Business Plan

December 9, 2021

Team Airports:

Executive Summary -
Goal
Need
Product
Strategy
Company

Background - Tanner

Product - Charlie
Evolution of Product
User Feedback

as a food (and other retail purchase) delivery and pickup system within an airport. The
funding of this project will be used to further continue our research and in the development
of prototypes. Because this is meant to be a product in an airport we have to take
permission to test our product within an airport and hence the funding will be used for the
license and other manufacturing required.
1.2 The Need
After interviewing many users, the team understood that there is a need to improve the
convenience of obtaining food within airports; addressing this need, in turn, can assist in
reducing a distinct source of stress frequently experienced within airports. Many travelers
end up in airports at a very odd time when most of the restaurants will be closed and they
cant have food and should wait to board their flight to get some food. And also sometimes
the time between the connection flights is too less to get food as the line in the restaurants
will be too long to order food and then board the flight, many people experience stress
related to food in the airport and for this reason the team decided to address the following
need: There is a need to increase convenience and decrease stress related to food access
for travelers within an airport.

1.3 The Product

GateDash targets the travelers who have a connecting flight, arriving at late hours, do not
want to stand in long or crowded lines, or just wish to plan ahead. The product and service
combination is a solution to missing meals when in a hurry. To use the gatedash the
travellers have to install the app which asks them for either their flight ticket number or scan
the boarding pass and when it's done the app gathers the information of your departing or
arriving airport and it asks you to select the airport you want to have food at and then
depending on the airport the app determines the time of your arrival at the airport and
shows the list of restaurants which will be open and the user can select the food and it goes
to the cart and now the user have to select the location of the locker from which they want
to pick their food from and once the user selects the locker location the apps proceeds to
the payment page where the user completes the booking by paying and now the restaurant
selected will receive the order with the time by which the food has to be in locker and it
prepares the food accordingly. The user will be notified with updates about the order and
once the locker is allotted to the order, the user receives a pickup code which has to be
entered in the locker and then the locker opens and the user can collect the ordered food.
In the app we also integrated the map which can be used by the user to navigate to the
locker from the gate. Employees of GateDash will serve as both the pickup and delivery
system, as well as uphold the maintenance of each pickup location to ensure cleanliness.

1.4 The Strategy (licensing, standalone company, stages of development, etc.)

GateDash will start as a pilot program in a small selection of major airports. This will be the
main stage of testing and development where any changes needed or desired for the
physical hardware or the application itself can be implemented and refined. After the pilot

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 program is initiated, we plan on expanding into many or all major US airports to become the
go-to name in airport convenience. Once this becomes established, we hope to expand to
similar settings such as college campuses, large business offices/buildings, and other forms
of travel hubs. We have identified these as other areas that would benefit from increased
convenience and often have people with cramped time schedules. At this point we hope to
have a large enough company to either go public, create a partnership, or look at getting
acquired for purposes of growth and outreach.

1.5 The Company (who you are)

We may be a group of engineers, but we are people who travel as well. We want to help
reduce some of the stress travelers experience with a solution that we would enjoy just as
much as the stranger in the seat next to us. We believe GateDash is an effective solution to
reduce the stress experienced by the travellers in acquiring food in an airport.

2. Background
After our initial interviews, we came to understand as a team that airports and their
corresponding operations are inherently stressful to our users. Therefore, we came to
understand that our team may be most beneficial to the world by determining a product or
service that can reduce stress for airport users. Thus, our identified (broad) need was to reduce
stress for users within airports. The team then worked on different ways to tackle different
stresses.

Initially, our team included all of the stresses users brought up to us, and brainstormed and
included every stress we had experienced ourselves within airports. The results of these efforts
can be seen in Figure 1. The next step for us as a group was to find as many different methods as
we could to tackle these identified stresses. From user feedback, as well as through multiple
brainstorming sessions, we determined a vast myriad of concepts/potential solutions that might
become products for our users. The results of these efforts are seen in Figure 2-Figure 4.

After several discussions/iterations of receiving user feedback, the team decided to narrow our
choices of potential products to six different ways to tackle the stress at an airport.

The team then developed sell sheets for the six different ideas which are
1. Open Concert Stage
2. Airport Gyms with Showers
3. Airport Yard Games
4. Luggage Hotel
5. ZenPort

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 6. GateDash

Figure 1: Unification of Stresses from User Input, as well as Our Stresses within Airports

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 Figure 2: Brainstormed Ideas Surrounding Fixing Identified Stresses

Figure 3: Further Brainstormed Ideas Surrounding Fixing Identified Stresses

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 Figure 4: Combining of Potential Solutions to Identified Stresses

Open Concert Stage

The concept for the Open Concert Stage was that in order to reduce stress for users, a stage (or
multiple) would be constructed within airport terminals. This stage would allow for traveling
musicians to spontaneously get up on the stage and play music for the passengers of an airport,
or musicians that are coordinated by the airport (professionals) could be hired to perform for
passersby. For periods allowing for traveling musicians to get on the stage and play, there would
be a few instruments (e.g., a guitar (acoustic), a piano, etc) ready for musicians to play. An open
area in front of the stage would allow for passersby to congregate and enjoy this live music. In
addition to this, the users would have an opportunity to meet and mingle with their fellow
travelers. The idea was that the distraction (and hopefully the enchantment) of the music/social
interactions would allow for users to have a pleasant experience whilst being inside airports.

