Experiential. High-value. Exclusive. These words come up repeatedly when consumers are surveyed about what they enjoy about restaurant dining nowadays – and what makes them crave a return visit. In the recently published LDEI Trends Report 2023, one theme that emerged was how bringing chefs front and center – in more ways than before – can help restaurants succeed in accommodating those consumer preferences. The visibility of your chef can send a message about everything from your restaurant’s values to the quality of the experience you offer. Because consumers are increasingly savvy about ingredients, food sourcing and how various foods affect their personal health, chefs can add interest and education to a menu offering by finding ways to share the story of sourcing a special, high-quality ingredient and how it makes a significant difference in a dish. They can also make on-trend meal preparation methods more accessible – like by showcasing how to bring vegetables to the center of the plate in appealing ways, for example. Seeing chefs cook – in a pop-up setting, table-side, at a chef’s station in your restaurant, or even in a food truck – can lend some spontaneity to a meal and make it feel like an exclusive experience – something worth more than the price of the food itself. Regardless of your restaurant category, you can benefit from making your chefs a highly visible part of the experience you offer. Are there opportunities you haven’t tested yet? It’s a theme that has persisted since the pandemic: Consumers simply want more from restaurants than quality food and drink these days. As factors such as food inflation, threats of recession, and the slimming down of menus and staff rosters have made ordering restaurant food a harder sell for consumers, more operators have turned up their experience factor to help attract traffic. The result is a restaurant that feels like it’s as much about the atmosphere and excitement of the experience as about the food on the menu. As a recent Forbes report details, experiential dining can involve such elements as immersive themes, interactive elements, storytelling or entertainment. This can be achieved by changing up guest expectations through rotating pop-up concepts, themed dining events, or collaborations with guest chefs or complementary businesses, for example. Similarly, US Foods reports that more restaurants are boosting their experiential vibe with entertaining tableside prep, such as fancy knifework displays and avant-garde, Instagram-worthy cocktails. These approaches also provide natural opportunities for businesses to promote their offerings on social media, entice guests who are active on social platforms to share content from their visit, and forge partnerships with online influencers who can further spread the word. Even if you’re not looking to put on a show for guests, think of experiential dining as simply a means of keeping things interesting for guests. This can be a natural outgrowth of the way you have had to make regular changes on your menu due to supply chain snags or the changing of the seasons. Consider rotating in more limited-time offerings or specials, or featuring a reinvented menu of drinks, appetizers or entrées each season to keep the experience new and fresh for your guests. Looking back at the past year can reveal some clues as to what we can expect in the year ahead. For many restaurants last year, food became more creative again as restaurants looked for ways to provide fresh experiences to guests while sticking to small core menus and tight budgets. One approach restaurants used accomplished this – and are likely to use again this year – is offering a rapid progression of limited-time offers. Technomic research found that in October alone, restaurants introduced more than 2,200 new menu items, of which a whopping 93 percent were limited-time offers. These items are vehicles that enable restaurants to inject something new into the menu on a frequent basis. Restaurant Business reported that some restaurants have been offering limited-time menu items with shifting seasonal ingredients, variations on core menu items, and more innovative items that allow chefs to test potential new offerings or show off a skill that might not have a chance to shine on a core menu. As you look ahead to the rest of the year, are there opportunities to more frequently change up your offerings with items that can refresh the experience you offer guests? Times are changing. While Thanksgiving was once a quintessential home-based holiday, many more consumers stepped out to restaurants for their meal this year. Restaurant Business found that the percentage of consumers who planned to eat their Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant this year was double what it was last year. So project this forward to the holidays to come. As your restaurant plans for the festive season, experiences will continue to be important – and there may be an opportunity for you to provide high-value dining experiences for your guests. Restaurant bookings are showing that there is an appetite for it. Plus, at a time when convenience is so important to consumers, helping them avoid spending a day in the kitchen preparing food for holiday meals could hold strong appeal. If being short-staffed has had a negative impact on your online reviews, take heart that you’re not alone: According to Yelp’s State of the Industry Report, complaints over short-staffed restaurants shot up 229 percent in the first quarter of the year. But some positive – and telling – news came to the surface as well: Slower service and higher prices have not deterred guests, who have shown continued interest in both indoor and outdoor dining options. In fact, NPD Group reports that on-premise restaurant visits climbed 38 percent during the first quarter as compared to the 45 percent drop at the same time last year. At the same time, people are being drawn to dining options that offer an experience: Yelp reported openings for conveyor sushi spiked 500 percent, dinner theater increased 240 percent, supper clubs rose 200 percent and themed cafes climbed 75 percent over the same period last year. Of course, last year looked quite different from this year in a number of ways – and now we’re looking at the likely prospect of a minor recession (and a rise in unemployment) on the horizon. To be sure, the constant fluctuations in the economy and ongoing labor challenges will keep operators on their toes in the months ahead. But the good news is that consumers will continue to look for positive experiences that provide an escape. Where possible, consider what experiences you can offer guests that require minimal labor – whether through automation, pop-ups, or rotating menu items that have an experiential element. |
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