ARTICLE | RMI 2022
The Restaurant Marketer & Innovator European Summit was back this year in-real-life, as they say! There was a defiantly optimistic atmosphere in the room and, when you consider the true impact the last two years has had on the individuals and businesses in attendance, this was not the attitude I expected to encounter. There was no self-pity or wallowing, no time for that! We, as an industry, need to get back to the business of hospitality, making memories, celebrating, entertaining, and delighting our guests.
With this mission in mind, the quality and insightfulness of the speaker content was high and there were many standout moments. KAM Media’s Katy Moses shed light on the current, and frankly sorry state of family dining and kids’ menus. KAM’s research suggested 51% of parents want more nutritional food on kids’ menus, 41% still want a separate kid’s menu for younger guests but 39% want restaurants to make the adult dishes suitable for the older kids. This all makes sense! As our children grow up, they want to feel more independent, more grown up and have the same choices as their parents, not their little brother or sister.
This insight into kids’ menus by KAM Media brings me back to behavioural phycology and its applications in menu science. Once you understand your guests’ motivations, drivers, and behaviours you can tailor your menu to enhance their experience by providing a clear journey through your menu to the ultimate goal… the perfect dish for them. Consider the dining occasion and what purpose your guests has for their visit. This could be a quick bite in the middle of the day, a business meeting over a late breakfast or a long overdue catch up with an old friend which goes late into the night. While these examples are very specific, you should have the knowledge and insight available to create a menu or suite of menus which best serves your median guest for maximum impact.
Carolyn Ball, Compass UK & Ireland spoke with conviction about the journey to net zero and the responsibility the hospitality industry has in this goal. While we were encouraged early on by Carolyn not to despair, it was difficult not to feel the weight of the task in hand, especially knowing the significance of the impact the sector currently has.
Once again, menus play a role in communicating a mission, not with lengthy statements that customers will never read but in more interesting and thought-provoking ways. Carbon labelling on restaurant menus, like many initiatives in their field is not new but it has yet to be adopted by the mainstream. Some industry leaders like Lou Palmer-Marserton of Stem & Glory are blazing a trail in this area but it will be a while before carbon labelling is something we’ll be seeing on our local pub menu. Missing a trick? Back to your customer and what motivates them, their decision making and how they want to feel about dining out. If you have insight showing environmental concerns are of growing importance to your guests, consider taking steps in the direction of carbon labelling, and the longer-term benefits will show themselves to be invaluable.
One of the themes I took from conversations at the conference and from several speakers was that of ‘evaluation’. The pandemic has given industry leaders and marketers time to reflect, reassess and evaluate their plans and this can only be a good thing. Emerging successfully from this crisis are a number of hospitality businesses who have stripped back, undertaken research in order to validate changes and when it comes to menus, this is always my advice.
