Butter.ATL’s takeover of Krystals is the evolution of branded content
From The Pink Traphouse to Krystals on Northside Drive, the future is culture
Welcome to my freemium newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta to everything else.
Written by King Williams
Edited by Alicia Bruce
Butter.ATL has taken over the Krystals on Northside Drive
A little over a week ago, Atlanta saw the debut of a special ‘collab’ (collaboration) of the Atlanta-based fast food restaurant Krystal and digital media company Butter.ATL. The Krystal is located at the corner of Northside Drive and 14th Street, on the westside of Atlanta. This Krystal franchise is a permanent takeover of that space, and the first big splash into this era of ‘collab culture’.
1. What is collab culture? and what does it have to do with Krystal?
‘Collab culture’ is a mashing often two different brands for the purpose of creating a limited edition product, service, or experience. It also can be in reference to individual content creators. It is an attempt to add value between both entities by taping into two different audiences.
1b. This current collab culture is an extension of Black culture, specifically 1980s New York hip hop culture.
Collab culture as we know it in the retail/fashion market comes from the New York hip hop and streetwear scene beginning in the 1980s. This was alongside the New York skateboarding scene which quickly merged into the hip hop streetwear scene in the 1990s. The hip hop streetwear scene was pioneered by black tailors, bootleggers, and young hip hop fans who wanted higher end fashions but on limited budgets. The Harlem-based tailor Daniel Day, bka Dapper Dan is the person is most associated with the expansion of the ideas around street fashion, in particular a style known as logomania. A style which is defined by having too many designed logos, clashing design patterns, or re-contextualizing high end fashion for the non-high end audience.
1c. NYC skate culture meets hip hop culture and the pop art scene
This was expanded on in the 1990s with the rise of New York City-based streetwear brand Supreme, which was founded by James Jebbia. Opening in 1994, Supreme is a successor to the end of the Dapper Dan era of fashion as his boutique was raided by city a few years prior over copyright infringement. Supreme continued this legacy of copyright infringement to include depictions of cartoons, pop culture, athletes, entertainment, celebrity photographs, and other unsolicited/non-licensed work often on simple T-shirt’s.
This included directly ripping off the company’s iconic red box logo from artist Barbara Kruger. Kruger’s 1980s works of pop-art and post modernism, is still the defacto terms of ‘edgy’ streetwear today. Starting with 1984’s I can’t look at you…and breathe at the same time piece which features the box logo over a woman’s face.
While Kruger’s work meant to social commentary on the 1980s and women’s rights, Supreme et al, are doing this for aesthetic reasons only. Despite being the Godmother of streetwear to Dapper Dan’s Godfather, neither Kruger nor Dapper Dan has never received any royalties. Dapper Dan in 2017 finally began a partnership with Gucci. While Kruger being the direct inspiration for Supreme has never received any compensation or stock in the company despite the company suing others for copyright infringement. Or the company being sold in 2017 for $500 million dollars to The Carlyle Group, yes, that Carlyle Group.
Supreme also was a part of a 90s boom of a variety of clothing companies. This includes a new rise and hip-hop related brands (Fubu, Enyce, Karl Kani) by black designers. As well as another parallel scene of streetwear brands (Made by the Mob, Echo) often developed by white designers.
1d. The business of collabs, drops, and pop-ups
Collabs: All successful collabs work at the business axis of scarcity and uniqueness. These work most successfully when they are two clearly identifiable brands working together. Ex: Disney and McDonalds together for the Happy Meal
Scarcity: Supreme works because it limits the number of certified pieces in the marketplace. Scarcity could also be time, location, or both. Ex: Pop-up museums, haunted houses, public art shows, or escape rooms.
Uniqueness: Supreme ensures that both it’s a standard item such as T-shirts, and its outrageous items such as a $50 brick, all offer some form of uniqueness not seen in a typical retailer. Ex: Supreme selling customized caskets
Drops: How this all comes together and what’s known as a ‘drop’. A drop is when a product is made available for consumption all at once. It often relies on a first come first serve basis model with early adopters being both court customers and evangelists for the drop.
