Tweeting for Tacos: Social Media and Street Food in LA

KOGI Standing in the parking lot of a Long Beach club on a Thursday night, I watched what seemed like an unusually amount of people milling around in small groups, standing in circles or sitting on the rear bumpers of cars. It was “College Thursdays” at the club and groups of glittery clothed and high-heeled girls or Ed Hardy-wearing guys would occasionally walk past, actually going into the bar. But the crowds in the parking lot remained, not seeming to be outside just for a smoke, not making their way towards the bouncer at the door. A few looked to be too young to make it past him.

We stayed like that, just waiting, for about a half an hour—each in our little groups, scattered around the lot, more cars pulling up and unloading two, three or five more people, adding to the count of the standing and waiting. It was about 10:30, a little bit later, when a truck came around the corner and pulled into the lot. Immediately, the scattered groupings formed into one mass, slowly making its way to the far corner of the parking lot where the truck, KOGI BBQ written out in a slanted script on the side, had parked.

What followed was an hour-and-a-half wait in line for a paper carton full of tacos. For me, it was two stuffed with Korean spicy pork, two stuffed with Korean short ribs, all topped with kimchi and sirracha. Other choices included similarly Korean-influence burritos, quesadillas, hot dogs and sliders. And it was all—the parking lot, the truck, the few hundred people, the Korean/Mexican mash-up—thanks to Twitter. Whether online, on a cell phone or—like me—through a text message from a fellow peer, we had all received this address, this time, via a tweet sent out earlier in the day.

Tweeting and driving around the Southland for only a year, the postmodern, tech-driven approach to street food has been booming business for Kogi. With nearly 50,000 followers on Twitter, nationwide coverage—from food blogs to Gourmet Magazine—and trucks soon rolling around the five boroughs, Kogi is a leader of social media-driven dining.

Los Angeles has a rich history of street food and ethnic eateries—both traditions that are ingrained in the culture of the city. Many have adopted the Kogi model, borrowing from the ethnic restaurants of LA, dressing up the food and dressing down the décor by throwing it all in a truck and serving it up in parking lots and on street corners—no reservations, no valet, no seating, the threat of a ticketing by the police very real. Not your average restaurant.

But as delicious as a Korean short rib taco may be—and they are quite delicious—the success of Kogi and its pretenders hinge on the mobile connectivity provided by Twitter. With no static location and trucks covering a large swath of LA and Orange counties, the nearly instant link that social media offers Kogi to connect with 50,000 hungry mouths is what keeps the lines long night after night. They get crowds through association often enough—showing up at the Downtown LA Art Walk every month, or outside popular bars, clubs or concerts at closing time—but when you consider that there were maybe thirty people enjoying whatever well drink special the Shoreline Lounge was offering on “College Thursdays” and probably two hundred people outside queued up for Korean tacos, I’m fairly certainly that Twitter is to thank.

Bookmark to: