Are You Selling Meals in the Metaverse?

 

If you are not looking a customer ahead you may not have heard of the metaverse.  According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, consumers are dynamic not static.  Consumers don’t sit still waiting for you call.  If you want them to come in your food outlet you have to talk with them, to them, and hear their calls from the metaverse.  So, just what is the Metaverse?  Well, we turned to NRN.com and found this article on Shirley Chung, and how she uses NFTs to build a community and promote her restaurant.  We think you will enjoy it.

 

“With the help of the new digital market, Chung is marketing her California restaurant in the metaverse to great success

Welcome to the metaverse; like it or hate it, we’re all part of it now. And one person who’s embraced it is Shirley Chung, chef and owner of Ms Chi Café in Culver City, Calif. and proprietor of Dumpling Mafia, a dumpling NFT community.

A trained chef at some of the most prestigious restaurants — think Thomas Keller and Jose Andres — Chung is no slouch. So why go into the NFT market?

“Innovation is so important for a chef in 2021,” Chung said in a statement. “I specialize in Chinese American cooking and I’m proud to be part of a movement of chefs who are redefining what Chinese food is. New-school dumplings like my cheeseburger dumpling are a great way to tell this new story. So are NFT dumplings.”

She’s not the only chef to see potential in the space. Big names like Tom Colicchio and Spike Mendelsohn have been entering the metaverse, too. Restaurants like Brooklyn Chop House and Flyfish Club from Gary Vaynerchuk’s VCR Group have both begun functioning as private clubs or have private sections, with the former offering memberships that cost up to $1 million.

But Chung has a plan to use her entry into the metaverse for something more wholesome.

This is all being done to market Ms Chi Café, with the help of a community that she has been building since 2017, when she launched the Dumpling Mafia along with friend Andy Wang. At the time it was just a passion for really good dumplings in the Los Angeles area.

When followers were asking how to become a part of the movement, the two hatched an idea. And what started as a hashtag (#DumplingMafia) on Instagram became an NFT.

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a piece of currency that can vary in price, as opposed to a fungible token like a dollar bill or bitcoin that is fixed in price. The purchase of these NFTs — which are often designs, like the dumpling animations by Narrator for this collection — grants the consumer either access to join a club or the ability to exchange it for goods or services.

The selection will include 88 unique Dumpling Mafia Boss character NFTs and 888 Dumpling Mafia membership cards with at least five different designs. The NFTs feature his signature whimsical style depicting happy dumplings and baby “pig dragons” — Chung’s Chinese zodiac sign is the Dragon, and her husband’s is the Pig.

The NFTs will be available for purchase exclusively at Coin Cloud’s website.

“The thing about a restaurant is that a restaurant is four walls. The thing about a chef like Shirley Chung is she’s much bigger than that,” Chung’s business partner Wang told Coin Cloud. “She’s on Instagram, she’s on TV, so why can’t she be in the metaverse, too?”

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Can Quiznos Cashin-In with Crypto

 

Gen Z and Millennials are rushing onto Crypto currencies while Baby Boomers the ilk of our own Grocerant Guru® say, why, what’s the point, and what happens when the U.S. Dollar goes digital via a ‘crypto? That said it is a very hot space and brands that embrace it have gotten lots of attention and new electricity into many legacy brands.

So, recently Quiznos, in collaboration with Crypto.com and The NFT Agency, announced the launch of a series of non-fungible tokens, marking the chain’s entry into the NFT space by featuring a collection of Quiznos “Out of this World” sandwich coins, available for 24 hours. Proceeds from the one-day sale of each token will support a nonprofit organization focused on ending hunger for communities and countries in crisis. Once again that said, this was the first but can you see where this could be going and just who would be attracted to this type of promotion.  That’s right social meal influencers.

So, the artwork – created by Sameer Baloch, a 3D digital artist hailing from Oman, whose detailed, bold pieces have made a splash in the collector community – features astronauts embarking on a brave mission to different planets throughout the crypto galaxy with the purpose of introducing innovative and alternative methods of sustainability. That my friends is the future intersecting with the present.

Now for its entry into the NFT space, Quiznos tapped The NFT Agency, a marketplace consultancy that connects creators, communities and brands through unique NFT experiences with ownable digital content.