Pop-Ups: These are temporary exhibitions with the purpose of selling out of inventory. Inventory can be physical or digital. The inventory could also be access to a space.
Got it, so how does this work:
Step 1: Find a partner that typically does not work with others
They could be a partner that works with others, just as long as it’s not in your core area. For example, Supreme is primarily clothing, so working with a beer brand like Budweiser in 2009 worked because Budweiser doesn’t do fashion.
Step 2: Find a partner who will add a ‘surprise’ to the audience
This should be either one that is completely unexpected (ex: Supreme and Kermit the Frog) or long expected (ex: Supreme and Air Jordan brand)
Step 3: Produce a limited item and/or signature with said partner.
The more unique the better (ex: a brick) but if not unique re-interpret something that’s considered normal (ex: a t-shirt with model Kate Moss smoking a cigarette).
Step 4: Make announcement, then set date of release.
Supreme does this by using its large customer email base in addition to its social media channels. When date is announced make sure website and in-person venues are able to handle sales.
Step 5: Give time for your audience and your industry to become your PR machine.
When news of a new ‘drop’ is coming, the core group of supreme customers get the email or text message first. They then notify their peer groups.
Then journalists and/or hobbyist will also then create content around said drop. Then second, third wave adopters and detractors will also create content for you. Often in the form of social media posts, private group message boards, text messages, FaceTime, etc; you get the point.
Step 6: On day of drop, online shopping has to be compatible to in-person shopping.
If you’ve ever seen a line of kids waiting for Jordans that you understand what I mean. If it says it will be in the store or at pop-up it needs to be there.
Also at the pop-up must require unique items that cannot be purchased online. This creates an in person line which will then create inquiry from people who knew nothing about the event or people who may have wanted to come. Supreme does this by having specialty in-store only items.
Step 7: Avoid hoarding by having parameters in place
This applies to primarily retailers but also to food-n-beverage based business. Especially if this is an alcohol based business or pop-up, there must be customer limitations in place. The decade has seen alcohol based pop-up events such as The Rose Mansion or Hennypalooza. This often is remedied by a limited number of drinks per event, per person.
The point is for the audience to make a more informed decision instead of hoarding for themselves themselves. Supreme does this by having guards patrol the entire store and clerks only allowing a set number of any item. Usually less than 10 items, be purchased, by one person.
Step 8: Be Instagram friendly
The venue and/or experience should be as photogenic as possible.
Because Supreme is such a storied brand, people who visit simply take photos in the store, then upload them to their own social media accounts.
Step 9: Always have a gift shop
Traditional museums, grocery stores, and Disneyland understand us, always have a final sale opportunity before the person leaves. The Supreme store is a gift shop.
Step 10: Ensure that guests are sharing with their audience
Having clear hashtags, blue check verified social media, clearly identifiable naming and imagery. Also any space, prop, or action that could be photographed/video recorded that can attributed directly to you or your brand. People now see the red box logo as Supreme even if it doesn’t say Supreme, even if Supreme stole that from Barbara Kruger. The brand is identifiable.
Step 11: Make sure price is higher than normal
The one unifying feature in all of these varying types of collabs, pop-ups, and drops are the price point. The price point is meant to both set apart from the marketplace, then set an audience expectation for a premium product and/or experience.
1e. What does collab culture have to do with fast food?
The Krystal/Butter.ATL collab is echoing a national shift by fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s (more on this below) entering a strategic partnership with musicians like rapper Travis Scott. These partnerships they are using a variety of methods attribute it to current collab culture, pop-ups, and merchandise drops. Among the higher-end fast-food chains like Shake Shack, a collaborative approach has been focused on giving national exposure to 5 selected regional restaurant brands, including the Atlanta-based burger brand Slutty Vegan. Even fast-casual restaurants like Sweetgreen’s (see: Naomi Osaka collab) are reaching out to younger audiences via specialty partnerships. Partnerships often require exposure to younger niche communities who organize and discuss on social media.
