Restaurateurs don't sell food, they sell eating. In fact, if you watch very closely, you will see people eating in restaurants and nodding - smiling, shaking their heads, pointing and on occasion they will not eat... they will poke their food.
Meanwhile, the beginning of today seemed like any other with products to be checked and inventoried, cash to be counted, employees to motivate and restaurants to clean. The very detailed restaurant checklist is full of "have-to's" which can be a grind for a management team and staff. There are aspects in any restaurant operation which are a heavy burden on the mind, body and spirit of even the most disciplined and experienced person.
Enter Charlie Hopper. He wrote a book, but not just any book... Charlie redefines what restaurateurs are all about in Selling Eating: Restaurant Marketing Beyond the Word Delicious. After twenty years of restaurant communication experience, he has a deep well to pull from as he offers recommendations that range from brand positioning and the “The Seven Very Specific People Your Restaurant Needs to Reach,” to actionable advice like “Three Things Every Menu Should Do,” “Eighteen Separate Restaurant Marketing Moments,” “Fifteen Forbidden Food Words to Never Use,” and many more insights.
From the first pages in the book, Charlie Hopper tells it how it is and becomes a sample of how the rest of the book will read:
Why would anyone pick up a book and commit to learning about something they are already up to his or her ears in? Because this is one book about managing, operating and marketing a restaurant where you will find yourself saying: "I did not know that." Charlie's style is to point and remind you that the restaurant business is not based on "follow the crowd" and will make a list of words NOT to use when describing food.
Which words should you avoid when describing your menu?
Do you know who the "Henry Ford of your mouth is"? - Read the book.
If you appreciate someone who is willing to say what he believes with a dash of humor and two cups of reality, you will find Selling Eating: Restaurant Marketing Beyond the Word Delicious both challenging and insightful.
This one is on my recommended reading list for anyone in the restaurant business (Or thinking about the restaurant business.) Reading it will no doubt make you SMink= Smile & Think at the same time.™
