Street Food Marketing - Essay Example

STREET FOOD MARKETING Stret Food Marketing Chinese foods have become one of the most popular among other foreign dishes in the UK. An example of dishes served in a majority of these restaurants is the Pot Sticker Dumplings. Pot Sticker Dumplings are a Chinese food made of filled dumplings that are fried on one side in a pan (BBC Food, 2014). The name derives from the Mandarin word Guo Tie, which translate to pot stick, thus its name, ’pot sticker’ (FoodManufacture.co.uk, 2015). In our street of choice, Plymouth, UK, this Chinese kind of food is rarely served, which gives us a good chance to enter the food market.

As this food is often served as a street food or bought as a takeaway, we decided to hire a buffet car where the dumplings can be prepared and sold. Also, two staffs shall be hired to assist in the operations of the buffet car. For a basic startup, we shall hire a second hand catering fast food trailer in its good conditions as our buffet car. A second-hand Victorian Grill, also in its good conditions shall be purchased together with new buffet catering equipment. Our total estimated cost for these items is roughly £5,000 while the two staffs shall be paid at an hourly rate of £7.00 each. The buffet car shall be operating for 5 hours a day on a weekly basis.

While there are quite some street food vendors in Plymouth, UK, only a few of them serve traditional Chinese dishes with none serving the pot sticker dumplings. Currently, the consumer market analysis shows that a majority of consumers will opt to take their food on the go, probably due to the high prices of foods in the formal restaurants. Also, current trends show that top chefs from high-end restaurants are shifting their expertise into the street food market where they are free to practice and trade their creativity and skills.

These trends have raised the demand for street food, particularly the local and traditional foreign foods such as our pot sticker dumplings. The target consumer for our food product are the low and middle-income class consumers. Based on behavioral statistics, these consumers will most likely prefer to take food on from the street. This group of consumers constitute the largest of Plymouth residents, which makes our market target quite promising. However, with the pot sticker dumpling being a new introduction into this area, the initial sales are not expected to be high as compared to similar street foods.

As time shall go by, sales are expected to rise with more consumers getting aware of the food’s existence in the area. In the bid to create awareness, the business shall make adverts be posted on local food guide websites such as the eatoutdevon.com website. As the team seeks to introduce this unique food into this highly competitive street food market, three areas shall be focused on including the quality of the product as compared to similar foods. Other areas will include legal requirements and registration, consumer behavior and reaction, and the level of competition and impact on the business.

Concerning the quality of the pot sticker dumplings, the team will consider hiring professional chef highly experienced in the making of this product. If the food is of its best quality, the consumers’ reaction is expected to be positive and thus will influence their tendency to buy more. While the government of Plymouth requires every business seeking operational permits to trade, special licenses are offered to street food vendors based on authorized locations to trade. These legal requirements could be an issue as many prime locations are already occupied.

The occupants of these locations are our competitors which make it have a negative impact on our business. References BBC Food, (2014). How the UK fell in love with Chinese food. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/27164636 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2015]. FoodManufacture.co.uk, (2015). Chinese food is the UK’s favourite foreign dish. [online] Available at: http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Ingredients/Chinese-food-is-nation-s-top-world-cuisine [Accessed 23 Nov. 2015].