1f. Pop-ups are all the rage, Shake Shack is the OG of this
Shake Shack was Slutty Vegan before Slutty Vegan nearly 20 years earlier. The higher-end burger chain began in 2001 in New York City, becoming the first to cement online hype cycles and limited availability. The restaurant was initially only available at one location in Washington Square Park as a part of a city-led revitalization effort. Due to the growing crowds for its premium hot dogs, the company installed an online camera, which audiences could use to gauge crowd size. Over time this grown to be a part of the lore is going to be a part of this hot dog stand that people were willing to wait hours for in a slowly revitalizing portion of Manhattan.
2. What is Butter.ATL?
Butter.ATL, is the Atlanta-based digital media company as the vision of Atlanta native and creative entrepreneur Brandon Butler (@superbran). Butler has recently been named by AdWeek as one of the 100 Most Creative People in the World in 2021.
The company started out as a marketing project within Atlanta-based marketing organization Dagger with Butler (then an employee) leading the initiative. Since then, Butter.ATL has gone from a solely Atlanta-based Instagram account into a full-fledged media company under Butler’s leadership, splintering off from Dagger in the process. Butter.ATL’s content revolves around Atlanta centric culture of those Gen X and Millennials who’ve grown up in the 1990s and 2000s hip hop era of Atlanta. Butter.ATL is for the people who refer to the Westside of Atlanta and not real estate machinations like ‘West Midtown’, while not favoring one too much over the other. It’s an accessible version of ‘old’ Atlanta while also embracing ‘new’ Atlanta.
3. The money is in millennial pop(up) culture
Butter.ATL’s pivot into fast food is a bit of a surprise to many, but it shouldn’t be. The 2010s have seen an explosion in millennial-created and millennial-centered in-person entertainment ‘experiences’. At the heart of all of these successes are the integration of cell phones, social media, and the creation of special events aimed at the under-35 crowd. And the platform that has been there for it all, has been Instagram. But this shouldn’t be a surprise as Instagram has grown alongside its initially Millennial audience.
4. Instagram is the medium, the message, and the marketing vehicle.
Instagram is a digital museum, it was a matter of time before its core users sought a physical one. These experiences have primarily been centered in major markets like New York (The Museum of Ice Cream), San Francisco (The Color Factory), and Los Angeles (The Pink Wall by Paul Smith).
In all of these cases, the rise of pop-up experiences and museums are the intersection of Instagram as both a cultural signifier and gatekeeper. The Instagram effect is so pronounced on museums and cultural institutions, that several of the world’s art leaders have included dedicated strategies of how to leverage the medium. Instagram is the medium for creating FOMO (fear of missing out), Twitter serves as the PR newswire, and TikTok is the medium for driving hype.
The use of hashtags, location tags, live-streaming, videos, and photos are all peer-to-peer, user-generated ads for these experiences.
4b. The selfie/pop-up museum isn’t new—it’s a spillover from the New York art scene
The Museum of Sex, which debuted in New York in 2002, is the proto-version of the current boom in Instagram-focused selfie ‘museums’. While the second ‘true’ pop-up museum can be attributed to the mysterious street artist Banksy’s 2007 exhibit Dismaland. In both of these exhibits, the audience is encouraged to interact with the display, as well as being presented as visually arresting as possible to elicit a reaction. Both exhibits built upon the experimental art scenes of New York City which it had been cultivating during a new era in the early 1990s-mid 2000s. An art scene overlapping with that back to the city movement of generation X and the ‘rise of the creative class’ taking hold of the cities. The cities provided equal access with or without a vehicle to these places. A class of creators, their critics, and customers, who were birthed out of the revitalization and gentrification of lower Manhattan + Brooklyn that started in the 1990s.
