Hey DMP, excited to get started! Could you give us a little background on yourself? How did you guys end up in Santa Cruz?
Daniel was raised in San Francisco then moved to Santa Cruz in 2006. He went to UCSC then after graduating worked at several gyms in the Santa Cruz Area until he opened up a gym. Since then he has been working in the gym space (West Fitness in Santa Cruz) which has enabled him to meet so many amazing and awesome people, some being in the food industry.
Marcus was raised in Santa Cruz and has deep roots with the community in Santa Cruz. He has worked several jobs, from his grandma’s food business to now a Wedding photographer(@Marcustrawick_), and Foreman for Milroy Construction. He gets up at 4am everyday to go work over the hill and comes back to eat with Daniel for DMP.
What did you guys do before running Double Meat Please?
Before Double Meat Please Marcus and Daniel were on a mission to find the best food in Santa Cruz, from local favorites to trying out new places consistently. Daniel has always been the researcher, cross referencing instagram with food websites, never sitting down and not knowing what he wants to try. Thankfully Marcus and his friends trust his food picks, and 9/10 times they all let him order everything and they share it family style.
What does the day to day look like at DMP? How do you guys consistently release so much content?
We love food. We love our community. We want people to know how awesome Santa Cruz county is (Scotts Valley-Watsonville). The problem is so many places either don’t have the platform or exposure for people to know, or are open only on certain days and certain times. Luckily for us, we have friends in the food and drink space that let us know what is happening and when it’s happening. From there, the curiosity and motivation of finding new great food keeps us driven to the mission of bringing consistent content to our audience.
It’s really easy to create content when you’re working with your best friend.
How did DMP get started?
DMP Started years ago as an account to document all the delicious food that was consumed by Daniel and his friends. In the last 2 years DMP has been elevated in its content from a lonely food picture account on an Iphone 10 to videos displaying our personality and energy for delicious local food.
The evolution of DMP started with branding and a logo that was created with a lot of patience by @andreahorowitt and mentoring in navigating the backend of social media content creator space by @opposite.of.east marketing agency. The brand could not have grown without these two legitimizing DMP from just some guys eating food and taking pictures.
Now Double Meat Please is a platform to find what we feel are the best places to eat in town, or to give information on new places that people might not know about. Every item that is posted on DMP is either food news (Check out this new restaurant) to food that we want to personally highlight. Every item we post that we say we like. We actually like it. We even let businesses know that before we post anything on our feed. We want to be authentic to ourselves and our audiences with honest content.
We are creators for the food and service world. Working with businesses to create quality content for their social media and websites. From edited photos that go with their brand to engaging reels, we want to help businesses by creating quality
Is Daniel mainly the personality, or is the whole thing his operation?
Daniel is mostly the face and man in front of the camera. He brings his personality and passion to your phones with genuine excitement for eating delicious food. Marcus is the man behind the camera that helps make Daniel look good. Both Daniel and Marcus edit the content for Double Meat Please working off each other and constantly giving feedback to the other to improve their product.
How did the name Double Meat Please come about? Were there any other names you guys were considering?
The name came from how we ordered all our food. For over 10 years now this is how we ordered food. From sandwiches to burritos, “Can I please have the hot pastrami with Double Meat Please.” Can we please add carne asada and carnitas to the burrito but double meat please”. Honestly there were no other considerations besides Triple Meat Please (just kidding).
11k followers! How the heck do you get that level of engagement on a local food media page?
We feel so honored for all the love the community has shown us. We felt people were wanting a platform for food in Santa Cruz. They wanted to know what was happening. What to get. When to get it. That mixed with the increase of pop ups and creative food in the last several years. We feel it was a mixture of timing, quality content,engaging content, and consistency. We love food, we love creating, and we love highlighting our community for our community.
What have been some cool things or some challenges of trying to build up and run DMP?
The cool thing is now we get to know about the fun events, pop ups, new menu changes, and new places to eat. The bigger our reach gets the more information we get, which makes content creation always available. The bigger the reach the more the business we work with can benefit with getting their product out there! That’s pretty cool.
