Back in 2003, when I first found out about Banh Mi, I took a trip out to the Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn to find a hole in the wall called Ba Xuyen (now lauded as the mother of all NYC Banh Mi).  It was known for its grilled pork & pate sandwich, with spicy fixins’ of slaw and mayo, on a warm baguette (a nod to the French Indochine era).  I couldn’t believe this place was churning out these amazingly satisfying Vietnamese sandwiches for only $2.50.  Blissful, satiating, and a total revelation.

What was once a little known fusion of Vietnamese & French ingredients, began it’s humble stateside ascent in the tiny Asian markets of NYC in the late ’90s.  Since then, the Banh Mi craze took off and has become one of NYC’s most popular sandwiches. Like so many ‘feeding frenzy’ fads in NYC, a nationwide roll out soon to followed.

Social media has played a HUGE role in popularizing the “Vietnamese Submarine,” as some call it.  In LA, the Nomnom Truck alerts a hungry faithful of their location via Twitter (they currently have 7031 followers!).  Battle of the Banh Mi focuses on finding your city’s best banh mi location, educating people how to make them, prepare ingredients, and where to find the best banh mi in your city.  Is this too much interest?  Will the sandwich ‘jump the shark?’  I think they’ll fall out of fashion at some point, replaced I’m sure by another dish, but as the growth and popularity of social media food sites continue, I think that you’ll see Banh Mi on more and more menus around the world.  If it can happen in Rockland, Maine, well you know.  I just hope that we never get to the point of the McBanh Mi.

Here are some highlights of the event:

- Moderated panel with local Boston all star chefs Barbara Lynch and Jody Adams.  It was great to hear what these chef vets had to say about the Boston food and restaurant scene.  Barbara had interesting takes on what she thinks are just fads (bacon, pickling everything in sight) and what the next trends will be (vegetables nudging out meat as the star of the plate).  And Jody was emphatic that Cambridge was one of the ‘hottest’ food neighborhoods anywhere.  Most interesting, was the perceived self consciousness about Boston’s standing as a foodie destination.  Barbara and Jody are working to change the perception that Boston is a ‘bean pot’ or ‘fried fish’ town.  There’s so much more diversity here, but we need to get tourists and conventioneers to see that as well.

- Lively discussion between FourSquare’s Dennis Crowley and Foodspotting’s Alexa Andrzejewski.  FourSquare was definitely the big dog on the panel, but Foodspotting held their own when discussing growth and interaction.  There were also some pointed questions from attendees.  One of which expressed the concern of a restaurant owner that was worried about FourSquare users gaming the system and ripping them off.  This is not only a legitimate concern for business owners, but I believe a significant hurdle for FourSquare to leap over on its path to ubiquity.  The less the system is safe and fair, the more holdouts you’ll get.

- Finally, the NOMX3 fellas dropped some online video knowledge on the crowd.  I had a chance to briefly speak with Jeff before the event and he said that even the smallest business could benefit from using video to attract customers by doing one thing – providing customers with engaging content that shows off your expertise in an interesting way.  Also, I am a former film production hack and I couldn’t have agreed with them more about the proper ways to film your video.  Sound is SO IMPORTANT and SO OVERLOOKED when people are shooting.  People are willing to sit through poorly shot video than a video with poor sound.

Those were some of the highlights of the event.  I have to mention too, that the venue was amazing.  I’m so glad that we picked Technique – the acoustics, food,  & staff service made it all the more organic to the discussion.  Cheers to John O’Toole and his staff for their hard work.

While this event was a TON of hard work, I feel like people came away from it with both a better understanding of how social media works and how it can be integrated into their business.  I hope that a lot of light bulbs went off in attendees’ heads while listening to the speakers, I know a lot did in mine.  That would be extremely satisfying and should be the impetus for future Eat, Drink, & Be Social events.  Thanks to all who attended and made it possible.  I hope to post some pix of the event soon.

Yum?