5. What is a museum?
museum (n) - an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value - Merriam-Webster’s dictionary
What is considered a museum, is now becoming a real source of debate within art communities. Technically, none of these ‘museums’ are museums because: a) they do not house a permanent collection, b) they do not lend themselves to long-term study, and c) the temporary nature of the exhibits are not meant for historic and/or cultural preservation. But to everyone else, they are museums.
The rise of pop-up experiences and museums are the intersection of Instagram as both a cultural signifier and gatekeeper. The Instagram effect is so pronounced on museums and cultural institutions, that several of the world’s art leaders have included dedicated strategies of how to leverage the medium. Whether it be opening up for artists and creatives who otherwise would never be included or had limited engagement with the larger (paying) art-consuming public.
5b. The Museum of Ice Cream is the ‘museum’ that changed everything
The Museum of Ice Cream debuted in The Meatpacking District of New York in 2016. The installation, part pop-museum + part pop-up ice cream shop, debuted to immediate success. Arriving at the arguable peak of ‘cool’ for Instagram (remember when Snapchat had the title?). This exhibit was delivered with an emphasis on sharing and social currency. The vibrancy of the exhibit’s colors was building off a burgeoning Instagram color blocking trend by IG influencers during the mid-late 2010s. Remember when everything was either bright or monochromatic on Instagram? —blame NYC Instagram influencers.
The rise of pop-culture-led food pop-ups and faux museums are attributed primarily to the power of Instagram. Which for younger Millennials and some Gen Z members is the medium of choice, alongside TikTok, YouTube, and for some still, Snapchat. These are not Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or email. These are experiences by young people and for young people. These museums provide the experience + culture + community (online and off), that is needed for success. A success that has now spawned countless other ripoffs. While its co-founder, Maryellis Bunn, in late 2019 raised, $40 million dollar for the parent company, with a company evaluation of $200 million dollars. The Museum of Ice Cream has expanded into multiple states as a pop-up exhibit despite the pandemic.
5c. The selfie museums and pop-ups are becoming mainstream
The modern selfie museum and pop-up experiences are for a culture of children who’ve grown up with commercialism and the identities that comes along with a sticker price. The consumer is both the experience and content creator. These pieces are far removed from the days of using this pop-up model to promote counterculture, edutainment (the Museum of Sex), or critiques on society (Dismaland). This newer generation of pop-ups and museums rely more heavily on established corporate partners and higher-profile companies. The best example is Refinery29’s 29 Rooms pop-up museum, a selfie-and sensory-based experience catered toward their base of Millennial women. This rollout featured strategic partnerships with national + local influencers, a payments partnership with MasterCard, and is under the guidance of Vice Media, yep that Vice.
While the professionalism of 29 Rooms has been noted, the OG of the movement, The Museum of Ice Cream has also managed to professionalize even more with partnerships with Dove, MasterCard, Sephora, and Target.
5d. Selfie museums and art pop-ups have built upon the groundwork of Atlanta’s arts community
In the last 3 years, Atlanta has seen a deluge of these experiential events including Nickelodeon’s Slime City, Candytopia, Santa’s Workshop, 29 Rooms, Museum of Ice Cream, Culture Experience, and now the virtual Van Gogh exhibit to name a few. But the two biggest online experiences for everyday Atlantans have resulted from the traditional institution, The High Museum of Art delivering the one-two punch of hosting renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors (November 2018 - February 2019) and streetwear designer Virgil Abloh’s Figures of Speech (November 2019-March 2020) traveling exhibitions.
This also doesn’t take into account the role of Atlanta arts organization Living Walls who’s 2010-17 outdoor public art conference and installations have laid the groundwork for the newest wave of art centered projects in Atlanta, as well as the work of the Atlanta Beltline, Eyedrum, WonderRoot, The Goat Farm, C4, Fabian Williams, Powerhaus Collective, The Spice Group, Skye Townsend, the Krog Street Tunnel, the National Black Arts Festival, Spelman College, Atlanta’s decades of graffiti writers, and others not mentioned.
