HOW TO CROWDFUND $37K TO HELP A FOOD TRUCK GET THEIR FIRST BRICK AND MORTAR LOCATION.
HOW TO CROWDFUND $37K TO HELP A FOOD TRUCK GET THEIR FIRST BRICK AND MORTAR LOCATION.
fk frozen Custard (2015)
Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign
Background
FK Frozen Custard is one of the most popular Bay Area food trucks. After 5 years of operation, they wanted to create their 1st brick and mortar scoop shop in the heart of SF’s Mission district. FK came to Plinth to create a Kickstarter campaign to raise $30k to help with construction costs.
As a food truck, FK relied on social media to let people know where they were, we needed to create a campaign that would grow their reach and turn followers into backers, and backers into evangelists.
We used the same methodology we teach in classes at Plinth Academy to design and execute a campaign which raised 123% of their $30k goal.
WHAT’S THE FIRST STEP IN ATTRACTING POTENTIAL BACKERS?
WHAT’S THE FIRST STEP IN ATTRACTING POTENTIAL BACKERS?
CRAFT A GREAT STORY AND TELL IT WELL.
One of the fundamentals of a successful campaign is a video that explains what FK is all about, what they're trying to achieve, and why people should support their campaign.
We created a video that educated people about the difference between ice cream and frozen custard, the history of frozen custard, and how FK's West Coast Style frozen custard adds a new dimension to dessert world.
The video used illustrated animations, great food photography, and footage of the FK team to create a video that was quirky, engaging and shareable, just like the FK Frozen Custard brand itself.
HOW DO YOU EXPAND YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA REACH AND TURN IT INTO BACKERS?
HOW DO YOU EXPAND YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA REACH AND TURN IT INTO BACKERS?
CREATE ENGAGING SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
AND THROW A LAUNCH PARTY TO JUMPSTART THE CAMPAIGN.
Crafting An Anthem
FK's core customers are twenty somethings who love the nightlife. We took a popular slang term "turnt", meaning drunk or partying, and turned it into "churnt". We created sayings like "Get Churnt" and support "Churntrification" to inspire people to get intoxicated on FK's Flavors.
"Churntrification" played on the controversial topic of gentrification. "Support Churntrification" was an anthem against gentrification and rallied people to support small, independent businesses.
Create Shareable Content
As part of our social media strategy we generated blog posts educating people about frozen custard, frozen desserts, and the FK brand.
For National Ice Cream Day we did a spoof of the popular renegade rap group N.W.A.'s movie "Straight Outta Compton" . The result was D.W.A (Desserts With Attitude) "Straight Outta Custard". The campaign touched upon FK's philosophy of unorthodox flavors and struck a chord with their core audience.
A LAUNCH PARTY THAT RAISED 25% OF THEIR GOAL IN THE FIRST 5 DAYS
A campaign launch party is crucial to a successful restaurant / food crowdfunding campaign. We held FK's launch party at the Soma StrEAT Food Park where scores of food truck fans gather. We were able to get FK's founder Jason Angeles on speaker panel of NextDayBetter SF to further promote his campaign.
The launch party featured Dj's and a photo booth which allowed people to hold branded signs with our hashtags that they can share on social media.
REWARDS THAT LEAD TO A $120 PLEDGE AVERAGE.
REWARDS THAT LEAD TO A $120 PLEDGE AVERAGE.
“Our products cost about $4-$6 how do we get people to pledge more?”
REWARDS PRICED TO ENCOURAGE BACKING AT HIGHER TIERS
We designed rewards to suit every price level. Our pricing strategy featured different bundles to entice backers to choose higher reward tiers. Here's just a few of the rewards we designed. See the full list of rewards here.
COLLABORATING WITH A POPULAR CLOTHING BRAND
A key component to our reward strategy was to collaborate with a clothing brand that FK fans loved, Adapt Clothing. By doing a collaborative limited edition t-shirt with Adapt, we were able to utilize Adapt's wide social media reach to bring backers to the campaign.
Rewards with the Adapt Clothing x FK t-shirt accounted for 48% of the total number of backers.
A DREAM COME TRUE
A DREAM COME TRUE
“Thanks to Plinth we were able to raise 123% of our goal for our first scoop shop.”
FK FROZEN CUSTARD IS NOW ON IT'S WAY TO BUILDING THEIR FIRST LOCATION IN ONE OF SF'S MOST SOUGHT AFTER NEIGHBORHOODS
In 30 days, the campaign raised $37K of their original $30K goal. Aside from the funds, the campaign has promoted FK to a wider audience and created a legion of people just waiting to frequent the new scoop scoop shop when it opens.