Forward

Team

We are Sports & Entertainment – Team 05. Our group is comprised of 4 members: Kush Parikshak (Project Manager), Jaspreet Singh (Business Analyst), Verhsa Imran (UX Designer), and Noah Probst (UX Designer).

Problem

The restaurant industry is currently facing labor shortages, which has contributed to the overall $120 billion in lost sales during COVID-19. Over 210,000 restaurant workers were laid off in Indiana and many have not returned. These individuals are unsure of what employers are doing to ensure the safety of their employees. As a result, job openings within the restaurant industry has spiked to north of 1.3 million. According to the National Restaurant Association, almost half of establishments are operating with 20% less staff than usual. In fact, the Slippery Noodle Inn, one of Indiana’s oldest bars and restaurants, had to close operations on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday due to staff shortages. Some establishments are also experiencing long wait times and permanent closures.

Solution

Our solution is Forward, an easy-to-use job posting platform that focuses on COVID response and communicates what establishments are doing to ensure the safety of their employees. The main features of the platform are listed below.

1. Displays COVID protocols – Each job posting will communicates what that establishment is doing in response to COVID.
2. Verified company – Restaurants can become a verified company on our platform by enrolling in the Hoosier Hospitality Promise Program. This is a program developed by the State of Indiana that displays the organizations that are following the State’s COVID regulations.
   
3. Reviews – Employees can post reviews that communicate what their working experiences are like.
4. One-click-apply – All jobs will be one-click-apply to make the process easier for job seekers.
5. Live interview– the website will have a live interview interface so users can interview inside our platform.

Market Size

The Total Available Market (TAM) in the United States is currently $13.1 billion. The Serviceable Available Market (SAM) is projected to be $3.46 million. The SAM calculation is based off geographic location (Indianapolis) and the current competition within the restaurant industry. Additionally, the online recruitment site industry is currently in the growth phase of its life cycle. Revenue is projected to rise an annualized 9.1% to $20.3 billion over the next 5 years (2026).

Competition

Our main competitors in this space include Indeed, Sirvo and Poached Jobs. None of these platforms communicate what employee working conditions are (this is our competitive advantage). Each of these platforms also caters to a global audience, while Forward solely focuses on the Indianapolis area.

Business Model

Our main source of revenue is generated from job posts. Each job post is $50 and lasts 30 days. We also offer sponsored job posts which are an additional $5 per day. In our first year, our goal is to have approximately 1700 job posts, which accumulates to $87.000. We believe that 5-10% of those job postings will be sponsored for 5-7 days, which will account for an additional $6,000 in revenue. We also plan on implementing ads through our website. This will include an additional $11,000 of revenue. Therefore, we project our gross revenue for year 1 to be around $104,000. This is a little over 2% of our SAM.

Marketing and Sales

Our sales and marketing is broken down into 4 different areas.

1. Partnerships - We will partner with organizations in the Indianapolis community to help increase brand awareness and reach.
2. Ambassador Program –Since universities are going to be back in person, this is a good opportunity to market to students.
3. Career Fair – We plan on hosting a virtual career fair, open to any individual looking for a job in the restaurant industry.
4. SEO & Social Media – We plan to have a strong digital presence through SEO and social media advertising.

Progress to Date

As of now (July 2021), we have developed a strong business model and identified our competitive advantage. We are also currently in the development phase of our prototype and are building out our infrastructure.

Future Milestones

Phase 1, the development of our prototype, will take approximately 3 months. After Phase 1 is complete we will move onto pilot testing (Phase 2). Once we pilot test and get feedback, we will start to build our V1. Phase 2 will take about 3 months. Finally, we will transition into Phase 3, which is finishing V1 and launching V1. This will take approximately 6 months to complete.

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