Something has gone wrong at one of my old favorite restaurants.

Ironically, I decided to make my notes for this part in the series from a table at one of my old favorite restaurants in Orlando – Luma in Winter Park.  Five years ago, Luma was the hottest new restaurant in Central Florida.  It was a first date kind of place.  We entertained some of our best clients here, and for awhile I was spending a significant pile of cash here every week, without an end in sight. This was a great restaurant, with an adventurous menu of contemporary American fare, and creating massive buzz throughout Orlando and Central Florida – but judging by my latest visit, Luma has fallen from grace.

When this restaurant first opened, you needed a crowbar to get in and could expect a two-hour wait before being seated in the dining room. Tonight it was very different. There was no wait for a table, and the dining room was far from packed. Sure, it was a weekday, but you could feel that ghost-of-restaurants-past lurking in the lonely shadows. My previous visits to Luma felt exhilarating, but tonight it felt eerie.

What went wrong? How can Luma get back to the level its fans have come to expect? And what lessons are there for the rest of us?

Luma burst onto the Orlando restaurant scene with great fanfare. Owned by Brian France, the CEO of NASCAR, Luma had deep-pocketed ownership that was willing to invest in creating a one-of-a-kind experience. Housed in a former bank building, the owners reportedly poured in US$5 million to convert the prime corner location on Park Avenue into a restaurant.

This kind of math simply doesn’t work for mere mortal restaurateurs. When you have deep pockets and your first priority is delivering a spectacular experience (even before the imperative of profit), you tend to think about the restaurant business differently than a start-up mom and pop (or those evil, “profit only” chain empires). I watched the launch and progress of Luma with great interest, as I’m always particularly interested in restaurateurs who think about experience first, profits second (whether they have big budgets or not).

I happened to have a meeting with one of France’s top executives who told me that while some wealthy people collect cars, or planes, or mansions, Brian France’s muse is the restaurant business. This passion and level of cultivated personal interest was apparent in every aspect of Luma’s atmosphere. Luma was a pretty spectacular new addition in the local market.  Truly they had a hit on their hands.

Five years later, the place is a shadow of its former self.

What happened and what can we learn?

While it’s hard for me to diagnose what went wrong based on a single visit, I would venture to guess that Luma has been coasting on its previous success.

Too many restaurants fall into this trap: they start out with a big launch, big buzz and critical acclaim, but then they fail to follow up with something new to buzz about. Eventually the initial buzz fades, and so does the restaurant.

Even the best, most acclaimed restaurants need to constantly innovate.

Innovation is a constant requirement: A year or two after Luma opened, one of Brian France’s top executives stopped in to visit us at our office.  He was looking for some fresh new ideas, industry insights, and PR strategies for Luma.  Maybe this sounds odd – after all, the restaurant was doing blockbuster business, everyone loved it. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” right?

Wrong. Even though we didn’t end up working together, France’s executive was doing exactly the right thing by seeking out new ideas for Luma. Barely weeks after Luma’s honeymoon period, this guy was on the hunt for fresh ideas to keep Orlando’s hottest restaurant the hottest. (This is what a good “number two” does, by the way – they think about what number one needs before number one thinks about it.)

Keep pushing:  Investing in something new to buzz about might seem unnecessary; isn’t it better to maintain momentum and profit off the restaurant’s existing direction? Rather than staying the course, the smartest investment is to keep ahead of the curve. Some restaurant executives prefer to simply ride out the profits gained from coasting after an initial push; it costs less to coast than to keep your foot on the accelerator. Others recognize that if you take your foot off the accelerator, you may coast pretty well for a while, but if you wait too long you’ll dramatically lose speed, and you’ll end up needing to spend a lot more energy to get back that lost momentum and recapture your market positioning.

How can your restaurants avoid the trap of early success?

Give Your Customers Something NEW to Buzz About Before It’s Too Late!

In the corporate world, we tend to plan months, years or decades ahead. Restaurant customers tend to plan just days or hours ahead. Restaurant customers want to know what’s hot TONIGHT – not, what are some guys thinking that they may or may not do a few months from now.

Executives often think about what’s going to be relevant to the quarterly balance sheet or annual stockholders meeting. Customers think about what’s worth talking about, what’s new to experience, what’s exciting and worth my hard earned money for tonight. Today’s restaurant customer asks, “What’s worth Tweeting about?” That’s how much the attention span has changed.

Renovate or Reinvent Before You Have To

Madonna has reinvented herself so many times it was the title of one of her world tours (I didn’t go; Wikipedia tells me that was the title of the 2004 tour). She has remained a relevant hit-maker for decades now by consistently giving her fans a new dimension to be awed by, her critics something to talk about, and her potential fans a new reason to consider buying in. While Madonna’s clothes, hairstyles, and collaborators have changed through the years, the core of her brand has remained constant. In other words, if she were a restaurant, she hasn’t changed her “brand personality,” “brand positioning strategy,” her “brand promise,” or her “brand story.”  She has evolved, ‘renovated’, and reinvented a dozen or more times while still remaining true to the core brand attributes that put her on top.

