Posts Tagged ‘food’

Flip Camera to Flippin’ Grilled Cheese

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Picture this: You’re hungry. You could really go for a home-made grilled cheese, but you don’t have time to make one yourself. So, you hop on your smartphone, place an order, swipe a QR code from your phone when you get to the restaurant, and BAM! Your hot grilled cheese is served to you in less than 60 seconds after arriving.

Sound like a work of genius to you? Well, the man behind the concept is none other than Flip video camera inventor, Jonathan Kaplan. Yep, you heard it right. After Cisco took the Flip away from him, he changed directions completely and began working on a chain of high-tech grill cheese sandwich cafés.

The restaurant chain, appropriately named The Melt, will be opened nationwide and is backed by Sequoia Capital. While an official price tag has not been released, it is public knowledge at this point that Kaplan plans to open more than 500 locations, with each location costing somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million. Clearly Sequoia Capital sees promise in The Melt.

And what geek-made grilled cheese joint would be complete without the latest and greatest equipment? In preparation for The Melt, Kaplan worked with Electrolux to build a grill for the cheeses that first microwaves them for 15 seconds to speed up the process; then toasts them for 30 seconds for a yummy, crunchy end product.

“We’re selling nostalgia and happiness,” said Kaplan. “Grilled cheese makes people happy.”

We agree, Kaplan. Who knew computer nerds could cook?

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McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts Bring Promotions to the Social Media Realm

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

It’s official. The Shamrock shake is back, the McCafé shake is here, and social media rules the world. Oh wait. We already knew that last one.

Yesterday marked the beginning of a social fundraising campaign for McDonald’s that will last until the 17th of this month.  Whenever a customer in any Philadelphia area location checks in to the social networking site Foursquare and sends the check-in to Twitter with an @McDPhilly mention, McDonald’s donates $1 to Ronald McDonald House Charities. Alongside these donations, the Golden Arches will contribute a portion of all Shamrock shake sales to the same cause.

Now while the beloved Shamrock shake is only here until the end of the month, the new McCafé shake is here to stay. It’s being offered in the three classic flavors (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) and topped with whipped cream and a cherry.

Also this month, Dunkin’ Donuts is getting in on the action with their promotion of the limited time offer Big ‘N Toasty sandwich (which, by the way, looks fantastic). The promotion, called “Big ‘N Toasty Trivia Tuesdays”, consists of two questions each Tuesday in March which are both seen and answered on Twitter.  Followers who tweet the correct answer, so long as they use a hashtag (#BigNToasty), are entered for a chance to win a $100 Dunkin’ gift card.

So with March underway, be sure to have your smartphone ready, because getting a quick shake or breakfast sandwich just became a tweet-worthy experience.

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What’s Beef? Taco Bell’s Online Strategies Pay Off

Friday, February 18th, 2011

Taco Bell seems to be in that special class of things people either really love, or really hate.

So pardon the Mexican fast food chain for getting a little defensive after a class-action lawsuit claiming its beef products are not 100% beef – as per federal standards – surfaced to the masses.

But instead of making some vanilla denial via press release, Taco Bell realized that in today’s fast traveling news world it’s best to strike back quick. And nothing hits quicker these days than the internet and more specifically, social media.

Taco Bell launched an impressive counterattack to combat the allegations, using its popular Facebook and Twitter accounts to actively and thoroughly respond to what it perceived to be false accusations.

Also, a YouTube video was created to explain its seasoned meat contents, insisting that it was in fact USDA approved.

Another method was paying for an SEM campaign to have its side of the story dominate the top of search engines. Searches related to the controversy would kick back mostly Taco Bell’s rebuttals and facts pages ahead of the negative press until things died down a little.

Then as a little bit of an “in your face” to detractors, Taco Bell offered a free beef taco to users who “liked” its Facebook page, upping their total “likes” by nearly 250,000.

That’s 250,000 people who said, “Wait, isn’t that the beef they say… ah screw it, it’s free.”

Taco Bell realized that when claims surface that a food is not “real”, the public perception (especially for fast food chains) is that the product is made of dead animals and gasoline.

Unfortunately, the “controversy” stems from the inclusion of things like oats, which some argue is filler and thus brings down the “real beef” percentage. That’s not really that appalling.

Personally, I argue that it’s made of heaven, thus increasing its percentage of “real awesomeness”. I don’t plan to sue.

Regardless, Taco Bell has laid down a pretty good blueprint on diffusing a bad situation with online PR. By being proactive and (we assume) up front about things, it not only erased a little bit of unwanted publicity but it inadvertently increased its own brand awareness.

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