This concept was abandoned based on user feedback that overall, music is a very subjective
experience, and therefore it could actually cause stress to some users, while relieving stress for
others. Therefore, it was desired by our group to locate a product/design that would not create
stress for users.

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 Figure 5: Open Concert Stage “Sell Sheet”

Airport Gyms with Showers

One idea our team came up with to reduce stress in airports was to have readily available gyms
for travelers to utilize. In addition to this, showers/locker rooms would be included so as to
allow users to not smell unfavorably for the remainder of their day. It’s shown that working out
does relieve stress for individuals [Regular Exercise Citation...]. Furthermore, this concept was
suggested to our group by psychologist, Dr. Brita Fosse. Dr. Brita Fosse believed that allowing
users to workout in times of stress is greatly beneficial to allow them to deal with this stress.

Figure 6: Airport Gyms with Showers “Sell Sheet”

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However, upon user interviews with over 10 users, it was found that none of them would
personally utilize the concept. It’s notable that our group of user testing included both
individuals that exercise regularly, and those who do not exercise regularly. Most notably, the
users who exercise regularly, such as Emily Arnold, noted that missing exercise due to traveling
was not a large stressor to them. They also felt that they generally desire to move through the
airport quickly and efficiently, and this concept would only be used if they changed that
ideology. Therefore, this idea was abandoned because it was deemed that not enough of our
users would be willing/desiring to utilize it.

Airport Yard Games

The idea behind Airport Yard Games was that users inside of terminals can play common yard
games with friends, or even with unfamiliar individuals to them. One example of a game that
would be available to users is Cornhole (labeled “Bag Toss” in Figure 3). This idea was also
initiated through feedback from Dr. Brita Fosse as a potential way to help with stress within
airports. She suggested to us that users would be benefited by having a location in airports to
meet up with users and to have social interactions. Our group imagined that a fantastic way to
accomplish this task would be to have games that users can play to pass the downtime they go
through during their travels.
Initially our idea was to have users pay in order to rent game pieces (beanbags and boards for
Cornhole). After multiple interviews with users, it was deemed that users were not willing to
pay to play these games. They felt that it should be a provided service, or perhaps one that is
attached to another service that they have to pay for. As one of our interviewed users, Myron
Saylor, stated, “I think it should be attached to bars. I’d pay for a drink and then play a game, but
I won’t pay to just play a yard game with my friends.” Through this feedback, and with the
desire for our group to have a freestanding product (not merely an attachment to pre-existing
concepts/businesses), we decided to have a different method of users securing game pieces.

This new concept involved users coming to our location within the airport and checking their
luggage (or some similar form of collateral) with us. Once a staff member stored their
luggage/items with us, they would be provided with game pieces. They would also be able to
purchase drinks/snacks from us, and have a fulfilling experience (or so we imagined).

However, upon user interviews surrounding the updated idea, it was seen that a smaller portion
of our interviewed users would be willing to utilize Airport Yard Games. Some individuals felt
that they would not want additional interaction with more strangers than they need to within
airports. Other individuals simply do not like to play yard games, or felt that using yard games
would not fit into the common social interactions that they experience with individuals that

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they usually travel with. For the users that said they would use the product, however, they
seemed very interested in using it within airports.

Figure 7: Airport Yard Games “Sell Sheet”

With all of this culminated information we as a group decided that Airport Yard Games was not
our most idealistic concept to go further with.

Luggage Hotel

Figure 8: Luggage Hotel “Sell Sheet”

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The Luggage Hotel idea (or as it was originally referred to by our group, the “Stuff Motel”) was
based around some initial user suggestions when we were originally locating our general need
statement. Many users communicated with us about stress brought about by situations where
they don’t have an easily accessible location to store their luggage. The concept was that users
could locate a Luggage Hotel, pay a small fee, and stash their luggage for a small time duration.
Conceptually, one of the main locations we saw this being utilized was near restrooms within
the airport.

However, our users brought up many issues they had with this concept. To start, users would be
unwilling to pay for the service. In addition to this, and especially with the scenario of
restrooms, users mentioned how they often need to wait in lines for a restroom in airports.
They also mentioned that they found it unlikely that these lockers would be large enough to
hold any significant portion of willing users’ luggage at any given time. Thus, they thought that
waiting to put luggage in the Luggage Hotel could lead to yet another line of the many lines
within airports. In addition to this, a significant portion of our users interviewed (near 50%)
communicated to us that they wouldn’t want to use the Luggage Hotel, and like keeping their
items with them throughout their time in the airport, no matter how secure it may be in
another location.

All of this information contributed to the decision for our group not to move forward with the
Luggage Hotel.

ZenPort
ZenPort was a concept that our group originated after many of our users, as well as Dr. Brita
Fosse, described lack of control as a main stressor for our users. ZenPort was our attempt to
give the user the utmost control within airports. The idea behind ZenPort was that it was an app
which would provide users with a much higher amount of information than they are capable of
receiving, currently. The concept was to help users in any scenario, starting from any point that
they desired. By entering their flight number, users would be able to see the following:
● Time to get to the airport (if they are not already at it)
● Methods to get to the airport (if they choose to utilize some form other than personal
transportation)
● Time to get through TSA (at the current moment, utilizing a rolling average from user
data)
● Time to get to Gate
○ Current Boarding Time
■ Including any posted delays
● A map showing each restaurant and stores/services in the airport

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 ○ Would include filters to allow users to see more/less information
● On the other side of the airport experience, upon landing:
○ Directions to get to baggage claim
○ Current baggage claim time estimate (rolling average from user/historical data)
○ Directions to vehicle rentals/passenger pickup/public transportation locations
In addition to these items, the app would have services that would allow users to contact
different help services for the airport that they are currently in.

