7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

• Opportunity: Inexperienced cooks waste time and can ruin recipes when measuring specific amounts of spices and oil, because the process is time consuming and tedious. 
• Who: Inexperiences cooks
• What: They waste time and can ruin recipes when measuring specific amounts of spices and oil
• Why: The process is time consuming and tedious 
• Testing the who: Inexperienced cooks are not the only people who can mess up when measuring spices. Anyone who cooks or bakes has the opportunity to ruin the recipe by over spicing the food. Inexperienced cooks may make up a large portion of the "who" because they are learning. Experienced cooks are sometimes able to estimate the amount of spices without having to measure. 
• Testing the what: All spices can be a challenging to measure, which can cause cooks to waste time and ruin their recipes. On the other hand, not all recipes require spices. If the recipe does not require spices or oil, then the "what" would not apply.
• Testing the why: I would say most people find measuring ingredient to be time consuming and tedious. Other may not like it because they do not have enough measuring spoons and cups. Once they have been used the cups the cook would need to take time to wash them. Oil and spices are also very hard to clean up when spilled. Oil makes the counter top slippery and spices get everywhere. 

Interviews:

Interview #1: The interviewee was a female college student who just started living by herself this year. She started cooking for the first time in August and does not enjoy it. She cooks everyday and has messed up many recipes by adding to much of a spice. When asked "how many different spices do you use in your recipes", she said two. She said the hardest part about cooking is preparing the food. She believe the people that struggle the most with cooking are people who grew up eating out a lot and are use to having others cook for them. She thinks a product that decreases the amount of preparation time would be helpful. 

Interview #2: This interview was with a female college senior who has been cooking for seven years. She cooks about three times a week and uses spices in all of her recipes. She said the worst part about cooking is multitasking. She would use a product that calculates an exact amount of spice, because she has ruined many recipes by adding too much. For example, she has added too much salt in rice she recently made. One Christmas she added too much nutmeg to a french toast casserole and it became inedible. She believes people who struggle with cooking are those who do not follow instruction well.

Interview #3: The interviewee was a female college junior who has been cooking since senior year of high school. She says the worst part about cooking for her is cleaning up. She has messed up recipes by adding too many spices. She believes people who ruin the most recipes are those who like quick, convenient food like microwave meals. She cooks four times a week and uses about 4 different spices in all of her recipes. She does not use measuring cups when adding spices, instead she estimates the amount. 

Interview #4: The interviewee was a female junior who has been cooking for herself since August. She said the hardest part about cooking is portioning the sizes, since she is only cooking for herself. She has never ruined a recipe by adding too much of a spice, but has done the opposite by not adding enough. On average she uses about 5 or more spices per recipe. She meals preps for the entire week, so she only has to cook one or twice a week. She believes the people who find cooking difficult are college students, because they "do not know what they are doing." They are use to having their parents cook for them, so it is learning process. She think having a product that dispensers a specific measurement would be a good idea. She would use it instead of estimating the amount of spices to add to her recipes. 

Interview #5: This interview was with a 21 year old male who has been cooking since he was in middle school. He loved cooking when he was younger, so started at a young age. He now cooks four times a week and uses one average four different spices in all of his recipes. He said the hardest part about cooking is multitasking and the criticism people share after trying the food. He believes stubborn people ruin the most recipes, because they do not follow instructions and think they know everything. He would you a device that produces a specific measurement of spices, because it would save time.  

What I know about the opportunity that I didn't before: There are a lot more people who struggle with cooking than inexperiences cooks. People who tend to eat out often, do not follow instructions well, are use to having someone else cook for them and like fast and easy meals also having trouble measuring ingredients. From interview number five, I learned even experienced cooks can ruin a recipe by adding to many spices. Out of all five interviews only number one said some of her recipes do not require spices. Additionally, two was the minimum number of different spices used in a recipe. Most recipes call for at least one spice to be added. Both of these factors shows me that the opportunity is greater than I expected. There were multiple reasons why the interviewees would use a product that dispenses an exact amount of spices. Interview number one and five both said the product would save them time. In addition, interview number two and four would use the product specifically for the accurate measurements. Lastly, interviewee number three dislikes cleaning, so she could use the product to limit the amount of dishes she would have to clean after preparing the meal.