How Do You Rio?

Everyone has a hole in the wall place where not only the food is good, but the story behind the food is memorable. For me Rio’s Brazilian Café is one of my favorite ethnic restaurants. Ben Googins and Elias Martins are the men behind the café and by themselves have grown a community around their restaurant starting from a small table at a farmer’s market.

Rio’s Brazilian all started when Ben met Elias, a true native of Rio de Janeiro, in the summer of 1998. Ben did not know any Portuguese so when he had to spend a whole day with Elias’s mother the way they communicated was through cooking.

Ben was inspired by the Brazilian flavors and culture, and decided to move to Austin with Elias to start on their dream, Rio’s Brazilian.

 

“Moving to Austin, Texas in 2006 gave us a perfect environment to bring our dream to life,” said Ben Googins on their website About Us section.  “It has beautiful year-round weather; a thriving, culturally-interested population; and an active growing Farmer’s Market right in the middle of downtown”.

From the farmer’s market, Rio’s Brazilian gained popularity. They only had a 10x10 space to sell their food, but it became more and popular. Soon after their farmer's market appearance, their sauces were sold in Whole Food Markets. As their farmer's market booth, sauces and website became more popular they decided to open their own brick and mortar restaurant in East Austin.  The rest is history!

I had the opportunity to speak with Ben back in January about his story, and without any public relations training Ben knew everything about building relationships with clientele. 

First he said it was all about the picking the right audience, which is why he chose to start in Austin. Austin had the perfect environment and persona that would accept his cultural dream. Austin’s “keep Austin weird” mantra shows that Austinites except and welcome unique establishments.

Next he told me to start a community you must start a conversation about something other than your product. Daily people are bombarded with messages asking them to buy something. To really grab a person’s interest you need to talk about something that pertains to them and you genuinely want to talk about.

I found this piece of advice is crucial not only for face to face interaction, but in the social media world as well. So many restaurants only blog or tweet about their menu’s or daily deals, they don’t build relationships with their customers.

After my chat with Ben, I immediately went to check out his facebook and twitter and naturally all his posts were topics other than his restaurant.  Rio’s Brazilian tweeted about causes they believed in such as Rainforest Partnership, Austin Pride and Latinitas. They also had tweeted about events going on in Austin pertaining to culture or causes they believed in.

Although Rio’s does not have a blog and their website is a little difficult to navigate, their social media technique is very personal and involved. Everyone should really go check out Rio’s Brazilian Café in East Austin because not only in the food exceptional but the story behind the café is inspiring.

Photos: howdoyourio.com

I Will Take Mine Trashy

Since it has been beautiful weather the past couple of days I decided to open up the windows in my apartment to let the fresh air in. Unfortunately the fresh air was infused with the aroma of Torchy's Tacos downstairs. I took it as a sign that they would be my next victim for my blog post.

After disappointing findings with Amy’s Ice Cream, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Torchy’s Tacos does an excellent job in utilizing their great word of mouth and promoting themselves to the Austin community.

On Torchy’s website, they have a section dedicated to news of the month where they share updates about the chain and announce new topics. This month Torchy’s announced the opening of a new location on South Lamar and the celebration party for it. The celebration will be on Wednesday April 6^th at their new location and there will be free tacos and beer.

To get the word out about their celebration, Torchy’s uses both facebook and twitter to stir up a conversation about the event. They ask their followers who is coming and tweet more details about the event. Torchy’s is very good about responding to their Twitter and Facebook pages in a timely and friendly manner.

Torchy’s is smart to have a celebration with the community for its new opening! By giving away free tacos, Torchy’s is making people familiar with the new location so in the future they will know where it is and can recommend it to others.

Additionally they are making it easier for people to try Torchy’s for the first time. Skeptical and picky eaters are more likely to try new food when it’s free instead of wasting their money on something they are not sure about. Most importantly the celebration brings a community together around Torchy’s tacos.

This is not even the first time that Torchy’s has given out free tacos.  In February “ Goggle Hotpot teamed up with Torchy’s location for one weekend limiting up to 10,000 tacos” (Austin: Can you Taste it?). Torchy’s truly gives a lot to our Austin community, and for that the Austin community loves them.

Not only is Torchy’s giving out free tacos, but they have created a new taco to benefit Japan’s tsunami relief. Torchy’s created the Mr. Miyagi taco as taco of the month, and $1 of every taco will go to Americorps to help with Tsunami relief in Japan. As a customer, when I see this on their website I have a new respect for a restaurant.