The same goes for any celebrity or brand that has enjoyed longevity – to have staying power you have to constantly look to one-up yourself. You have to constantly give your fans and critics something new to talk about.

The iPhone is the fastest selling product in history and Apple is now the highest valued technology company in the world as a result.  How they got there was not with discounting but with innovating.  Consistently, under Steve Jobs’ leadership, the company has believed in the impossible and continuously strived to out-do themselves.  That is a key distinction – Apple sees their biggest competitor as not some other force “outside” the company, but the company’s own past performance. Apple wasn’t looking to one-up the competition or win customers by offering a lower price for something that people were already buying.  Rather than look for a bigger piece of an existing market, Apple created entirely new markets by dreaming up how to solve a problem and deliver a product that customers weren’t even aware of yet – but that they soon couldn’t live without.

Apple used to be kind of a “niche” company for early adopters and enthusiasts of a certain type of personal computer. Apple was for true believers, while IBM and Microsoft products were mainstream. However, in the past 10 years, Apple has become a mainstream company – not by appealing to more mainstream people, but by transmitting their marketing efforts through their true believers and biggest fans.

To go mainstream and enjoy wide market penetration you have to first win over the “Innovators” and the “Early Adopters” and give them something to buzz about that reflects how they see themselves. Innovators and Early Adopters don’t buy Apple products because of the great features and functions; they ultimately buy Apple products because they believe in Apple’s mission of challenging the status quo, and they see themselves reflected in that mission. As Seth Godin puts it – “A reason to bring it back to the hive.”

Now most of you have heard this message a few times before and get it.  However, what we need to remember is that this innovation cycle isn’t just for startups. Mature or established brands have to repeat the cycle again and again; offering the Innovators and Early Adopters a stream of new reasons to bring your brand back to their hive in perpetuity. Flowers keep offering up their nectar to the bees, giving the bees a reason to come back each day, pick up their pollen, and pollinate the entire garden while bringing back something to sustain the bee colony living in the hive.  In this analogy, your brand is the flower and your consistent stream of innovations are your nectar, giving the bees (or customers) a reason to keep coming back again and again.

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”  – General Eric Shinseki

Seth Godin argues that the era of mass production (Henry Ford and the assembly line) and mass marketing (pushing ideas out to try to “hypnotize” audiences with TV ads, etc.) is at an end. Instead, the new model of marketing is very old: tribes. Your restaurant needs to cultivate a sense of mission to inspire passion and devotion by a community of devoted fans who will go out of their way to connect with you and support your business.

“If I gave people what they wanted it would have been faster horses.” – Henry Ford

Starbucks would have never been born of a focus group.

If there is already a case study to show it’s a good idea you’re probably too late.

Surround yourself with people who are comfortable being uncomfortable, who believe in the impossible, who fan the flames of your creative passions. The business world already has enough creative suppression systems in place – there is already an “abundance of caution” in business. It’s often more likely that you are costing your company more by playing it safe than by having the courage to take calculated risks.

Richard Branson didn’t even finish high school and admittedly still doesn’t know the difference between net profit and gross profit, yet he has built one of the most admired multi-billion dollar corporations on Earth. When he thought of going from music stores to airlines to taking his brand literally into orbit (with Virgin Galactic) he didn’t go to the world’s best space ship designer; he went to the most creative designer he could think of: Philippe Starck.

Neither Starck nor Branson had ever designed a space shuttle before but that didn’t stop them. In fact, their unfamiliarity with the status quo is what propelled them. Sure, they surrounded themselves with lots of technical folks, financiers, and “grown-ups,” but the two creative forces led the project. The technical folks will help make sure the ship doesn’t blow up, but the technical folks would have never taken the leap or conceived the same project.

Richard Branson has built a multibillion-dollar business empire by doing things that other people told him were “crazy.” He believes that life is a relentless process of learning and “turning the status quo upside down.” In this TED talk, Richard Branson discusses some of his most famous and boldest business decisions, like the time he decided to sell Virgin Records for an all-in bet on saving Virgin Atlantic airlines. His business advisors told him it was crazy, but it proved to be the best decision he could have possibly made.

Albert Einstein, when asked what was the most important breakthrough in helping him develop his Theory of Relativity, responded: “Thinking about how to think about the problem.”  There are a number of great Einstein quotes that are relevant here.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.”

“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Famous ad for Apple: Think Different. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

If that way of thinking was what helped Einstein pioneer ground breaking scientific discoveries that fundamentally changed human understanding of how the universe works, surely it’s good enough to help our industry figure out how to put a few more butts in seats. He had 24 hours in the day just like all of us. He told us his secret. Heck, so has almost every great achiever or brand pioneer. It was to zig when the competition zagged. It was to follow their intuition more than a case study or feasibility study.

Captain Kirk says it: to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Joseph Campbell: Follow your bliss.

Jack Welch: You have to be on the lunatic fringe.