Figure 9: ZenPort “Sell Sheet”

Initially in our interviews with users, users seemed very interested in this concept. They were
excited to use this service, and they believed it would help them (and if they thought they
wouldn’t use it, they thought it would help a vast amount of people).

However, as time went on, and after describing our last design (GateDash, shown in the next
section), we realized that users seemed at first equally as interested in both ZenPort and
GateDash. Therefore, concentrated efforts were made to specifically decide between these two

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concepts. In the end, more of our users communicated that they would be interested in and
wanting to use GateDash, and some of them, such as Kirsten Pelkey, worried that people may
initially download and want to use the app, but after a few initial uses, they may forget about it
being in their phone (this is especially important because we selected non-business/infrequent
flyers as part of our target market). In addition to this, ZenPort is not a completely novel
concept, and research showed that previous products that were similar had failed. With these
things in mind, we decided to also abandon ZenPort.

GateDash
The concept of GateDash, yet again, was brought about to our group through user feedback. A
common recurring story from our users was that they had an experience in an airport where
they were incapable of getting/eating food. This experience took multiple forms. Sometimes, it
involved users landing in airports late at night, right after restaurants had closed. For some of
these users, such as Nick Saylor, there was the added negative experience of having his
connecting flight canceled. Therefore, in Nick’s case, he was unable to eat, and had to stay
within the airport for hours. Other users, such as Jack Groupe, experienced having very little
time between connecting flights. Jack, as well as multiple other users, specifically mentioned
this circumstance happening within the Dallas Airport. In this instance, Jack and other users had
to literally run through the airport to make their connecting flight, and therefore went well past
a comfortable time duration without being able to eat.

Figure 10: GateDash “Sell Sheet”

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 Figure 11: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs [Maslow’s Hierarchy...Citation]

From this user information, our group wanted to find a solution to this particular food related
stress. When we were initially discussing stresses for users, we initially decided that Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs would be a relevant tool for us.

We decided as a group that if we decided to help with one specific need, a need located within
the Basic needs portion, as seen in Figure 7, would be more important to our users than helping
with a higher level need. Specifically, we noted how many users communicated stress related to
a lack of food within airports, and we noted that that is one of the basest needs for individuals
(a Physiological need, seen in Figure 7). Through this, it seemed vastly important that if we
could decrease stress related to food within airports, it would rank very highly among our
selected ideas.

Thus, one of our members came up with the idea of GateDash (originally Gate-Dash, as seen in
Figure 6). The concept of GateDash is a food delivery system that is delivered to lockers (close or
at users’ flight gates). Users order a specific food item through a phone app, and when they
arrive at their gate, the food they ordered is waiting for them inside the locker. Upon ordering,
users are sent an update including a QR code image and a code. When arriving at the locker,
they either scan the QR code under a scanner or enter the code sent to them via a monitor
screen (touchpad). Upon completion of this, the specific locker designated for the user opens
up, and they can retrieve their food item.

Nearly every interview concluded with users stating that they desired for GateDash to exist, and
they stated they would utilize it. Of course, many of our interviewed users have different

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 experiences with airports. One recurring concept, for users that take public transportation/take
paid rides to get to airports, is that they can utilize their time on public transportation/paid
rides to order food for themselves. One notable example of a user sharing this story with us was
with the user, Dr. Janet Tsai. Dr. Tsai detailed how she often has left very little time for herself
within airports. She believed that GateDash would be beneficial to her by allowing her to order
food while she’s on the bus from Boulder, CO to DIA (the Denver International Airport). Thus,
even when users such as Dr. Tsai “cut it close” with their time allocation for getting through
airports, they can still have a full meal (or multiple meals) throughout their day of travel.

Other users communicated the benefit they would experience through being able to order food
for themselves during a flight. One interviewed user, Vaishali Villuri, noted multiple times where
for her traveling to the US, she was left without a full meal after an entire day of traveling. She
noted that if she could have food waiting for her, even if it wasn’t heated food from a restaurant
(such as convenience store food), it would have been massively beneficial to herself. This
viewpoint was mirrored by all of our interviewees.
Thus, we as a group narrowed down our ideas to GateDash. We felt that it as a product would
provide one more degree of control and convenience within their traveling lives, and therefore
would be very beneficial to the world.

3. Product
GateDash is a service that provides food and some non-food items to customers within
airports using a locker system. Users start by ordering food, travel necessities, electronics,
and more on a mobile app. They enter their flight information, which gives them options for
locker selection. Once users have selected the items they want, they will select their locker
and time of pickup. After that the user pays and the code for the locker will display. Finally,
GateDash will navigate them from their current location to the locker, or from an arrival gate
to the locker. The user requirements for the locker are that it needed to be close to their
gate, have temperature regulation, on time delivery, handicap accessibility, and the ability to
store non food items. For the app design, users needed to be able to see all their options,
select their pickup time, have some sort of locker selection option, and navigation to their
locker. Users also desired an app that is intuitive to use, has simplified options, pleasant
backgrounds that match the airport they are in, and has a night mode. This section will show
the evolution of the prototypes and the product itself, as well as the user feedback that
drove the changes.

