I’ve had the interesting priviledge of being part of a few start up businesses and in the early stages of new businesses. One thing that is reinforced in every business, regardless of the material sold or service rendered, is that your business must meet the needs and desires of the customers whom you serve. That is obvious, but many businesses start with good ideas but just because it seems brilliant to you, it may not seem brilliant to enough people to make your business run. So how do you go about knowing what customers want?

There are several ways you can assess customers’ desires. First, you can pay a third party to do an assessment of the demographics of the community in which you want to open the business.  You could also create a business that directly competes with another business. Or, you could ask the customers themselves what they want.

That’s what BigStove is trying to do. They want to connect chefs and cooks who have ideas with customers and foodies from whom these chefs would build their base. It’s a new business, so this is a great time for new culinarians to get plugged in. You can watch their introductory video and see if it’s right for your business idea.