Can Social Media Help a Restaurant Facing a Catastrophe?

[DaveO]

We found the response to a one day quick post in arlnow to be spectacular and wrote about it on our little school blog: http://www.bartending-school.com/arlington-restaurants-making-chicken-salad-chicken-sh

I used to lease restaurants and just know the location inside the Courthouse courtyard is just terrible. Nearby neighbors miss the restaurant because its on the interior of the courtyard and does not have street front visibility.

Hundreds of people lined up to get free meals. We interviewed some eating on the patio. Astonishingly some were neighbors and simply didn't know the restaurant was available. They liked the meals, the offer in arlnow and the genuine response from the owner taking orders.

It was an incredible example of social media gone wild creating visibility that you can't get elsewhere.

Now for the restaurant I hope insurance covers everything and they are back in business in two weeks or so with increased customer awareness.

[Sthitch]

I really hope the best for them, but I wonder how many people that enjoyed their meals will remember the restaurant as a dining choice once it reopens. As the old adage goes, "out of sight, out of mind".

[DonRocks]

I'm really sorry to say this, but the key word here was "free."

<He says, while veteran restaurateurs collectively nod their heads in knowing agreement.>

[DaveO]

@sthitch and @don: I think you guys are very correct.

Still I found it amazing on a social media level and how viral that little single story in arlnow worked. It had all the power of a livingsocial or groupon...but even better--> FREE.

At 4:50 I was hungry having not eaten that day since an early breakfast and walked by that place. 30 people in line and channel 8 had a videographer. I rushed back grabbed my mobile to take pictures. At 5:10 the line was 60+ strong plus there were folks waiting on the patio who had ordered.

Took some pictures and created that story. I know it has social media attractiveness on many fronts across the nation to marketers of social media, hyper local news, etc.

I returned in two hours and the line was still 60+ strong of new people. Went and interviewed some people and yup they were in the neighborhood but had never visited this restaurant let alone knew it existed.

In retrospect, had I been the owner and had an extra body to spare I would have taken the email addresses of every customer that night. That would have been an email marketing list of several hundred strong. He didn't have extra bodies. The staff was pumping out food at their fastest pace ever. I hope the tip jar helped to pay the staff.

Mostly I was fascinated at how viral that little story went and how many people responded. yup, Don---the word FREE does work. but does it pay in the long term??? that is the trick.

Also interesting to see how channel 8 news put a hopeful positive spin on it so different from your two experienced/possibly jaded perspectives.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/05/damaged-by-flood-arlington-restaurant-gives-out-free-food-89411.html

[SeanMike]

When I lived over there I liked those guys, mostly because they were so friendly. After they reopen I'll have to make it a point to swing back by.

[jayandstacey]

@In retrospect, had I been the owner and had an extra body to spare I would have taken the email addresses of every customer that night. That would have been an email marketing list of several hundred strong. He didn't have extra bodies. The staff was pumping out food at their fastest pace ever. I hope the tip jar helped to pay the staff.

Mostly I was fascinated at how viral that little story went and how many people responded. yup, Don---the word FREE does work. but does it pay in the long term??? that is the trick.

Thoughts:

I might disagree with the part where you would ask patrons for emails. (it seems) The owner wanted goodwill and visiblity. Asking for an email suddenly puts a price tag on what was advertised for free...and might wipe away the goodwill for some. Those that attended now know where the restaurant is and they know at least one path to get to the deals (a friend who told them, the chalkboard, facebook connection...whatever) and if they enjoyed their free meal, the liklihood is that they will keep a keen eye for future specials. They'll do so in a way comfortable to them, either passively or actively, through old media or new. I get that asking for emails isn't really a 'cost' to the patrons and that it would be nice to have...but I wouldn't do it. Allow them to leave feeling that the evening was perfect and benevolent.

As for it going viral - yeah, social media helps that, but free is free and the real viral are the people that are reached off socal media - the husband that comes along, the coworker that got the tip in the breakroom, etc. I'm not convinced that social media itself is the key to making money - rather it is having an offer that is able to escape social media and reach people once removed. With this kind of deal, are we even sure that the social media helped much? And is 'viral' the right word? I'd expect a decent handful of people to show up to any free deal, and I wonder if the TV media wasn't contacted directly. By having a crowd and having mainstream media report on the crowd, the owner is projecting the image of being "in demand" and thus appealing in a whole different way than just for being free or of high quality. "This is the hotspot in town" is the message, worthy of remembering for your next meal, since you know your neghbors are doing the same thing.

