At Tuck Stand, we believe in continuous learning. This approach provides us with the opportunity to revisit our policies, processes and practices, and critically examine them in an effort to understand key takeaways from our past mistakes and implement them going forward.
When we set up food pop-ups in a building that is a coworking space, there are some common processes that we follow. But, for the most part, we try to improvise to come up with a solution specific to the building, because we understand and appreciate that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to aspects involving individual choices and preference, especially regarding food. We ideally reach out to coworking spaces that house a minimum of 500 employees, as this enables us to look for trends in their food choices and preferences. We reach out to the community team - who manage the building - and have multiple rounds of interactive and exhaustive discussions with them to understand the finer aspects of the building, such as the layout of the building, proximity to the nearest cafeteria and the options available there, a quick history of the past popups organized in the building, the traction for such events and the average amount spent by employees during such popups.
Based on this information and our assessment of the building, we come up with a sample menu, after similar discussions with our partners who would like to showcase their options. The items in this menu are a combination of mainstream options that are a definite hit across pop-ups in the past, and few other options that are sure to keep the employees coming back for seconds, based on our understanding of the building. This is critical to ensure that we approach each building as a standalone entity and plan from the ground up for options specific to the building. Our operations team will analyze the menu from the building’s point of view, keeping in mind the discussions with the community team and rework on it to design a final menu. The team places the order with the partner(s) for the items in the menu, and discusses with them the handling of logistics. Our partners mostly have their in-house logistics arranged to deliver the items at the location of the popup; in case they are unable to schedule the logistics at their end, we assign the logistics to our external providers, and ensure that it reaches the location 15-20 minutes before the actual time of the event, to account for delays due to unavoidable situations and the headway for the operations team to set up the pop up at the location. Once all these things have been acknowledged and confirmed by our partner, we then share the menu with the building’s team, along with relevant marketing materials at least a week in advance, to ensure maximum traction for the popup. We also share the menu in our alternate channels - curated WhatsApp groups for dedicated locations - and take pre-orders from the channels. Depending on the demand through these channels, we push for an increase in the quantity of the menu items.
On the day of the pop up, members from our operations team reach the location well in advance to help with setting up and managing the pop up, and to assist with the marketing activities by ensuring that the word about our event is spread throughout the building. They also make a note of any bulk orders, made by companies within the building. Once our partner(s) confirm(s) that the items have been picked up and are on their way, the ops team in the control centre tracks the order diligently, relaying the dynamic ETA to the ground team and coordinating with them to ensure the pop up is set up on time. The ground team also coordinates with the community team managing the building to ensure that the provided marketing collaterals are displayed prominently.
After the pop up is set up, it’s just a matter of getting the right amount of traction. Based on real-time demand assessment, which includes observing the traction for the pop up and obtaining feedback from the diners, we order replenishments for the existing items, which also take into consideration the bulk orders received in the building and the orders placed through our alternate channels. We place great value upon the feedback received from the consumers and the community team and try to incorporate as much of it as possible into our future events.
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