3.1 Evolution of the Product

For the initial design of GateDash, we couldn’t test in an actual airport, so we chose to test
on a college campus instead. It was an environment where people were trapped in a certain

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 space for some amount of time and had little time to go between classes, almost simulating
a fast connection between flights in the airport. For the physical design, we purchased a
used IKEA shelf and repurposed it into a locker as shown in Figure D. We also developed a
mockup app using Adobe XD that we called Campus-Dash. The screens for selecting the
campus, the locker, and which category of food/non-food the user wants is shown in Figure
D below.

Figure D: The earliest prototype of GateDash, focused around a college campus version of the
locker and ordering system. From left to right there is the locker system, campus selection
screen, locker selection screen, and which category of food or non-food the user could select.

We started off with a few different iterations of things right from the start. We had an app
that was blue and had an app that was red. The blue app was supposed to be calming but
the red app was supposed to engage the user, so we wanted to see which one our user
preferred. We also had a version of the app that had a map and a version of the app that did
not have a map for navigation at the end. This was to test whether or not users needed a
map or if they just needed a locker code and general area the locker was in. We also varied
the height of the lockers to see what height able bodied users would be okay using. We
raised the locker system using a cart and had people vary between using low, high, and
middle level lockers as shown in Figure E.

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Figure E: Two different iterations of the original app and physical prototype. On the left there is
a red screen vs a blue screen, in the middle is a system with no map vs a system with a map, and
on the right is the levels at which deliveries were placed to test retrieval height.

After user testing the Campus-Dash version with college age students and with families, we
found that blue would be the best color option for the app. The purpose of the app is to
reduce stress within the airport so it was more important to go with a calming color than an
attention grabbing one. We also found that users liked having a map, but wanted one that
was much bigger and easier to navigate. This led us to transitioning the map to a complete
separate page with a larger area as shown in Figure Fa below. We also received feedback
that a virtual shopping cart was needed so the users could make sure their order was
correct and potentially get items from multiple locations or orders for multiple people.
Through this testing we also noticed some non-verbal feedback as well. We saw users
struggling to click on the back buttons due to the small size of the arrow and some users
were confused on some of the categories of food/non-food items. We made the categories
clearer by adding extra words such as “Travel Accessories” instead of just “Travel,” and
making the background darker so the wording was easier to read as shown in Figure Fb. We
also added a clear button surrounding the small back arrow to make it easier to press back
as shown in Figure Fc. After iterating the height, we also found that most users were okay
with bending down but didn’t want to reach high above their head, so the height of the
locker will be limited so no one will be pulling down the food from too high up. The height
will also be limited for those in wheelchairs. There will be a specific option so that those
who are in a wheelchair will only receive food in the lockers they can safely reach.

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Figure F: Part A shows the transition from a small map to a larger map, part B shows making
clearer categories and darker backgrounds, and part C shows the addition of an invisible box
that made the back button larger.

We gathered lots of user feedback on Campus-Dash, but it still needed to be transformed

into GateDash, so more iterating was done on the app and physical locker for the final
prototype. On the physical side, a RFID scanner was added that would act like scanning a QR
code from your phone. LEDs were added to the doors of the locker as well as a beeper. This
allowed for a small beep and a light to turn on when the scanner recognized one of the tags,
which made it easier to find which locker was the correct one. On the application side, all of
the campus references were made into airport ones, a new locker selection method was
implemented, and most of the user recommendations were added. The new locker
selection system is shown below in Figure G. Users will select an airport, enter their flight
information, the system will understand the information and find their arrival and departure
gate if they have a connection. Then it will give the user an option of arrival or departure
gate, and finally it will show a map going from the arrival gate to the locker. This system
gives users a choice over which locker they would like, but simplifies the choices so they
aren’t overwhelmed.

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Figure G: This shows the process of selecting a locker. It starts on the left by selecting an airport,
then entering the flight information, the system will understand the information and find your
arrival and departure gate if you have a connection. Then it will give the user an option of arrival
or departure gate, and then finally show a map going from the arrival gate to the locker.

We received a final round of feedback on this prototype and learned a few more things
about what users want. Users liked the beep and light on the lockers. They didn’t find the
beeping annoying and actually enjoyed getting feedback from the unit that they successfully
unlocked a locker. The tested users said that they would also definitely want some sort of
insulation or heating and cooling. More research will be required to understand the full cost
of heating and cooling individual units, but the plan for the next step is to insulate every
locker and then place heat packs or cold packs depending on if the food needs to be warm
or cold. This way every unit can just be insulated without having specialty cold only or heat
only locker options. This also allows for any product to go in any locker, so it is not limiting
the use of one. The final locker prototype is shown below in Figure H.

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 Figure H: GateDash locker renderings in an airport with the main base and an extension shown
in orange.

The final design of the lockers is shown above in Figure H. The main locker system consists
of 8 lockers with one screen and scanner. There will be auditions that can easily be added on
or removed from a locker system depending on how popular the locker location is. All the
units are insulated and have a light that lights up when the user scans their code. There is
also a satisfying beep to let the user know the scan successfully went through. The final app
design looks similar to Figure G with the updated locker selection through flight #, and has
all airport restaurants and some non-food items listed as well. The final app will also easily
link to Google or Apple Maps so travellers can navigate with their preferred map. The app
will also feature a night mode for those looking for a darker background. GateDash lets users
order while on the bus, in security, on a flight, or anywhere else travellers can think of. We
hope this product helps those stressed at airports by making food one thing that travellers
don’t need to worry about.

