Make The Perception Count When Opening A Restaurant
When you are trying to open a restaurant it is easy to get lost in all the confusion. You spend your days haggling with vendors, chasing down contractors, planning menus, screening employees, and the list goes on. At times it will seem like it will never get done. With all of that going on it is easy to forget the most important element, your guest.. When you are trying to open a restaurant you need to keep the five senses in mind for the sake of your guest.
When we are still young we all learn about the five senses. They are all the ways we interpret our environment. They include what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, and what we feel. If it makes it easier just think of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands. Your future guest will use all five of these senses to experience your restaurant. If you miss just one of them you change the experience.
Think, if you will, of a beautiful restaurant. It has great art and perfect lighting. The music sets just the right mood and the sea bass is to die for The chairs are sturdy and the silverware of a heavy gauge. The place, however, smells like a barn. Maybe it smells wonderful but instead of great art you see holes in the sheet rock. You can put dinner back into the beautiful restaurant but dinner is served with plastic utensils. If you just miss one of the senses all your other effort could be for nothing. People will not be coming back.
This does not mean you need to strive to be snobbish, it simply means there is a time and place for every type of dining. If you are eating at a road side BBQ place with inexpensive but flavorful food you are not going to be surprised or even mind a plastic fork. A spork might even be in order. A country bar with a sawdust floor can be fun but bread crumbs on the carpet in fine dinning are a distraction.
When you start to open a restaurant you are going to quickly learn that few things are universal. Every one is different and try to appeal to different people. What is universal, however, is that every person that walks through the door will get there perceptions through the five senses. The chance are low that you considered all 5 at the concepts inception but it is time to do that now. The five senses are crucial to your success.