According to The NFT Agency’s Chief Operating Officer Jesse Galati, “Sameer has built a reputation among the art and NFT community through his jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind 3D artwork. His brilliant and artistic mind is behind some of the most exciting NFT projects happening right now.”

Each NFT purchaser will also have the chance to win a Quiznos gift card. Quiznos will provide the gift cards, and the fulfillment will be setup and managed by The NFT Agency.

The collaboration isn’t Quiznos’s first foray into embracing the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Just a few months ago, the brand launched a pilot program that allows customers to pay with Bitcoin at select Quiznos locations across the Denver metropolitan area, including Denver International Airport.

Mark Lohmann, president of REGO Restaurant Group, which owns Quiznos, stated, “This is an exciting opportunity for digital coin collectors to pair their love of the planet, unique art and our boldly-flavored food with an act of generosity for the global good. We’re excited to take this one small step into the NFT space and look forward to exploring more ways we can virtually—and maybe someday physically — plant flags for our out-of-this world Quiznos sandwiches in space”.

There is more good news as Quiznos plans to donate proceeds from its “Out of this World” token sales to the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit founded by Chef José Andrés that uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and beyond.

“We are delighted that Quiznos chose our platform to launch this NFT campaign in support of efforts to help those in need at a critical time for our planet," adds Crypto.com Executive Vice President and Global Head of NFT Joe Conyers III. "We view this as a fun way to connect our community with a beloved food brand and terrific cause.”

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.” 

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, NFT’s, Crypto’s, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Is Quiznos Cashin-In with Crypto

Gen Z and Millennials are rushing onto Crypto currencies while Baby Boomers the ilk of our own Grocerant Guru® say, why, what’s the point, and what happens when the U.S. Dollar goes digital via a ‘crypto? That said it is a very hot space and brands that embrace it have gotten lots of attention and new electricity into many legacy brands.

So, recently Quiznos, in collaboration with Crypto.com and The NFT Agency, announced the launch of a series of non-fungible tokens, marking the chain’s entry into the NFT space by featuring a collection of Quiznos “Out of this World” sandwich coins, available for 24 hours. Proceeds from the one-day sale of each token will support a nonprofit organization focused on ending hunger for communities and countries in crisis. Once again that said, this was the first but can you see where this could be going and just who would be attracted to this type of promotion.  That’s right social meal influencers.

So, the artwork – created by Sameer Baloch, a 3D digital artist hailing from Oman, whose detailed, bold pieces have made a splash in the collector community – features astronauts embarking on a brave mission to different planets throughout the crypto galaxy with the purpose of introducing innovative and alternative methods of sustainability. That my friends is the future intersecting with the present.

Now for its entry into the NFT space, Quiznos tapped The NFT Agency, a marketplace consultancy that connects creators, communities and brands through unique NFT experiences with ownable digital content.

According to The NFT Agency’s Chief Operating Officer Jesse Galati, “Sameer has built a reputation among the art and NFT community through his jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind 3D artwork. His brilliant and artistic mind is behind some of the most exciting NFT projects happening right now.”

Each NFT purchaser will also have the chance to win a Quiznos gift card. Quiznos will provide the gift cards, and the fulfillment will be setup and managed by The NFT Agency.

The collaboration isn’t Quiznos’s first foray into embracing the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Just a few months ago, the brand launched a pilot program that allows customers to pay with Bitcoin at select Quiznos locations across the Denver metropolitan area, including Denver International Airport.

Mark Lohmann, president of REGO Restaurant Group, which owns Quiznos, stated, “This is an exciting opportunity for digital coin collectors to pair their love of the planet, unique art and our boldly-flavored food with an act of generosity for the global good. We’re excited to take this one small step into the NFT space and look forward to exploring more ways we can virtually—and maybe someday physically — plant flags for our out-of-this world Quiznos sandwiches in space”.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Are you Relevant? 

There is more good news as Quiznos plans to donate proceeds from its “Out of this World” token sales to the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit founded by Chef José Andrés that uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and beyond.

“We are delighted that Quiznos chose our platform to launch this NFT campaign in support of efforts to help those in need at a critical time for our planet," adds Crypto.com Executive Vice President and Global Head of NFT Joe Conyers III. "We view this as a fun way to connect our community with a beloved food brand and terrific cause.”

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.” 

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, NFT’s, Crypto’s, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869