How pop-ups help food businesses
Last October, American fast food chain In-N-Out held a one-day pop-up in Taguig City. It was the fifth time the popular burger joint opened a pop-up in the Philippines. And like its previous pop-ups in the country, it was met with excitement by Filipino foodies. People lined up for hours just to get their hands on the California-style burgers.
After the event, many burger-loving Filipinos speculate that In-N-Out will soon open a branch in the country. The demand is there, after all.
But what exactly is the role of pop-ups in food businesses? Are they just mere marketing ploys to create buzz for food brands?
Creating an experience
For established brands and chefs, doing pop-ups is a way to either test the market or simply to bring the brand to a different location. For online-only brands, it's a way to let customers experience its brand without having to build a physical shop.
Last October, another burger brand opened a pop-up store in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig. The online-only brand, known for its Umami Burger, held the pop-up during Halloween weekend where they also gave away free burgers as a treat.
Burger Beast is one of the brands of cloud kitchen company, CloudEats. It's the brainchild of the company's culinary director, chef Carlo Miguel.
In an interview with GMA Lifestyle, CloudEats senior brand development manager Lorraine Sy shared why they decided to do a pop-up store for the brand.
Lorraine said, Filipinos are “highly experiential.”
“They want to see, feel, smell, touch and taste things before making a purchase- and the same is true when it comes to food,” she added.
This was the reason why they wanted to establish a physical presence for Burger Beast through the pop-up store. “We felt it would be the perfect approach to pique the market's interest, generate social buzz, and build stronger awareness for the Burger Beast brand,” Lorraine said.
Less capital requirement
During the height of the global pandemic, many online food shops were established. It's relatively less expensive to put up an online food business than having a physical store. Cloud kitchens thrived.
A cloud kitchen, also referred to as a ghost kitchen, is meant to cater only to deliveries and take-outs. For CloudEats, the company uses celebrity power to stand out, partnering with actors, singers, TV hosts, basketball players, to create unique brands.
The company's most recent partnership is with Kapuso stars Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos. The brand is called Meat Up with Gabbi and Khalil, which specializes in affordable steak.
Aside from brand awareness through partners, Lorraine said doing pop-ups also allows for a similar experience physical stores offer sans the huge capital requirement.
“Pop-ups [give] us an opportunity to offer a more in-depth multi-sensory brand experience like physical restaurants can, minus the heavy capital requirement,” she explained.
According to Lorraine, the brand looks to “fill a gap in the market where outstanding, next-level burgers should be convenient, accessible and wallet-friendly to everyone.”
With the success of their first pop-up store in BGC, Lorraine guaranteed it would not be CloudEats's last. “This is our first pop-up, but it's definitely not our last!” she noted.
MEANWHILE, TAKE A LOOK AT LAST YEAR'S YUMMIEST FOOD TRENDS HERE:
