“Going To” Once Again Is a Go-To Marketing Tactic
Going in search of customers and asking for their business fell out of favor when the good times came and livin’ was easy. Now that consumer spending has tanked, smart burger chains once again are getting up and seeking out customers.
Vancouver, Wash.-based Burgerville this week launched the Nomad (at right), a 24-foot-long restaurant on wheels. At the moment, it’s parked in Portland, Ore., where the brand is popular but doesn’t have a bricks-and-mortar presence. It’s also a hip market where street-food vendors are numerous and busy.
“We wanted to find creative ways to reach more guests,” Burgerville President Jeff Harvey tells The Oregonian. The Nomad is not only creative but also economical, requiring about $100,000 to be tricked out, compared with $1 million for a full-scale unit.
Johnny Rockets, too, has put its brand on wheels this month. A custom-built mobile kitchen (with 14-foot trailer attached) will make its debut July 30 at the Washington Redskins’ summer training camp in Ashburn, Va. The kitchen (at left)includes two fryers, a grill, refrigeration and freezer, 12-spigot soda dispensers and a two-flavor shake machine. It can serve a limited Johnny Rockets menu with a crew of six (two order takers, two burger cooks, one fry cook and a shakes/beverages person).
Shelley Donovan, VP-development for Lake Forest, Calif.-based Johnny Rockets calls the mobile restaurant “the next logical step” after putting units in stadiums, airports and even cruise ships. A second mobile unit will be launched by year-end in the Middle East, the company says.
The burgers-on-wheels idea isn’t new, of course. Burger King launched a fleet of mobile kitchens in 1986, but lost enthusiasm for the program. In-N-Out Burger has offered its rentable Cookout Trailer since the early 1990s.
The ultimate mobile commitment may be The Burger Bus, a self-contained burger shop that parks in various spots throughout Santa Barbara, Calif. Nowhere else can you get the $7.50 Burger Bus CB&J, a third-pounder topped with grilled onions, melted cheese and in-season Mama’s Preserves jelly.
Click here for the Los Angeles Times’ list of mobile restaurants in that city, where street food rules.
Can't keep track of all the new menu additions? Check the 
Hmm, not sure how I feel about this. The whole point of food carts in Portland is to offer weirdo stuff that you can’t get anywhere else (poutine, savory waffles, donuts shaped like penises–no, really) and you can always get Burgerville, well, at Burgerville.