3.2 User Feedback

User feedback was collected in many different ways in order to better understand travelers'
needs. It started by just asking what people didn’t like about flying. We interviewed family
and friends, flight attendants, travel writers for the NY Times, and even therapists. This first
round was focused on understanding a traveller’s mindset throughout a day of flying, and it
was clear that it was stressful. The idea of stress came up time and time again in our
interviews and in comments on our social media posts. In total, we interviewed over 20
people and got hundreds of comments online just for this stage of understanding the need.
People feel trapped and like they don’t have any control over the situation when they’re in
an airport. That is when we brainstormed different ideas for reducing stress and presented
them to users. We wanted to see what stress relieving activities travelers would actually use
in an airport. Some of them enjoyed exercising but didn’t want to work out in an airport, or
some people loved the idea of a lawn game bar but wouldn’t want to pay for it, but every
interviewee said that they would use GateDash as a real product in the airport. They were
especially interested in being able to have food ready after the restaurants are closed or
while they are on a connecting flight. Airports offer so little control that bringing any back to
the passenger is highly valued, and GateDash does that by allowing users to plan their food
purchases ahead of time. The next round of interviews involved testing our prototypes. For
the first prototype, we interviewed 12 college students with the prototype CampusDash and
had them fill out a google form afterwards. Users indicated that they either agreed or
strongly agreed that the height of the locker, size of the locker, and layout of the app were
acceptable, so it was really in the interview feedback that gave us the most insight into

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 changes that needed to be made. We modified the prototype by adding some features that
users wanted and did a final round of interviews with family and friends over Thanksgiving.
This answered some of our final questions and helped create the final deliverable design
shown in the product evolution section. We would like to thank our friends, family, and
everyone who allowed us to interview them along the way.

4. Market​​Analysis
4.1 Addressable Market & Growth Trend
The global airline industry has had a rough few years with Covid hitting around the world.
Many flights and services have been reduced to limit the spread of the virus and has caused
a reduction of travellers in airports. In 2019, there were 253 million US Airline passengers
that travelled, but that drastically decreased to 67 million in 2020. This number is already
rebounding to 106 million passengers so far in 2021 [1]. While this is much smaller than
2019, it shows that flying is still an attractive way to travel for many Americans and the
airline industry won’t be going away with this virus. A different industry grew rapidly during
the pandemic, delivery services. US food delivery app revenue jumped from $22 billion in
2019 to $26.5 billion in 2020, and users grew from 95 to 111 million [2]. As more Americans
use food delivery services, they will become more familiar with it and be comfortable using
it in airports. With the airline industry recovering and the food delivery industry taking off,
GateDash is perfectly positioned to enter the market when it is still low but rapidly growing.

4.2 Market dynamics

While many airports follow some basic layouts, many of them have different ways of getting
food to passengers. Some airports have large food halls that are far from the gates, some
have lots of restaurants sprinkled throughout a terminal, and some have little kiosks that
help close the gap between restaurants. The large food halls often offer a large range of
different food, so everyone can get something they want, but often the most popular have
large lines and the halls themselves could be far from the gate. Airports with lots of little
restaurants have food spaced out better but then they run into the issue of not having
enough options for food near any one gate. Then the kiosk can be nice to grab something on
the go, but don’t always have the best food selection. GateDash hopes to solve these market
issues by being right at the traveler's gate. The lockers will be the easiest way to get food
from any restaurant inside the airport at a gate. The customer doesn’t have to go all the way
to the other side of the terminal to grab their favorite restaurant, and they often don’t have
time to do that either.
We believe that customers will use GateDash in four main ways. On the way to the airport,
in the security line, on the plane for a connecting flight, and on the plane arriving late in the

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 day. Each of these presents a different challenge and knowing which one is which will help
tailor the user’s experience. In all of these situations users are looking at every restaurant
available in the airport before landing or going through security. Customers will see what
they want before they realize if it is on the way to their gate or not. GateDash doesn’t simply
rely on foot traffic and the chance that someone is going past a restaurant, the restaurant is
chosen, meaning that people can get whatever they want. Airports are a confusing
marketplace, but GateDash hopes to simplify it and give users the best options available.

4.3 Competitive analysis

The main competitors to GateDash are other food delivery services within airports. There
are a few that exist in the US already but they fall into three main categories. Full order and
delivery apps such as AtYourGate, systems to order ahead for pickup at restaurants such as
Grab, and finally airport specific services such as Denver’s Eats Delivered or LAX Order Now.
Grab is a system very similar to what many restaurants already provide in terms of ordering
ahead [3]. It is a simple online ordering system that has the user’s food ready for pickup
from the restaurant. While this is not revolutionary, it poses a threat to GateDash if the
restaurant users want is on their way. Individual airports such as Denver and LAX partner
with some of these services to have delivery to individuals at their gate. While these
compete with GateDash, they are smaller and it is really the companies they are partnering
with such as Grab or AtYourGate that pose a greater threat.
The largest competitor to GateDash is AtYourGate. It is currently in 17 airports across the US
and has both food delivery and some common non-food item delivery such as a charger or
neck pillow [4]. The main difference between AtYourGate and GateDash is that AtYourGate
requires a person to drop off an item to the customer. This means that it has to be a
personal hand off of items that can be inconvenient in an airport setting with lots of delays.
GateDash has an advantage by allowing users to pick up their items from a locker when they
arrive, so they can order ahead and have peace of mind that it will be at the locker before
they even come up to it.
While these competitors offer similar products to GateDash, none of them offer the
convenience of locker pickup at a traveler’s gate. Travelers don’t want to have to figure out
where the restaurant is and if it is on the way to their gate and they don’t want to have to
wait around for someone to show up with a bag. They want the stress of their day to be
reduced, and that can be done by having a locker with the food they ordered ready for them
when they arrive at their gate. That is why GateDash offers a better experience and has an
edge on the competition.

Citations:

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[1] E. B. Salas, “Total air traffic passengers traveling to/from the U.S. 2021,” Statista,
05-Oct-2021. [Online]. Available:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/193590/total-air-traffic-passengers-travelling-to-or-from-th
e-us/. [Accessed: 06-Dec-2021].
[2] D. Curry, “Food delivery app revenue and Usage Statistics (2021),” Business of Apps,
04-Nov-2021. [Online]. Available:
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/food-delivery-app-market/. [Accessed: 06-Dec-2021].
[3] “Grab airport mobile ordering,” Grab. [Online]. Available: https://getgrab.com/. [Accessed:
07-Dec-2021].
[4] “AtYourGate - order food for delivery at the Airport,” At Your Gate, 08-Oct-2021. [Online].
Available: https://www.atyourgate.com/. [Accessed: 07-Dec-2021].

5. Intellectual​​Property
We hope to patent our locker and delivery combined system so that no one can duplicate our
product, which will give us an advantage while competitors spend time developing locker
systems.

5.1 Closest IP
Many patents exist for food delivery lockers. Most of the patents are more like a delivery locker
which in which the goods will be delivered but not at a commercial place. There is one patents
which actually allows to order food and other accessories beforehand and have them delivered
to a locker and the user can collect from the locker. The United States patent US20150356664A1
was applied on 2015-06-05 is currently abandoned.

It summarizes A system and method for preordering and delivery of concession items is disclosed
that enables users to pre-order food and other concessions either prior to arriving to a venue or
in real time from the venue itself. The system allows for the installation of hardware having
software loaded thereon for organizing fulfillment of orders and assigning storage locations and
in some aspects, the system enables users to pick up orders from lockers or kiosks in a
self-service scenario.

5.2 Ip Strategy
Gatedash is just not limited to the above patent as we also have an app which actually allows our
users to order the food from the restaurants available and then the food goes to the locker. Our
unique locker design and the app are superior to the patents' basic claims, and gatedash will
proceed with production. There are various patented characteristics on the Gatedash. Scanning

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QR codes and delivery methods and too use this service in an airport are examples of this. It will
be in Gatedash's best interests to seek patents for gatedash in order to safeguard our creative
idea from prospective rivals in the future.

6. Operating Plan
While our company is still in the very early stages, we have decided on a rough timeline we have
as a goal for our company. Our first item we would complete would be to apply for a provisional
patent before disclosing it. Our next goal is to obtain an initial round of investments. Our plan is
to have these investments come from the 3F’s (friends, family, and fools). Included in these 3F’s
are Angel Investors. Our goal will be to obtain smaller investments from our friends and
families, and to be able to earn a larger investment from at least one Angel Investor (more on
specific values in Section 7. Financial Analysis).

6.1 Time Duration to Launch

Once this funding has been obtained, we can then start in what we are referring to as “Year
Zero.” Year Zero for our company will consist of the following:
● Phase 1 (Gantt Chart seen in Figure XXX):
○ Hire a software engineering team
■ Consisting of three Software Engineers
■ Consisting of one Cyber Security Engineer
○ Finalize R&D
■ Questions still to be determined are as follows:
● Consistent/feasible refrigeration/heating methodology
● Exact material to be utilized inside individual locker units
● Finalized map utilization for app
○ Locate and make preliminary agreements with a manufacturing firm
○ Gain acceptance/coordinate with airports/restaurants/airport stores
■ Compose proposal document for airport proposals
● Consisting of material from this document, as well as further
information gained through the Finalize R&D phase of our startup
■ Compose proposal document for restaurants/airport stores
● Detailed description of market and financial analysis (from this
document)
● Description of our commitment to being beneficial both to the
user and the restaurants/stores within airports
■ The goal is to gain acceptance with five airports initially
● To achieve this, we plan as a group making proposal documents
for 30+ airports

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 ○ Finalize design of both modular locker system and app
○ Hire a marketing coordinator
■ Marketing Material to be finalized and placed in airports by the end of
Year Zero (starts in Phase 1, ends in Phase 2)
○ Apply for Seed Funding at the end of Phase 1
● Phase 2 (Gantt Chart seen in Figure XXXX):
○ File for a Utility Patent
○ Coordinate with the manufacturing firm to begin initial manufacturing iterations
○ Hire hourly employees (internal airport team used to deliver food/items to
lockers)
○ Have hourly employees be badged and ready for operating within airports

These two phases together encompass our time to launch. After initial funding, it is seen that
we hope to have the capability of launching within five airports within a timeframe of one year.
We fully believe that this is an ambitious goal, but an achievable one. The estimate was
performed with the assumption that we would start Phase 1 on January 1, 2022. However, the
phase durations could be pushed back to any start date (they are not season-dependent). The
actual start date would be fully based on having funding to kickoff as a company.

6.2 Approach
It is our goal as GateDash to establish ourselves as a success within our first two years of
operating within airports. In Section 7, our financial estimates display that we believe we would
be successful within these two years. With our plan of continuing to grow our size each year (by
adding airports that we operate within), we believe that we could grow the company to be
deemed a massive success. Our current plan would be to add five airports that we operate
within each year, up to Year Six, and then to start attempting to add 10 airports per year. This
number of years is far beyond what we believe we could accurately estimate, however, we
believe it’s important to have longer term projections as a company, even if their start dates
have some flexibility to them.