One of the most buzz worthy topics in the blogosphere these past few days has been KFC’s new Double Down sandwich.  The buzz has been growing louder, it seems, by the hour.  Nearly 25% of the posts I had in Google Reader this morning were Double Down related.  They ranged from ardent anti and pro positions to posts of the “would you eat this” variety.

KFC has to be (excuse me here), licking their fingers over the positive, negative, and even silly excitement this has generated.  It’s a marketing and publicity boon.  I’ve barely seen any commercials for it, yet it’s been constantly mentioned over the airwaves, showing up in late night jokes and on 24hr cable news.  Check Twitter Search and see how often this is getting Tweeted (it’s A LOT!).

The product development geniuses at KFC have hit a home run.  They’ve come up with the most audacious and revolutionary fast food product in years.  So I’ll say it right now, THE KFC DOUBLE DOWN IS THE iPAD OF FAST FOOD.

Think that’s stretching it?  Much like the iPad, there are:

Vigorous online debates about whether or not to buy it

A bevy of uploaded videos of people trying/reviewing it for the first time:

Editorial columns and their educated opinions (a NYT review makes this legit, right?), and review of the reviewer too.

Technically, the iPad is far superior to the KFC Double Down.  But just imagine if you could browse the web with it!  I will be waiting breathlessly for the next revolutionary product announcement KFC’s CEO makes, a la Steve Jobs, in front of an audience of adoring KFC geeks…

A delicious smoked salmon sandwich

Yesterday, the New York Times had an article about people who obsessively photograph every (or nearly every) meal they have.  A couple of years ago, I tried taking photos of my meals while living in Spain.  I was posting them to another blog I had at the time, but found the chore of taking out the camera and disrupting the meal as too intrusive.  The people featured in this article don’t have those same concerns, although, they sometimes grapple with other people’s qualms about it.  But aside from how you feel about “phood photos” (that should be the term, right?), what is undeniable is their dramatic growth online and sharing on social networks.

In the article, a man named Javi, has shot every meal he’s had for the past 5 years, over 9000 phootos (another new term?) in all.  Another has shot and shared her meals online with family and friends, eliciting comments and cravings, since 1997.  Flickr has a group called “I Ate This,” that has over 300,000 images from more than 19,000 contributors.  And I still check out Scanwiches every now and again to see what delicious sandwich someone has posted that day.

In a previous post, I discussed the rise of Foodspotting.com, which emphasizes the importance of a particular dish at a restaurant.  All of this affirms the relative acceptability, growth, and ubiquity of food profiling online.  Don’t miss out on the opportunity to encourage your customers and communities to upload and share their phood photos.

BurgerBusiness.com, a website dedicated to the hamburger industry, has put out their version of the NCAA Tournament Brackets, matching up 64 of the top burger joints around the country.  I can’t say that I agree very much with the burgers that made it to the tournament – where’s the Burger Joint, Corner Bistro, Hamburg Inn, Le Tub?  Nor can I say that I agree with some of the winners either (McDonald’s beats BLT Burger, WTF?).  But like the real NCAA’s, what makes this tourney so exciting, is that you never know who will win.

The battling burgers have battled it out to the Final 4: In-N-Out (no argument here), Rare Bar & Grill (NYC’s own), Cheeseburger Bobby’s (never had the pleasure), and Blanc Burgers + Bottle (where the heck is Leawood, KS?).  Much like tonight’s classic David versus Goliath match up between Butler and Duke, the Finals pit Blanc Burgers + Bottle v. In-N-Out.  Me personally, I almost always root for David.  I’ve never given the Bottle Burger a try, but if I find myself in the Kansas City, MO area, I just might have to make a little side trip to Leawood.

