Listen up: There’s a Consumer Demand
Startup Part 3: Startups in Brooklyn- living, eating, producing the agile way of life
There’s always a surprise in New York. Nothing is ever as it seems, and uncovering a whole world of food producers behind the doors of a retired pharmaceuticals building in Brooklyn was just another one of those moments. As we were guided through the ominous Pfizer building off Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn, smells of cinnamon, fresh pasta and BBQ chicken filled the air- a somewhat bewildering and striking contrast to what used to be prepared in the very same space.
This was part of a StoryTour, a new start up focussed on uncovering New York city stories run and founded by Samantha Gross, where we were taken through the corridors of commercial kitchens to hear from a handful of new food startups who have set up shop along side the likes of One Lucky Duck and Kelvin Slushie to see just how far their food dreams can go.
Enter Stage Right: The consumer demand to simply know
How could these small food producers find success in a city already exploding with edible choices and Michelin restaurants? The value is in the story.
“Knowing the story behind things was the most important”
Samantha said while explaining the shift in people’s consumption post-GFC.
“If someone produced it themselves then they would know the story, and the people who bought those products would know that there was meaning behind it.”
And this was re-iterated by the producers we met: A significant and overwhelming shift in consumer culture had incentivised every single group we met to push forward with their product as people simply cared.
“They preferred going to a great little place around the corner where they know the chef, the know the farmers name- they know the story behind it” — John, Poulet Roti.
The way in which these food producers have come this far, to scaling their products and selling them at Wholefoods, Madison Square bars, Chelsea Markets and roaming food trucks just to name a few, would not be able to continue unless there was a demand to feed the supply.
The organic, transparent nature of start ups; to shift, to adapt and to be entirely consumer centric is their key to success.
Nibbling on a People’s Pop popsicle (Strawberry and Basil of course), these were the words that stuck with me:
“In a commercial business, you’re part of the titanic where you can’t really change direction, you can’t influence stuff. Here, it’s like being on a jet ski and we can make decisions in the morning and make it happen that day.”
Walking away from the most delicious meetings I’ve ever had, I now had a clear idea:
If advertising agencies and commercial brands were to mirror the agility of start ups, they needed to be actively responding to the market around them, to the needs of the consumer at that point in time. To do that requires being responsive and relevant.
With the market being driven by the power of consumers picking and choosing, putting their money where they know the story-
