The Best Restaurants Are in the Business of Creating Memories

It goes without saying that the best restaurants don’t just sell food. Instead, they sell fantastic experiences promising great memories. In fact, given the information deluge today, it’s the only way for your restaurant to be remembered by the diners. With diners’attention span getting ever shorter, only the most compelling memories can help here.

A diner’s memory today as poor as this. Ask him the names of restaurants he has been to in the last month. He’ll only be able to name three or four at best. To come up with five will be a real struggle. The reason? Simple. Information overload.

Your restaurant must be able own some space in a diner’s mind, the most valuable real estate in the world. As the renowned restaurant marketing blogger Joel Cohen observes, “…when 80% of buying experiences are based on emotional intangibles – the level of how your customers feel they are being treated, making memories as a strategy just can’t be ignored.”

As a restaurateur, you have to pay mind to what the poet Angelou Mayo said once, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did – but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If you really make your diners feel great and special, that will be vividly remembered by them.

If some people come to your restaurant to celebrate a special occasion, say, a wedding anniversary, a loved one’s birthday, or a major achievement, help them make it even more special and even more memorable to them down to the tiniest details. Be a great host with a genuine concern for them. Remember that this goes beyond a complimentary cake or a bottle of champagne.

Rather than sticking to hard and fast formula, it’ll be best to rely on your intuitive judgment of what the diners really desire or what will really delight them and act on those insights. Over time, you’ll learn to tune in to what’s expected but unsaid and serve them better, which will lead to some delightful memories.