6. The Pink Trap House in 2017 started it all in Atlanta
In June of 2017, Atlanta-rapper 2 Chainz (nee Tity Boi) released his 5th studio album Pretty Girls Like Trap Music, a career-defining album for him. Prior to the release of his album the rapper and his team purchased a nondescript home on Howell Mill Rd on the westside of Atlanta as part of a marketing campaign. For 30 days the most important social venue in Atlanta was also the most important venue in America.
Within days of its opening, The Pink Traphouse became a national attraction for people from states across the country. Even Talk show host Wendy Williams flew down from New York City in order to see it in person, then talked broadcast it nationwide on her daytime television show. The Pink Traphouse spoke to Atlanta, black culture, and hip-hop. The Pink Traphouse held everything from yoga to a paint-n-sip, to church, and HIV screenings. The pop-up went beyond ‘the trap’, to once again broadcast (black) Atlanta to the world.
7. ‘Instagramable’ restaurants are now more of importance
In following a trend set by NYC/LA restaurants, metro Atlanta is now seeing a growth being ‘Instagramable’. Instagramable restaurants are restaurants that exist as both selfie museums and experiential restaurants. An Instagramable restaurant must look unique and have a signature item, preferably one that photographs well or would look good for video ‘content’ on social media. Remember the cronut? The milkshake mountains? The rainbow-colored food craze? All of these were 2010s internet food trends that started in New York, then became national stories because of social media.
7b. Some in Atlanta’s restaurant scene are following NYC trends
Some (not all) Atlanta-based restaurants like The Consulate’s wall of firearms, Gunshow’s chef-driven dining, Little Trouble, and SweetStack Creamery on Auburn Avenue fit the mode of being Instagramable. But this current era of black designer-led Instagramable venues owes a debt of gratitude to The Pink Traphouse. This includes spiritual successors The Trap Music Museum started by fellow Atlanta rapper T.I. in 2019, and the newly opened ‘trap’ inspired restaurant ‘The Bando’ this summer. What makes this newer pivot by Butter.ATL and The Bando (@thebando_atl) are the specified art designs to be deliberately for Instagram. Even then Butter.ATL’s Krystal’s nor The Bando are the first Atlanta-based restaurants to do this.
7c. Black restaurants are following trends
Butter.ATL isn’t alone as the new westside wing restaurant, The Bando is both built for the Instagram aesthetic and the social media highway known as Black Twitter.
2020, saw a two-day pop-up for a fake fast food restaurant Hotlanta’s, which was shown in the Future and Drake music video for ‘Life is Good’. A music video that is one of only 200-ish videos in the history of YouTube to have over 1 billion views. Specifically, at the time of this writing, the music video for ‘Life is Good’ is just shy of 2 billion. And the Hotlanta’s pop-up was only made known via Instagram. If there was anyone who is looking to secure a bag…it works.
8. McDonald’s is going back to the 90s
The current corporate collaborations between fast-food restaurants and members of a culture can really be attributed to McDonald’s. McDonald’s has been the leader of this trend for decades and it should be no surprise that this era of collabs is also successful. But McDonald’s in the 1990s was a feat unlike anything before or since regarding corporate synergies across multiple mediums. This new era of collab-culture sees the Golden Arches going back to remix their old playbook for a new audience.
8b. The two M’s
The cultural zenith of McDonald’s was tied to the two M’s: Michael and the Mouse. Michael, being Chicago Bulls basketball superstar Michael Jordan, kicked off the individual trend in specialty partnerships in 1992. The mouse refers to the 1990s-early 2000s children’s Happy Meal partnership with Disney. That Happy Meal partnership aided in what’s known as The Disney Renaissance, the period of 1989-2000, which saw a rebirth of the studio. This corporate synergy went beyond a simple $2.99 kids meal to eventually expand to other merchandise including physical music, video games, specialty cups, and a nationwide real-life Monopoly game.
