Zodiac Killer Marketing: Launching a Covert Food Business

Adam Sobel, a chef whose earlier vegan food truck and restaurants closed during the pandemic, explains why he wanted a smaller food business he could run with his daughter. He rejected hype-driven social media promotion and most point-of-sale technology, preferring handwritten tickets and a personal, hospitable experience where customers talk directly to the cook.

He describes his marketing approach. He photographed poorly designed transit billboards, replaced their text with a custom symbol font, and pasted rewritten versions over the originals. Only a phone number stayed legible. A voicemail gave a decoding key, and the decoded text led to a deliberately misleading website that listed the cart's coordinates. He also mailed printed invitations to the press. Each week's menu changed under a seasonal theme, with most dishes priced between four and eight dollars.

Over time, word of mouth and ordinary discovery replaced the puzzles as the billboards came down, and he stepped back from promotion to focus on cooking. In the question period he discussed the tension between growth and creative control, arguing that scale can separate creators from the people they serve. The main takeaway is that deliberately limiting reach and treating marketing as play can still build a loyal customer base.