Food Truck Switch Up - Business Plan Update

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title (as applicable): Business Management and Analysis

  Course Title: Business and Entrepreneurial Principles

  Course Number: 8215129

  Career Cluster: Business, Management & Administration

  CIP Number: 055070110

  Course Type: CAR-PREP – High School Career Preparatory Program

  CTE Standard(s) or benchmarks

  CTE-BUS.912.8215120.15.4 Define the marketing concept and explain its impact on consumers

  CTE-BUS.912.8215120.15.8 Develop a basic business plan.

  Integrated benchmarks:

  ELA or Other:

  ELA.9.C.2.1 Present information orally, with a logical organization and coherent focus, with credible evidence, creating a clear perspective.

  ELA.10.C.2.1 Present information orally, with a logical organization and coherent focus, with credible evidence, creating a clear perspective

  ELA.11.C.2.1 Present information orally, with a logical organization, coherent focus, and credible evidence, while employing effective rhetorical devices where appropriate.

  ELA.12.C.2.1 Present information orally, with a logical organization, coherent focus, and credible evidence, while employing effective rhetorical devices where appropriate.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Food Truck Switch Up.” See CPALMS resource ID# 215241

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson will provide students with an opportunity to interact with and analyze a simple business plan outline. They will also use discussion skills with small groups, written communication by completing a new outline, and critical thinking skills to make inferences regarding business decisions based on the information provided and their own experience and background knowledge.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify which sections of a business plan outline would be impacted by a change in target market
  • Update a business plan to reflect a new target market.
  • Present information orally, in a logical sequence, to discuss their business plan rationale.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Students should be familiar with marketing terminology: target market, demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral, customer persona, marketing channels
  • Students should be familiar with the main sections of and terminology related to a business plan: problem, solution, unique value, costs, revenue

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How can changing your target market change your business plan?
  • Which aspects of a business plan depend on your customer base?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, review important content vocabulary with your students related to target market demographics and any relative vocabulary from the case study, “Food Truck Switch Up.” See CPALMS Resource 215241. For example, behavioral, psychographic, geographic, demographic, target market, business plan
  2. Pose the following discussion questions either during reading, or before the activity if the case study was read prior to this lesson:
     • Why doesn’t Lucy just create another pizza-based truck in the city?
     • What steps has Lucy already taken to start identifying ways her business plan needs to change for the new location?
     • What differences do you think will impact Lucy’s target market in the city?
  3. Pair students or put into small groups to review the provided business plan for MidKnight Pizza. Have students circle or highlight the boxes they feel will be impacted most by the change in target market for the new food truck.
  4. Bring the class back together to discuss their selections, asking groups to share the boxes they identified and their reasoning behind their selections.
     • Answers may vary as each box will be impacted based on the information provided, but some information may remain the same depending on student analysis.
     • Students should identify major changes to: Target Customer, Product Line Up, Unique Value, moderate changes to: Problem, Solution, Customer Expectations, Marketing Channels, and small changes to Cost and Revenue.
  5. Review the changes in demographics attachment which outlines the major market segment changes (demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral) from MidKnight Pizza to the new food truck’s proposed location.
     • Optional: Come up with a product focus (wraps, sandwiches, grilled cheese, salads,etc) for the food truck as a class, asking student groups to identify 3 major products in that category for the Product line up.
  6. In their pairs or groups, have students fill in the business plan outline for the new food truck in the downtown area. They should each have a copy, but should work together on deciding on what to put into their boxes and support their decisions as they will be asked to share with the other groups at the end of the lesson.
  7. To bring the lesson to a close, have students mix groups (so a new group is formed with members from the other teams) and share the changes in the business plan, defending their changes with reasoning related to the new target market. Have each student write an exit slip of a set of “next steps” for Lucy regarding what further information she would need to gather to move forward with the new business plan. They should also answer the following reflection questions:
     • How does understanding market demographics, needs, and practices impact you in your future careers – both as a potential business owner, and as an employee?
     • How does understanding market segmentation and how a business makes decisions based on target market impact your choices as a consumer?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Lesson can be extended over two days depending on time spent reading and discussing the case study, or for further research into the target market segments.
  • Teachers should consider using this lesson as an application of knowledge on market segments rather than an introduction.
  • Teachers can adapt this lesson to fit their preferred business model outline, template, or design, many of which can be found online.
  • Additional perspectives can be introduced by creating customer personas for alternative customers (as Elena and Steve are the only potential customers introduced). How would a customer who focuses on health over value impact the business plan rather than say, a customer worried more about wait times than waistlines?
  • Accommodations – students may be provided with a template with some of the information filled out already, depending on time constraints or background knowledge. It is suggested that at minimum the three boxes: Target Market, Unique Value and Product Line Up be completed by the student.
  • Extension Options may include: Identifying competitors (direct and indirect) mentioned in the case study, branding options such as naming the food truck and products, logo design with defense on how the logo would appeal to the new target customer, customer persona profile of a fictional potential customer, designing a full menu, researching cost of goods for the products identified, researching licensing requirements for food trucks in their local city.