Seth Godin: Be remarkable.

Good food, good service and good atmosphere is NOT remarkable. Sending a steak to the airport for one of your most vocal fans is remarkable.

That Shankman story has been sent to me a half-dozen times by now. It’s the very definition of WOW. Who wouldn’t feel like telling everyone if they had that kind of experience?

Already the naysayers are exclaiming and dismissing such a thought as impractical, not business-minded, “giving away the farm.” “We can’t afford to do this for our customers! It costs too much money. Better to just keep our heads down, keep buying billboard space and running ads in the phone book…”

When this type of objection used to come up with clients in the past, I would expend the energy, lay out the case, expand the logic and proffer more “realistic” ideas for them to baby-step their way into this more innovative way of thinking. Finally, I realized after much pain and anguish that you can’t baby-step your way to being remarkable. The people who don’t get it are never really fully going to get it, and fighting with them only distracts you from the really important work of finding the people who believe in “remarkable,” and becoming remarkable.

As Seth Godin explains so clearly in Tribes, your followers want to you to lead them. Your followers are the people who believe in your brand: your customers and your employees. And you have many other prospective followers among the silent masses who share your beliefs and are interested in your mission, but have not yet been introduced to your brand.  They will be pleased to meet you and to have you lead them.

At the risk of using too many quotes of great men who say it so much better than I could, I wanted to close with perhaps my favorite quote of all in the hopes that any restaurant industry executive or marketer looking for the courage to follow their own convictions – and pursue that big, hairy and risky idea or campaign – will find it in these words of Theodore Roosevelt:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Be bold.  Give your customers, employees, franchisees, investors, media, and community something new to talk about.  Truly worth a “WOW!”  Not a gimmick or following in the footsteps of some other company that did it first, but something that wows even yourself.  Something that reflects the true convictions of your brand and your company’s reason for being.  That gray twilight is the least safe place to be these days.

AFTERWORD: Just a few days after I wrote the first draft of this article, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple. So I want to include just one last quote from Steve Jobs, the greatest innovator of our time, from his address to the 2005 graduating class of Stanford University: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” Stay hungry: Innovators are hungry – they’re restless in pursuing change and challenging the status quo. Stay foolish: some of the best innovations are the “crazy” ones that people think are too unsafe, too risky, too out-there. Be foolish.

DISCLOSURE:  A sacred truth and conviction we hold is to keep all client (and prospective client) information confidential; in the strictest of confidence to be sure.  While there may seem to be an air of familiarity with Luma mentioned in this post, it is derived from publicly disclosed information and personal consumer experience. No confidences were betrayed and several years have passed since we were asked – as many others were – to bid on the Luma business. We hold Luma, its management, and its officers in the very highest regards. The opinions tendered in this blog post are those based strictly on public and non-confidential information and are in no way intended to harm Luma or its stakeholders. To the contrary, we remain fans and cheerleaders for the company and generally hold Luma and the France family in the highest regard as they are among the most remarkable of entrepreneurial success stories in recent American history. We wish them and Luma much continued success. However, we also wish that they would rev up their engines and get Luma back on the right track. Central Florida needs Luma to regain its former glory; there are too few contemporary-oriented restaurants in Central Florida, and we need to keep the ones we’ve got. Like a Ferrari, Lear jet, or beautiful mansion; a great restaurant must be maintained. High-performance vehicles take more care and attention to operate than a beat-up Buick. The same goes for high-performance restaurants. Luma is flaming in its need for attention.

When is the last time a service experience left you speechless?  Wait, let me rephrase.  When is the last time a customer service experience was so utterly remarkable and satisfying that it left you speechless with shock, awe, and gratitude?

For me, it happened just yesterday.

What I find more than ironic is that my experience is just a day behind “the greatest customer service story ever told” as experienced by the infallible Peter Shankman.

Shankman/Morton’s – you may very well have been the proverbial stone cast into the pond whose ripples are spanning out and turning into waves of enriching customer service experiences far and wide.

A couple of disclaimers before we dive in to this –

1)      I do not write as fast or as well (or nearly as succinctly) as Peter Shankman

2)     To paraphrase a Creole musician I once heard in the French Quarter, “I ain’t braggin’, I’m just explainin.’”  With the story below, I’m not trying to say that I’m “special” or extra-deserving of the amazing service I received; I’m just explaining how special my favorite hotel chain makes me feel and what lengths they go to to make that happen.

My favorite hotel chain has spoiled me beyond belief.  They deliver on everything you would expect from the hands-down best loyalty program in the global hospitality industry; and then for their most loyal guests they pull out ALL the stops and take your breath away.  Visualize remarkable and then expect surprises that exceed your most hopeful expectations.

As a member of this hotel chain’s preferred customer loyalty program, I had always been a fan of their hotels, but I never paid too much attention to how many nights I stayed. Then a few years ago, I reached 50 nights in one year, taking me from Gold to Platinum level. Upon reaching Platinum, all of a sudden the experience of checking in becomes a magical journey “behind the curtain” to a world of hospitality you never knew existed.

