Now Will Everyone Want to Get Married in Taco Bell’s Metaverse at Least Once

 

Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru®  at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® wants to know if you have visited Taco Bell’s Metaverse Wedding site. Ok, he admits he not interested in getting married any time soon.  However, if you are there just might be a fresh place to help you do the planning.  Yes, that place is Taco Bell.

Say what?  Ok I admit for those of us of a certain age it is laughable.  However, for digital natives yes, Gen Z and Millennials it’s a fresh, welcoming space, filled with options that are nonjudgmental.  

 

Taco Bells marketing team says that “Planning a wedding in the metaverse allowed for the maximum level of creativity and customization to authentically tailor the event to the couple.”  Here is some of what they had to say:

“Taco Bells are ringing as the lucky couple who will be tying the knot at Taco Bell’s metaverse wedding is unveiled. Lifelong Taco Bell fans Sheel Mohnot and Amruta Godbole said ‘I do’ on February 24 with an out-of-this-realm wedding celebration in Decentraland. 

Winning out over 300 couples who applied to win the Taco Bell metaverse wedding of their dreams, Sheel, a co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, a venture capital firm and Amruta, a lawyer at Instagram, embody what it means to love and live más. No strangers to the joys of virtual partnership, the Bay-area based couple’s story started after a mutual friend connected the pair and they shared an hours-long phone call where they learned about each other’s lives and upbringings – both of which included a passion for Taco Bell. The pair share an Indian heritage as well as a vegetarian lifestyle, making the eatery’s vegetarian options tried-and-true staples in their everyday lives. It was only fitting that one of their first IRL dates took place over a romantic beach-front meal at Taco Bell’s Pacifica location, which has been named the “world’s most beautiful Taco Bell.” During a trip to Mexico, the lovestruck couple were engaged over a meal of tacos, and the rest is soon to make Taco Bell and metaverse history.

“When we heard about the contest, we knew it was the perfect opportunity for us. Now that we're getting closer to the wedding day, we're excited to see the vision come to life,” says bride-to-be Amruta Godbole. “We're really looking forward to sharing the experience with our friends and family from all over the globe - many of whom may not have been able to attend in-person. Some of them still don’t totally understand the idea of a metaverse wedding, but once they knock back a couple of virtual bottles of Baja Blasts, I think they'll get in the spirit.”

And for groom-to-be, Sheel Mohnot, Taco Bell holds many memories dating all the way back to his childhood, so the wedding is truly a full-circle moment: “Growing up, Taco Bell was one of the only places we'd eat out and going there was a special occasion. Now, while eating out isn’t a luxury in the same way - I somehow still find myself coming back to my familiar Taco Bell favorites. We are excited to be a part of the Taco Bell family, as well as experience things we’d never get to do in an IRL wedding - like ride an elephant to the venue!”

Sheel and Amruta worked closely with both Taco Bell and their partners to plan an other-worldly event in Decentraland – a 3D browser-based platform allowing shared virtual exploration. The wedding pushes past previous platform limitations with never before seen elements that Decentraland users will be able to view even after the wedding for a limited time. The groom’s avatar will ride into the venue on an elephant in a customary baraat procession, paying homage to the duo’s Indian roots. Additionally, after saying “I do,” the couple will unveil a kissing emote in the metaverse, specifically designed for the occasion. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Taco Bell wedding without food! Guests will also bear witness to the largest virtual Cinnabon Delights® cake that the brand has ever created.

Planning a wedding in the metaverse allowed for the maximum level of creativity and customization to authentically tailor the event to the couple. This includes a notable Master of Ceremonies who will facilitate the wedding. For this memorable occasion, it will be none other than Kal Penn, an American actor who shares the couple’s Indian heritage and is thrilled to play a vital role in Sheel and Amruta’s matrimonial journey.

Additional customized wedding details include personalized wearables, or avatar outfits, for the couple and their invited guests. Adding to the list of cultural celebrations, the couple will be married under a mandap which forms the sacred space where the couple will say their vows. Under the mandap will be a custom agni, a sacred fire involved in some Indian wedding rituals, designed to look like a hot sauce packet set to flame – merging the best of the couple's culture and Taco Bell’s signature flare.

In true digital-forward fashion, once the ceremony has concluded, the reception space will open for the couple, their invited guests and public attendees to kick off the party. After enjoying their first dance as a married couple, Amruta will throw a hot sauce bouquet which will turn into an interactive Bouquet Toss Game, with bragging rights as the reward. Both the public who attend the Decentraland wedding and those who visit the venue after the celebration can participate in this fun competition. Additional activities include showing off their moves on the Taco Bell dance floor alongside the Sauce Packet Dancers, snapping some pictures in a photo booth and hitting up the Mtn Dew Baja Blast Station. For those looking to enjoy Taco Bell IRL, guests at the public reception will be able to visit the reception’s food table and scan a QR code that links to an offer and a menu curated by the couple featuring their favorite vegetarian dishes for consumers to purchase.

