Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR Archives - Page 8 of 16

Snapchat for Restaurants

May 25, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, Social Media + Influencer Engagementfood social media, restaurant marketing, Restaurant PR, restaurant social media, snapchat

On May 16, NASA commemorated its 100,000 orbit around the earth with a fresh type of celebration – a Snapchat party. Commander Tim Kopra snapped planet earth from the International Space Station, showcasing everything from culinary tricks to air-born acrobatics.

Oh, and we the earthlings got to witness 16 sunrises in 24 hours. Wowza, Earth! You’re a lucky gal!

Outlets worldwide have covered NASA’s hip move, which sparks conversation for the rest of us still on planet earth. For restaurants and chefs teetering on the brink of Snapchat, nibble on this food for thought:

Why Bother With Snapchat?

Targets the Elusive Younger Audience: For restaurants catering to millennials, Snapchat offers The Promised Land; nearly 77 percent of college students use it daily, and more than half of Snapchat users are under the age of 25 years.

Rekindles One-on-One Engagement: Restaurant professionals fondly remember the hay days when email comprised an effective direct marketing strategy. Poof! Diners received customized event and menu information straight to their (non-spam) inboxes! Amid today’s clutter of messaging, Snapchat offers a new tool for honest-to-goodness one-on-one engagement. Restaurants and chefs can send personal snaps to their followers.

Bypasses the Formality: Instagram, initially intended to share the “instantaneous” moments of life, has transformed to feature a highly filtered showcase of staged photos. Snapchat begins to fill the gap left by other evolving social media channels. Not only is formality not necessary, it’s shunned. Snapchat users expect — nay, demand — raw footage that rekindles the personal, “behind-the-scenes” sense of exclusivity craved by millennials.

How Should You Use Snapchat?

Offer Clever Coupons: Post discounts that followers can screenshot and present for a limited offer. For an extra boost of viral, encourage your followers to share with a friend, and if both customers cash in the coupon, they receive an additional sum-sum!

Demo something new! Rolling out a new menu item? Debuting a fresh recipe? Appeal to your audience’s desire for exclusivity by providing a live preview prior to launch. Score bonus points by showing your staff’s personality. Does the chef indulge in a guilty snack before experimenting with recipes to boost creativity? Honest editorial comments garner attention, as evidenced partly by DJ Khaled’s famous Lost at Sea Snapchat story.

Promote Your Next Event: If you’re launching a special dinner or hosting a partnering chef, whet your followers’ palates with a preview of the menu or dishes. Post a light-hearted interview with staff or guest chefs, or share a late-night prep session for the big event. Bonus points: craft your own on-demand Snapchat geofilters, like IHOP.

Just a few ideas to get you snapping! Looking to boost the rest of your social media as well? Check out our tips on crafting Facebook ads for restaurants.

Ramp Up Your Restaurant

May 11, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PRfood marketing, ramps, restaurant marketing, Restaurant PR, the secret ingredient

It’s like a secret club. Foodies scour menus for this en vogue ingredient every spring. Popular restaurants — from fine dining to hipster joints — use ramps to garnish soups, zest salads, stuff pastas and even muddle into cocktails. Il Palio, a Clairemont client, underscores its menu with these foraged, onion-like greens that seem to be the leprechaun of spring ingredients. Catch them while you can!

So what gives ramps the edge?

It’s the secret ingredient factor. Ramps provide a sense of culinary elitism, a phenomenon that extends back to basic supply and demand economics. Ramps are rare not only because they’re seasonal but also because they’re foraged; suppliers must discover them, not cultivate them.

Jed Portman, an editor of Garden and Gun, shows off his own recently foraged ramps on Instagram. — Jed Portman, an editor of Garden and Gun, shows off his own ramps on Instagram.

Ramps pack a punch, too. Bon Appetit warns home cooks to prepare their palates. The intense, garlicky aroma can linger around the house for days. Memorable and distinct, ramps also offer a plethora of versatile applications. Venture beyond slicing and dicing for salads. Try deep frying it, Epicurious suggests.