I sense that social media was just a small piece of a larger puzzle (great offer, mainstream media presence, worth waiting in line for, super friendly place, come back soon) that all fits together nicely.

[DaveO]

Thoughts:

I might disagree with the part where you would ask patrons for emails. (it seems) The owner wanted goodwill and visiblity. Asking for an email suddenly puts a price tag on what was advertised for free...and might wipe away the goodwill for some. Those that attended now know where the restaurant is and they know at least one path to get to the deals (a friend who told them, the chalkboard, facebook connection...whatever) and if they enjoyed their free meal, the liklihood is that they will keep a keen eye for future specials. They'll do so in a way comfortable to them, either passively or actively, through old media or new. I get that asking for emails isn't really a 'cost' to the patrons and that it would be nice to have...but I wouldn't do it. Allow them to leave feeling that the evening was perfect and benevolent.

As for it going viral - yeah, social media helps that, but free is free and the real viral are the people that are reached off socal media - the husband that comes along, the coworker that got the tip in the breakroom, etc. I'm not convinced that social media itself is the key to making money - rather it is having an offer that is able to escape social media and reach people once removed. With this kind of deal, are we even sure that the social media helped much? And is 'viral' the right word? I'd expect a decent handful of people to show up to any free deal, and I wonder if the TV media wasn't contacted directly. By having a crowd and having mainstream media report on the crowd, the owner is projecting the image of being "in demand" and thus appealing in a whole different way than just for being free or of high quality. "This is the hotspot in town" is the message, worthy of remembering for your next meal, since you know your neghbors are doing the same thing.

I sense that social media was just a small piece of a larger puzzle (great offer, mainstream media presence, worth waiting in line for, super friendly place, come back soon) that all fits together nicely.

I do pull for this restaurant. I just like them...both the food and the personality of the owner.

@jayandstacey:

As a business owner I'd try and get the emails...for so many reasons. yes..of the hundreds that were in line that could turn off some. OTOH, in a couple of weeks when they reopen..they are going to have a hard time getting visibility about the reopening...and there are so many potential people to contact about that.

One huge problem that restaurant has is location. It is hidden. It has relatively miserable visibility. Every day I'd guess that 50% or more of the nearby people that could see them simply don't. They have gained customers over the years that were literally a block or two away and simply had never found them.

If it were me, I'd put in effort to overcome the hidden aspect...whether emails or flyers, or any of a dozen or more different relatively low cost marketing efforts to just get seen. My experience is the positives of those efforts overcome the negatives....and asking for an email from people waiting in line is somewhat of a negative.

I know those guys at Toscana. I'm not sure but I'm pretty confident they didn't contact channel 8. But then that news station is located in Roslyn nearby and getting to Toscana was easy and cheap. One person did everything. She videoed the people in line, conducted the interviews, went inside and got the "inside story" and then did the broadcasting. If she arrived at 4:45 or whenever and nobody was in line she could have gotten back to the news station in about 10 minutes total time. I do know that the news media scours sources for potential news all the time, every day. They need news.

Wow...the days of big news crews with a lot of staff are long long long gone.

Before writing our story I did interview diners, randomly. It was interesting to hear how they heard about the story. What comprised "viral" in this case? Certainly the word FREE was the impetus for the story to spread. I noticed that the arlnow story was retweeted 30 times (by measurement).

People said they received emails. ie someone saw the story somewhere and direct contacted their friends. People in offices found the story somehow and told co workers. People saw it on facebook. Some people got calls, emails or texts from strollers in the courtyard that saw the line and learned about the free meals. One thing was that in this case, the deal was so good...people contacted their friends and family.

I don't know how much of that there is with groupons and livingsocials...since a couple of million people get their emails every day. Everyone gets those!!!

What I found astonishing to watch was how vividly this thing worked, relative to the very difficult effort this restaurant has had getting noticed. The entire thing occurred in a day. The owner sent a notice to arlnow the day before. They published the piece in the morning...and the news spread to thousands of people over the course of the day...if not 10's of thousands or more...and hundreds turned up.

In its own right I thought it was astonishingly viral.

Frankly I think the restaurateurs could speak about these things with experience.

[DaveO]

A little update. Toscana did NOT contact channel 8/ABC affiliate.

The major media discovered the story and showed up on their own.

Seems like the media has a good nose for news--probably based on experience.

[Escoffier]

FREE trumps everything else. People would probably show up for a free terminal disease if you made it sound enticing enough,