Content collaboration as a successful business model – Pierogi Dinner Study

In the overall success of the internet, the ability of not-in-the-same-place talents to be immediately and easily incorporated into the creative flow ranks high, especially for those who are participating in the booming sector called ‘Remote work.’

Cell phones, laptops, Skype, time-task tracking software, of course, texting, are the norm and eminently useful. Communication should never be lacking with real world clients. 

Time zones? Pssshhh! California is always going to be three hours difference.  You signed up for that when you responded to the online Looking For.

Bringing resources together

With content creation, there’s always “The SEO People” who drill managers in must-have markers in getting material created. There’s always a director, a corporate or personal ‘voice’ is determined, ideation becomes a product through a process of submissions from sources tasked to websites, blogging, and media-click counts.

There isn’t a room full of Mad Men-style creatives down the hall any more. Whole operations are dedicated to the proposition of lots of people doing pieces, with a use ’em and lose ’em financial philosophy.

Pierogi Dinner Study

Anyway, the Pierogi Dinner Study. A community group I work with does several primarily eating events a year that maximizes our manpower. We also have an annual Christmas Tree Sale that starts the day after Thanksgiving. There are about 85-90 active members, across wide age range, with most having a significant amount of professional expertise of one kind or another.

Last year, a member originally from Cleveland (Stephen Fogg), suggested a pierogi dinner as a late-January replacement for a less-well attended spaghetti dinner. His pitch was, “Every church in Cleveland does pierogi dinners in Lent, same with Pennsylvania, even New York. It’s relatively cheap, great family event, week before Super Bowl. There are plenty of non-Southerners around who know the deal with pierogis.”

Without any track history in Charlotte, NC on this particular Polish culinary item – a shredded cheese and potato-filled ravioli is the common description – the original goal was 450 paying customers. On the bottom line, it was an exceptional success; people started coming down the steps and into the cafeteria at 5:01, and it was 2 1/2 hours slamming time for our workers.

We served about 800, and not an unhappy camper in the lot. The planned dancing area wound up taking ten more tables instead. We have established a terrific foothold in a dynamic niche market. Our biggest problem might be handling any Year Two increase, a subject for another day perhaps.

The time logistic

The time logistic, from original idea presentation to a client (the club officers) to killer event as a scheduled, documented success was four months. The analogy of how its similar, and possibly even easier, to gain consensus with remote workers on any  creative projects is where I’m going. It’s the software, baby!

The ideation was transmitted to the necessary work group months in advance of the post-Christmas event by an obvious product evaluation: He made the dinner, including slivered sauteed onions, kielbasa, and sauerkraut.  BIG success, everyone buys into the project, its recognized as comfort food from many of their early years.

Sound like where you’d want a project to be on the enthusiasm meter? Right, and the KPI people will be tracking enthusiasm.

The simplest idea became a central force in the success. The project director’s knowledge and previous expertise (“every church in Cleveland”) was an A-1 asset, the group history in scaling up became an ‘all you can eat’ invitation in area church bulletins, and as noted, huge success on that communication front.

The product itself was exceptional, including 1200 kolacky (jelly filled-folded) cookies. The notion of “too many chefs” in a creative kitchen as a negative still translates, you can only follow one strategy. It’s still a fact, however many workers it takes, the product has to be there when scheduled-necessary.

The empirical A/B, more-most effective way

There was a test-firing of the process a week prior to the event dinner attended by about 15, factors from time necessary for outside cookers to grilling and adding trimmings were nailed down. Making the cookie dough took four countertop mixers. Our expertise used the empirical A/B  more-most effective way to get desired outcomes, pragmatic without techie-ness.

The steering committee understood how kitchen and service roles needed to be handled, including the facility prep, launch (5:01) and overall capabilities of volunteers, and the addition of secondary support people (middle/high school students doing service hours) ensured downstream reaction and course correction were highly linked.

Our community projects are considered “good duty” service hours by students, fun and fulfilling, a good rep to have.

Its easy to see challenges like garbage removal from tables in any production directly in front of you. The point is that elements of a project are all within a couple clicks and keystrokes of any content coordinating person.

Today’s online collaboration possibilities simplify a project director’s ability to see any and all associated materials, to know what they want changed, and connect with specific vendors about content.