What does Chef Ben put on all of his tomatoes before they leave our
kitchen?” This was Grace restaurant’s Facebook update on October 28th.
The person who answered correctly was promised a $50 gift
certificate.
Over 200 guesses (ranging from sea salt to mini cucumbers), one
hour, and one hint later, someone finally got the right answer:
gastrique. Since then, chef/owner Ben Vaughn has been doing food and
wine trivia giveaways about once a week.
Christiana Leibovich, who participated in the tomato quiz, was
endeared by it. “It made me feel like they were fun, and I liked
connecting with the owner/chef,” she says.
Vaughn also updates with pictures of dishes, specials, and general
restaurant info. “It really creates fan ownership for Grace,” he says.
“When customers come in for lunch or dinner, they kinda already know me
and feel like it’s their place.”
The user-friendly formats of Facebook and Twitter have made them
especially popular with restaurants. David Lindsey, director of
marketing for Sekisui, Inc., says, “With Facebook and Twitter, we don’t
have to give away anything to gain fans. The effects of viral marketing
that are built into social networking sites do the work for us.”
Deni Reilly says that when she first created the Majestic Grille fan
page, she sent it out to just her group of friends. Those friends sent
it to their friends and so on. “In a few days we had hundreds of
members that I didn’t know,” Reilly says. “The people who sign up as
fans of your page are genuinely interested, so you’ve already got a
built-in target audience.”
Reilly says she was hesitant about using Twitter at first. She says,
“I figured, other than my mother, who really cares that much?” After
some research and requests from her guests, she added Twitter to the
marketing plan but in a very specific way. “Every morning, we tweet our
lunch or brunch specials and, in the late afternoon, our dinner
specials, and people love it.” Reilly says.
What Lindsey appreciates most about Facebook and Twitter is that
most any restaurant manager can learn to use the services in about five
minutes. “It doesn’t cost anything, and I don’t have to provide tech
support,” he says.
Colleen Couch-Smith and Ben Smith of Tsunami like having the ability
to get feedback on things that are in the works. “It gives us a good
audience to sound off ideas to as well as a place for our customers to
have a voice,” Colleen says.
The folks at the Cove credit its Facebook page for helping people
become aware of their specials and promotions, but, like the Smiths,
they’ve really benefited from the feedback they receive on Facebook.
Mike Grabman, “the really tall bartender” who updates the bar’s page,
says, “It gives the customer a unique opportunity to communicate their
wants and desires for what the Cove should be. It is as much their
place to hang out and feel comfortable as it is our place.”
Christopher McRae, owner/operator of Main Street Hound Dogs and the
“best-looking purveyor of hot dogs, fresh squeezed limeades, soups and
hot drinks on the corner of Union and Main,” uses Twitter to better get
to know his customers. He got the idea from a New York Times
article his sister-in-law sent him. “I have found Twitter to be an
almost playful way for me to interact with my customers. I can look
them up and learn more about them,” McRae says.
It will be interesting to see where the social media revolution
takes the customer/restaurant relationship in the future. Ben Smith
jokingly contemplates adding a “reality TV” element onto Tsunami’s
Facebook page.
“I think that people get a vicarious pleasure,” he says, “from
watching other people go through the hell of running a restaurant.”
