The Place To Be

I know that many of you must be getting sick of discussing branding, but I can’t lay the issue to rest without addressing one important aspect of developing your restaurant’s brand reputation. The last two weeks we have discussed why branding your restaurant is important and some of the ways you can help develop your brand. Let’s wrap up this issue of branding with a discussion of how great service and the right environment helps reinforce your brand.

Why do many diners choose the restaurants that they do? A lot of the reason lies with the feeling that it is THE PLACE TO BE. What exactly is the place to be? What are the common characteristics? Think about it. What attracts you to a certain restaurant? Why do you eat where you do? With the escalating cost of gas and the other drains on personal economies coupled with the influx of chains and other competition in the marketplace, it is imperative that you create a destination atmosphere at your restaurant. You have to create a space and a dining experience that draws both your existing clients and other new diners to your establishment.

Imagine that you have out of town guests visiting and you have to pick the place to eat. It is your money, your reputation and you don’t want to blow it. What do you choose? What are the characteristics of that place? It doesn’t have to be a dinner, it could be a breakfast or a lunch too…just imagine. What pops into your mind? Is it your restaurant? Is it another place (it’s ok if it is)? Why that place? What is special about it? Why did you choose it? How does your place stack up to that image?

In my little fantasy the places I tend to pick have the right room, the right kind of atmosphere, great service and of course a good meal. Let’s look at the room and the atmosphere. First of all it is clean. Cleanliness is a must have. No one likes to eat at a place that looks unclean. The floors, the walls, the tables, the dishes, the bathroom, the servers, what I can see of the kitchen….everything has to be clean. Thinking about this underscores in my mind what a tough task you have in keeping things up to snuff.

The room does not have to be brand spanking new, it can be dated and lacking all of the latest accoutrements. It just has to be kept up and have a cared for appearance. Some of the best places don’t have all the razzle dazzle of cutting edge fashions and trends. At the core though, it has to be clean and neat. This is the foundation for the right dining atmosphere. The atmosphere is important. Nobody wants to go somewhere that people aren’t smiling or having fun…it is very much a part of the dining experience. How many times have you walked away from the meal saying that the food was great but the person serving darn near ruined your meal with their attitude? It is an integral part of the meal. I have often eaten a very so-so meal that was served to me by someone who “got it” and I left saying that I would definitely go back for another meal. The public is not made up of professional food critics, it is made up of humans who want to feel a connection to the place and people where they dine and live.

Getting to the people part of the dining experience is opening a whole other can of worms. We all know the challenges in hiring the backbone of your crew. It’s not easy to hire great servers and bus boys – it isn’t the most glamorous job out there by any stretch. But it is very important to hire the right kind of people. It is an integral part of the dining experience. It helps create a destination atmosphere for your restaurant. Last weekend we were out at a wedding, enjoying a little time with friends before the reception. We stopped at a place for a quick drink and some appetizers. Our server looked to be a real dud at first glance. But was I surprised when she anticipated our needs, and exceeded our expectations – making overpriced appetizers more appealing at each turn (it was a hotel bar afterall). She made the difference. She knew the menu, she grasped the situation and turned what could have been a very mundane experience a memorable one.

Training your waitstaff on how to serve properly is key to a successful dining experience. Wearing my “industry insider” hat, I recognized how she added to our ticket, increased her tip and made the transaction more profitable for the restaurant. She did all this while enhancing our experience so that paying more and buying more was not an issue at all for us. At the risk of sounding very cliché – it was a win win win for us, her and the restaurant. I walked away without dwelling on the price of the food, but rather the pleasantness of the experience – THAT created the branding aspect for this dining encounter.

So to wrap up branding we must keep a few things in mind. 1) Consistency and predictability in the quality and presentation of the food is tantamount to creating a successful brand for your restaurant. 2) The atmosphere and environment of your restaurant needs to breed the reputation as a destination location. You can overcome a lot with the right atmosphere. 3) Hiring quality people can create a difference for your diners that will outlive in memory the meal and the rest of experience. When you combine all of these factors, you can create that “perfect storm” feeling that can turn your restaurant into an unrivaled success story like the ones we discussed in previous weeks where all of these aspects combine into a powerful dining experience for your patrons that makes your place – THE PLACE TO BE!