The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report

Transcription

1 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Prepared for University of North Texas Students Prepared by Alexander Mulcahey Shahrokh Yousefi-Darani Thomas Daly Michael Hill December 2012

2 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report University of North Texas December 2012 Alexander Mulcahey Shahrokh Yousefi-Darani Michael Hill Thomas Daly

3 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Methods... 2 Results... 4 Price... 4 The Nutrition Value... 4 The Taste... 5 Conclusions... 6 Recommendations... 7 References... 8 Appendix... 9 iii

4 Introduction A group of Technical Writing students at the University of North Texas performed a study to determine what sour cream and onion flavor potato chip is most desired by young people. Potato chips are served as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. Basic chips are cooked and salted but flavored ones are manufactured using various ingredients like seasonings, herbs, spices, cheeses, and artificial additives. Potato chip flavors include sour cream and onion, barbecue, salt and vinegar. Potato chips are a predominant part of the snack food market in English-speaking countries and numerous other Western nations [1]. Among all chip types, there are different factors that are important for people to choose a specific brand. The goal is to find and recommend the best chip brand and this report provides information to determine what influences people in selecting specific types of chips. Three major factors are most important in brand selection; price, nutrition values, and taste. This report reviews the results of the survey and determines what factors are considered most in selecting a chip and what chip tastes the best based on the participants opinion. The flavor of the selected potato chips is sour cream and onion. The chip brands are Lay s, Ruffles, and Great Value. Next section covers the methods and logic of conducting the research and raw data analyzing. Then conclusions are drawn from the results and lead us to a better understanding of what individuals look for in selecting a particular chip. At the end, a specific brand is recommended for young consumers. The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Page 1

5 Methods As it is mentioned in introduction, to find the best potato chip we should choose some criteria and conduct the research according to them. We rated the chips using the following criteria: Price Nutritional Value Taste For price measurement we targeted a particular shop (Walmart) that sells all proposed chip brands and compared the prices. The important thing in comparing the prices is that the weights of different chips are not the same. That means we have to normalize the price for a pre-defined weight. As far as nutritional values are concerned, we measured different nutrition factors which are mentioned on the chips pockets and compared these factors together. In taste case, because it is not an objective parameter, we could not measure it as easy as price and nutrition values. Therefore we had to select a specific population and ask them to make a judgment by performing a survey. On December 4 th, 2012 a table was set up for students and faculty to taste various potato chips and complete a survey. The survey was done by offering people roaming the third floor hall of the University of North Texas Auditorium building. We asked the participants to fill out a pre-provided survey form after they tasted the potato chips. The survey form is presented in the Appendix. It includes four core questions: 1. Are you a fan of potato chips? (Yes/No) 2. Do you like sour cream and onion flavor? (Yes/No) 3. What matters most to you? (Price, Nutrition, and Taste) 4. What s your favorite chip? (Lay s, Ruffles, and Great Values) To extract a meaningful result from the survey we conducted two rounds of data processing: first, defining the eligibility of each participant and next, calculating Page 2 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report

6 the scores for different chip brands. Only those participants were forwarded to the second round which were eligible based on their answers of two first questions. In the second round, we asked a question about the degree of importance for different factors including price, nutrition values and taste (participants were asked to give numbers, 3 for the most important factor and 1 for the least). Then in the fourth question the participants ranked different brands by numbers from 1 to 3 (3 for the most favorite and 1 for the least). In this way we had the ability to include the taste weight into the brands ranking in our data processing. We multiplied different brands scores, answers of the fourth question, by the degree of importance of the taste factor, from the third question. Finally, we summed up all resulted scores for any specific brand type among all survey forms. The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Page 3

7 Results We could categorize the results of the study according to the measured criteria. Price Many young people are not independent economically and meaning the price of foods, including chips, are really important for them. So we decided to place the price of the chips as a criterion in choosing a specific brand. The following table (Table 1) presented the raw and normalized price values for different chip types. Among all three major potato chip brands, Great Value receives favorable score for price. Lay s and Ruffles receive mostly middling to low marks for a specific weight. Table 1: Different Chips Price Comparison Price Attributes Lay s Ruffles Great Value Price (per pocket) $2.98 $3.98 $1.98 Weight (per Pocket) 14 oz 13 oz 10 oz Normalized Price (per ounce) $0.21 $0.31 $0.20 The Nutrition Value As nutritional guidelines were created in various countries and the nutrition facts label became popular, consumers have focused on the nutritional value of potato chips like other foods and that is why this factor placed as another measurable parameter in choosing the brand of chips. Table 2 compares the major nutrition parameters for different chips. The result depicted that Ruffles has the most none healthy features and two other brands nutrition parameters are in a same range with an ignorable difference. Page 4 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report

8 Table 2: Different Chips Nutrition Parameters Nutrition Parameters Lay s Ruffles Great Value Calories 160 per 28g 230 per 43g 150 per 28.4g Total Fat 15% 21% 12% Cholesterol 0% 0% 0% Sodium 7% 12% 7% Total Carbohydrates 5% 8% 6% The Taste People always consume the chip because they enjoy eating it and they like its taste. It means there is another prominent factor that defines a brand s taste of the chip. According to the survey results and also after analyzing the raw data, we concluded that Lay s received the highest mark regarding the taste factor with 53 points. Ruffles with 37 points and Great Value with 31 points are placed in the second and third place, respectively. The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Page 5

9 Conclusions Among all measured factors, taste is a subjective parameter but by surveying a large enough group we can usually get a majority of what people like the most. Price can sway many young people but because we were surveying chips, price wasn t a huge factor. Even expensive chips are really cheap. Nutrition always varies with the person. Some people are very religious in their diet and others do not care. In our survey we learned that taste was of most importance, price was second, and nutrition was third. Since taste is the most important, we can conclude that we will be judging our recommendation on taste over the rest. Table 3: Chips Ranking Based on Different Criteria Criteria Winner 2 nd Place 3 rd Place Price Great Value Lay s Ruffles Nutrition Values Great Value Lay s Ruffles Taste Lay s Ruffles Great Value Page 6 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report

10 Recommendations Because taste was the criteria of most importance and since chips are really cheap no matter what brand you buy, we recommend Lay s over the other chips. Also the nutrition facts of each brand were very similar so it plays a small role in our decision factor. The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Page 7

11 References [1] Wikipedia, Page 8 The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report

12 Appendix TECM 2700 Feasibility Report Survey Form Subject: The Best Potato Chip for Young People Dear student, We appreciate your participation into this survey. After tasting the provided potato chips, please complete this survey form. Name (Optional): Are you a fan of potato chips? Yes No Do you like sour cream and onion flavor? Yes No What matters most to you? (insert number 3 for the most important factor and 1 for the least) Taste Nutrition Price What s your favorite chip? (insert number 3 for the most favorite and 1 for the least) Lay s Ruffles Great Value What do you like about the chips? What do you not like about the chips? Please don t write anything below this line. Eligibility: Yes No Brand Scores: Lay s Ruffles Great Value The Best Potato Chip for Young People: A Feasibility Report Page 9