What Is Street Food?
Wikipedia describes Street Food as ‘ready-to-eat food or drink sold by a hawker (a person who travels about selling goods), or vendor, in a street or other public place, such as at a market or fair. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and meant for immediate consumption.’
Street Food is an on-trend, on-the-go, casual dining experience, offering fast service, portable portions and a chance to sample different food offerings in a relaxing and fun outdoor environment. A great opportunity to catch up with friends and meet fellow foodies. Michelin-starred Angela Hartnett has even set up a new food truck concept in London’s Broadgate.
So its high time to jump on the bandwagon and enjoy a piece of the action pie.
The Benefits
For any leisure business, to offer a street food service is a quick way to win business and entice new customers to visit your venue.
Making use of your outdoor space is an ideal way to get a return on investment on your outdoor furniture and accessories. Use of outdoor heaters can create a warm and inviting environment for customers to enjoy your street food. It is also the perfect excuse to get the blanket box out and help your customers get comfy cosy.
Outdoor lighting can transform your outdoor space, creating a relaxing and magical place to experience tasty, tantalising treats.
Street Food is a brilliant opportunity to go completely casual with your service offering and take the pressure off your staff. Use of disposable crockery and cutlery is a quick win to accommodate your street diners. Recycled cardboard cones and scoop boxes are a great choice to offer, easy to hold and small enough for diners not to feel guilty indulging in your culinary delights. These packages are also an ideal size for your younger diners little hands. Food packaging is also a brilliant way to advertise your organisation. You could be creative and add a custom designed sticker to the plain packaging, perhaps advertising your Facebook or Instagram page. Remember, customers, are likely to be eating your food on the move.
Here at Woodberry of Leamington Spa we are very conscious of the environment and take recycling very seriously in all that we do. We really like the products available from Enviropack who offer reusable and recyclable packaging.
Offering a fixed menu during your street food event will enable you to batch cook and serve customers quickly. The event could also be used to trial and gauge feedback on possible new menu offerings. Casually mingling and speaking directly to your customers will ensure you are giving your customers just what they are after.
The Furniture
Casual dining calls for casual furniture and our striking, New Barrel Poseur Tables tick all the right boxes. An eye-catching centrepiece ideal as a standing table for 4 persons makes outdoor dining a breeze and comes with a 10-year structural guarantee. The table top and side of the barrel can also be branded with your business logo. Watch your customers gather around these majestic units and make use of the sturdy table top to use mobile devices and rest their drink and food while they idly chatter with family and friends.
To ensure your outdoor space remains tidy for everyone, make sure you have adequate bins for your clientele to depose of their rubbish. Not only will this save a tidy up task when everyone has left, but it will also ensure all your cardboard remains safe and ready to be passed on for recycling.
Our Greendine Recycled Plastic Litterbin makes a handsome addition to a busy outdoor space and is carefully crafted from recycled matter including wheelie bins, shampoo bottles, milk bottles, poly-tunnel sheeting and compost bags. Purchasing our Greendine furniture saves these items going to landfill.
Have you put any Street Food inspired events on at your venue? We would love to hear how they went.
For further information on our range of furniture, why not give our dedicated sales team a call to discuss your requirements.