Last week, I asked readers to not abandon their favorite restaurants during all this economic craziness. I reminded folks that it’s up to each of us, individually, to participate in the life and liveliness of our city and, to whatever extent we can, to keep things moving. I said that one of the more basic ways to add to community optimism is to get up out of the house and mingle with your neighbors at, for example, a restaurant.
This week, I’ll turn it around. This week, I’m telling restaurateurs and staffs — front of house, back of house and all points in between — to raise the bar.
This is the moment. Today.
If you want us to come to your restaurant, to spend the money that suddenly feels more valuable than ever, it’s time to dig deep, really deep, to give us an extra-compelling reason. It’s time to rev it up.
Easier said than done, I know. Restaurant work is taxing work. If you own a restaurant, you are already losing more sleep than usual, stressing out about making payroll, taxes, rent. And if you work at a restaurant, you’re up nights worrying whether you’ll suddenly have smaller tips, fewer shifts or, worse, no job at all.
But even if you’re losing sleep you must, somehow, find a way to step up your game. Even if you think you’re already at the top of it.
It is make-it-or-break-it time, and if you want butts in your seats, the hard truth is that you’re going to have to work smarter than ever to get them there.
There are two ways to go about it. One is concrete, one is esoteric, but both must be pursued.
First, a concrete way. Amp up the deals. Institute, and promote the heck out of, a half- price wine list one day of the week, like Solera does. Run a two-for-one prix fixe special, like Morton’s does, that doesn’t feel like a sacrifice to the customer. Up the ante on happy hours as Jax does. Change up your menu to something both simpler and more appealing, like Aix recently did. Gamble, and give us the something extra it will take to get us off of our couch and on to your banquette.
Second and more important: Help us feel better. Restaurants are community touchpoints, and restaurateurs are community leaders. People who don’t know their city council members’ names know yours, and your staffs’. You’ve taken up the mantle of neighborhood hospitality, which means we are looking to you, as community leaders, to set a new tone.
Now is the time to put your mettle to work — as practitioners of the vital, exquisite craft of hospitality.
That means feeding us, of course, and doing the dishes. But it really means making us feel good for a little while. As über-restaurateur Danny Meyer says in his memoir “Setting the Table”: “[F]ood is secondary to something that matters even more. In the end, what’s most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”
Now, more than ever.
