The Cheese Board Collective
1. cheeseboardcollective.coop
2. Cheese Board is an employee owned Bakery/Cheese/Pizza shop in Berkeley. They occasionally feature live music. The menu that changes daily is a vegetarian pizza and a salad, it is the only vegetarian joint that I frequent so worry not, all of their pizzas are delicious. They have gotten 4.8 stars from over 3500 people on google. I am also a fan of their business model where every worker is a partner.
3. There are links to their Facebook (11k) and their Instagram (13k) on their website. Their last post was about the lunar new year and was up on January 23rd.
4. I would say they have delegated the social media tasks to one of the worker/partners who used the Instagram/Facebook feature that lets you automatically post identical content on both platforms. Their following seems to be organic and food oriented rather than because of their content and presence on social media. If they partner up with a pro they can both present themselves and their business model better.
Pickle Pop
1. Picklepop.co
2. Pickleball courts hosting open play, clinics, live ball, social events and private parties on the infamous Santa Monica Promenade.
3. The website lists Instagram page with 14.7 K followers. It has a ton of short video content and it is in the theme color of pink. Seems to be in good hands.
4. The two founders appear to be doing much better than when I was there last. I am happy to report that both the social media and the business look very busy.
La Mission
1. la-mission.shop
2.This is the go-to spot to get the staples of Mexican food in Berkeley. The food is very hearty and delicious.
3. However this restaurant lacks any social media presence. It has thousands of four and five star reviews on Yelp and Google. It even enjoys four stars from seventy seven reviewers on Trip Advisor!
4. This is one business that can skyrocket if they adapt to the new ways of doing business. They can grow to several shops with many employees and eye-popping profits.
Ryan Air
1. ryanair.com
2. Ryan Air is an Irish ultra low-cost airline group with many European destinations. I have flown the airline multiple times for prices as low as 9.99 Euros (less than a movie!) and the checked luggage can easily cost you four/five times the price of seat!
3. Their website has links to their Facebook page (5.2M), Instagram (1.6M), YouTube (146K), and a suspended X account (which is very revealing of their ways!). Upon searching further I found their new X account which has 862K followers. They clearly have a team of social media experts and are utilizing every platform to perfection with posts, videos, shorts, memes, replies...
4. "The company has at times been criticized for [ ... ] & tendency to intentionally generate controversy to gain publicity."(Wikipedia) and I believe controversy is what they do best. Their content and the way they troll their customers and sometimes competitors, goes viral occasionally. However I can't make up my mind that whether their intentional politically not correct stance helps or hurts their business. Mind you train tickets for many of these routes can cost eight times as much and take way longer. In other words they don't have any competition for their segment.
Picklers
1. picklers.ae
2. Picklers is another pickleball business- and there will be many of them in the next couple of years. This time in Dubai, UAE. They provide courts, lessons and themed events.
3. Their website greets you with professionally made videos, and lists their Instagram with 3.3K followers and similar videos. The also tried their hands at TikTok but aren't successful which is shame because I believe that's the platform to reach the younger generation if politics doesn't play a role in this, (who wants to open that can of worms?!) They also have a very busy telegram channel where members set up games.
4. This is another business that I frequent when I am in town. This is also a great spot for the expats to find each other in Dubai while doing a fun physical and social activity. Maybe the owner's son will take over TikTok and this business continues to thrive.
I like that you chose companies you are familiar with, as it reflects not only general information but also your real personal opinion because you already know the business.
ReplyDeleteHi Payam! I really like the layout of your blog posts, I don't know if its just the color palette or the way you have your business research listed, but something about this post is very aesthetically pleasing! I also really like how you bullet point your pieces of research for each of the businesses! And the Cheese Board Collective sounds like a business I'd want to look into!
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