The winning burger depends on comments made by Burger Business’ readers, of which they’ve gotten over 1,000 of so far.  I would love to hear what your favorite burger is and why.  I’m thinking that there just might be a Burger World Cup 2010 tournament in June, hmmm…

It kinda goes without saying that there are new social media tools launching all the time.  It only seems like a month ago (really!) that everyone started talking about FourSquare.  For those of you who don’t know, FourSquare is a location based application that allows users to ‘check in’ when they get to a location and then broadcast that to other FourSquare users.  Check in more than anyone else, and you become the designated ‘mayor’ of that location.

People you know (and those you don’t) can gain insights into your daily activities.  Some people are not keen on letting the world know where they are and what they are doing, but 4S is an “opt in” activity.  Those that decide to join the fray are really broadcasting is their knowledge or experience related to their location.  Say you visit that new gourmet hot dog stand in Brooklyn, Bark in Park Slope, you’re not just letting friends know you’ve been there, you’re dropping knowledge about the place.  best dog, secret ordering ‘tip,’ or when the best time to stop by is.  4S will not only let others know where you’ve been, but can also let you know valuable information like, which is your favorite dog, when to beat the crowds, or a special ‘off the menu’ topping, or when it’s happy hour.

4S’s model has inspired imitators, but in more focused categories.  Take Foodspotting, which is like 4S, but solely geared to foodies.  If you post a dish, like the Vietnamese pork chop at Nha Trang in NYC Chinatown, and someone else is enticed by and nominates it, your reputation grows.  You will receive higher levels of authority (collecting badges) as more people nominate your dish.  It’s like being a mayor in 4S, but for a certain dish rather than a location.  Foodspotting is new, but according to CNN’s Sci Tech blog, they have grown to 7,000 members since January.

If Foodspotting can break through and reach critical mass and you’re a restaurateur that wants to highlight your ‘special dish’ to the foodie community, it might be a great tool for doing just that.

Answers varied and I most identified to those that mention thinking about another meal while in the middle of the current one.  I also have a habit of doing that.  I’ll make something at home and suddenly, I’m thinking about a) how I can improve the dish, b) how good this will be as leftovers, and c) what I’ll be cooking next.

The question posed on Serious Eats is actually a good example of how to create a thought provoking blog post that gets participation by its community.  Having a conversation where you do all the talking, doesn’t work in real life or online.  But posing a question where you’re both genuinely interested in the answers and that will also elicit opinions, is a pretty valuable approach to community engagement.  We almost certainly know that people cannot help but add their own two cents on a certain issue.  And people also cannot help but read what their peers have replied with.

Once you have built a thriving community, regardless of the size , it’s important to gauge what the group sentiment.  If only to get an idea of what the current meme of the community is.  It’s a wonderful way to listen to your ‘constituency.’  So go ahead and ask important questions to the group, stand back, let people generate whatever they want (within reason, natch), and then make sure to read what they have said (THIS IS IMPORTANT).  In a e-commerce setting, this strategy is extremely important for listening to what your customer has to say about your product and service.

To paraphrase David Mamet, “Always Be Listening.”

The dynamics have also changed relating to how a restaurant can influence customers.  They have an important new role in getting the word out about their restaurant.  Great word of mouth has always been an effective a tool for increasing business, but there has never been a way to monitor it.  Today, using Social Media, restaurant marketers must cull all the comments about their business and make them available online.  There are bound to be negative comments, you can’t please ‘em all, but if you have 1000 comments and 5 are bad, well, you’re doing great and people reading the comments are 99.5% sure they’ll get a great experience rather than the .5% bad experience.  Don’t forget though, those negative comments are a great way to address problems in your system that you may have overlooked.

So now, the opportunity for great word of mouth to be used by business is a two way street.  Your customers can still publish their thoughts about an experience they had at your restaurant, but you are now no longer hostage to their comments.  You have the power to respond (through quality improvement), leverage the number of comments you’re receiving (through greater online presence), and to highlight the best aspects of your restaurant (like ’10 best pizzas in boston’).  If a lot of people are simply talking about your restaurant (even with a couple of negative comments), isn’t that the best possible marketing you can have?  Wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that as much as possible?