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!
I agree that the video blog is a really good idea, but this one happens to have too much information. So much that I didn't want to watch the whole thing considering it was 6 minutes long. I feel like other readers would probably feel the same way. Recommendation would be to make it shorter for sure!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm not a fan of hot dogs either I might give them a try. At the very least I know my roommates love them so I'll take them or tell them about it!