Wild Tiger

STRATEGY

Thai food to-go.

OVERVIEW

A founder with experience in the hospitality sector approached me to strategically lead and facilitate the direction for a new to-go food truck/food stall offering in Brighton. I’ve been integrated as a Fractional Strategic Consultant amongst the business partners with the goal to launch a Thai Food offering in May 2024.

OUTCOMES

12%

Increase in financial model profit margins by pivoting cuisine.

THE PROJECT

The business:

Strategic Consultant (Me)
Founder
Business partners(4)

Zero-to-One:

I facilitated a transformative workshop with the founder and their business partners to tackle the initial uncertainty to shape a clear vision for a street food venture. Over a half-day workshop I used a purpose framework to collaboratively establish their mission and key priorities.

This involved brainstorming, posting, and voting on ideas about the business's core aspects - what they offer (X), their target audience (Y), and their underlying motivations (Z).

The team successfully formulated a mission statement and identified crucial themes such as Product, Operations, and Marketing, which they then evaluated for impact and effort, setting the stage for informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Cuisine Pivot:

I led the market research to determine if their original Souvlaki wrap street food concept matched to-go dining needs in Brighton. I identified key demographics and preferences, such as a predominant interest in burgers, Thai, and Indian food, with a willingness to try new cuisines like Tacos or Pan-Asian dishes. I developed a key persona in Adventurous Alex who is open to trying exotic and diverse cuisines.

Recognising trends towards Thai and Mexican cuisines, I conducted multivariate Facebook ad campaigns to assess customer preferences, which slightly favored Thai cuisine. I co-ordinated a Business Model Canvas workshop where the group explored the two options deciding to pivot towards Thai food, considering its higher profit margins and simpler assembly process compared to Mexican options.

Concerned about authenticity, as none of the team members were of Thai origin, I ran another Facebook ad campaign focusing on brand perception. This campaign tested different visuals and messaging strategies to gauge public reaction, ultimately finding that images of non-Thai chefs were more engaging, possibly due to their authenticity, relatability, and visual appeal.

This pivot to Thai cuisine, backed by strategic market research and mindful of brand perception, guided the team in refining their business model and approach.

Thai Culinary Experiments

I coordinated with the founder to conduct two Thai culinary lab sessions to perfect popular Thai dishes like Thai Green, Panang, Massaman, and Pad Thai. The first session involved mutual evaluations one one anothers recipe, rating each dish out of 10 on various aspects and suggesting improvements.

The second session introduced a blind taste test, comparing their dishes with similar ones from a local takeaway, to assess if they could match or exceed commercial quality. Participants rated dishes on taste, texture, aroma, spiciness, visual appeal, and whether they would order it again, with a score of 4 or more indicating a positive response.

The results were mixed, with only the Thai Green Chicken dish receiving favorable reviews. This raised concerns about the team's readiness for the planned launch, as issues included lengthy preparation times, repeated mistakes, and limited culinary skills.

To address these challenges, the founder considered partnering with a local experienced chef to enhance the team's cooking skills and refine the menu, aiming to improve their culinary skill-set over the next six months. This strategy was aimed at ensuring the business could meet its quality and taste standards in time for a May 2024 launch.

Brand Development

I conducted strategic exercises to differentiate ourselves from competitors and pinpoint unique value propositions. This approach led to the creation of two brand concepts, Baht Street Eats and Tiger Unity Kitchen, focusing on themes of customer engagement and community. A controlled Facebook campaign revealed Tiger Unity Kitchen as the preferred brand, thanks to its strong visual appeal, emotional resonance, and a tagline that captivated the target audience.

Further analysis identified the need for a more memorable brand name, leading to a vote that renamed Tiger Unity Kitchen to "Wild Tiger." This change was supported by a distinctive logo, food truck livery, and promotional materials for a launch event. The streamlined brand development process, emphasising audience connection and cultural symbolism, effectively established Wild Tiger's identity and market presence

2024 Plan

Apr 2024: Conduct a soft launch with consumer tasting events to gather feedback and finalise the menu.

May 2024: Officially launch the food truck with a marketing push and an in-person event.

Ongoing: Maintain engagement through email and Instagram, monitoring how this impacts the business and making strategic adjustments as needed.

THREE BIG TAKE-AWAYS

1/ Effective Strategy Development

The use of structured workshops and group activities effectively guided the team in developing a clear and actionable strategy for the street food business.

Known Unknowns

After the group reviewed the purpose and mission statement I asked them to write down what information we didn’t know that we had to acquire. After we used thematic sorting we grouped these into Product, Operations, Marketing and Promotions, Customers, Location, Legal, Outsourcing, Costs and Vendors. I asked them to give each theme a score of the impact and effort on the business once the thematic information is acquired (1 being low to 5 being high) which we prioritised on a effort-impact graph.

2/ Community and Market Engagement

The pivot towards Thai cuisine, based on market research and customer feedback, demonstrated the importance of understanding and responding to community preferences.

Cuisine Pivot Campaign

To validate whether the business should pivot to a different cuisine to maximise profitability and growth, I ran a multivariate Facebook ad campaign at a similarly targeted audience, distributing three similar ads to the same audience with different image and cuisine keywords. As the results showed only a slight lean into Thai food we took this pivot decision into a workshop as part of the Business model canvas process.

3/ Brand Perception and Authenticity

The focus on brand perception highlighted the significance of authentic engagement and relatability in business branding.

Why did the image of the 5 cooks perform best?

Authentic Connection: People generally connect more with human faces and authentic stories. Seeing the founders actively engaged in the preparation of the food could create a sense of connection, trust, and authenticity.

Visual Engagement: A vibrant food truck scene with a diverse group of individuals is inherently eye-catching and engaging. This visual complexity can draw more attention and thus more clicks.

Relatability & Inclusivity: By featuring the founders who are non-Thai cooking Thai food, the image might resonate with a broad audience, especially those who also appreciate Thai cuisine but may not be ethnically Thai themselves.

Emotional Appeal: The warmth and camaraderie often associated with food trucks and the communal joy of cooking and eating together might have elicited an emotional response, making the image more appealing.

Curiosity Factor: The unique combination of non-Thai chefs embracing Thai cuisine might have piqued curiosity, leading to more people clicking to learn more about your journey and offerings.

REFLECTION

Learnings so far

Aligning to a Common vision
The Zero-to-One and Business Model Canvas workshop exemplified the importance of aligning a diverse team towards a common vision. Through collaborative exercises, the team transitioned from uncertainty to a shared mission. This alignment was crucial in creating a cohesive and focused approach towards the food truck venture.

Adapting to Market Research
The pivot to Thai cuisine highlighted the need to adapt based on market research. Insights into local preferences and trends guided the shift, emphasising taste and presentation. Adapting to market needs, such as the preference for Thai over Mexican cuisine, was critical in developing a product-market fit and ensuring the venture's relevance to Brighton's food scene.

Divide and Conquer
Recognising the groups absent culinary skills, the strategy involved dividing tasks effectively over a six-month action plan. Not everyone needed to be a cook; instead, tasks like pitching to festivals, securing the supply-chain, and premises/truck acquisition were distributed. This approach ensured efficient progress to launch, while the founder and I addressed the culinary skill gaps.