Influx

Mission Street Food is a pop-up restaurant concept located in The Mission neighborhood of San Francisco.

For the last six months, it’s been the talk of the town and way beyond, because it shows an almost telepathic understanding of what the twenty-something crowd is looking for from food right now.

Here’s how it works.

MSF “leases” a Chinese restaurant on Mission Street for two nights of the week and invites guest chefs to come in and create menus and prepare meals.

What Can Brands Learn from MSF?

1. The Power of Surprise

MSF is based on a pretty smart assumption, people like to try new restaurants all the time, which makes it hard for a single concept to gain traction and gain a group of loyal customers. In a world of hyper-instant gratification, people are constantly demanding for and seeking out the new.

How does your brand surprise its audience?
What are you doing to prevent brand fatigue?

2. Partnerships and Collaboration

MSF partners with a Chinese restaurant to host the events, it gets access to its kitchens and staff and it also partners with guest chefs every night. MSF is really a facilitator to the process.

Who is your brand collaborating with to add value?

3. Understanding the Audience

MSF gets who it’s audience is and what they want. They know this is an audience that is easily bored and is looking for culinary surprises. They know they are prepared to trade off ambience for food quality.

Does your brand know its audience?
Do you know what they are looking for from you now?

4. The Concept of Value

MSF gets value right. This is of course not about low prices, but instead the combination of price and quality. The interesting items on the menu are priced perfectly to acknowledge the audiences understanding of value. There’s no sense you are paying for the priviledge of eating there.

Does your brand have its pricing right?
Do you know what people are prepared to pay?
Do you have value add and do you know what it’s worth? 

5. Giving Back

MSF gives back profits to local organizations and non-profits giving diners another reason to eat.

What is your brand giving back?
How are your causes tied to your brand?
How open are you about your contributions?

6. A Story

MSF has enough layers to build a great narrative including its original incarnation as a taco truck.

What’s your story?
How do you share it?
How are you building on it?

Posted by Ed Cotton