The archive · Small Business & Money · Product decision · 2008–2010
Kogi BBQ: Twitter becomes a roving taco truck's storefront — 2008
Roy Choi and Mark Manguera put Korean BBQ in taco shells and broadcast the truck's location on Twitter, drawing 300–800 people per stop.
Kogi BBQ
What it had to solve
In late 2008, over a 4 a.m. carne asada taco in Los Angeles, Mark Manguera — a Filipino married into a Korean family — asked why nobody put Korean barbecue on a taco. He bought a used truck from Cater Craft, brought in former RockSugar chef Roy Choi as partner, and let his family handle blogging, branding and Twitter while he stayed deliberately off the tech.
How it works
In late 2008, Mark Manguera had a drunken revelation over a 4 a.m. carne asada taco: L.A.'s most ubiquitous street food would be even better with Korean barbecue inside. He got a truck from taco-truck builder Cater Craft, brought in former RockSugar and Beverly Hilton chef Roy Choi as a partner, and enlisted his family to handle the branding, blogging and Twitter accounts.
The Kogi Korean BBQ truck soft-opened on November 20, 2008. Manguera's sister-in-law Alice Shin ran the Twitter feed, at one point relaying delay notices from Brooklyn because the crowds made the truck run late; the family blogged in excitable capital letters and ran a contest for fans to name the second truck, which became Kogi Roja and Kogi Verde. Stops were staged as small roving parties, with DJs, a $2 short rib taco and an average check near $20.
The effect was immediate and outsized: the truck drew 300 to 800 people each time it parked, often several times an evening, with waits up to two hours at a single stop. The Los Angeles Times dubbed it a 'social-networking juggernaut' surrounded by a 'Kogi kulture,' and the New York Times reported on the 'brilliant business model' of tracking the truck on Twitter. Within months Kogi took over the kitchen at the Alibi Room lounge, and Eater later credited Roy Choi and Twitter with launching LA's entire gourmet food truck phenomenon.
Why it lands
- The creative leap was distribution, not just fusion: Korean BBQ in a tortilla was novel, but Twitter made a moving kitchen findable in real time — solving street food's oldest problem of elusiveness.
- The family treated the feed as media: playful voice, naming contests, delay alerts — every tweet made the truck feel alive and kept followers attached between stops.
- Scarcity plus chase produced ritual: two-hour waits and flash crowds turned eating Kogi into a story worth telling, which fed the very following that summoned the crowds.
- Strangers became the salesforce: 'Kogi-lytes' scouted new locations when neighborhoods objected and rallied to defend the truck, turning customers into a community.
What it did
Each parking drew 300–800 people, often several times an evening; one Little Tokyo stop served 400+ by 7 p.m. with waits nearing two hours. The Los Angeles Times called the truck a social-networking juggernaut spawning 'Kogi kulture,' the New York Times covered the model, and Kogi is credited with igniting LA's gourmet food truck wave.
What you can take
When the product roams, make finding it part of the product: the Twitter feed turned scarcity and chase into a ritual, and a single truck into a community-drawn event.
Since then
Kogi's momentum carried it from one truck to a second vehicle and a fixed kitchen at the Alibi Room lounge within months of launch. Ten years on, Eater reported the fleet still ran four trucks with all the founding owners, while Roy Choi had opened restaurants including Chego, A-Frame, Alibi Room, Kogi Taqueria and Locol. The larger legacy was the movement: a caravan of Twittering trucks — Nom Nom, Coolhaus, LudoTruck and others — followed Kogi, Food Network launched The Great Food Truck Race, and Zagat began rating mobile eateries.
Sources
- A street sensation is born
- Tofu-Chili Kimchi Tacos… Via Twitter
- LA's food truck boom happened 10 years ago. Where are they now?
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