These factors create a sense of urgency that launches ramps to the top of every foodie’s bucket list. Regardless if ramps are actually on your menu, chefs, restauranteurs and culinary marketers can glean a tidbit from this ingredient’s unexpected stardom.

What is your restaurant’s “secret ingredient?” Perhaps you feature a rare item, or perhaps your chef offers an intriguing twist on standard fare. And while culinary specialties are certainly a defining highlight, your hallmark may not be a specific ingredient or even a style of cooking. Explore your atmosphere, your service and your staff’s personality. Anyone remember Ed Debevic’s? Its infamy lives through its service — or lack thereof — rather than its cuisine. And that works well for its marketing persona!

Now that you’ve defined your hallmark, find out tips to name your restaurant or new menu item!

Go On. Be Cheesy.

April 28, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PRbranding, cheese, food pr, Food Trends, restaurant marketing, Restaurant PR1 Comment

I’ve been astounded by the recent surge of articles and posts highlighting one of my favorite indulgences: cheese. Raclette NYC’s “melted wheel of cheese” video has circulated through my Instagram feed more than once, matched in popularity perhaps only by the video of pasta made in a cheese wheel. The New York Times, Food and Wine, Cooking Light and Tasting Table have all featured this superstar ingredient within the last 24 hours.

And what’s up with the rainbow grilled cheese? I’m not sure if I’m about to eat a sandwich or a patty of melted skittles.

And yet fans worldwide profess a lifelong loyalty to this ingredient, evident from the grocery cart to the Instagram account. Cheese has mastered some secret to success that if emulated could transform us into famous marketers, writers, chefs, accountants, friends and general human beings. Here are two traits that struck me.

Versatility. Compare the casual warmth of an after-school grilled cheese to the complex sophistication of a French fromage board. Cheese has served as a melted dip, a salad topping and a main course; it has been shaped into balls, fried into crispy straws, whipped into waffles and concocted into cosmetic face masks.
Individuality. Despite more than 1,800 listed types on Cheese.com, no two are alike. Each boasts a distinct flavor profile, from the nutty grassiness of Roquefort to Taleggio, which SeriousEats describes as “rich, buttery, meaty, feet.” Feet. Quite specific and infinitely memorable!

Ah, the lessons we can learn from food. Versatility and specificity, applied to any field, can strengthen market messaging, build brand affinity and even develop new customer demographics. Bottom line?

It’s ok to be a little cheesy now and then.

Feeling snackish? Check out Clairemont’s favorite healthy recipes.

Thanks to Felicia Perry for our cheesy cover image.

What’s in a (Restaurant) Name?

April 13, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PRbrand development, branding, food pr, restaurant branding, Restaurant PR, restaurant PR in raleigh

Remember Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s love-trodden saga? In her pivotal monologue from the balcony, Juliet proffers the query, “What’s in a name?” as she weighs the merits of pursuing Romeo.

Shakespeare and marketers share something in common. While branding entails much more than just a name, PR professionals understand the weight that words carry. For example, who would have guessed that Texas Pete hot sauce is actually made in Winston-Salem, North Carolina?

When naming a restaurant, new menu item or even a culinary event, the name matters. We put our heads together with colleague, marketing consultant and brand strategist, Ilina Ewen, to cull a few name development do’s and dont’s.

Do:

Identify your brand first.

What is the promise you are making to your customer? Develop your foundational principles (your reason for existing!) and consider the experience you envision customers enjoying. Is it an energized drive-through diner centered on southern recipes or a mellow, relaxing wine bar that celebrates comfort and conversation? The ambience will inform the next step — identifying your future diners and your brand voice.

Scope out the competition.

Before committing to a restaurant name or design, give a gander at other venues in the area. If you’re developing a fast-casual chicken joint, it might be best to steer clear of curly red font reinforced with, say, cow mascots. Take inventory of everything from colors and geometrics to verbiage and ambience to latch on to your differentiating factor.

Reinforce with visuals.

