Like many major capitals in the United States of America, Houston’s city centre is a sea of skyscrapers — and they are visible from almost anywhere nearby. From Buffalo Bayou Park, an expansive city green space in the city’s western corners, Houston stands resplendent to the wandering eye. Only a few streets away, however, a similarly eye-catching sight competes for visual attention.
The electric yellow food van usually found in Commonwealth Street near Hyde Park is simply unmissable. A home-grown company named Bloom Foods owns it, and sometimes, they can be found in other areas of the city — ten minutes away for instance in the enticingly named Buffalo Speedway.
Championing both vegan and vegetarian dishes, Bloom Foods take delight in delivering honest, high-quality produce. Untainted by any lengthy supply chains, local goods are at the heart of Bloom Foods’ mission. “We do not compromise on our inputs,” their website eatbloom.com says. “We use refined, organic, local ingredients to craft the highest quality product that we can.”
Houston loves Bloom Foods and their food truck. The company’s success soon introduced new customers, new demands. Recently, we had a chat with the team about why Bloom Foods chose Carbonara App.
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Food with Intention
Little known to outsiders, Houston is a culinary capital in the southern US states. Boasting well over 11,000 food businesses and counting, the city continually celebrates a charming collection of worldwide styles that locals have worked to make their own. Westminster Road, for example, is a major location with international roots, celebrating a heritage in Germanic cooking cultures.
This cultural eclecticism is key to understanding the city. Houston is a city of creative cuisine, and Bloom Foods is no stranger to their home’s traditions. They have added their own unique contribution to the local food landscape as the company puts food ethics centre stage. “We focus on transparency when it comes to our food,” the team told us. “We pride ourselves on the relationships we’ve built with our farmers and growers.”
Successful businesses across America — including the nation’s top rated restaurant — are making sure they acquire ingredients from local producers. “This allows us to know exactly where the ingredients we use come from, when they were harvested, etc. We also make our own proteins. We don’t use any prepacked faux meats.”
With such an admirable commitment to integrity, it is no surprise Bloom Foods quickly became one of west Houston’s favourite food vans.
Old School Methods
Since 2019, Bloom Foods have met with a rapid succession of customers on a weekly basis. Being close to a local bar, the truck opens from Thursday to Saturday, operating from 8pm to around 2am. This brings in busy nights — in their own words, the team serve “250—300 with a regular schedule” for three days.
So, working from a mobile business point of view, how did Bloom Foods serve hundreds of customers per shift? Their system was, quite simply, haphazard. “Very old school,” the team said: “Hand written tickets/notes.”
Though this way of doing things worked on a purely operational level, there was definitely room for improvement. Traditionally, restaurants from all hospitality backgrounds use pen-and-paper notebooks to manage guest reservations and waitlists. Yet without realising it, staff waste time on:
- Resources (pen, paper, supplies)
- Space limitations
- Communication problems — e.g. bad handwriting
With all this in mind, restaurants and food businesses can enjoy the many benefits of a paperless system. So when a friend referred the Bloom Foods team to Carbonara App, it immediately piqued their interest.
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Why Bloom Foods Celebrate Carbonara App
Ditching the handwritten notes, Bloom Foods felt the advantages of Carbonara App immediately. In particular, the app’s free SMS features.
When asked what they celebrated most, this is what they said: “The ability to customise the messages sent.”
Carbonara App offers customers a free SMS messaging service, available on all smartphone devices. This creates a:
- Two-way communications link between businesses and their customers
- Free reminder messages for customers to stay well-informed with a business services
- Free link to the app’s mobile drink pre order service to buy beverages while they wait
Plus, the app’s features are well-suited to a business’ needs — especially since it costs nothing. “We’re a food truck,” Bloom Foods explained, “so we don’t necessarily need to tell customers their ‘table’ is ready. Being able to change the prefilled message is great.”
It gets better: restaurants across the world can customise messages in five different languages. Now Bloom Foods never misses a thing when interacting with their international customers.
Bloom Foods Celebrates Carbonara App
In the end, Houston now has the chance to buy essential, beautifully sources food from a company that — with the helping hand of Carbonara App — offers a first-class hospitality service. So would the team recommend Carbonara App to other food businesses? Yes!
“It’s a free service that’s incredibly easy to manage,” the team completed our conversation. “Great for contacting customers.”
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Join Bloom Foods and hundreds of others Carbonara App users across the world, from Spain to Italy. Read about how a restaurant in east Italy is using the app’s guest messaging features: “Italian Beach Club and Restaurant Celebrates Carbonara App”.
If you liked this story, set up Carbonara App in less than five minutes on both Google Play and Apple Store. Carbonara App is available for hospitality businesses across the board, including restaurants using reservations, food vans, cafes, sports bars, and food kiosks.