Challenges are we both have other jobs that keep us busy, so time and scheduling has been our biggest challenge. The good thing is, we always need to eat.
Are there any other local influencers or social media profiles that people just gotta check out?
Oh yes! We love so many food/social media accounts from @VisitSantaCruz, @SantaCruzBucketlist, @opposite.of.east @letsfckineat @collectivesantacruz @thecuratedfeast @downtownsantacruz @_lilybelli these accounts create, elevate, and highlight the local businesses!
There are so many cool food spots that you have highlighted in the Santa Cruz area, but what is a spot or two or ten that get you really excited that people need to stop by?
Oh man! Take a seat, grab a pen and pad, let’s do this.
- After Hours cocktail bar inside 11th Hour Coffee shop has some delicious cocktails that not many people know about. They also have Chubbs Fried chicken sandwiches that have some of my favorite spicy tenders and Full Steam dumpling that serves some delicious baos, gyozas and ramens! (Open Tuesday-Saturday 5-9)
- Busy Bees has so many delicious food items, from a chipotle and honey sausage breakfast biscuit sandwich to their eggs benedict breakfast burrito. (open Friday-Sunday 8-2)
- The breakfast tacos at Aptos street bbq are so good, warm tortilla, juicy meats, a runny egg, and some salsa. (available everyday 7-11)
- El Palomar downtown has three dining experiences that you can pick from a nicer dining experience in the main room, casual sports bar vibes in the cantina, to the taco bar that has amazing steak tacos on homemade tortillas.
- Watsonville. More people need to go to Watsonville for some fun and delicious food. People from Santa Cruz think its Lord of the Rings mission to travel over there but it’s so worth it. Chubbys tacos has a Flaming hot Cheetos Crunch wrap that i think about often. High end Comida and 831 Finest food are constantly creating new fun and delicious food. You will always get something different and unique. Slice Project has some great pizza from New York Style to Detroit Style.
- Seabright Deli is a mom and pop sandwich shop that smokes their own brisket and slangs some sandwiches that are so good! Have not had a bad sandwich there.
- Bread boy in Humble sea makes the best smashburger in town. Dont worry about the long lines, they are efficient in getting you a burger that is smashed thin and almost wrapping around the bun.
- Pizza Bones is a pop up that has the best pizza dough and the offer a @doublemeatplease option to their pizza toppings, which we love.
- Bad Animal is a hidden gem that serves one of a kind Thai food inside a cool bookstore.
We need to stop. You can tell we have a lot of places for more follow @Doublemeatplease!
When are you guys going to do a review of my local McDonalds?
You know what. They did come out with a DOUBLE big mac. So incredibly soon. If you have a spot you want highlighted, send them to us!
What aspirations do you have for yourselves or DMP?
We want to bring our services behind the lens to the food and drink world in Santa Cruz. We are content creators, and want to use our skills to work with local businesses. Let us help elevate your business.
Currently we are working with 6 local food and drink businesses, creating content for them on a monthly basis. We would love to continue to grow our business and help others grow as well through the platform of Social media.
And of course, eating more delicious food and continuing to highlight Santa Cruz as a food destination. Growing the content on our website to help organize all our favorite food spots, food picks, and where to get them/ when to get them.
Is there anything else we should know about you, the team, or DMP?
We want to thank the friends that wait to eat until the cameras eat. The friends that have to hear our constant editing videos on loop. To the friends that travel to eat where we want, and that split the bill evenly for all the “double meat upcharges”. Without you we wouldn’t be able to try it all.
If you are a business and are overwhelmed with social media and creating content that reflects your product, please reach out and let us take care of the social media part for you.
We want to thank the community for engaging with us in conversation on food, telling us what they think, letting us know what is happening when, and basically keeping us in the know. We love talking about food, we love creating, and we definitely love promoting businesses that have some delicious products.
Thanks DMP, what a tasty interview! Get your ticket to the NEXTies to come say hi to them and other movers and shakers being highlighted at this years’ May 17th NEXTies awards! See you there!
