Outdoor eating and tweeting – social media fuelling food on the go
This morning I came across the below video about food trucks in the US, and how they make good use of Twitter and Facebook to not just drive awareness of themselves but announce where they are, stay in touch with their customers, and drive real sales. For an eatery that is mobile, the simple ability to broadcast to the world where you are from your phone is a real business enabler.
No wonder then that the past few years have seen an explosion of food trucks and all things related in the US. Check out this food truck map, or the food truck reality TV show, there are myriads of blog posts and articles in major news outlets.
This exciting and creative rise of street food is also happening not so quietly in the UK. Without a doubt, the best place to find more information is the website Eat Street (@eatstreet), where food truckers connect and publish news to “drive British street food forward”. There’s everything from ice cream vans to Vietnamese baguettes.
Petra Barran, who started the site and drives the fabulous Choc Star Van selling all things cacao, puts it like this:
“One of the best things about the whole thing is the variety. The vans aren’t just white boxes dishing out grease – they have personalities!”
And they really do.While social media is crucial for the food truckers to simply let their fans know where they are, what can really be learned from how they roll (heh) is how they engage with their customers.
I have sampled the food from several of the Eat Street traders, and while I have never been disappointed, what really impresses me every single time is their ability to not just dish up quality food in massive quantities but at the same time be like a hawk on Twitter responding to comments, thanking punters for kind words and responding to questions.
They truly manage to connect their online and their offline, making sure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Inviting your diners to say their honest opinion, shape your branding, create dishes and drinks or even entire menus not only makes people feel special, it gives a real time insight into what works and not and what people want.
Case in point: Al, at The Bhangra Burger Bus (@bhangraburger), purveyor of perhaps the spiciest burgers in London. In between dishing up amazing burger wraps he manages to broadcast his whereabouts and observations from the area, thank diners for their custom and respond to questions.
So if you want to see a few good examples of how Twitter and Facebook can be used to make your customers part of your business, have a look through the trader list on the Eat Street website and follow a few of the foodie truckers.