What’s it like?

A few examples…

• While some hotels don’t allow dogs, this chain defines “dog-friendly.” I have a Dachshund (Harley) and a Great Dane (Bailey).  At most hotels it’s hard to get a room with just one dog, much less two and one being a Great Dane. But at my hotel chain, their little dog beds are fluffed and laid out next to mine, along with polished dog bowls and a doggie amenity (Milk Bone).
• Often when I check in, somehow the GM or MOD (manager on duty) magically knows and appears like a genie to welcome me.  I don’t know how, but they always seem to know when I’m arriving – I never see the associate who’s checking me in make a call or signal.  Maybe they have some kind of silent alarm button?
• When I have checked in to beautiful hotels in the most beautiful places on Earth I am immediately upgraded and whisked away to a paradise within a paradise. Bali? The Presidential Suite. Thailand? A two-story villa out over the lagoon with a menu of “tub services”(aromatherapy/bath salts) which require a staff of 2 a half-hour to prepare.  You sink back in an open sky tub and watch the full moon while listening to palms rustle and fish jump in the water below your villa.
• On another visit to Thailand, the resort drove me to a remote part of the property with a free standing villa and private plunge pool built out on a cliff with stilts looking across the lagoon to the largest free standing Buddha statue on the ancient hills beyond the water’s edge.
• Here in the States, I checked in to the Westin Atlanta Perimeter and was escorted to the Presidential Suite, with floor-to-ceiling windows wrapping the tower with a 180-degree panoramic view of the Atlanta skyline and an in-room cedar sauna built for four.
• Right now I’m in a suite with 3 balconies, two flat screens, a large walk-in shower and separate 8 head Jacuzzi, overstuffed chairs and couch in the living room, dining room table set for 6, large executive desk looking out at the Florida shimmering palms, and everybody knows my name. You remember that old theme song from “Cheers?” Yeah, it’s like that; but not just in the bar–you get this feeling at all of the properties and at all levels of the organization, from engineering to the executives and from room service to reception – they caringly say, “Hello, Mr. Allen,” with a smile and wave. I’m paying $99 per night for a room no one else staying here even knows exists. That suite in Bali is normally $1,500 per night but they gave it to me for $120. The villa in Thailand is normally $800 per night but I got it for $59.
• By now, I’ve stayed with this hotel chain for almost 600 nights, and they’ve selected me for a secret invitation-only echelon within the top tiers of their loyalty program. Again, like a genie, an Ambassador appeared.  Not just any.  Their best.  She calls and says, “Hello, my name is Brenda, and I am your dedicated Ambassador.”  What’s it like having a dedicated Ambassador? Imagine the very best concierge at the very best hotel you’ve ever stayed at. It’s like having the best ninja in the world who says, “I’ve got your back.” Wherever I go in my global travels, I have a dedicated point person who makes everything spectacular and problem-free.

I sure hope this doesn’t sound like I’m some entitled or over indulgent jerk lazily being fed grapes and cheese and getting wildly unfair advantages. I work hard. I work like Dr. Frankenstein.  I haven’t had a (single) day off in 5 months and work 10+ hours per day (on a ‘light’ day). I’ve given this hotel chain many thousands of dollars worth of business, and I’m so loyal that I would sooner sleep in a tent than stay with one of their competitors. (Sometimes I even turn down consulting business if the prospective client is not located close to one of my favorite chain’s hotels.)

So you must be wondering what hotel chain creates such a never-never land, right?  It’s Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (Westin, W, St. Regis, Sheraton, Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Meridien and The Luxury Collection).  Trust me, no other hotel chain in the world will do as much for you if you will just consolidate those nights with them.  Join today.  Right now, actually.  Here’s the link: www.spg.com. And take a peek at their commercial below. It’s more than just a catchy song. This is honestly how they make their guests feel. It is so magical when the advertising is a reflection of the reality like this.

So, after giving me so many amazing experiences, what could Starwood do that could possibly top all of that?  How could a chain that so consistently wows and surprises exceed even themselves?  Here’s what happened…

A couple days ago, my very favorite hotel chain sort of let me down. I’m admittedly a little picky about restaurant service (imagine going to a movie with a professional film critic and you can envision what I’m like at dinner…and probably why I’m single!).  But my experience as a restaurant consultant has made me a little particular when dining at restaurants or staying at hotels.  Plus, Starwood has so relentlessly over-delivered on their services that when something is even slightly amiss, I notice.

I ordered room service, and my steak came up overcooked.  This is a recurring issue I’ve found with room service at hotels around the world.  When food is taken off the heat it still keeps cooking, so if a steak (or salmon or whatever) is going out to the dining room, it needs to be timed differently in the kitchen than if it is going on a cart and hauled off to the remote corners of the hotel. Room service entrées need to come off the fire a little bit sooner, or else they’ll be overcooked – but many hotel restaurants don’t manage to notice this. This has happened to me often enough that I expressed my disappointment – both at the property level and with my Ambassador.