To raise more money Torchy’s has been tweeting about their new taco and posting statuses in order to get the word out. I found it fascinating that Torchy’s commented on so many people’s tweets about the taco asking how they liked it. 

I could clearly see that Torchy’s was using social media to not only promote a good cause but to find out what consumers think of their product. Torchy’s seems to be one of the restaurant that will tweet back to you if you tweet them and question or comment.

This Austin franchise is funny in the sense that they are concerned about what people think but at the same time they are not afraid to flaunt the fact they have “damn good tacos”.

On their home page they have a section dedicated to their awards and there is a link to their yelp page. If a company had terrible reviews they would not link their homepage to the negative comments. However, Torchy’s knows they have good tacos so they use their positive comments to boost their reputation even more.

Overall, Torchy’s Taco’s is a great franchise that gives to the community and utilizes their resources and good reputation well. Well done and keep it trashy.

Photos: torchystacos.com

Dear Amy, Please Keep Up with the Times

          I scream, you scream, we all scream for Amy's Ice Creams. We all know Amy's Ice Creams has great ice cream that is original and creative, but does their internet presence say the same thing.       

         I recently heard news that Amy's Ice Creams was having a free ice cream day tomorrow from 3-7 p.m. at all Austin locations. I was surprised that I did not hear about it sooner and decided to look into their social media and website. 

         When I first entered amysicecreams.com I was blown away! Their website is incredible; the best Austin food establishment website. Amy’s created this website that not only reflected their funky feel but also reflects its weird Austin customers. Their home page puts the Chick-fila cow to shame!

Amy's Website Home Page- www.amysicecreams.com

After watching the flying cow, dancing pink people and ice cream clouds on the main page, I diverted my eyes to what the website offered.  

I was intrigued with their “Art Book” that allows visitor to draw their version of the Amy’s cow and submit it. Their cow could then be chosen for art work in a restaurant! Additionally, I could look at everyone else’s submitted cows and make comments. This is a great way to get a community to interact with a brand and the art book connected people through Amy's brand. 

Everyone who has been to Amy’s more than once knows that they are known for their flippers. Many of the workers juggle ice cream or throw ice cream behind their back. I was so excited to see videos of their coolest tricks in their “Videos and Pictures” tab; however they only had 3 videos that were all from 2010. Talk about out-dated.

At first I gave Amy’s the benefit of the doubt and thought that they just didn’t have that many videos, but then I went on YouTube and found at least 20 videos of Amy’s flippers. What a disappointment. People are giving them free videos and they don’t take advantage of it.

Amy's employee flipping ice cream- youtube.com

Still with high hopes for Amy’s I wanted to check out their Facebook, Twitter and blog to see how they were promoting their free ice cream event.  Well surprise there was no blog. After Home Slice’s great use of a blog to unite a community, I was extremely shocked that Amy’s did not utilize this social media tool. Amy’s is the epitome of Austin and they have nothing to blog or say to Austin? That is not right.

Facebook and Twitter were yet another disappointment. On Facebook for 3 days in a row, they posted the same status about free ice cream multiple times. That is a total of 9 statuses in a row about that same thing. It made me glad I was not a fan of them on facebook because my entire news feed would be Amy’s Free Ice Cream day.

A company does not want to have people not want to be friends with them on facebook. That sort of defeats the purpose of social media…


Twitter was a similar story. Most of the posts were about the free ice cream day tomorrow but there were some interactions with customers about nutrition and a local concert. For the most part though it’s all the same post about the same news. I don’t like to follow people who just tweet about the same thing and Amy’s is slowly losing my follow.

            It looks like that Amy’s has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to social media and keeping things up to date. They are missing out on the point of social media, they do not connect to their customers. 

           David Binch explained it best in his blog Social Media Explorer, "by feeling connected, I want to connect their restaurant to others." Amy's social media is informing their audience but not creating brand ambassadors. 

          On the bright side, they are giving out free ice cream tomorrow!

What's up Home Slice?

Home Slice Pizzeria on South Congress has a great social media presence in Austin that draws a community together around great pizza and live music.

One would think that a pizza restaurant owner would be weary of large national chains such as Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Papa Johns when opening a restaurant. However, Home Slice hands down beats every other national chains social media presence (and taste too!).

