Forming An Opportunity Belief

I believe that there is a huge problem at the University of Florida. The fact that students have to go out around as early as 7:30 in order to not wait on line for bars is absurd. Students have to scarf down their dinner and get ready so fast or else they will be waiting on line for the whole night. It has gotten so bad that some students with later classes go to class dressed for Mid-Town. This problem mainly exists because of all the bars that have shut down in recent years. Mid-town used to be a wonderful place where you would go to a bar with some of your friends and see some of your other friends go to a different bar and you would make a plan when you got there. Now Mid Town consists of you going to one bar for the whole night. There are a few solutions to this problem. The first and most unlikely one is that the UF student body agrees to take a stand and everyone goes out later. The second and better solution is to simply open more bars in Mid. Re-open Cantina, someone buy the old bookstore and make that a bar or club, etc. There are so many options and it would make Mid great once again. 

#1. A male junior at the University of Florida

·      How often do you go to Mid-Town?

o   "Twice a week"

·      Around what time do you go out now compared to 2 years ago?

o   "7:30 - 8:00 now as opposed to 9:00 - 9:30 2 years ago."

·      How has the time change effected your normal going out routine?

o   "I now have to make the decision of whether I to go out or study where before I had the opportunity to study for a few hours at night and then go out. I also am eating dinner earlier now that I have to go out earlier. On the positive side, I usually come home earlier and wake up earlier the next day"

·      When do you feel this problem first arose? 

o   "When cantina and shucks closed. This made 1-2 bars the only bars to go to causing long lines at early times."

·      Do you think opening more bars and reopening Cantina would solve this problem? 

o   “Yes, but only with the right leadership, business model, and marketing strategy of each bar.”

#2. A female junior at the University of Florida

·      How often do you go to Mid-Town?

o   "2-3 times a week"

·      Around what time do you go out now compared to 2 years ago?

o   "Insanely early now. I usually go out at 8 pm, when freshmen year we would go out at like 10-10:30ish"

·      How has the time change effected your normal going out routine?

o   "I used to be able to either do school work or go to the gym before going out and now I can’t do either. Also, I eat dinner at like 5:00 as opposed to 7:30 which is when I used to eat dinner."

·      When do you feel this problem first arose? 

o   "Probably Spring of last year, around the time that Cantina closed."

·      Do you think opening more bars and reopening Cantina would solve this problem? 

o   “I don’t think it would immediately solve the problem because people would still be loyal to Fats, but it would definitely help over time.”

#3. A male senior at the University of Florida

·      How often do you go to Mid-Town?

o   "I’d say 3 times a week is fair."

·      Around what time do you go out now compared to 2 years ago?

o   "Man, everything has changed so much. I’d say I go out around 8:00 – 8:30 as compared to 9:30 – 10:00 back in the day."

·      How has the time change effected your normal going out routine?

o   "Changes everything, it changes my whole day. It has created a huge burden on my life. I have to eat earlier, go to the gym earlier and be ready to go out so much earlier."

·      When do you feel this problem first arose? 

o   "March 2017."

·      Do you think opening more bars and reopening Cantina would solve this problem? 

o   “One hundred percent.”

Summary/ Reflection: I think the opportunity definitely still exists. However, after talking to these people I have realized that it will not be as simple as I thought. It will not be just opening a few bars and “poof” Mid-Town is back to normal. I realized that a lot goes into opening new bars like management and a business plan and what not. I also realized that once these bars are open it will take time for people to grow accustomed to going to these different bars.