The time between expressing my concern and what happened next was barely like the time between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder.

To tease what they did just a bit further, I hope you will indulge a quick and relevant story from my granddaddy.

One of the earliest lessons I learned in the restaurant industry was as a child, watching my granddad working in our family restaurant. I saw him go over to a table and give them all a free meal, and then as he walked out of the restaurant with them, he thanked them. I said, “Grandpa, I thought they called you over to complain, why were you thanking them?”  He said, “Because if they didn’t tell us what was wrong, we would never have known what to fix. When customers complain, they often feel just as awkward about it as some managers or owners do hearing about it. For every customer that says something, there may have been several that didn’t say a thing. I thanked them because they are helping us.”

So then I asked, “But why did you give them all a free meal when it was just the one man that was upset?” 

And my granddad said, “Because his experience is shared by everyone at his table, and we want to make sure everyone leaves happier than when they came in. We want to surprise them with even more than they asked for or expected.”

I can’t remember how old I was when I heard this but I know I will never forget it.  It is one of the top two most vivid memories I have of my grandfather.  He passed before I was 11.

Technology and operational systems may have all changed since my granddad was alive, but what’s important to hospitality hasn’t changed since the dawn of man. Just one person can make such a difference in an organization that the entire culture and customer experience is transformed. The true story of Johnny the Bagger is such an example. Helping employees (i.e. your “internal customer”) realize this is one of the most important priorities of management. Whether you call it training, operations management or marketing, this is potent stuff in building a remarkable business.

So here is what Starwood did for me – to not only resolve my complaint, but blow my mind with amazing, surprising, remarkable service:

• Earlier, I had sent my Starwood Ambassador a link to Peter Shankman’s Morton’s story. The Starwood staff not only read the story, they took action on it; I think they were just as inspired by the Shankman story as I was. My Starwood Ambassador and other staffers at the Sheraton Orlando North researched and contacted Morton’s best supplier and bought a special prime cut of the supplier’s very best steak, and delivered it to my room with such expertly crafted perfection that it would be indistinguishable from any world-class steakhouse. (This steak is not going on the hotel’s regular menu – it was a one-of-a-kind experience that they delivered just for one valued customer.)
• And wait, there’s more: Luxurious, specially purchased doggie beds for Bailey and Harley, dog treats that make “Scooby Snacks” pale in comparison, the biggest bottle of Grand Marnier you can serve without rolling up a barrel, and they’re still holding more of those world-class steaks just for me to enjoy on my next visit (which is like the steak connoisseur’s version of wine lover’s looking forward to exploring a private cellar of investment grade wines).

Peter Shankman – I want you to know that you are making a difference. You are an influencer among the influential. While there is much you have shared and promoted that was widely meaningful, your post about “the greatest customer service story ever told” has had a ripple effect. Not just because you’re a great publicist among publicists, but because you and Morton’s cast a stone into the pond of goodwill and random acts of kindness that is rippling out much further than you may have even thought possible. Despite odds, risks, “what-ifs,” slings and arrows, or skepticism, you both connected in a way that shines a light on the positive example of customer service and hospitality, just like Gotham lighting up the Batman logo: “This is what ‘remarkable’ looks like. This is what hospitality can be. Everyone, let’s recalibrate our standards and be remarkable!” It reminded me immediately of the trailer for the documentary “I Am” which explores just how powerful such actions can be at improving not just service but the world in general.

Starwood – Whatever you do, please don’t change the SPG program. Don’t let the accountants, attorneys or naysayers undermine the magic that you are creating for your best customers. Like Morton’s, your acts of overwhelming generosity and goodwill may not immediately impact the bottom line, but what you are doing is so standout that we can’t help but cheer for you like Shankman did for Morton’s. When companies treat their customers with jaw-dropping acts of generous, surprising, remarkable service, the customers will respond by trumpeting the story to the world. I’m trying to do my part!

Sheraton Orlando North - I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the entire SPG team and staff of the Sheraton Orlando North Hotel, but would like to especially thank:  Jerry, Amy, Pete, Christina, Arshad, Miles, Marilyn, Chris, Lucy, Linda, and the many others who follow your example.

If we want the flame of remarkable service to glow brighter, we need to constantly refuel the fire. What Morton’s did, what Shankman has done, what Starwood is doing, and what Sheraton Orlando North stretched to do – it’s remarkable.  It’s inspirational. In the face of such deeds we owe it to those brave souls creating such experiences to meet them in kind. Such a good deed is worth more than praise and appreciation.  It is worth more than our loyal business. It is the sort of thing that makes this planet a better place and improves the human condition.

Thank you.

NOTE: We do not share any photos of client operations.  We are intensely strict on confidentiality of client information.  All of the photos herein are from market research, competitive shopping, or just ordinary exposure as a typical customer.

Found this one in the British Virgin Islands. Nice touch with the various bread dips.

