembles an organization in Pittsburgh, 412 Food Rescue, which supports the local food system in Pittsburgh through an emphasis on reducing food waste through food recovery and distributing excess food to local food banks. Based on your quick review of the article on FoodCloud, identify one commercial opportunity and one commercial challenge they are addressing in their efforts to support local food systems.
One opportunity FoodCloud could attempt to tackle is that of reducing food waste. While their business model relies on food waste, wouldn’t it be better if there was less of it to begin with? They could run programs and work with the big companies they partner with to help lessen or eliminate food waste to begin with.
One challenge FoodCloud faces is keeping up their momentum with all the progress they’ve made in distributing excess food. They are already successful, but how can they keep innovating to reach new levels and develop new technologies and strategies to stay ahead of the game and be as efficient as possible.
Questions For The Site Visit: Finally, acting as members of consulting teams that might choose to write a group paper about the commercial opportunities and challenges connected to FoodCloud, what specific questions do you have about the business model for FoodCloud that relate to our course material (Triple Bottom Line and sustainability, market segmentation, maximization versus shared value, etc.)? Give us a specific question for tomorrow’s visit.
Ms. Lawlor stated, ““This is game-changing and will be used to invest in further development of technology, expanding Food CloudHubs and development of new services” in response to their new investors. What technology do they need to further develop in order to become and even more successful charity?