When starting a twitter or a blog, “don’t put on a façade or appear like a discombobulated mess. Decide who you are, how you want to be viewed and run with it” said Aaron Schoenberger, a social marketer and founder of the Brain Child Group.  

This is exactly what Home Slice did.

Home Slice was extremely creative when creating their identity. As a local restaurant they targeted the “Keep Austin Weird” persona. They created an environment that Austin people flock to by being casual, goofy, hipster and musical.

Their identity then carried over into their twitter and blog. Home Slice’s blog, Shut Your Pie Hole, primarily discusses music and pizza. They discuss what bands they are bringing to play at the restaurant and what are the employee’s favorite bands. The blog is genuine because it is truly a reflection of what the restaurant is all about; music, community and pizza (of course).

National Brands do not have a social media presence that is personalized to a single community. Since Home Slice is catered to the Austin community they have more loyal customers because customers feel special when they can relate to a brand.

When looking at the Domino’s twitter and Home Slice’s twitter you can see how Home Slice is more approachable and conversational compared to Domino’s who is just giving out the daily deals. Home Slice’s twitter actually has conversations with people and updates specific people on happenings around the city. On Domino’s twitter, they are primarily apologizing for the late delivery or bad experience.

Comparison tweets from Home Slice (top) and Domino's Pizza (bottom)- screen captures from twitter.com

Although Domino’s and Home Slice are on very different levels (national vs. local), one thing I took away from comparing their twitter feeds is when you are only apologizing for your product and referring them to customer care then you are not creating a relationship with your customer. When you do not have a relationship with a customer they are not going to be brand loyal.

There was not a single negative comment posted on Home Slice’s twitter. On a public forum like Twitter where anyone can say anything, all positives say a lot about a restaurant and their use of twitter and social media.

Photo: homeslice.com

Man Bites Dog: A YouTube Experience

Back in January I had my first experience with Man Bites Dog, a hot dog trailer on South First Street. Personally, I am not the biggest hot dog fan but I thought I would give Man Bites Dog a try. I was pleasantly surprised at the deliciousness of their hot dogs.

As usual I went home and followed them on twitter so I could keep up with their menu and activities. A month later I was shocked when the owner Jeremiah Allen announced he was moving to a permanent residence on Burnet Road.

Naively I thought trailers were still a new and “hip” trend in the restaurant industry, and they were forward thinking if a trailer had a website. Well I quickly realized I was wrong…

While cities all over the country are still in awe of trailer food, Austin appears to have moved on. Trailer food establishments are slowly moving to restaurants with four walls and no wheels.  Some of the few that are moving this spring include Cutie Pie Wagon, Lucky J’s, Franklins BBQ, Barley Swine and FN Goode Burger.

                

Of the trailers to move to permanent restaurants, Man Bites Dog is the one to watch and I mean literally watch.  Jeremiah Allen is documenting the building of his new restaurant on YouTube.

Jermeiah Allen going through floor plans- youtube.com

Jeremiah takes viewers through the renovations and shows them exactly what the new restaurant will look like. He talks about taking down walls, heightening the ceiling, inserting the grease tank, and following bathroom regulations. There is not a niche in the new space that he does not mention, including the signage on the front of the building.

Along with revealing the sketch designs for the interior, he slips hints about additions to the menu (such as corn-dogs!) and his marketing strategy. Jeremiah is working with an unknown marketing agency and he mentions his goals to be on Groupon and advertisements in local newspapers.  

Is the YouTube video blog a smart idea? Yes!

Jeremiah is connecting with his customers on a personal level and sharing his ideas and hopes for the restaurant. Customers feels like they are being given the E Hollywood Special or a behind the scenes view of the creating of Man Bites Dog restaurant. The more personally connected someone feels to a brand or a company the more likely they are going to be loyal and spread good word of mouth.  

BUT is it too much information? I think so…

It is a good thing that your bathrooms are built according to code, but honestly I don’t really care (unless you were building a gas station). Nor do I care about how you are storing building supplies in the vacant building next door.

Jeremiah’s YouTube video blog is a fantastic idea and for that I applaud him. He comes off goofy, relatable and very approachable in his videos which give a great personality for his restaurant. However I do wish he would edit some of the content he puts into his video. Jeremiah should concentrate more on the menu, progress of the restaurant and ideas for the future because those are the things I want to know more about.

Can’t wait to see the finished project later this spring!