Business Advice “Tapas” from Food and Social Media Conference

I am helping a lot of restaurants with their social media strategies these days.  So when I saw the tweets go out for the Eat, Drink, and Be Social conference in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, I jumped to get my early bird ticket

Tyson Goodridge of Dialogue, the presenter of Eat, Drink…, served up top names from the restaurant, foodie, and social media worlds to speak about their businesses.  Together, these speakers provided a thorough view of how these worlds intersect and how they all benefit each other.

The restaurateurs provided the best business advice — you need not own a restaurant to learn from these sage quotes about customer service and social media strategy.

Service

Restaurant service is not just about the servers. It starts at the front of the house, from the reservationist on. — Jody Adams, Rialto

Servers should be salespeople. — Barbara Lynch, Barbara Lynch Gruppo

If a chef relies solely on his recipes, and doesn’t engage with customers, he shouldn’t be running a four-star restaurant. — Justin Levy, New Marketing Labs and Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse

Get to know your customers. Do they eat rabbits or do they raise rabbits? — Barbara Lynch

Social Media

We made our video blog to make connections between customers and the chefs. We didn’t want to just talk about our specials. We wanted to educate and build relationships. — Justin Levy

We nurture staff to nurture customers. Our staff captures customers hearts … and their e-mail addresses. — Mary-Catherine Deibel, UpStairs on the Square

How might you apply these words of advice to your business and thinking about social media?