The majority of a restaurant’s guests will generally be from the local area surrounding its location. They’ll often visit initially and return because of a feeling of familiarity and comfort that comes with enjoying a local establishment. It can also provide a great feeling of pride in supporting a local business and by extension their community whenever they dine at a local restaurant. By leveraging that experience, restaurant and hotel managers can attract more guests.There are a few ways to incorporate the approachability of a local eatery into an establishment without changing the characteristics that make it unique in the community.
Local Ingredients
Establishing relationships with local farmers (where possible) or suppliers who source locally can add a huge level of authenticity to a restaurant. A steakhouse that gets its meat from a butcher down the street or an ethnic restaurant that gets its spices and ingredients from local farms and greenhouses benefit from patrons’ desire to support their community (as mentioned above) as well as the level of comfort offered by knowing exactly where the food is coming from. Restaurants that source locally will be much more appealing than those who receive their ingredients from a large supplier.
Create a comfortable space
There will be times when sourcing locally is not possible due to location or cost, but that doesn’t mean an establishment can’t benefit from the at-home feeling of a local experience. Restaurant managers can incorporate the work of local artists into their décor. Integrating the home-grown artist community into the business might not explicitly register with diners, but will help to register the sense of place that they’re looking for on a subconscious level. Local industry and history also creates a sense of place; for example, a restaurant in a town with a rich fishing history will incorporate that into their menu and décor to celebrate the culture that built the town.
Another way of creating a comfortable space for guests is to incorporate authentic experiences into your programming. We’ve seen a number a ways of doing this; in Denver, a hotel restaurant called Second Home holds a weekend brunch that encourages guests and local families to attend in their pajamas and enjoy movies and a breakfast buffet. Other restaurants and bars use trivia nights (popular in college and university towns) and team nights to create a welcoming community atmosphere that appeals to both locals and out-of-town guests.
Be specific
Specificity is essential to creating the sought-after experience that people are drawn to. The value of the restaurant is in the experience it provides and by being too general (i.e. sports vs. local sports teams) people lose interest – they’ve seen it before in other places.
Hotel managers should take note of the benefit of creating an authentic local experience in hotel restaurants as well. As we wrote about before, room service is losing out to online ordering, so creating an experience in the restaurant can help keep money in the building while attracting local patrons as well.
A guest experience audit from Braymark can also help gauge the level of comfort people feel when they visit your business and help to identify areas to increase revenue. To see the Braymark difference, contact us today!
