I'll admit it: I thought this was an April Fool's joke. On Friday, Twitter was abuzz about a Safeco Field beer vendor with a unique -- and, frankly, genius -- way to increase beer orders while making it easier for fans to get a cold beverage at a Seattle Mariners game. It seemed too good to be true, and I wondered why nobody had thought of it before. Yes, Safeco Field beer vendor Kevin Zelko is actually taking beer orders via Twitter this year.
It's a simple concept: Tweet an order and your location to MsBeerVendor -- that's M's, not Ms. -- and Zelko will hand deliver your cold beer on the double. It's a novel idea, and has garnered widespread publicity in the week leading up to the Mariners' home opener. For Zelko, it's all about convenience, and a little extra money, of course.
Zelko says he hopes taking his vending to Twitter will take some of the guesswork out of his game by making his routes more direct. Not only will an ordered beer likely mean a better tip, but he also says that fans with smartphones, who are on Twitter during the game, are more likely to have more wealth and therefore have more money to spend
All you have to do is send an @ reply to MsBeerVendor. No getting up, no screaming for the beer guy, just a simple use of the technology at hand for even more convenience at a ball game.
It's a smart move by Zelko, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this expand even more. For now, though, Zelko has the market cornered, and has a chance to reap the profits beginning Friday.