The restaurant industry is booming again – using Location Based Services (LBS) apps like Foursquare, Facebook Places, SCVNGR, Google Maps and Yelp. No doubt the power of Foursquare is growing.  We see the apps heralded on news, business, and ad reports. We see our own “friends” sharing their location daily on Facebook. For the folks who like to share, the world is their literal oyster. Whitehorse.com shows the following stats. Amazing customer potential!

However, with any new trend, come the important questions.

• What happens after that first location “share”?
• Are people going to keep using LBS, giving their friends  (and your potential new customers) leads to great dining adventures?
• Are these service apps just another novelty and past time for the short attention span generation of tech users?
• Will it last?
• What is the potential for the restaurant business owners, and are we using it to it’s full potential?

Let’s find some answers and help.

5 Tips To Fill Your Restaurant Seats with LBS Users

1. Utilize the Search Apps & Check Yourself Out.

These days, almost everyone uses the search services like Google Maps, Yelp and Bing. If we need to find the nearest Buffalo Wild Wings, we simply look it up. Yet many restaurant owners and managers assume that they are included in these services. Is your address, phone number, and website accessible, correct and up do date?

• Ask
• Never Assume
• Ask Again!

2. Content Matters

Facebook pages work really well for local customers bases. Make a unique blog that caters to local fans who know your geographic area well and throw in some fun facts, creative characters or other interactions to keep them loyal. YouTube is a great way to involve the local diners using fun videos that showcase your restaurant’s unique menus, location or history. It’s also an easy way to invite new customers to your dining experience.

3. Coupons

Currently, Groupon is the most popular of social commerce sites and is gaining a large number of restaurants adopting this new form of electronic coupon marketing. Smaller businesses are dealing with some issues of being too overwhelmed by the discounts and heavy foot traffic, but perhaps many larger restaurants would love to have this complaint. In general we do not subscribe to the notion of coupons and discounts for restaurant marketing. In the long run the brand suffers. Heavy usage can train customers to only come to your restaurant when there is a deal. The pizza segment has their customers so hooked on discounts nearly 80% of all pizza purchases are from a coupon redemption. Yuck! Any given day of the week someone else, somewhere else, a competitor can run a better deal. In other words, you can’t build competitor proof relationships and win the hearts and minds of customers with discounts; you can only rent them at best. For now, the buzz and novelty of social commerce dampens some of the brand damage traditional coupon marketing can cause. So, if you’re hell bent on running discounts and coupons, use services like Living Social, Facebook Deals and Google Offers as they are leaders of the pack at the moment.

4. Reviews

Consumers are driven by word of mouth, but it’s too easy for them to simply use reviewer sites to decide on their next dining experience. Feel free to encourage happy diners to write a great review about you on these sites. Do regular scavenger hunts on these sites for feedback and even constructive criticism. Brace yourself though for the coneheads that can’t ever say anything nice. Anyone in the public eye is a target for criticism and the anonymity of the web can turn some people into cyber-vandals out to deface a brand online for the shear sport of it. Nonetheless, just as you would go out with a can of paint to retouch your restaurant facade if airbrushed by vandals, these days we have to also check for brand vandalism online. There are several reputation monitoring solutions available on the market today to help take the legwork out of it for you. And, on the positive side, be sure to reward those honest and well-intentioned reviews; whether glowing or critical something good can be learned from analyzing the reviews for recurring themes.

5. Reward the Customer

This tip seems obvious but may be overlooked (and herein lies the potential for you!). As the LBS apps evolve, stay ahead of the pack by offering rewards and benefits for your customers that use LBS apps. For example, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide recently offered a loyalty point bonus of 250 points per checkin (by the way, in general, the Starwood Preferred Guest program is hands-down the best loyalty program in the hospitality industry). Already, companies are thinking outside of the box for great marketing fun. Check out this major coup by SCVNGR and Buffalo Wild Wings which was a big success: http://mashable.com/2011/06/01/scvngr-buffalo-wild-wings-campaign/.

People are using Foursquare and SCVNGR, but what real benefits are they getting from you? These LBS apps are not just a passing novelty, and savvy, forward-looking restaurant marketers are already finding new ways to fill their tables using creative partnerships and digital marketing campaigns. Why not your brand too?

In the end, we think the trend of LBS apps is not going away, but will evolve as every other tech trend does. Your time is best served by staying in the modern marketing game, joining the LBS crowd now, insert your restaurant brand into as many search avenues as possible, stay informed, and offer incentives for your diners to return. BE the location they will share with their friends, businesses contacts, visiting relatives, and their own customers. The importance of word of mouth hasn’t gone away; it’s just gone online.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” – Albert Einstein

The new iPad is all the rage these days.  In just its first two months over 2,000,000 units were sold.  Does the iPad have a future in the restaurant business?

