Part one: An Introduction
Many people know of Bakesale Betty’s – the delicious bakery and fried-chicken sandwich dispensary on the corner of 51st street and Telegraph in North Oakland. A few of you also may know how much I love this place by how often I eat there. Yes, I do live two blocks from it, but those who have visited the place know it’s much more than proximity that keeps you coming back. To put it succinctly: the food is delicious, the atmosphere amiable, and the whole store creates an emotional bond that is more than the sum of its crumbs. However…
I became interested in a problem with their business model when one day, two weeks ago, I cruised to Betty’s late in the afternoon, intending to pick up a chicken sandwich for dinner. They were sold out.
Me: Awwww man, I wanted me sum chicken! (lack of eloquence due to fried chicken deficiency)
Jose (behind the counter): next time you want some this late, call us!
He hands me their business card.
I went home, disappointed by my failure to procure chicken. To fill the void in my hands where a sandwich should have been, I examined their business card.
wait a second, where’s the website on this card? I’ve been to their website before, but it’s strangely unmentioned.
Well… yeah Jon, there’s no reason to include it. It’s not like they’re selling computers or keyboards or web services. They’re a bakery with one store and a load of loyal customers, what reason would they have to advertise its website?
(I’ll go more into the Bakesale Betty business model in part three of this series.)
Despite these valid points, I still was surprised that they had a website and yet were not displaying it on their business card. I became even more surprised when I searched for “Oakland bakery”, or “Oakland pastries” and Betty’s website did not show up! (with the exception of Google maps) Though it did show up for “Oakland chicken sandwich” – way to nail THAT market Betty!
The web page was just not showing up.
Rrecent trends in technology in the SF Bay Area have done much to transform the local into the global. Although their website represents them as a modest neighborhood store, look at Betty’s Yelp page – over 1000 reviews! In addition, there have also been blog posts (here, here and most recently, here to name a few) written about the store all over the web! Betty’s customers are trying to reach out to others on the web and it is spreading. I believe Betty can do well to match up with her rising internet stardom.