7A: Testing the Hypothesis

1) Opportunity: creating biodegradable straws out of plants, that have the same texture of plastic straws, but are not harmful to the environment.

2) Restaurants in the city of Gainesville, or any city that has outlawed straws, need an alternative for their drinks, so that their customers are happy and content with the product they are consuming

·      The who: Restaurants in Gainesville (or any city that has outlawed straws)

·      The what: They are forced to use paper straws, yet they are not productive in their use and no one likes them.

·      The why: customers are unhappy with the paper straws

3) Biodegradable straws will be more beneficial and give customers a better experience.

·       Testing the who: There are tons of people who are the ‘who’. Specifically customers are the direct ‘who’ because they are the ones who would buy the straws. But less directly, the customers of the restaurants are also the ‘who’ because they are also using the product.

·       Testing the what: the boundaries of the straws are that they cannot contain plastic, but they can be made of anything that is not plastic. The paper straws do not work the way they are suppose to, therefore no one wants to use them. The ‘what’ is an alternative to paper straws.

·       Testing the why: the why does in fact hold for everyone because literally no one likes paper straws, therefore they will be happy with any form of alternative as long as it works better than paper straws (not that hard to do).

4) Interviewees:

·      Kendyl Lindaman, 21, College Student

·      Cara Parker, 25, Resident

·      DC Fico, 4, Child

·      Jack, 50+, Owner of BTW

·      Abbey Guthrie, 18, on vacation from Athens, OH

I really wanted to get a combination of interviewees, so that they all had different perspectives. I asked people on the street, and people who were actual customers at restaurants to get their different perspectives, specifically people who were directly affected (at restaurant) versus people who knew about the straw outlaw, but were not being affected during that specific time.

  

5) Throughout my interviews I learned that regardless of age, occupation, and demographic, not a single person liked the paper straw and found it to be “disgusting, and a waste.” Specifically, the person I interviewed who was here on vacation had the most negative things to day about it. She was from up north, where they do not have a straw problem. She hated the paper straws and expressed how she had no idea how anyone used them all the time. The ‘who’ is tricky because it is both the customer, and the restaurant. Yet, specifically it is the restaurant because they are the ones who would be buying the product from me. Yet, the reviews from the customer are what matters to the restaurant, therefore, both of their opinions matter. I chose to interview not only customers, but also a restaurant owner because I wanted to see how he specifically felt about the outlaw of straws, as well as if he saw trends with customers and them buying less drinks due to this. The ‘what’ stayed the same throughout the interview process because it was very simple: no one likes paper straws. They simply are not the answer to the outlaw of plastic straws. Finally, the ‘what’ is all the customers are unhappy with paper straws. After my interviews, I have come to the conclusion that there is definitely a market in Gainesville for a straw alternative, specifically made of biodegradable material, so that they function like a plastic straw, but are good for the environment. The paper straws are not sufficient to the consumer; therefore an opportunity is definitely there.