Food for thought

This month I’m speaking to restaurant owners. You juggle food costs, staff schedules, and the occasional customer who wants their steak “medium rare but not pink.” The last thing you need is to remember that at closing time on February 13th, it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and your big promotion is still a half-baked idea scribbled on a napkin.

Some dates are circled on your customers’ calendars months in advance. And they should be circled on yours, too. V-Day is coming up. What should you do differently this year? V-Day is a built-in revenue generator. Couples are expected to go out, and if you’re not their first choice, you’re not a choice at all. A smartly planned, “love is in the air” menu, complete with champagne and finished off with an aphrodisiac-like dessert will make you the Culinary Cupid. But your message to your target audience, in this case “arrow”, must have “meat”.

Planning ahead for special events and holidays isn’t just a nice to have, it’s something that is being handed to you on a platter. Every chef will have it in their cookbook to do something special. But in many cases, running a restaurant is 24/7 and acting upon it will be last minute. You must plan to turn slow nights into a “we’re-booked until next week” scenario. Your creative juices must always be on to keep your dining room full (while your competitors stare at empty tables).

Here’s the catch. While you’re a pro at food and hospitality, creating razor-sharp marketing is another craft entirely. Writing compelling copy and designing scroll-stopping visuals is not the same as designing a menu or new recipe. When restaurants do their own advertising, a few things tend to happen. Everything sounds the same. “Join us for a special Valentine’s Dinner” could be any place within a 1000-mile radius. Messages drift into “chef-speak” instead of in the customer’s language. You think “elevated casual share plates,” while your guests are thinking, “date night fun.” You’re simply too close to it all.

Hiring an advertising or creative content provider isn’t an ego check, it’s a smart business move. You belong in the kitchen, not the creative bullpen. You see a new pasta dish, a content creator sees “the linguine that saves marriages.” Creatives turn events into stories, not just specials. A “Three-Course Apology Menu” for V-Day or a Mother’s Day campaign built around “She did the diapers, you do the dinner” is the kind of hook people actually talk about and share. Make the message emotional.

Creatives help you stand out in a sea of lookalike posts, generic flyers, and templated emails. Most importantly, they see you the way a guest does, not the way a line cook does. You don’t grind your own flour, raise your own cows, or hand-blow your own wine glasses. No. You rely on specialists because it makes your product better. Do the same with your message. Let the cooks do the cooking and the creatives do the creative. Your job is to focus on perfectly seared ribe eye and soufflé that won’t collapse. Let creatives create mouth-watering ads with words and visuals while you make stomachs grumble with sauces and sweets.

By the way, this applies to more than restaurants, but I think I’m hungry.

Bon appetit, mark.