During Perth’s inaugural Food Truck Rumble, Kustom Cupcakes applied an old world marketing strategy to draw attention to their delicate morsels. This involved thirty six cupcakes, six willing victims, I mean participants, and one large masked wrestler … a food eating competition, but would it work?
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Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room
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Six stunningly delicate cupcakes were placed on black trays.
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
Then a large masked wrestler wandered along the row placing a large bucket beside each tray. The strategy appeared to be working, consumer interest was rising and a crowd growing.
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
‘Who wants to eat six cupcakes in ten minutes?’
Food eating competitions are not new, they’ve been around since the early days of travelling carnivals. There’s even a market segment called ‘gurgitators’ who seek out food challenges.
The interest is not limited to a few overseas countries as evidenced by the local facebook page Perth Eating Challenges and the 14,500 likes it has received. There’s an International Federation of Competitive Eating with rules and accreditation (see Major League Eating).
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
Someone was finished.
The wrester saved the day by focusing on second and third positions, both of which took closer to ten minutes.
Third, it must be said, was a valiant effort by a dreadlocked contestant who threw caution to the wind and stood up to smash the last cake into his mouth, cream spreading across his face. Meanwhile the winner sat back texting.
With the gold medals handed out and thankfully the buckets still empty, I was left pondering …
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There are some items that really shouldn’t be seen together … cupcakes and a bucket for example;
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The strategy definitely paid off for Kustom Cup Cakes, the addition of the wrestler was a nice touch.
Less than half an hour later I heard someone nearby say …
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| Food Truck Rumble Cup Cake Eating Competition © The Ponder Room |
‘I’m hungry I really want to eat something, but I don’t think I should’.
Looking around and seeing the winner behind me, I smiled a reassuring smile, then headed in the opposite direction as fast as possible.
