This summer, I was at bar called Weeds here in Chicago with some friends when a guy came up to us with a styrofoam container that had a handle on it like a cooler and said “Tamales?”
No, he didn’t work at the bar, and no he didn’t speak the greatest English so I wasn’t sure if he’d have any “vegetarianos” so I passed. But I remember passing up a great deal: $5 for 6 piping hot tamales.
I didn’t realize what I was missing out on until later my friend told me to google “Tamale guy Chicago”. There, on the first search result, I found the Yelp page for The Tamale Guy. Not an establishment, mind you, just a guy. Who wanders from bar to bar in Chicago selling people tamales out of his container.
At the time of this entry, he has 135 reviews. That’s more than the average restaurant in Chicago. Sure, he’s a crowd pleaser– and maybe part of that is that he’s fresh and unexpected. The idea that he’s ONE GUY moving from bar to bar means you may get lucky and see him one night, other nights you might not.
Reading the latest trend newsletters and looking out across the stuff that people are doing, it seems like “Delivered straight to you” stuff is really taking off. As we all get busier and busier, I can definitely see buying into these sorts of businesses. Somehow, I feel that the trend is more than just a delivery service. (Well, maybe not the dry cleaning locker service– though that is a great idea)
The Tamale Guy, and Harvest Cycle are different I believe. They bring you the richness of the experience– whether it be a Spanish speaking Mexican guy asking you if you want to buy Tamales, or someone delivering fresh produce to your house on their bicycle (I’d totally get in on this if I didn’t already get my produce on my bicycle). The bicycle is evocative of a slow time, like the organic food that it delivers.
So, does anyone else think that we’re going to see more businesses that are the modern day version of the singing telegram?
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