i
Feasibility Study over National Brand
Potato Chips
Prepared for
UNT Students
Prepared by
Vivian Rodelo, Michael Polunsky, Iliana Parra, Jennifer Reali, Elliot Nichols
April 25, 2014
ii
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. ii
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ iii
Introduction to Feasibility Study over National Brand of Potato Chips ...........................................1
Method to Evaluation ........................................................................................................................2
Criteria: .........................................................................................................................................2
Survey Questions: .........................................................................................................................2
Results of Evaluation ........................................................................................................................4
Favorite Brand ...............................................................................................................................4
Most Important Aspect ..................................................................................................................4
Price of Chips ................................................................................................................................5
Taste of Chips ...............................................................................................................................5
Amount of Chips in the Bag .........................................................................................................5
Availability of Chips .....................................................................................................................6
Summary of Results ......................................................................................................................6
Analysis of Evaluation ......................................................................................................................7
Our Recommendation ...................................................................................................................8
iii
Executive Summary
Junk food sales are the highest among students that are in college, with potato chips being
among the highest selling junk food. At the University of North Texas our group will
conduct a study to determine which brand of potato chips are the tastiest, most reasonably
priced, and offers the most product for the given price. The purpose is to determine what
brand of potato chips is the favorite among students as well as which brand gives the
buyer the most for their money.
1
Introduction to Feasibility Study over National Brand of Potato
Chips
This feasibility study is intended to inform college students at the University of North
Texas of the best all-around potato chips. In this study you will learn how to get more
product for the money you spend.
Our group hypothesis believes that Lays will be the best chip all around, in price, taste,
availability, and quality (amount). Our group believes that Lays will win since they are
always available in the stores, and majority of the people we know eat Lays.
2
Method to Evaluation
Our options to evaluate were:
To conduct a survey study using only questions
To conduct a survey by using a blind taste test.
Criteria:
Favorite brand
Most important aspect
Price
Taste
Amount
Availability
Since our product has to do with food, our group believes that every criteria is of
equal value.
Survey Questions:
1. Of the following brands, please choose your preferred brand.
a. Lays
b. Kettle
c. Ruffles
d. Cape Cod
e. Magic
2. While shopping for national brand potato chips, please choose the
most important aspect.
a. Price
b. Taste
c. Quantity
d. Availability
3. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best), rate the price of (insert chip brand).
4. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best), rate the taste of (insert chip brand).
5. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best), rate the amount of (insert chip brand)
product given for the price.
6. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the most often), how often do you see (insert
chip brand) in your preferred grocery store.
All survey questions are created with equal value. When rating on a scale of 1 to
5, 5 is the brand being the best option and 1 being the worst option.
After conducting the survey, we will take the number of votes each product got
voted for and whichever product has the most points for that specific question
gains a point for the overall placing. In the questions pertaining to rating on a
scale of 1 to 5, the product with the most 5s win. The product to have the most
points for the overall placing is the winner.
3
During our evaluation, we surveyed 32 people to determine their favorite brand of
potato chip. These surveys took place in the classroom as well as in Willis
Library. The survey consisted of 22 questions about 5 different national brands of
potato chips.
4
Results of Evaluation
After conducting the survey, we took the number of votes each product got voted
for. The product that has the most votes for that specific question gained a point
for the overall placing. In the questions pertaining to rating on a scale of 1 to 5,
the product with the most 5s win. The product to have the most points for the
overall placing is the winner.
Favorite Brand
The purpose of asking peoples favorite brand is to determine what the general
favorite brand of the people is. The best way to ask this is by simply asking what
the persons preferred national brand is. A bad way to observe this is by giving a
blind taste test.
Lays 15
Kettle 8
Ruffles 7
Cape Cod 2
Magic 0
Most Important Aspect
The purpose of this test is to understand what people look for when they buy
chips. The best way to ask this is by asking what the person thinks of while
determining to buy chips; price, taste, quantity, or availability. On the other hand,
asking what doesnt attract buyers to their favorite brand of potato chips would
yield inaccurate results.
Price 11
Taste 20
Quantity 1
Availability 0
5
Price of Chips
The purpose of this test is to determine which brand of chips is the most
reasonably priced. The best way is to ask the consumer their opinion if the brand
of potato chip is reasonably priced on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most
reasonably priced). The worst way to ask this is by simply asking which brand
you believe is the best reasonably priced, because this does not give a rating
system.
