EBlog
What does an open restaurant kitchen have to do with social media?
February 5, 2008 | Posted by: Lee
The other day was having lunch at Champs. I don't know whether they do this in all the Champs, but here in Reston you can see the kitchen along the back wall of the restaurant behind a sheet of glass. I happened to be sitting directly next to the glass so I could see everything - and I mean everything. The wait staff, the cooks, how everyone was handling the food - all transparent. I had open access.
From a customer's perspective it was a good thing. The fact that they exposed the inner workings of their kitchen made me feel better about how they handled and prepared their food. They obviously didn't have anything to hide. The message they were sending was one of confidence and transparency.
I'm sure when this was first suggested, many didn't jump on board. It was likely a scary thing.
We talk a lot around here about social media, customer engagement, and opening up your site to user generated content. It's basically the same concept. Opening up a conversation with your clients, exposing the inner workings of your company (even just a little) sends a message that you're confident about what you're providing and you're not afraid to let people see what it's all about.
Can you think of any other examples of how companies have "exposed" themselves?
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marketing web-centric social media champs
Categorized in: Web-Centric, Brand, Observations and Random Musings
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Comments
February 06 2008 - 07:16 PM | by Michael E. Rubin, GasPedal
Lee,
Great post.
The Blog Council just held its first member meeting in Orlando. On the first night, we all met up for dinner at Emeril’s Tchoup Chop restaurant. It was fascinating, because in a way similar to how you’re describing Champs, the back kitchen area is open for all to see.
I think this is a variation on the traditional “chef’s table” placed in the kitchen that used to be standard in all restaurants. I know Bucca di Beppo still does this, but I’m not sure of too many other places that do.
Other examples of companies opening themselves up:
* Dell, with their IdeaStorm. They’re literally taking new ideas from customers that end up in new products.
* Eli’s Cheesecake—On the Eli Cheesecake blog, they post photos from all their ‘behind the scenes’ cooks tours.
* Disney Moms—This is a panel of Moms that works with Disney to advise on ‘mom’ issues like how to get a stroller into the park.
These are just a few examples, but they are some of the terrific new ways companies are opening themselves up and letting customers become part of the process.
Cheers,
Michael
February 07 2008 - 11:03 AM | by Nicholas
On the restaurant side, mini bar takes the “open kitchen” idea to its most extreme version. A mini-kitchen just for you. (Yeah, it’s like those Japanese places with the chef right in front of you, but just not cheesy. And the food is top-notch.)
On the online side, Satisfaction is looking to facilitate (and probably in some instances force) the “opening up” process.
February 07 2008 - 02:04 PM | by Lee
Michael, IdeaStorm is a great example. Wrote a post about them a while back on how they were able to shift market perception by being more engaged in the conversation.
Didn’t know about the Disney Mom site, but great idea there - instant credibility because the experts (moms) and audience (moms) are already an affinity group.