On the big day, 100 of the couple’s invited guests will be able to enjoy the wedding ceremony first-hand through the eyes of their avatars, where they’ll even have the chance to meet the Master of Ceremonies, Kal Penn.

The public (was) able to watch the live wedding on screens set up in secondary realms within Decentraland - visit TacoBell.com/metaverse-wedding to learn more and access the public wedding space on the day of the wedding. After the private baraat procession, the ceremony space will open up in Decentraland’s secondary realms where the public can explore the venue, socialize and watch a slideshow about the couple via their avatars. Following the private nuptials on the screens, the reception space will open up for a virtual celebration of a lifetime.

For those who are not able to attend the ceremony in avatar form, popular Twitch streamer and Taco Bell superfan Jordan Payton will be livestreaming his POV of the event so viewers can follow along on their screens. Once the private ceremony is over, the public ceremony space will provide a gateway into the public reception that will be open for fans to enter and kick off the festivities.

Leading up to the wedding day, there will be an open wedding registry on the Taco Bell Discord channel on February 22 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST. Fans can claim drops inspired by the couple’s favorite Taco Bell items in the discord channel for digital gift cards and Taco Bell will gift the couple with some items from their curated menu selections too. The registry will function on a traditional first-come, first-serve basis so once the gift has been claimed, the item will no longer be up to gift, so act fast.

As an extra special wedding present for the bride and groom, Taco Bell will be throwing the newlyweds a private reception at the Pacifica Cantina in the near-future to close the loop on their journey to marriage in one of the places where it all began. Then, the couple plans to take off to New Zealand later in the year for the honeymoon of their dreams.

Taco Bell’s metaverse wedding is brought to life in collaboration with creative agencies Deutsch LA, The Electric Factory and livestream production company Mobeon. For more information about how to participate in the out-of-this-realm wedding, please visit TacoBell.com/metaverse-wedding. Follow along on the couple’s journey to the mandap through their social channels: Sheel – Instagram and Twitter, Amruta – Instagram and Twitter.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Branding the Metaverse Wow Bao is All-In

 

Are you ready for the Metaverse? Is your brand migrating with consumers? Just where are you extending your brand invitation?  Those are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself right now according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

While regular readers of this blog know that Wow Bao, is a proactive, growing, fast-casual Asian concept; they may not know that they laid out a ‘phased Web3 strategy’, which will includes an NFT-based extension of their Bao Bucks rewards program and the launch of metaverse vending machines. It’s simple Wow Bao is looking a customer ahead.  Are you?

So, to kick off these new initiatives, they are launching a contest wowbao.com/metaverse to give away free digital collectibles and Wow Bao branded merchandise. Now the initial phase of Wow Bao’s Web3 strategy will begin with the launch of a new NFT-based access pass, an evolution and extension of their Bao Bucks rewards program, the first and only Virtual Dining Rewards Program to be offered.

The passes will be available for purchase and will grant access to their Club. Wow Bao will be selling three tiers of passes which will each unlock increasing levels of unique digital and physical rewards, including monthly giveaways and discounts exclusive to Club members. Unlike traditional non-fungible-tokens (NFTs), passes do not require a crypto wallet or cryptocurrency and can be purchased and accessed with a credit card and an email address. Additionally, Wow Bao teased that they will be bringing their hot food vending machines, currently live in GA, FL, and Las Vegas, to the metaverse in 2023.

Technology matters and Wow Bao’s entrance into Web3 cements its commitment to continually exploring leading edge technology and finding unique and engaging ways to reach new consumers. It follows its early use of self-ordering kiosks in 2010, a fully-automated front-of-house animated cubby experience in 2017, and unprecedented growth the last couple of years to over 700 locations through their virtual dark kitchen program. 

Over 100 new dark kitchen locations were launched in October alone. In addition, Wow Bao has an ongoing partnership with Riot Racers, a virtual play-to-earn car racing game, including upcoming tournament sponsorships and an exclusive drop of Wow Bao branded race cars. Fans who want to purchase a Wow Bao car to race in the game should follow both Wow Bao and Riot Racers on Twitter to learn more.

Want to Build a Larger Share of Stomach

Start Looking A Customer Ahead

Geoff Alexander, president & CEO of Wow Bao, stated, “Wow Bao has always been an early adopter of digital restaurant experiences and this is a natural extension of that leadership stance,” …. “With Wow Bao’s virtual restaurant growth, it is important to connect with guests wherever and whenever possible, whether that be in Dallas, TX, Philadelphia, PA or in the metaverse. We’re excited to bring Wow Bao to the metaverse and build relationships with a new group of fans.”

Wow Bao’s metaverse strategy was developed in conjunction with Brightloom, a customer intelligence and advisory services company.

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Does your messaging look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  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.

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.