As a Local Guide in Trivandrum, and an ardent foodie, I’ve been exploring all scales of food joints in my city- from upscale diners to street-side shacks. My city has been lately seeing restaurants rise and fall due to influx of cuisines from around the globe. Pressing on, I noticed that as small-timer eateries pop up on the map, they face tough contention while playing survival-of-the-fittest with the big fishes in the pond. So, being a Local Guide, I took upon myself a 2020-Resolution to look out for the little guys. I chose to bring out the essence of the small-scale newbies by promoting their best offers and great food in Google Maps. Here are some of the places that I managed to uphold through the past 3 months.
Rider’s Barbeque- The makeshift motor-cycle kiosk vending their tasty grills for over half-a-year hadn’t earned enough recognition. Famished, my wife and I dropped by one night and was blown away by their mouth-watering succulent meat. I gave them a whacky review that has been resonating in the city since then. The founder, now my good friend, was surprised at the possibilities on Maps and updated the details of his business with my help. My office mates have been frequenting the place ever since they read my review.
Shawarmigos- The new food-truck showed up on the radar at a time when shawarmas were swinging in every street-corner. So In light of their struggle, I went straight up as one of their first reviewers. My photo of their classic Arabic-Shawarma earned close to a 1000 views in just days, skyrocketing their trade.
Churutt- Churutt turned up a month back as an immaterial retailer. The entry-level store, being far-flung from the city, could not attract enough attention with their signature rolls. Partially impressed by their forte dish, I gave them personal suggestions on improvement alongside posting some great photos. The next I heard, their business was on the gradual rise.
Kuppi- Kuppi brought their exclusive pet-bottle Juice-smoothies to the streets this year, but sadly, the limelight was already split between a dozen other juice-bars in the city. Just 2 weeks back, my wife and I dropped in on their Charcoal Alpho and Irish Coffee smoothies. I gave them a 5-star on my rating following some awesome clicks. The crew, relieved, said that I am their second reviewer in their first 3 months. It has cut them some slack in the juice business to a great head start.
The Kati Roll Shop- The miniature outlet serves the chartbuster North-Indian Kati-Rolls. However, the 3-months-old freshman just could not hit the mark because their dish, unprecedented in the city, was overlooked. But my hunch with their chicken rolls turned out delectable and I’ve been endorsing them to date. My photo of their rolls-on-a-platter bagged 2000-views in a couple of days, and the salesperson acknowledged my review with a thanking note.
On the hunt for more newbies, I stumbled upon Zurich-Zone-Café, Chalo Chai and a few more admirable vendors. I am steady on my marketing spree to balance the footfall between upscale restaurants and rookies, and I believe my efforts have been fruitful thus far. Thanks to Google, I have a great platform to perform the task.
The thing about Local Guides is that it gives average-ordinary people like me such powers to present our case to the public. I have been intensely participating in my contributions as a Local Guide for the past 6 months and it has made a major culinary impact on my community. Owing to the constant pat-on-the-back from the Local-Guides program, I can do the most interesting thing like giving voice to the little guy.