The 1990s saw the company grow at a rapid rate in both the US and abroad due to the 90s era of globalization. McDonald’s not only captured a generation of then-young Millennials globally, but it also saw its peak plateau alongside Disney downslope in the early 2000s and Michael Jordans’ second retirement in 1998 and final retirement in 2004. The company has since made some successful pivots over the next 20 years including briefly owning fast-casual stalwart Chipotle, plus new changes to the menu reflecting consumer tastes. But tastes that the company couldn’t see coming first in 2017 over a television show, and then again in the summer of 2019 due to a particular spicy chicken sandwich.
8c. McDonald’s is back in its sauce bag
As the 2010s came into full swing the company saw its profits rise but was missing out on two important market forces: social media and chicken sandwiches.
I. Social Media
2017 saw McDonald’s respond to internet culture. Mistakes were made.
In an episode of the hit adult animated series Rick and Morty, the two lead characters embark on a quest across the space-time continuum to get the one-time-only 1998 Szechuan sauce for the animated Disney film Mulan. That led to McDonald’s not understanding the internet’s ability to amplify social media hype machines of Millenial/Gen Z’s consumers. McDonald’s instead of delivering the sauce to one or a few key stores only delivered a handful to several hundred stores. This lack of demand at stores saw angry customers harass restaurant employees, and in one case, 300ish unruly customers who required police to be called in at a McDonald’s in California. Due to demand, the sauce packets were selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars, including one person who sold the sauce for $14,000. McDonald’s misread social media and the market, they would do it again a few years later.
II. Chicken sandwiches
The company once again didn’t understand the impact of social media as the chicken sandwich wars of 2019-present caught McDonald’s flat-footed.
McDonald’s revenues peaked in 2013, combined with the rise of Chick-fil-A and now Popeyes, which has only decelerated the brand. So McDonald’s has looked to a new generation of Millennial/Gen Z music stars to boost revenues.
8d. The new McDonalds collab is a happy meal for adults
While McDonald’s saw success in the 1990s with providing kids Happy Meals, the late 2010s has been about providing them for young adults.
Since last summer, McDonald’s has been on a hot streak of musician-centered collabs. Starting initially with The Travis Scott meal—a basic Quarter Pounder cheeseburger with barbecue sauce, but was exclusively chosen by the rapper. The $6 meal helped spur growth to franchisees, and lead to depleted reserves of the meal for McDonald’s…McDonald’s! This was in addition to the rapper gaining $20 million from the deal, of which $15 million was merchandise sales. That success led McDonald’s to expand the meals to Spanish-language singer/rapper J. Balvin, and the number one music group in the world, the Korean global pop group BTS. McDonald’s latest collaboration is a specialty meal + limited edition merchandise drop with rapper/social media darling Saweetie. A drop which includes an $18 pair of socks, $30-$40 t-shirts, $72 shorts, in addition to several $100+ sweatshirts and hoodies.
9. The new food collabs are centered around culture and creatives
Celebrity + culture is the driver here. Butter.ATL getting into fast food seems odd at first glance until you realize a few things.
One, Krystal’s pivot into fast food is a move into a space not occupied by many within the Atlanta restaurant industry—experiential and culture-driven retail.
Two, because Atlanta is in a cultural and demographic shift, there is an audience ripe for Butter.ATL is offering, a loving homage to Atlanta hip hop.
Using social media ‘experiences’, pop-ups, and collabs to generate interest is an excellent strategy to use for a brand like Krystals which may not be top of mind for fast food consumers. Especially consumers in the rapidly growing Westside of Atlanta which has seen an explosion in young people and transplanted residents over the last two decades.
10. Conclusion
Butter.ATL is working to be here for the long haul. The company is still working to grow on social media, digital media, and in Atlanta proper. If they can work out a successful social media strategy, then translate that into direct sales at the Krystals on Northside Drive and 14th Street we may be looking at a completely new addition to the business model that was pioneered before it.