Pop Tarts recently opened a bakery, (if that’s what you call it), in New York. You can visit a Mr. Clean car wash in Ohio, Atlanta and Texas and now Tide is entering the dry cleaning business with three stores in Kansas.

A product/brand-specific boutique is brilliant marketing and a great way to boost brand/product presence in social media. Why?

• Consumers can see realtime the product’s life cycle from start to finish
• Brands can demonstrate product applications in unique ways
• A physical market presence outside the aisle strengthen the brand, reinforces the products value and gives consumers a way to connect on a whole new level.

Using location-based updating services (Twitter, Gowalla, foursquare, and now Facebook) these brands can have people check-in, invite friends and share the experience with their social circle.

I propose a restaurant where, in place of typical tabletop catsup and mustard, you find Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing…chilled of course. They could call it “The Ranch Ranch,” or something.

I love Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. On everything. I could come up with a list of 100+ simple recipes that include HV Ranch.

The folks at Hidden Valley know how to condiment my food. Pizza, veggies, salad, steak, pommes frites, etc. I could go on.

I hope someone important at the HV Foods Products Company reads this.