What does Social Media Have to do with Fine Dining?
I recently returned to my former hometown to begin going through the effects of my father who passed away in January. I brought my wife along, as the time of my visit was also our 15th wedding anniversary. I decided to take my wife out to dinner at one of my parents’ favorite restaurants as a special anniversary treat. When I made our reservation online, the restaurant’s form asked for any comments or special requests. I indicated that our dinner was for our 15th wedding anniversary and that their restaurant was a perennial favorite of my parents both of who have passed away.
Prior to our arrival, I received a form email response confirming our reservation but with no acknowledgement of my comments. A second, non-personalized email showed up the day of our reservation asking us to cancel the reservation in the event that we could not make it.
When we arrived at the restaurant, about a third of its eleven tables were filled. No other diners showed up after us so this was not a particularly busy night. We were greeted rather coldly and not by name and were ushered to a table in the middle of the room. The female greeter ended up waiting on us as well. At no time did she ask our names or indicate any interest in our visit other than our order. I asked for the owner of the restaurant since he knew my parents and was informed that he was not working that night. As it turned out our waitress was his wife. Still, no recognition of what brought us to their restaurant that night.
About halfway through the meal, when my wife had left the table, I could contain myself no longer and asked if the waitress knew who we were and that this evening was a special occasion. She said, rather offended, “yes, I greeted you (although she had never referred to us by name) and gave you a nice table. We didn’t want to make too much hoopla over the occasion.” I left it at that. For the rest of the meal there was no further mention of our anniversary even when my wife returned to the table.
Finally, at desert each of our plates had one ordinary, striped birthday candle presented to us with a dispassionate “Happy Anniversary”. That was it. No further conversation, congratulations or any mention of my parents’ patronage. When I retuned home, I received another non-personalized form email that simply said, “Thank You”.
So, what does this have to do with social media? Everything. Brands of all kinds from multi-billion dollar conglomerates to single chain fine dining establishments have the opportunity to engage their customers in genuine, authentic two-way conversations. However, if you are going to invite customers to talk to you, even in a “comments” box on your website, you need to pay attention to what is being said and respond appropriately. If not your “in-authenticity” will be evident and your customers will spread the word with astonishing rapidity.
I recently had a conversation with an agency client who said that one of his clients wants to try social media for a few months and if it doesn’t work, then move on to something else. This is a disaster waiting to happen. It you let customers know that you want to hear from them, want to engage in a meaningful dialog and then ignore their entreaties the end results will be worse than if you never attempted to engage at all.
As for our meal, the food was wonderful. However the experience that I had been expecting was fully unrealized leaving a considerable bad taste in my mouth. For anyone looking for an exceptinal fine dining experience in Greenwich, Connecticut this place will come to mind but my appraisal will always end with a completely avoidable, but…
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Comments
Contratulations. Excellent article. I fully agree. I have had similar experiences and similar feelings.
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