MARKETING: How Are People Searching Online for Restaurants?
In order to grow your business and keep your tables filled, you need to understand how people are choosing where they want to eat. In today’s world, that decision making process is heavily influenced by two factors: previous experiences and searching online. Hopefully you give your guests a great experience to encourage them to come back, but for people who’ve never been to your restaurant, all you have to work with is potential customers searching online.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Kids, AmIRite?
A North Carolina sports TV station tweeted out a video of an East Carolina University football fan chucking a can of beer… through his nose. Gross. Anyways, you can watch this fan in all his glory here.
Moth Memes
Moth memes is a the latest weird and highly amusing Internet trend. For those who don’t know it, it’s literally just memes of a moth and its love for lamp. Anyways, we found two restaurant-related moth memes that you can save and share with your guests for social fodder. Check ‘em here.
Turning Grape Juice into Wine
Think Jesus can do this? Here’s a fun little post in which a wine-enthusiast decided to try to make their own homebrew wine out of a couple of Welch’s fruit juice concentrates. As the author says, “this recipe is to winemaking as the East-Bake Oven is to making elegant French pastries.” Consider us sold.
END OF AN ERA
Why it matters to you: HBO was a pioneer of sports on television.
Back when I was in high school, my dad was the first guy in our neighborhood to have HBO. It required a separate antenna, but it opened up a world of entertainment that broadcast TV simply couldn’t deliver. My father was an early adopter for one reason: Boxing. HBO has been a stalwart presence in the world of boxing for the last 45 years. That’s why their announcement they are discontinuing the content in 2019 is so sad. During that time, we have all watch some amazing battles on both regular HBO and their PPV programming. My first PPV memory was of an epic fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and my home town hero Marvin Hagler.
As always, the question is why does it matter to you? It may also be another example of the waning interest in boxing. When we first began SportsTV Guide in the early 2000s, there was a major PPV event for boxing monthly. That has faded to just a few times per year. Add the reduced interest to the rise of streaming and direct content delivery and you can easily see why things are ending at HBO Boxing.
There are some replacements. FOX and ESPN have both made commitments to more regular boxing events with Premier Champions and Top Rank affiliations. Unfortunately, neither of them have ever been able to come close to the spectacle and grandeur of a major HBO PPV.
[Source: Awful Annoucing]
PLEASE TELL YOUR SERVER
Why it matters to you: Allergies will always be a challenge in our industry, but we must do better.
Do you know who Ming Tsai is? He’s a famous chef who also runs his restaurants. This is important because in doing so, he has made a major commitment to food safety, specifically allergy management. This comes up because a 15-year-old girl recently died because she ate sesame in a sandwich purchased on the go at the airport in London. Authorities point to a lack of labeling and inaccuracies as major causes of this teen’s death, but it also comes down to how you approach your management of allergy concerns.
In Ming Tsai’s case, he created a resource that contains the complete recipe for each item on his menu that clearly lists the ingredients. His own daughter’s case was his inspiration. He figured if he was managing this as a parent, so were many others. Consequently, he focused on how to make it a better experience for folks with allergies at his restaurants.
A sad truth in our industry is that we do an unconscious calculus that balances the cost of running our business with the cost of managing issues like allergies and hygiene. At least for Ming Tsai and hopefully more of you, that calculation won’t preclude you from being safe and sensitive when it comes to the allergies your guests present. Literally, someone’s life may depend on it.
[Source: Skift]
