Don’t Let the Shiny New Toys Distract You From What’s Most Important

Over the past year, there was a lot of talk about? NFTs, Ghost Kitchens, Takeout & Delivery, becoming great Story-Tellers, and integrating AI and Robots? If you are like me that’s probably all you’ve heard about. And there is a reason why we hear these things. They can be fantastic tools to increase sales and provide great experiences if used properly.

While these are all great new things to implement, they mean nothing if they don’t translate to a great experience. Just like the other things we ? focus a lot of attention on like our product and service, these other things should be an add value to what’s most important……..making the guest FEEL their experience.

We can create incredible product. We can impress people with our impeccable service. We can utilize ghost kitchens, take out, and story- telling to help get our message out and increase sales and profits. But,? the one thing we can’t replace is the human connection of hospitality where we create a warm and fuzzy spot in another person’s soul.

When we create product we should do so to illicit emotions and memories from smell and taste senses. Let me explain what I mean.? When we can get the guest to see, smell, taste, hear, and feel their experience we can create great experiences. Why is this important? It’s important because when we illicit a guest’s senses it triggers memory. The brain is searching it’s data base to determine where it has smelled that scent, or tasted that item. So it recalls past experiences.

For instance, anytime I see and smell rose pedals in a cocktail, I immediately think of my grandma’s pot puree. And then I remember how loving my grandma was and how I felt loved by her. It takes me to a happy place.? I then have emotions of love and feeling loved by her.? Likewise, if NFTs and AI help us create emotional connections and sense ? of belonging then absolutely we should use them.

These new and shiny ideas MUST help us drive guests to our restaurant and help us drive sales and profit. However, if HUMAN TOUCH isn’t still the main point of it all, nothing we do really matters.

When it comes to story-telling, if we get more people to come through our doors but we can’t create exceptional experiences, then all we did is tell more people we suck. If robots or AI replace the human connection we will not be successful. If our take out and delivery is just mediocre and we aren’t focussed on creating great experiences for our take out guests then we won’t be successful.

The bottom line is, use these shiny new gadgets if they attract a bigger audience, drive more sales, and result in exceptional experiences. But don’t think these new gadgets and strategies are going to work if it replaces human connection or disguises poor experiences. Our guests are smart enough to read through the hype and say, I am underwhelmed by this experience even if you tried using all the tools all the cool kids are talking about.

2 FREE OFFERS- BECAUSE I WANT TO HELP!

OFFER 1- Want to get a FREE COPY of my Hospitality Ebook and learn how to create amazing Hospitality? Email me at [email protected] and request a free copy of my Hospitality Ebook.

OFFER 2- Want to book a FREE CALL to discuss how I can help you run a more successful restaurant? Click the link below.

https://calendly.com/montesilva/free-one-on-one-30-minute-call-with-monte?back=1&month=2023-12