Market Studies

I was in charge of a more detailed market survey we were to do for the second unit along with Benedetto and Mekala. I further divided work among us,where Bene was supposed to find information  on Competitor analysis,Mekala on Swot analysis and I did my part on making the basic marketing strategy ,market size,growth and trends;market segmentation and consumer purchasing behavior. Both of them emailed me all details they found and I edited them. I made the swot analysis diagrams for Mekala. In the meantime,Bene and I had a brief meeting with Melvin Holmes,our supervisor on the market questionnaire we prepared and later entered them in Survey Monkey.com 

I then emailed a lot of people asking them to complete the survey and posted the questionnaire on facebook and other social networking sites to get more people involved.
Since only the final percentages were given at the end of a month long survey,I had to make an excel file to plot a graph on the final results.


All the results thus collected,the Unit I market analysis part and the edited part of the other members were compiled to complete the market analysis part of Unit II.


On completion of my part,I helped the group to write the report as a whole with inputs on the executive summary and conclusion. I prepared slides on market study needed for the Unit II presentation.
On completion of the report we submitted a draft to Melvin. Vicky,Mekala and I did the final editing,I got it printed and submitted them.

Compusense/Poster Design

Me along with Harrison Nganga and Vicky worked with Melvin Holmes after class hours and learnt how to use the Compusense software and we then made sample codes required for the sensory test. I emailed all the focus group members well in advance about the food tasting that was to happen later in the week.
I designed posters,printed them and stuck them around the university couple of days before the tasting session.

Focus Group Meeting

The focus group meeting was conducted and I made notes on the comments made by the members. I later collected all the completed registration forms and filed them so that we could later use their email id's to contact them as and when our sensory food tasting was due.

I purchased meat needed for the group and stored them in the school laboratory.

I was part of the group that was to prepare the proposed sample as against the other group that prepared the competitors product.

Report Writing/Market Study

Report writing/Market study

I was part of a group of 5 who were responsible for the report writing. I was solely responsible for the market assessment part of the report and thus collected facts and figures and other literature reviews.

I was also involved in framing the executive summary of the report.

I collected the completed market survey questionnaires from all the members and tabulated them in excel sheet and made appropriate graphs. 

I later taught Harrison Nganga,my group mate how to upload and edit details on the wiki page as his group was responsible for editing the wiki page henceforth.

Product tasting/Sensory Analysis

Product tasting/sensory analysis

Since everyone in the group had sensory lab practicals on the day of product tasting,I arranged for the sensory test by placing appropriate beef and chicken samples,making codes for each of them to identify all the 8 samples and also made arrangements for glass/water/tissue that was to be provided for each assessor.
Took prints of the questionnaire that was prepared by Vicky Dine and distributed them among the assessors. Full time guidance was given as many of them had trouble understanding the ranking scale used. All the forms were then collected and submitted to Vicky.

Sample Marinate and Drying Studies

Made spice jerky with chicken using the spice recipe i prepared. I used spices like red chilly powder, coriander powder,pepper,salt,ginger,garlic and dried corriander leaves to prepare the marinate. I suggested that we should use tray driers instead of the oven as the oven cooks the meat and not exactly dehydrate them.We thus spoke to Ian Hardy,our lab technician and Melvin Holmes about this and we got a handy,relatively small tray drier.The next day we conducted our drying studies and I tabulated the temperature-moisture loss readings every half an hour.
I then prepared the consent forms that had to be circulated during the sensory test for the following week.

Literature collection

Found further literature reviews and did a search on the various beef jerky brands available.
Prepared a new spice recipe to be used during the preparation of our sample products for the sensory analysis and later had a discussion with couple of group members who came up to me and asked me the reasons for having more group meetings than proposed in the team contract. Had a chat with them to build a better team understanding.