Before I start, this role can be full or part-time, but will be minimum 3 days a week so read on if you're up for it!
My name is Aaron, I'm the founder of FoodEscapes.com. As of today it's a puzzle-based food game in Manchester, where customers solve clues sent via WhatsApp to unlock food at some of the best independent restaurants in the city. Every game has 3 stops on it, and it's also a timed game which has a live leaderboard at the end of it. It's a competitive foodie activity and sits somewhere between an escape room, a food tour and a day spent discovering a city.
We have launched in Manchester, and I am now looking for someone to work directly with me to build Food Escapes in more cities around the UK. This role is difficult to fit into a normal job title. It is part restaurant scouting and food testing, part puzzle-game writing, part city exploring.
You don't need to live in Manchester to apply, because role is about other cities, not Manchester.
What you'll actually be doing
You will:
- Research restaurants in a new city that fit food escapes criteria (highly authentic/unique, independently owned)
- Travel to these UK cities, introduce yourself to restaurant owners and explain why they should be part of Food Escapes, then talking and chasing up with them via phone and email to close the deal
- Eat at a lot of different restaurants. You need to be a true foodie to do this role, you need to already know a lot about food. This will truly be tested in the interview
- Spend time walking the cities on foot
- Find the streets, neighbourhoods and small details that could make a brilliant route connecting restaurants together. Research unusual local stories, history and landmarks to go with it.
- Write puzzles, clues, hints and game content using the information you learn and restaurants. I'll help you a lot here on how to make it a good and effective game.
- Help launch each new game and improve it once real customers start playing
- Get involved with other parts of Food Escapes as the company grows
The ideal person
- More than anything, you need to be a foodie's foodie. You should be the sort of person who makes a detour because you heard about one particular dish, you probably keep a google maps list of places you want to try. You probably cook, you live to eat. Food is life!
- You also need to genuinely love puzzles and games. Perhaps you play escape rooms, go geocaching, follow treasure hunts. You do not need professional game-design experience, but I want to see real evidence that this is something you are naturally drawn to
- Willing to spend several hours walking outside on a day
- Very comfortable talking to new people and personable enough to build relationships with restaurant owners
- Added bonus would be you're comfortable on camera and filming, or if you, you'll need to get comfortable with it. Part of building a business comes with the act of vlogging the process or making videos about it and content is the modern currency of attention!
- Comfortable travelling during weekdays and occasionally staying somewhere overnight if the city is far away. England being England, some of that walking will be in the rain. You do not need to love bad weather, but you do need to know it will happen
- Willing to spend several hours walking outside
A bit about working with me
Have a look at @foodescapes_ on instagram, you'll see me in the videos all over it. You'll get an idea of what I'm like! Food Escapes is a small, scrappy startup. I cannot tell you exactly what you will be doing every day and the work will change as we learn, launch in new places and work out what the business needs next. You'll certainly have a strong say in how Food Escapes games will be made, then once we're made my skillset is also in digital marketing, so I'll push it forward once live!
If you want a job where every responsibility is already neatly defined, this might not be right for you.
If you like taking an idea, figuring things out and turning it into something people can physically go out and experience, you may love it! If you've got this far, let's have a chat!
