What’s refreshing is to see how some businesses are doing their part to help those going through rough patches. Plaza Cleaners in Portland, Oregon is offering free dry cleaning to those in need for a clean suit for a job interview. Read the full post on Applicant, a great blog for job seekers.

Do you know of a local business doing something great for the unemployed? What would you do if you owned a small business to help?

Photo from Applicant

I’ve traveled quite a bit, I’ve had all sorts of street fare over the years: beaver tails in Ottawa, poutine in Montreal, breaded chicken in Prague, cod and chips in Galway, chicken schwarma in London, soup in New York.

I read a great post today by Erin Zimmer on SeriousEats.com about how street vendors are now using Twitter to reach their clientelle. The post features an extensive list of (mainly American) sidewalk businesses.

…one of the more interesting and truly useful trends sparked by the microblogging service is the way street-food vendors have flocked to it to relay info to customers. This is particularly helpful with vendors who switch up locations from day to day—or hour to hour. In retrospect, it almost seems like Twitter was made for this purpose. What better way for a roving kitchen to publish crucial intel, from the field, without a dedicated internet connection?

I love this idea. Why isn’t every street meat salesman in Toronto not on Twitter yet? Come on you Hog Town New Media luminaries, I know you’re chowing down on dogs like the rest of Torontonians. Your friendly neighborhood hot dog vendor should know about how he can boost business with a simple text message.

Same goes for the rest of you Social Media mavens everywhere. If there are folks on the street selling you delicious grub you need to inform them about Twitter. Nightly specials, new sauces, new items, new drinks, new locations, this is all pertinent information we need to know about.

Be sure to add them to this list too. Let me know how it goes.

Photo by: sniffles