Mexipino Food Fest had its second event in Montebello and since we missed the first one we were ready to make sure that we did not miss this opportunity to share our Filipino & Mexican fusion flavors to a community of people that are about blending the two cultures. Banger tacos is the cuisine of Los Angeles/LA and we couldn't have been any more excited to meet like-minded individuals.
When we got to the event we were placed next to the mega booth, Taste of the Pacific (TOP), where they had 6 employees, and banger tacos only had 2 - just Aiden and I. The TOP booth had caution tape placed around to control the crowd of people from being in places where they shouldn't have been at the TOP booth, where we were an open booth - trying to be as welcoming to as many people as we can, thankful if we can get 1 person to come up to talk to us. As they were setting up, Aiden and I were getting nervous not knowing what to expect from the event.
Taste of the Pacific had cones to designate a line, something they were accustomed to, as their 100k+ followers gets them a line at every event. People are willing to wait in line for over an hour for their smacking filipino bbq and garlic shrimp over a bed of noodles.
Seeing how loyal their fan base was, it was intimidating as Banger Tacos were the rookies in the group and part of the first hour, I was low key angry at the event organizers for putting us right next to a booth that overwhelmed any vendor that was within a 10 foot radius. How were people suppose to see us if we were being hidden away by the Taste of the Pacific's line? After people ordered at the TOP, they would schmooze in front of our booth preventing anyone from seeing our menu.
I was definitely feeling a bit defeated before we even started. After sitting there for 2 hours, I had to do something outrageous. I came to that event to share my flavors and I was not going to let Taste of the Pacific steal the entire show from me, no matter how little I was at this food festival.
I put my emotions away and began to look at the problem to find its weaknesses, to see where the opportunity was at. Taking the advice of Gary Vee, whom always recommends going to where the attention was at, I realized all of the attention was right in front of me. It may not be for me but, it was right in my lap. All of the visitors at the Mexipino event were there just for this one booth as the other three rows of vendors was reminiscent of a wild west movie, empty, ready for a tumbleweed to roll through with no one to stop it. Taking another recommendation from Alex Hormozi, another inspiring entrepreneur of mine, whom always mentions that if you want to make sales, you have to give more free stuff away and that's when I put the two ideas together and realized, I was going to have to start giving away free samples.
I did not feel guilty giving away free samples to the taste of the pacific line, knowing that I was not going to steal any of their business, as those individuals were willing to wait in line for over an hour just to get their food. I was so worried about cooking and setting up for the event, I forgot how delicious the food was, and when I was able to watch people's reaction for tasting banger tacos, I saw people light up with every bite. For every 1 of 4 people we gave the samples to, someone from one of these groups would come out of line to buy some tacos while they waited. If they did not get banger tacos while waiting in line, they were buying tacos after they ordered waiting around for their number to get called from the TOP.
On day 2 there were people that were looking for Banger Tacos, being recommended by other people from the previous day that tasted these filipino flavors and made sure to get some tacos at the start of the event. We sold out on day 2! It was amazing! I was able to do what I wanted to do and we got the flavors of Banger Tacos out to the people. It may not have been what I had originally imagined it to be but, we made the most of the situation and could not have been any more thankful to taste of the pacific for bringing in all of the attention and being placed right next to them to take advantage of it.
Make sure to follow the Mexipino Food Fest and shout out to Taste of the Pacific for being the success story that keeps us motivated to keep going. Looking forward to seeing you at the next event!