Microsoft made a bet on tablet technology and saw great commercial application potential.  The fragility of the hardware/system and lack of software kept the early tablets from reaching their full potential.  Apple has effectively fixed the software issue by partnering with industry and developers to create “apps”.  There are more than 200,000 apps in the iTunes store and more are added daily.  The apps developer conference mints more new millionaires than any other conference (according to news reports).  It is widely agreed that now the tablet technology will lead the future of computer industry growth.  Consider – there are 1.5b Internet users on the planet yet there are 3.5b cell phone users.  Smart phones are the new handheld computer.  The limitations of size are part of what has lead to this new computer category which is essentially a hybrid of the power and functionality of a personal computer with the ease of use and portability of a smart phone.  The iPad is selling currently at a rate of 1m per month.  It took two years for the iPhone to reach the sales volumes the iPad posted in just two months. Impressive. The surface has only been scratched.

1. Microsoft Surface – We waited in anticipation for years for the launch of Microsoft Surface. The video/microsite launched prior to the first 3G iPhone. It looked like Microsoft would take the touch-screen technology adapted by Apple (first introduced at the T.E.D. conference in 2006 – amazing how far we have come in so little time.)

Apple has advanced the technology so fast that it has seemingly gained credit as having invented it (that credit belongs to Jeff Han).  The uses of Microsoft Surface technology had amazing potential in the restaurant industry.  So much so, in fact, that the pre-launch promotional videos seemed focused on restaurant use.  My firm was put on a waiting list to help bring the product to market in trials and pilots for the restaurant industry.  The call from Microsoft never came.  The technology raced past Microsoft.  Just this May (2010) I saw the first Microsoft Surface in use.  It was in The Sheraton lobby in Chicago and got barely any attention.  There were no noteworthy applications and the functionality included just a basic game of checkers, chess and kid-like drawing pad.  It was perfect illustration of how Microsoft has fallen behind and that if we are to see application of touch-screen technology in the restaurant industry anywhere similar to the fairytale portrayed in the Surface video, it will come from Apple and its legions of app developers.  It’s not the hardware that makes iPad successful, it’s the hundreds of thousands of applications.

2. Inventory – To think through the potential future uses of an iPad in the restaurant industry, we just have to envision the things we do on the go.  Inventory is certainly one of the potential range of restaurant industry uses.  Inventory in the old days was done with a clip board and then manually input in a central computer system.  In recent years we have seen bar code scanning tools and other hand-held devices created by industry or Point of Sale  (POS) companies, but these cannot compete with the iPad once inventory applications are developed for it.  An iPad can be purchased for just a few hundred dollars and custom app developers can create tailored software for as little as $2,000.  I believe we will certainly see the iPad put to work with restaurant inventory jobs using both subscription-based applications created by developers and also proprietary software developed by restaurant companies specific to their own needs.  Primarily the larger restaurant systems will be the ones to develop their own software but the development costs are actually within the range of small regional chains, not just the national restaurant systems.

3. Surveys – Gaining customer feedback in the field is another activity that is mostly mobile in nature.  Going to shopping malls, running exit interviews with customers leaving the restaurant, going table to table, and showing new creative/brand materials to solicit feedback are well-suited for the iPad.  It can be difficult these days to get customers to agree to written survey forms or lengthy in-person interviews.  The novelty of an iPad – at least for a window of time – will spur interest and curiosity which should result in higher yields of survey participation.

4. Training – Training in the restaurant industry has long been an issue in need of new approaches and more technology.  There was a movement with the iPhone and iPods to usher in a new generation of training deployment in the restaurant industry.  It didn’t really catch on.  Part of the reason was screen size and the associated restrictions.  With the iPad Area Developers can take their training on the road; meeting one-on-one with restaurant general managers to demonstrate a new approach, policy or quick instructional tutorial. GMs can be issued an iPad which automatically synchronizes with the corporate communication system; automatically downloading rich content such as performance dashboards, videos, slideshows and other company data.  Using the iPad as a distribution tool for such content can make the content easier to access and protect over the traditional out-dated restaurant P.C. in the back-office.  In fact, for a period of time before the novelty wears off, issuing GM’s an iPad also sends a brand message of the company commitment to technology, investment in its people and boosted sense of morale among their management ranks.

5. Kiosks – While the iPad is the latest rage and has a multitude of potential uses in the restaurant industry, it shouldn’t be the only techno-tool restaurant chains consider – particularly in the QSR segment of the industry.  The touch-screen technology and improved applications available in mobile form are also being adapted to kiosks.  In certain circumstances, a kiosk may be a better tool than an iPad, and so both should be considered.  For instance, it is unlikely the iPad will gain traction as a menu ordering system in QSR’s.  A kiosk would be better in ordering than a portable iPad.  Additionally, kiosks are great tools for providing menu information such as nutrition, serving as a portal for submitting applications electronically at the unit level, and also a wide range of other creative in-store marketing uses.

The iPad will very likely be the first generation of a new form of personal computer which will grow from novelty to category giant.  Many predict the iPad is the future of personal computing.  Whether they are entirely right or just partially right, what the iPad offers can be put to work in the restaurant industry immediately and its usefulness is only likely to grow.

