Appealing to Foodies
Appealing to Foodies – Foodies are a selective bunch. They’re also very likely to blog about restaurants are at least leave reviews or talk about their experience on social media, which can have an impact on your business.
How do you appeal to them?
It starts with ambience.
The tables should be well lit without it having a spotlight on them and the décor should be simple, but tasteful. Anything too overwhelming may take away from the focus – which is and always should be about the food.
Unlike most diners, foodies want the whole experience and that means it’s going to be all about the different senses. If the food tastes good, but doesn’t look appealing, that’s a problem.
Do your best dishes qualify as foodporn?
The sounds within your restaurant are going to impact the eating experience as well. There is such a thing as too loud and too quiet. Take the time to walk outside of your restaurant and then walk back in. what do you hear? If you can’t have a conversation with the person in front of you, turn the volume down. If you can hear a fork drop from across the restaurant, consider adding some music in the dining room.
Smell is a big deal, too. This is something that can cause people to turn around and walk out before they have even been seated – or cause people to start salivating instantly upon walking through the doors.
Make sure the smell is pleasant, without one flavor being too pungent. Fish can be a dangerous item because it has the habit of lingering. If you do serve fish in your restaurant, be sure that the smell doesn’t overpower everything else you are serving.
It’s also important to be on point with some of the leading trends. While you can have some items that are “good ‘ol fashioned comfort food” you may want to get creative and think about different ways of presenting it.
Watch Top Chef and read Food & Wine to get inspiration for presentation.
Finally, get on social media and start reaching out to influential foodies in your neighborhood.
Find an enticing way to get them into your restaurant.
The thing about most foodies is that they know what’s good and they love to share the details of new places.
The payoff happens automatically.