The Flying Chef

Customer Case Study: The Flying Chef

Street food business gets noticed with Telnames
The British street food movement is gaining momentum with some real food heroes serving up delicious high quality grub at affordable prices.
The Flying Chef is one such company. This high quality mobile catering venture makes its own sausages from local raised pork, served up with freshly baked bread for local suppliers plus a choice of delicious toppings, including their infamous homemade hot sweet chilli relish, and side orders.
Founded by Jonathan Smith and Christine McClellan in 1992, the Flying Chef started out as a single motorbike and sidecar stall. Today, they operate four mobile stalls – all instantly recognisable with their signature black and maroon canopies.
Selected by Richard Johnson, food journalist at the Guardian and founder of the British Street Food Awards, as one of the top 250 British street food vendors in the UK, the Flying Chef plies its trade at venues and locations across East Anglia – and beyond.
.Tel.us: What do you do?
“We started the street food revolution in the UK,” says Christine McClellan. “Jonathan designed and built our very first motorbike and side car stall – and the rest, as they say, is history.”
With its emphasis on high quality and fresh ingredients, the Flying Chef has built up a loyal following of regulars. Its stalls appear at weekly trading sites in towns, as well as local events like antique markets, food festivals and Christmas markets. Its vintage Russian Dnepr motorbike stall is regularly in demand for special events like weddings, corporate events and private parties.
“The food served up by street traders in Britain has won widespread recognition. There’s a buzz around ‘real food for real people’ at the moment and the BBC’s annual Food and Farming Awards now feature a Best Street Food or Takeaway category,” continues Christine.
“The trick is getting the word out there to our fans and foodie followers,” says Christine. “Like many other street vendors, we’re not content to stand around and hope people can find us. Instead we’re using social media to bring in the crowds, promote our latest flavour offerings and let followers know where and when we’re appearing next.”
.Tel us: Why do you use a Telnames .tel?
“We’ve worked hard to build our profile and reputation on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter – which is how we came to the attention of the British Street Food organisation,” explains Christine.
“People like Sheila Dillon of the BBC’s Food Programme follow us and we’ve been selected for the British Street Food App that sets out to showcase the best street food in Britain. Downloaded to your mobile phone, you can use the app to see who’s trading near you – you can even photograph and review the food you try on stalls and tell others about great foodie finds.”
Building a street food community and a following is a great way for the Flying Chef to get the attention – and customers – it deserves. Which is why setting up theflyingchef.tel seemed like such a logical next step.
“We wanted a mobile-friendly website and a Telnames .tel made perfect sense,” Christine continues. “Street food is all about people on the move – and our .tel makes it easy for people to find us on their smartphone when they’re out and about, clicking on our social media links to get the latest hot updates.”
“It’s made it possible for us to create a ‘virtual circle’ that brings everything together, showcasing perfectly what we’re all about.”
.Tel us: How has your Telnames .tel helped your business?
In the last few years the Flying Chef has been trying out new venues to expand and grow its business.
“We’ve shifted our emphasis to specialist venues like food festivals, and we’ve found that our new .tel is a handy ‘one stop shop’ for organisers to check out our credentials, explore our social media feeds, and make a decision about whether to invite us to join their event,” says Christine.
The Flying Chef team is also building a regular pitch at local pubs like the Ox and Plough, where they appear by invite.
“The Ox and Plough runs a Two Wheel Tuesday event for anyone with a Harley, sports bike, scooter, chopper or trike – or even a sports or classic car,” continues Christine. “Our motorbike stall fits right in with the theme and spirit of the event which draws in fans of everything two wheeled who enjoy getting together. We use our .tel to promote our appearances and offer money-off coupons.”
Creating a mobile-friendly website has made a world of difference to the Flying Chef when it comes to getting noticed by new customers and local contacts direct from their phones.
“It’s really hard to put a value on what a .tel has done for our business. We love it so much we’ve recommended Telnames to friends and colleagues with their own local business ventures.”
Christine McClellan, Partner, The Flying Chef