A New Year's Eve Marketing Lesson

My in-laws from Colorado were in town for the holidays, and we were planning a New Year’s Eve dinner. I suggested McPhee’s Grill. My wife and I have eaten at McPhee’s in Templeton, but we’d yet to try the newer Avila Beach location. Since we live in Arroyo Grande, the short drive to Avila seemed perfect for New Year’s.

In my first marketing course at UCLA, the professor warned the 300+ future captains of industry in attendance to avoid careers in food service: grocery stores (because of razor thin margins) and restaurants (because of their significant business failure rate). So, as I sat down for dinner and reviewed the menu, I thought about why patrons choose (and choose to return to) one restaurant over others.

Positive word of mouth is crucial. Friends telling friends, face-to-face, voice-to-voice, and increasingly via digital social networks, quickly share personal experiences – both good and bad. But what impresses people enough to recommend or pan a restaurant? If you ask restaurateurs, I’d bet you’d get fairly consistent responses: good food, attentive service, pleasant environment, etc.

As with other service industries, my experience is that it’s often the little things at restaurants that leave lasting impressions – like keeping the water glasses filled and presenting the check promptly when it’s evident the diners are ready to wrap it up.

Since it was my suggestion of where to eat, my reputation was on the line. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Attentive service? Yes. Pleasant environment? Yes. Water glasses filled? Yes. Good food? Yes – each of us had an excellent meal, served hot and to our liking.

When I asked my wife later what impressed her most about our dinner, she focused on the menu choices and how the food was prepared and presented. In other words the “product” McPhee’s offers. For me, it was more about the meal as the centerpiece of an experience – having a good time – which included attentive service and a pleasant environment; the quality of food was a given for me, but not the most memorable aspect of the evening.

So here’s my New Year’s Eve marketing lesson: different consumers weigh the importance of different factors when choosing to purchase, and whether to come back to purchase again. My wife and I are likely to return for dinner, but for at least slightly different reasons. Businesses need to understand what attracts their customers and what brings them back or turns them off. McPhee’s Grill (www.McPhees.com) seems to have a good handle on what their patrons want. And my father-in-law seemed impressed with my choice for New Year’s Eve dinner.