Had a very interesting chat last night with John Todor on the increasingly common phenomenon of the "gourmet taco truck." Businesses like RoliRoti and Koji have completely turned the idea of gourmet food service inside-out, and are using social technologies and an easy-to-understand business model to reach large numbers of new customers. How are they doing it? Very simply.
They go to where the customers are.
It's important to note that this new wave of business is "going to where the customers are" both literally and figuratively. "Literally," as businesses like RoliRoti and Koji are identifying neighborhoods where their current and prospective customers are, and bringing high-quality service to them via their distinctive trucks. "Figuratively," as this class of organization is figuring out the places their customers are frequenting online, and connecting up with them in those venues (typically Twitter and Facebook).
This thinking leads to two related strategies/thought experiments, one for e-commerce and the online world, and one for retail and the offline world.
In the online world, the question to ask is "how can my business go to the customer and be where ever she is, either online or on her mobile device?"
In the offline world, the question to ask is "how can my business go (literally) to the customer's doorstep and be where ever she is, and let her know that we'll be there?"
So what could you do? If your business had the equivalent of the Koji truck, and could go to meet customers anywhere, what could you do? And what's stopping you from doing it?
image: serious eats
