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“Shark Tank” Investors Consider Students’ Business Ideas
Class competition takes a group of seniors off campus to research local food businesses and to come up with ideas to create a business of their own ranging from a high-end sushi restaurant to a gourmet restaurant to a surf and turf restaurant.
“Part of what education is focusing on for 21st Century skills is collaboration, projects and problem solving rather than studying from a book or taking a test,” Carol Nordgaarden, instructor of the 21st Century College and Life Skills class, said.
21st Century College and Life Skills, an exclusively senior class with a group of six students, was created this year in hope of “getting students ready for the 21st Century,” Nordgaarden said.
After starting the year by working on college applications and essay writing, the group moved into a collaborative project based on planning a business for a brand new restaurant.
Six seniors were divided into three pairs: Jack Espy and Maddie Bonser, Hannah White and Chris Benwitt and Martin Barnick and Katie Carrillo.
“I sent them out one block day on a field trip where they had to go collect menus from restaurants, actually eat in a restaurant, to interact with the staff and pay attention to the décor and location,” Nordgaarden said.
“I then did some research on available commercial properties for sale in Santa Barbara, and with their partners they decided on what building they would rent or buy, how big it was, what it looked like, the neighborhood, what kind of people would be attracted to it.”
The seniors then came up with the features of each restaurant—a name, what kind of food it would serve, the atmosphere it would have and what its hours were.
Each pair planned a different restaurant. Espy and Bonser created a high-end sushi restaurant called Koi, White and Benwitt designed a high-end gourmet restaurant named Iris. Barnick and Carrillo proposed a surf-and-turf restaurant called K & M.
Following the planning of these businesses, Nordgaarden “asked some of the teachers to be the ‘Shark Tank’ investors.” Tyler Hodges, Staci Richard, Kevin Shertzer, Richard Nathan and Stephen Chan played the part as these ‘interested investors’ who were able to invest up to $300,000.
Students presented their concepts using PowerPoint and handouts, explaining how they would use the money that the investors would give them and how they would design the business.
“The original plan was that the presentations would last around ten minutes. Each presentation was so brilliant and so involved that they ended up being around 40 minutes, and the “Shark Tank” investors asked them lots of questions,” Nordgaarden said.
At the end of the presentations, the investors met to pick the most convincing concept.
However, to Nordgaarden’s and the students’ surprise, the investors were unsatisfied and asked the class to do more research.
After the investors shared comments with the pairs on the pros and cons of each business, Nordgaarden told the seniors that “they could just say we learned from that [experience] and that we could just move forward with one concept as a group. I was so excited when we were done and I wanted them to feel like someone had won the competition.”
The students preferred continuing with the competition to find out “who’s doing it best” and to have more time to work on their concepts.
When asked about the future steps involved in this project, Nordgaarden said, “Right before the end of the semester, on January 15, they will present, and those same investors will come in and pick one [business]. We are at the point right now where they are designing their floor plans and doing their layout and sketches of their tables. Eventually we’ll design menus, social media and advertising.”
ARTICLE UPDATE
Hannah White and Chris Benwitt won the contest for their restaurant Iris. According to "investor" Richard Nathan, there were several areas that made Hannah and Chris' proposal stand out:
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“Part of what education is focusing on for 21st Century skills is collaboration, projects and problem solving rather than studying from a book or taking a test,” Carol Nordgaarden, instructor of the 21st Century College and Life Skills class, said.
21st Century College and Life Skills, an exclusively senior class with a group of six students, was created this year in hope of “getting students ready for the 21st Century,” Nordgaarden said.
After starting the year by working on college applications and essay writing, the group moved into a collaborative project based on planning a business for a brand new restaurant.
Six seniors were divided into three pairs: Jack Espy and Maddie Bonser, Hannah White and Chris Benwitt and Martin Barnick and Katie Carrillo.
“I sent them out one block day on a field trip where they had to go collect menus from restaurants, actually eat in a restaurant, to interact with the staff and pay attention to the décor and location,” Nordgaarden said.
“I then did some research on available commercial properties for sale in Santa Barbara, and with their partners they decided on what building they would rent or buy, how big it was, what it looked like, the neighborhood, what kind of people would be attracted to it.”
The seniors then came up with the features of each restaurant—a name, what kind of food it would serve, the atmosphere it would have and what its hours were.
Each pair planned a different restaurant. Espy and Bonser created a high-end sushi restaurant called Koi, White and Benwitt designed a high-end gourmet restaurant named Iris. Barnick and Carrillo proposed a surf-and-turf restaurant called K & M.
Following the planning of these businesses, Nordgaarden “asked some of the teachers to be the ‘Shark Tank’ investors.” Tyler Hodges, Staci Richard, Kevin Shertzer, Richard Nathan and Stephen Chan played the part as these ‘interested investors’ who were able to invest up to $300,000.
Students presented their concepts using PowerPoint and handouts, explaining how they would use the money that the investors would give them and how they would design the business.
“The original plan was that the presentations would last around ten minutes. Each presentation was so brilliant and so involved that they ended up being around 40 minutes, and the “Shark Tank” investors asked them lots of questions,” Nordgaarden said.
At the end of the presentations, the investors met to pick the most convincing concept.
However, to Nordgaarden’s and the students’ surprise, the investors were unsatisfied and asked the class to do more research.
After the investors shared comments with the pairs on the pros and cons of each business, Nordgaarden told the seniors that “they could just say we learned from that [experience] and that we could just move forward with one concept as a group. I was so excited when we were done and I wanted them to feel like someone had won the competition.”
The students preferred continuing with the competition to find out “who’s doing it best” and to have more time to work on their concepts.
When asked about the future steps involved in this project, Nordgaarden said, “Right before the end of the semester, on January 15, they will present, and those same investors will come in and pick one [business]. We are at the point right now where they are designing their floor plans and doing their layout and sketches of their tables. Eventually we’ll design menus, social media and advertising.”
ARTICLE UPDATE
Hannah White and Chris Benwitt won the contest for their restaurant Iris. According to "investor" Richard Nathan, there were several areas that made Hannah and Chris' proposal stand out:
- A realistic business plan in terms of specific budget items;
- Attention to a selective wine list that would likely provide a healthy profit margin;
- A polished presentation highlighting the décor and ambience that made it look like a classy joint.
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Laguna Blanca is Santa Barbara’s premier private, co-educational, college preparatory day school for students in Early Kindergarten through Grade 12.