This Friday, Off the Grid’s flagship market at Fort Mason Center will return for its 8th season. It’s always a thrill to see thousands of guests reveling in the magic that is San Francisco’s premier destination for mobile food — and the result of months of careful planning by our team.
But behind the scenes, there’s a lot that happens to make sure our largest market of the year is successful by our definition. We’re single-minded in our commitment to designing innovative events that unlock the value of space, create value for our mobile food creators, and prioritize the guest experience above all else.
Here are three ways that we’re innovating at Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center this season.
1. New Ways for Guests to Experience Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center
As a mobile events and experience platform, our expertise lies in bringing together multiple brands to create unique, temporary experiences. The greatest value we can offer guests is choice — both in what they choose to eat, and how they choose to enjoy it.
That’s why we’re thrilled to debut our new VIP Tasting Ticket experience this season, powered by Off the Grid Catering with special activations in partnership with Diageo, which gives ticket holders front-of-the-line access to tasting size bites from a selection of premium mobile food creators each week.
For those familiar with our busy corporate catering division, you’ll know that this is exactly the experience we offer at our private, client-hosted events. Our hope is that by bringing this to the public at our flagship destination market, guests can focus on what’s important (and the reason they seek out our experiences in the first place) — spending time with friends and family, discovering the best of Bay Area’s mobile food community, and having a memorable evening against a beautiful backdrop in a world class city.
2. Technology that Improves the Guest (and Host) Experience
An important part of being in the events and experience space — and succeeding as a transparent brand in 2018 — is looking at all potential customer touchpoints and taking the time to truly understand how our audience wants to engage with us. That’s why Off the Grid carefully selects partnerships with like-minded brands who prioritize the customer journey above all else.
This year, we’re excited to launch a partnership with Apple Pay that will allow guests to pay with their mobile device at any Off the Grid creator for a more streamlined (and secure) experience.
Behind the scenes at Off the Grid, we also maintain our own proprietary software platform known as Infrastruckture, a custom-built SaaS solution allows us to seamlessly manage the logistical demands of hosting a large-scale event like Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center. Think managing permitting in a central location to ensure compliance and guest safety, and providing market performance analytics to our creators within hours of each event.
It’s all part of our commitment to creating safe, comfortable and enjoyable experiences for guests, hosts and creators on our platform.
3. Innovation in Experience Design
This year at Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center, our team has also been working hard to incorporate our design point-of-view into the market experience.
What, exactly, does this mean for a food truck company, you ask?
One of the biggest challenges of activating temporary space is building environments that feel both welcoming and comfortable, and that enhance — rather than hinder — opportunities for connection. That’s why our market space at Fort Mason Center is designed to elevate the street food experience with cozy, convivial spaces for guests to dine, lounge and play.
In addition to debuting a playful new logo and brand identity this season, we’ve introduced communal-style throughout the market, with beer garden tables, benches and VIP areas equipped with fire pits (that’s right — fire pits!) that give guests the opportunity to choose their own lounge experience.
Join us at Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center every Friday night from 5-10pm starting March 2. Learn more >