Restaurant Consultant Aaron Allen

“Promise, Large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.” ~ Samuel Johnson

Restaurant owners know that Facebook is as necessary to reach the modern dining audience as the old phonebook used to be. They hire design groups to create professional close-ups of menu items and spend hours dreaming up the “look” of their Facebook wall page. True, a design of the Facebook page is important, but what will make your fans loyal is the intent, promise and incentives for your fans. If they “like” you enough to join your fan base, they are looking for the incentive to return to your establishment. And, you should “like” them enough to make your message clear, make personal business goals that Facebook can generate, and not let the creative process overwhelm the usefulness of your page.

Creativity is important, but what is your “Promise” for their experience? We recently tracked down some very successful restaurant Facebook pages for your convenience and consideration. Let’s explore their methods of creating loyalty, excitement and a whole lot of “likes”.

1.  Johnny Rockets

There are many reasons why Johnny Rockets is a top rated Facebook Restaurant page. Mostly, they are great about promoting big prizes, such as their recent Yankee Tickets contest. They constantly reply to fan comments and they stay high- profile, with their CEO appearing on “Undercover Boss”. It’s a smart mix of media marketing and publicity while building a valuable social network. Sports fans love promotions, and the contest marketing tradition is put to great use.

2.  Panera Bread

This page is refreshing isn’t it? Not a ton of busy copy; instead they focus on rich imagery that supports their brand promise of freshness. It looks like a glossy magazine page, and that stands out from the typical uniform appearance of Facebook. This FB page paints a picture of fresh food and a healthy mindset.

Look closer – there are several interactive activities for fans to get involved in like the “Make a Sign” campaign and videos from Head Chef Dan Kish with “Fresh Tips”. Fans feel engaged and get a deeper connection to the brand with the one-one-one time feeling of the chef videos.

3.  Chili’s

“Likes” are a new way of keeping score for restaurant marketing departments.  It is part of how they build a case internally for shifts in budget allocations away from traditional media and toward digital media.  “Likes” are votes and competing brands want to out-do the other.  Beyond just ego or building an internal business case for social media, “Likes” are valuable customer affirmations and will play an increasingly important role in the future for how search engine algorithms work (up to now, keyword density and links played a big part in how search results were ranked but in the future the number of votes – such as “Likes”, Diggs, +1, etc – will be given increasing share in algorithm formulas).

The Chili’s landing page just jumps out at the viewer. It’s simple, it’s big, it’s colorful and it has a message that says “Like us and Get Stuff”. Who doesn’t like to know right away they will be rewarded for being a loyal fan? They have interactive contests, giveaways and offers. This is a simple concept that still works.

4.  Yo! Sushi

It seems like only yesterday that I met with Robin and his marketing folks with Yo! Sushi in London.  We connected after I gave a keynote at a conference there in 2008 on the rise and importance of digital marketing.  We met subsequently at their headquarters and discussed their new design and marketing strategy of incorporating highly visual Japanese pop culture fashion and Animee as a means of standing out and appealing to a more youthful and irreverent clientele.  Now they’re consistently breaking new ground with their campaigns and standing out on an international level for their innovative restaurant marketing and sophisticated use of social media.  It’s another great example of how “overnight success” usually starts long before it is recognized as a success.  Robin is one of those forward-looking guys that “got-it” years before others did.  Comparatively small as a restaurant chain, Yo! Sushi is a frequent best-practices and case study pick for those who monitor and report on global restaurant industry trends and developments.  Way to go, Robin, on being so far ahead of the curve.

5.  Denny’s

Why Denny’s? Well, something must be going on for this chain to show up on several top 100 lists of successful Facebook pages (National Restaurant News www.nrn.com/).Their wall page isn’t too exciting, however the State of the Day page is an excellent alternative to simple discounts and coupons.  If only their menu and general brand relevance were as up to date as their digital marketing efforts.  Denny’s is an example of waiting too long to update the brand and then trying to make up for it with marketing alone.  Great marketing can’t make a bad product better.  Because of the failure to keep the concept current and relevant to evolving consumer dining behavior and shifts in the restaurant unit economic model, they are struggling as a chain and are having to still rely on discounts (as evidenced on their FB page) to maintain store traffic.  Hopefully they’re working hard on addressing the more systemic brand issues hurting them at the moment, but at least for now they can be applauded for getting on the digital marketing curve as early and successfully as they have.  Congratulations go to the marketing team that won the internal fight for digital marketing resources and also for helping show both within your company and to the wider industry that digital marketing is a game changer for the restaurant industry.

Remember, it matters that people “like” your restaurant page. Yet, there must be an incentive to keep them coming to your establishment. Think out of the box. Think big, yet keep it simple. Offer fun, offer deals, and offer your loyalty to them. This means doing your part to find out what your customers want. Use your FB page for feedback, comments and to gain better understanding of your fans.  Social media has changed marketing from a monologue to a dialogue.  Your customers are ready to engage, converse, immerse in the brands they love; and to know that the brands the hold in high regard are relevant today.  Being relevant today necessitates adopting digital marketing and participating fully in social networks like Facebook.