For the first two years of operating within airports, all of the business will be aimed towards

24
Figure XXX: Phase 1 Gantt Chart

25
Figure XXXX: Phase 2 Gantt Chart

26
making a profit as a company, and improving our user experience. We will put great efforts into
taking user/vendor/airport feedback very seriously. We will allow users to guide our experiential
efforts, with it being anticipated that the app portion of this experience will have the most to
improve upon. We will allow our vendors (restaurants/stores) to provide us feedback that will
be molded into improving our algorithms/order methodologies, as well as improving our
relationships with those vendors. Lastly, our airport feedback will be imperative to us as a
business going forward from the initial two years. We will seek to understand as a company
exactly what will make our acceptance into other airports as quick/efficient as possible, and we
will embody this information.

It is noted that as our company continues to grow operations wise, we will of course have to
have more lockers manufactured, as well as adding more employees to our company. With this
added uptake of cost from the added employees and added locker manufacturing, our company
will see greater paths for revenue.

Our main goal as a company is to operate alone for two years, and then upon proving ourselves
successful, we will look to form a partnership with a larger entity within the same avenue of
business. Such examples of companies that we believe we could benefit, and that could benefit
from a partnership with our company would be:
● DoorDash
● Uber Eats
● Grubhub
● Drizzly (In airports where alcohol is allowed at/near gates)
○ Alcohol is currently allowed to be enjoyed by travelers at gates in the following
airports:
■ Nashville International
■ Chicago’s Midway and O’hare
■ Each of the two Houston airports
■ Fort Lauderdale International
■ Las Vegas McCarran International
■ Miami International
■ Tampa International [Alcohol at Gates Citation]

In addition to one of these partnerships being formed, our group would also look to form a
partnership with one of the largest airlines in the US (currently, American Airlines is the largest
airline in the world [American Airlines citation]).

27
 We believe that with one or (hopefully both) of these partnerships, GateDash would be able to
go global as a business. Also upon this merger, we believe that GateDash would be able to
increase the number of airports entered on a yearly basis, and thus drive profitability for the
company even further.

Eventually, and projections for this are beyond the scope of this initial document, GateDash
aims to look to further avenues for the product (outside of airports). Such examples include
college campuses, and places of business. Users interviewed (inclusive of those not attending a
college institution) noted that they believed GateDash, or as it would be named within a college
campus setting, CampusDash, would be massively successful and beneficial to college students,
professors, and all staff/faculty. With even more avenues for profitability, we believe that
GateDash would become a massive business and competitor within the food delivery industry.

7. Financial​​Analysis
GateDash’s financial analysis stems from two main angles, one from the physical creation of
the products themselves (locker banks and application) and the operation costs to run the
service within airports around the United States. The primary expenses will be seen upfront
in the development stage, prior to finalized manufacturing processes. Due to the nature of
the GateDash service, the locker systems will be suited for large-scale manufacturing, but
will likely reach market demand to warrant thousands of units to be made annually like
smaller items for the average consumer. The development and production of GateDash will
require a leg up in the form of one or more small loans and venture capital in the forms of
Seed Funding and Series A to fully launch as a company and service to many airports. With
the goal of starting in a select, carefully-chosen metro airports, there will be many travelers
exposed to the concept of GateDash in a relatively short span of time, helping GateDash
launch towards expansion and market establishment.

7.1 Sales Projection

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, food delivery services were just
starting to become popular through the likes of DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats, Postmates,
and more. However, according to McKinsey & Company, the utilization of these types of
food delivery services has practically doubled in large part because of the pandemic and its
associated lockdowns, social distancing, and other new changes to our everyday lives.
(https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insi
ghts/ordering-in-the-rapid-evolution-of-food-delivery). For many, this pandemic was the
introduction to such services, and as such will now become more commonplace in times of
inconvenience or time constraints at mealtimes even with added costs to these meals for

28
 the sake of having the meals delivered to one’s door. With the growing familiarity and
comfort in using (and paying the premiums for) such food delivery services, it’s no wonder
that this market is currently booming. According to McKinsey, travel rates in late 2021 are
nearing pre-pandemic levels and nearing two million passengers per day in the United
States, with projections of air travel to keep climbing in numbers as people want to visit
family and friends they could not see during the pandemic lockdowns as vaccinations
continue to roll out
(https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-logistics-and-infrastructure/our-insights/a-tra
vel-boom-is-looming-but-is-the-industry-ready). These statistics, combined with the
common complaints by air travelers when it comes to access to food within airports, such as
lines being too long or far away to be able to grab a meal or snack between flights or
restaurants being closed before the last flights of the night arrive. GO Airport Express has
conducted surveys that found about 55% of airline passengers who choose to eat during
their journey opt for eating post-security, but not on the flight itself.
(https://airportexpress.com/travelers-prefer-dining-at-airports-instead-of-on-the-plane/) All
this information combined leads us here at GateDash to believe that there is a growing
market and interest in food being more accessible in times of time constraints, thanks to
both the recovery of post-lockdown travel and increased awareness of food delivery
services. Our vision is to start with a deployment of locker banks (variations, such as
expansion with modular add-ons or the smaller standalone units are generally being
grouped under “locker banks” for this sales projection and analysis) to five major airports
within the United States, with intent to set up in locations such as Denver (DEN), Seattle
(SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), Chicago (ORD) or other
similar-scale locations. Further rollout to an additional five locations each year

GateDash projects to begin the market share within the first six months after official launch,
which is estimated to take place roughly after a year and a half of R&D and initial testing
operation. The major target users for the market would be the passengers who have
connecting flights and those who arrive in their destination airport at an odd time, such as
late evenings or very early mornings. According to research 46% of the air travelers have
connection flights. (SOURCE?) GateDash hopes to have at least 1% of these passengers to
have as potential users willing to pay the premium for the convenience of having meals or
other necessities ordered ahead of time and waiting in convenient pickup locations. These
premium charges will be subject to change with various airport and regional/local taxes and
fee policies.

