Is traditional dining out, dying?

Is traditional dining out, dying?

While once it was the familiar hospitality of the owner/maître’d that was a drawcard to a restaurant, it is now the rock star chef who ensures a full restaurant night after night. Although he/she may not actually be on-site - possibly at their ‘pop-up’ experiment in an up-and-coming-but-still-cool-and-dingy suburb, or cooking for the city’s elite at a 10-chef charity ball, or hosting a ‘casual’ early evening, sun-setting BBQ on the deck at ‘home’ with friends (but only the beautiful friends, because it will be featured in a Sunday lifestyle liftout’s pages next month) - it seems to be that the art of hospitality and dining as an occasion, is slowly fading. 

Dining used to be a consuming (pardon the pun) experience – not just the food, but the  interaction with the owner and staff, the décor, the music, the view, the wine, were all determining factors as to one’s decision to visit or return to a restaurant. Nowadays, it really is all about the food. And the pre-cursors to the main event (the food) don’t weigh in anymore – good service is lacking and it really doesn’t matter anymore if the venue has a view of a sparkling harbour or a dilapidated and graffitied laneway wall.

All of this makes me feel for the humble, hard working and ever-present restaurateur. It is unfortunate that his style of hospitality is not what people want anymore. It seems most punters would rather be in the insular company of their friends taking pics of the food rather than have a conversation with this stalwart of the community, while he pours the wine he has specifically selected and recommended for the group.

The question is - how do these businesses survive going forward? It is no longer a matter of a $70 weekly ad in the local rag, or a letterbox drop to the local residents. It’s almost not cool to advertise and market traditionally anymore…..as one of my digital marketing friends said, ‘it screams desperation!’. Discount/coupon websites don’t really work in the long run. They might be a quick cash injection, but ultimately, are these customers going to return to pay full price next month? Unfortunately, the answer is ‘not likely’.

Does the restaurateur reinvent? Change the theme of the menu? Overnight, become a canteen, a diner, or a pop-up? There will always be new trends in food and dining, but surely its senseless reinventing to the point where the passion is lost. After all, passion is why our restaurateur is in this business.

Does he diversify? Add a breakfast service? Offer takeaways? Catering? To a point, yes. Diversification is not a bad word. Ask Richard Branson. But there is still the fundamental problem of marketing these new ventures.

So, it to comes down to this. We’re in a brave new world, people. It is either time to embrace the new and casual approach to marketing and filter that through to the end product, or become another casualty in the constantly evolving dining scene. This fickle and well-informed new customer is here for good, so veterans of the industry need to act now. Start with using social media as a platform to talk to your customer and get up close and personal with them – start the relationship with them before they even set foot in the restaurant. Show behind-the-scenes pics – people LOVE behind-the-scenes (especially of a kitchen).  Mention ‘the chef’ – A LOT! Send the chef to the markets and ‘hand pick’ the ingredients for tonight’s service - just make sure that it is photographed and posted to Facebook! 

Of course, social media (and other types of marketing) is only half the battle. Maintaining a passion for a great product, staying true to oneself and projecting a level of confidence by ensuring staff and colleagues are just as passionate, will always be the most basic necessities for a successful restaurant....canteen....food truck...or dare i say it - pop-up! 

On the other side of the coin, thanks to new, young, forward thinkers in the restaurant world, we have access like never before to great food which is affordable and approachable. Just like we say women dress for other women, similarly in the days of 'haute cuisine' of the 80s and 'molecular gastronomy of the naughties' chefs seemed to be designing menus and dishes for other chefs and industry peers, rather than for the diner. It all seemed so out of reach for the majority of the population. 

Even as recently as the last five years, as mentioned earlier, dining out has become second nature, and not so much a special occasion. This is due to many factors - accessibility to great produce, our ever-evolving array of cultures in Australia, and we also probably have cooking shows on TV to thank for this as well. People are so much more food savvy than ever before, and restaurateurs and chefs are needing to keep up with this discerning customer, otherwise he will just stroll down to the new Greek street food place on the next corner!

So who wins? It is us, the diner! We are so lucky to have so many different styles, themes and cuisines in Australia. If we, as consumers can strike a balance when it comes to our eating habits - enjoy each style of dining for what it is, the more formal and traditional restaurateur will survive as long as he is adaptable but without compromising on the 'experience' offered to each guest. The rock star chef owner/operator is having a moment right now, and this will continue, as long as he keeps the diner front of mind, and the critics, Instagram, and awards a step behind this.