Words are powerful, yes, but they don’t function in a vacuum. This is where a strong graphic designer can help put meat on the bones of your concept through visuals that project your restaurant’s experience. Some brands will need more direct imagery than others. For example, it’s quite clear the cuisine that’s served at Noodles & Company. But Harvest 18? This culinary gem requires distinct visuals — such as the tractor in the logo — to help clarify its farm-fresh approach to southern food.

Don’t:

Name it after that random guy.

Things like Dave’s Diner or Evan’s Eatery. Unless Dave or Evan are local celebrities or culturally relevant icons, their names convey nothing of importance to the potential diner — especially if they no longer work at the restaurant. Don’t get us wrong. We love Five Guys’ hand-crafted burgers and fries — probably too much! But until you taste that heaven on a bun, prospective diners receive no clues about the restaurant’s delectable menu.

Skip your homework on cultural implications.

Research not just the words and phrases but also the cultural sensitivities surrounding your proposed name. If exploring ethnic cuisine, watch for double entendres or cultural appropriation that might spark anything from aversion to irateness in your audience.

Blabber.

Keep in mind that most restaurants or events need to establish an online presence, and lengthy or verbose names don’t translate well into social media handles. Avoid easily misconstrued characters, such as the hyphen or the number one, and use capitalization to emphasize otherwise confusing phrases.

Clairemont CEO Dana Hughens faced the challenge of naming her own agency in 2010. Check out her article published on Spin Sucks.

Branding Lessons from a Food Truck

March 30, 2016January 31, 2023 Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PRfood truck branding, food truck marketing, Raleigh food trucks, restaurant branding, restaurant marketing, Restaurant PR, Triangle food trucks

Raleigh’s newest culinary experiment is staging a mashup between brick-and-mortar restaurants and mobile ones. Launched in March of 2016, this pilot program allows food trucks to park curbside in designated downtown areas without the hassle of pulling a permit.

A food truck presents a conundrum and an exciting challenge for the marketer. How do you build brand credibility and customer loyalty in a product that is, well, inherently transient? Bold success stories, like Chirba Chirba and American Meltdown, prove that somethin’s workin’, and a peek under the hood unveils several best practices that can bolster any brand.

The Power of the Punch

Ever been in a food truck? Not exactly a penthouse. Limited by approximately 100 square feet, food truck owners have to make every inch count, from the logo to the lamps. They’re forced to fine tune their reason for existence to one ingredient, theme or feeling. Not just seafood. Not just lobster. Maine Lobster, thank you very much.

Oh, if only all restaurants used such specificity! Strong brands define one simple statement that then anchor all business decisions or marketing strategies. Don’t be everything to everyone or even some things to some people. Define the why, how and what of your brand and use it to guide next steps.

(For more on this, check out chapter eight of Garfield and Levy’s “Can’t Buy Me Like.”)

The Convenience of Mobility

There’s a reason Domino’s doorstep delivery is still up and running. Especially for our ever-growing millennials, convenience heavily influences spending power.

No, this doesn’t mean that your restaurant needs to break the bank creating a catering arm next week. It does, however, remind us to encourage individual attention and problem solving in our customer service, to take a second look at the physical layout of the dining room or the logistics of paying the bill. How can we smooth the customer’s path to deliver convenience that exceeds their expectations? What systems, practices or messages can we employ to personalize their dining experiences?

The Culture of Sharing

Food truck owners must have been paying attention in kindergarten. They’ve cultivated a collaborative culture — as evidenced by Raleigh’s food truck rodeo — that celebrates strength in numbers while still honoring individuality and diversity. They’re comfortable with sharing the spotlight, space or event because they understand that a rising tide lifts all ships.

Other Raleigh business owners (even other restaurants) have caught on and invite food trucks to events to boost public appeal. A common audience with converging interests is a ready made customer base for both parties!

For more fun, check out branding lessons Dana learned from her then 10-year-old son.

A special thanks to Art Sheppard, food truck expert and author of The Wandering Sheppard for his photos and insight into Raleigh’s food truck scene!