Our goal is not to become another catering agency. Our goal is to grow our business to cater to as many companies that will have us. I think its important to focus at what we're good at and I firmly believe in this model.
We have considered selling Satays frozen and ship it but that isn't easy and there is a lot of issues around this. We can't ship cooked food due to lots of regulations and laws. Its an incredibly difficult path as we have considered in the past (before the current pivot) to be the Omaha Steaks of Satays or be in stores like Costco. I have explored both extensively and landed to the conclusion that the business we are doing now was the best for our future.
We have had a few press coverage in the past to be honest but I don't know how much that has helped us as a whole. Especially since we have pivoted but I will reach out to them again soon.
We did do festivals and events before and it was very hit or miss and the total revenue was actually less than what we were doing now.
No race tracks nearby that I can think of. I am definitely going to do a meetup as well as reach out to current meetups soon. Not sure if there are many movie productions that are around here but we are definitely open to any business that would love catering.
Our menu is tiny so we don't have an overly complex menu at the moment. We started on the street with just Satays and expanded the menu there before pivoting twice to the current model. Our customers have definitely been satisfied with our food, it really is more about reaching out I believe.
I greatly appreciate you taking out the time to offer suggestions and will look at the other stuff mentioned. I am willing to try anything at this point and will think it over for future implementation if we survive long enough. Above all, I appreciate your kind words. Thank you.
Another thought. Find your local SBDC chapter (Small Business Development Center) and SCORE (?? of Retired Executives). You might be able to connect with someone with deep knowledge of the food business who could help you figure it out. There might also be loans or grants that, along with advise, could help you get past this problem.
I deeply appreciate the suggestions and will look into it. Thank you.
How would you sell your competitor's product?
Think about that. If I wanted to hire you to sell my food product for me, how would you kick ass and take names?
List your top ten competitors (not just ethnic food). What are their advantages over your business?
Why do you have to sell ethnic food? Does anyone deliver burgers where you operate. I mean, GOOD burgers? How hard would it be to launch an experiment to sell an absolutely fucking-great would-kill-for-it "asian burger" for $10?
Can you sell other provider's food for them? Why don't YOU become the catering service? You might do far better this way than making your own food. Are there other good ethnic food providers that you could market? A supermarket does well because they have something to please everyone. If I don't want your kind of food there's nothing you can do to make me buy it. If, however, you offer me five different kinds of food choices you might actually have a sale every day of the week.
Can you package some food and sell it to roving food trucks (frozen, refrigerated, whatever)?
Call your local TV station. Find out who you have to lather-up to get on TV with your exciting super-hip ethnic food offerings. Be ridiculously upbeat. Create hype. Give them a reason to put you on TV.
Call every wedding and party planner you can find. Maybe you can land a job that way. I still think that if you are in the food business it might be wiser to not be in a super-narrow ethnic corner but rather be able to offer a wide range of choices.
Here in Santa Monica there's a regular event where a number of streets are closed from car traffic and food vendors put-up canopies and sell their stuff. Anything like that going on where you are?
Any race tracks of any kind near you? You could do lots of business if you could get a space at a good event. Swap meets are the same.
Do you have the means to get a mobile food truck? I don't know that business at all but I used to know someone who made good money with one.
Start an ethnic food meetup of some sort. Charge $15 all you can eat (or whatever makes sense). Get some music. Make it fun. Make it an event somewhere.
Any local camping areas? Crazy idea, but maybe you can print some flyers "we'll deliver your lunch to your campsite on Saturday".
Talk to tour bus operators. Maybe they have some ideas on how you could market your food to their customers. Offer them a cut.
See if you can find any movie productions that need catering.
Contact Home Depot or Lowes. I see guys with hot-dog stands right outside their doors there all the time. Not a clue what it might take to be able to do something like that.
Offer a program through which you'll cook and deliver someone's lunch for the entire week. Some might love the convenience of having five pre-packed meals in their refrigerator that they can just microwave at work and have something special that tastes good.
From watching the Gordon Ramsey shows I remember that, more often than not, he'd come in and grossly simplify the menus. I don't have the experience to evaluate your menu. Maybe you can get some help from a local culinary school?
He also did a lot of testing on the streets in some cases. Cook-up a variety of samples for food you offer now and a few new ideas and go pass them out for free on the street. Ask for feedback. You might discover that people aren't really in love with your food. For control I would have some tasty off-the-shelf microwave something to hand out as well.
I realize you probably need immediate income right now and might not have a lot of time or room for experiments. This is a tough spot to be. Do your best to be creative and try a few out of the ordinary things. You might just discover a gem.
Above all, don't be afraid of failure. I know that while you are going through it the whole experience can be overwhelming both emotionally and physically. Commit to the idea that if you fail to recover you will take a few steps back, critically analyze why you failed and come back stronger. Maybe you need to take job for a while. Do it. If entrepreneurship were easy everyone would be doing it. It isn't. You are unique. Don't give up.