7.2 Cost Projections

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In order to bring GateDash to life, there are few different categories of costs that we expect
to be a large determining factor for our financial requirements and funding plans. These
categories consist of, but are not limited to: R&D, manufacturing, certifications, and
employment.

In producing these locker banks, there will be several stages involved, including but not
limited to: R&D fabrication, early prototype and early production manufacturing, and finally
final production runs for our finalized hardware of the product. These stages will involve the
following costs at a minimum:

● Sheet metal forming and welding

● Tooling dies for plastic components for use with injection molding or vacuum forming
● PCB/PCBA manufacturing, assembly, and testing for the electronic components
● Premade electronic components, such as scanner modules and display screens
● FCC, UL, CE, and similar regulation testing and certification as needed for bringing
GateDash to market and installation
● Paint and/or powdercoat for customer-facing surfaces
● Other electronic and mechanical components, such as indicator lights, springs, electronic
connection ports for expansion modules, wire harnesses, and latches for each door

With similar finished hardware from the likes of Amazon (Amazon Hub) estimated to cost
facility owners approximately $10,000-20,000 per unit, depending on the size of the locker
bank configured (source:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-and-big-apartment-landlords-strike-deals-on-packag
e-delivery-1508261759), while also not implementing any sort of temperature control
features. Until further design development can provide exact figures, such as all mechanical
components and amount of sheet metal necessary per locker unit, the rough estimate per
finished standard 9-unit central locker would be approximately $14,000 cost for a
temperature-controlled unit utilizing anti-microbial and insulating surfaces within each
locker unit per locker bank, to start at $15,000 each in sale price. Smaller, standalone units
will likely run closer to $8,000-10,000 each upon installation, and modular expansions for
the standard until is estimated at around $5,000-8,000 each upon installation.

30
 According to the cost and revenue forecasts (see abbreviated table in Figure X), GateDash's
cash flow will be negative for the first year during the R&D and prototype development,
where tooling and engineering expenses will play major roles, with the company's revenue
will turn net positive within the first six months after launch, post-testing operation.

7.3 Breakeven
Due to significant upfront expenses for manufacturing and application development to
reach market testing capabilities, with notable income not being anticipated until the first
six months after service and product launch, GateDash aims to break even within its first
year of operation. See Figure X for the cost estimation breakdown versus anticipated income
over the first 5 years of R&D development and operation. An expanded and extended
version of this abbreviated table can be found in Appendix X.

7.4 Financial Requirements

31
 GateDash is looking for three installments of funding, with the goal of utilizing early income
to put the company beyond the need for additional investment after the second year of
operation. These initial funds for product development are expected to be sourced via
smaller loan(s) of approximately $1 million to $1.5 million to pay for raw materials and
low-production volume dies for sheet metal formation and injection molding. Once we have
produced one or more satisfactorily complete prototypes, we intend to seek a round of
venture capital Seed Funding in amounts of an additional $1-1.5 million to bridge the chasm
between prototype manufacturing and polished production for our first sets of
customer-facing locker banks to be installed in the initial five or more airports, pay for
service employees to run and maintain the show at each location, and to cover the costs for
crucial fees such as retail floorspace rent within these airports. Pending success with this
initial launch, GateDash will potentially seek a Series A round of funding of a
yet-undetermined amount to truly bring the hardware manufacturing to a professional level
and produce and install enough operational systems, catered to each location’s demands, to
be a self-sustaining, profitable enterprise. This Series A funding amount is undetermined at
this time, as it is not yet known if Series A funding will even be necessary, pending
post-launch performance for GateDash.

8. Team

8.1 Our Founding Members

8.1.1 Charlie Arnold

Charlie Arnold is a Mechanical Engineer with experience in

production management at Frito-Lay, managing department
goals and 40 employees at any one time. He has experience
hiring, firing, and coaching teams to success and will bring
those skills with him to GateDash. He is passionate about
travel and the outdoors which will come in handy when he is
flying across the country to check up on GateDash’s airports.

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8.1.2 Kelli Wildman

8.1.3 Surendra Villuri

Surendra Villuri is a Mechanical Engineer with experience in reverse

engineering and product design. He has experience to motivate the
workspace and bring the best out of it. He also knows what exactly
the user requirements are and how to make them come searching to
use the product. He always looks forward to making interactions and
know about what the current market lacks and how that can be an
opportunity. His interest and product development skills will be
helpful to make users use the GateDash service.

8.1.4 Tanner Saylor

Tanner Saylor is a Mechanical Engineer with a varying background in

multiple forms of engineering, project management, and
estimating/bidding projects. With this background he brings to the
team the capability of leading, advising, and being involved in hiring of
management employees. His project management experience allows
him to work well with airport management officials, and to coordinate
with them to ensure the unobstructed operation of airports. In
addition, as someone who has learned through leading important
skills such as customer service and empathy towards both vendors and
customers, he is always striving to ensure the happiness of each
individual needed to ensure the success of GateDash.

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