Price 1 2 3 4 5
Lays 0 2 10 18 1
Kettle 4 6 9 12 0
Ruffles 0 2 12 11 6
Cape Cod 6 3 13 6 3
Magic 5 4 14 6 2
Taste of Chips
The purpose of this test is to determine which brand has the best taste. The best
way to conduct this study is to ask the customer to rate the taste of the brand on a
scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the tastiest). The worst way to test this is to ask customers
if they dislike a certain brand of chips.
Taste 1 2 3 4 5 Never Tasted
Lays 1 2 1 13 15 0
Kettle 1 0 4 8 10 9
Ruffles 1 2 4 11 14 0
Cape Cod 0 1 5 2 4 20
Magic 1 0 3 0 0 28
Amount of Chips in the Bag
The purpose of this test is to see the amount/quantity of chips that are in a bag and
to see if it is a fair amount. The best way to test this is by asking the customer to
rate on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most amount of chips) if they are getting the
best amount of chips per bag. The worse way to test this is by asking how much
of the bag is empty from the customers.
Amount 1 2 3 4 5 Never Bought
Lays 2 6 11 11 1 1
Kettle 0 5 12 1 2 12
Ruffles 0 3 13 8 5 3
Cape Cod 0 1 9 0 0 22
Magic 1 0 4 0 0 27
6
Availability of Chips
The purpose of this test is to see how often the brand of chips is available in a
grocery store. The best way is to ask the customer how often they see these brands
of chips on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being all the time). The worst way to collect this
information is by asking customers to state the names of the brands of chips they
see often in their local grocery store.
Availability 1 2 3 4 5 Never Seen
Lays 0 0 1 3 27 0
Kettle 0 0 7 6 9 9
Ruffles 0 0 2 9 20 0
Cape Cod 1 5 5 3 0 18
Magic 4 2 1 1 0 24
Summary of Results
Brand Points Won
Lays 3
Kettle 0
Ruffles 2
Cape Cod 0
Magic 0
7
Analysis of Evaluation
This study used surveys in order to collect information to determine the
most popular aspect of potato chips and the brand that is preferred due to
certain criteria. The criteria our group used to determine the best chips
was price, taste, quantity and availability.
In the beginning of our project we made a hypothesis that the Lays brand
would be the winner of this evaluation because University of North Texas
students always have this option available to them in vending machines,
stores, etc. more than any other brand. Our hypothesis was tested to be
correct since most of the students that we gave the evaluations to pick
Lays more than any other brand.
In this first criteria we asked students their favorite brand of potato chips.
The national brands compared were Lays, Kettle, Ruffles, Cape Cod, and
Magic. The criteria that was tested was, Favorite Brand, Most Important
Aspect, Price of Potato Chips, Taste of the Chips, Amount of the Chips in
the Bag, Availability of Chips. The results of each of the criteria showed
that Lays won the majority of the criteria that was asked. Ruffles came
close to winning with only being one point behind Lays. The loser of
more than half of the results in the criteria was Magic with zero points.
The pattern that was noticed throughout the whole project was that most
students had never heard of the brand Magic. The brand lost every criteria
that was asked to the students. Magic is not as available as Lays are to the
students that go to University of North Texas, which most of our vending
machines are mostly Lays products. Lays was the winner because of its
popularity and also the availability. Lays seems to be available in every
store and is put in front of the aisles in stores so that most students pick
the first chips that are seen. Another pattern that is noticed is that students
seem to pick the most popular brands that are shown on television.
Ruffles and Lays have their own advertisements that are provided by their
manufacture. The most advertisements and the availability the students
picked those options.
Through meticulous analysis at our results, we found that Lays is
marginally the most feasible national brand potato chip to purchase. Lays
potato chips accumulated the highest average of points in the taste
category, which was voted the most important aspect of purchasing potato
chips. Lays average at 4.32 points outscored Ruffles average at 4.19.
Ruffles did however have a .09 point advantage in the average rated
price, but because Lays won the most categories, and the most important
category, we determined the Lays brand to be the marginal victor in the
feasibility study.
8
Our Recommendation
From the data collected, our group has concluded that the Lays potato
chip brand is all around the better chip for your taste buds, wallet,
availability to you, and how much you receive in a bag.
