Dear Restaurants, Sell less food and more ambiance!
Judging by the title of this post, you might think that I am slowly losing marbles. As true as that might be, I want you to hear me out. Yes, food is one of the most essential aspects of running a successful restaurant, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. When I speak about ambiance, I am not talking about just lowering the lights and playing romantic music to set the mood. What I mean by ambiance, is how much of an experience are you selling?
People will always come back for the food if its great. The difficult part is standing out. Anyone can cook rice and beans, pasta, chicken or anything for that matter and make it taste amazing. The differentiating factor is the ambiance. What do people feel when they are at your restaurant? Does it feel like another place to go out to eat or does it provide a scapegoat for them for the next hour that they are there.
The restaurants that survive the test of time are the ones that provide more than just food experience but an experience that stimulates a customers overall mood. Being able to create an experience that another restaurant replicate is super critical. Your restaurant is taking a shift from just selling food to selling an overall experience. Just like people will pay good money for concerts, sporting events, and different events, people would pay and wait to experience your restaurant. The previous statement is only possible if you are fully committing to selling an experience that supersede just food.
To better understand what I am trying to explain, there are some restaurants that do an excellent job of creating an excellent ambiance. Cuban Pete’s in Montclair, NJ creates a unique experience from the moment you enter the restaurant. The entrance is a 50 feet walk way through a wooden plank road filled with palm trees and vintage cuban decor leading to a beautiful outside seating patio. The inside is filled with more vintage decor, workers in guayaberas and fedoras, and truly sells a Cuban/Miami feel experience. From the bright colors that cover the walls to the plates the food is served on, Cuban Petes is a restaurant that is worth experiencing at least once.
Another restaurant that sells an amazing experience is Cafe Archetypus in Edgewater, NJ. Another prime example of creating an amazing ambient experience. When you first enter the cafe, what seems to be another place with regular tables, quickly becomes a dimly lit cave. The seating puts you in individual booths that are formed by caves and is lit by a single candle. Although hard to see, the experience on its own is one of a kind and truly an experience everytime.
These are just a few restaurants who hit the nail on the head when it comes to ambiance. You want to create an experience for people that goes past the food, past the service and allows them to be amazed by the architecture. If your creating your own restaurant, I highly recommend you think about the ambiance aspect of your restaurant. As I previously mentioned, food is important, if not the most important aspect of your restaurant. But as a restaurant owner if you truly want to raise the bar in your cuisine, create an ambiance that gets the whole community talking! Hone in your creativity when designing your restaurant and create a truly unique experience for your guests
