How floral design will bring new customers to downtown restaurants
We’re in the midst of a real moment of transition, economically and culturally. The new paradigm remains to be seen, and different sectors are seeing a variety of ongoing ripple effects.
High-end eateries in central business districts previously relied heavily on the business lunch and event traffic. But with corporate tenants significantly shrinking their footprints, or letting their lease run out altogether, downtown restaurants need to court a different customer to maintain cashflow for the next era of urban development.
In Hartford, part of what has made The Place 2 Be so successful, growing from 1 to 5 locations in 6 years and expanding to new formats, is founder Gina Luari’s hyperfocus on what makes young women choose a restaurant and keep coming back.
P2B is famous for their bathtub vignette designed for selfies. Call it gimmicky but this bit of theatre, and other branding extras, seem to work.
Luari “installed a green wall and swinging chairs so visitors experienced ‘picture moments’ in the space that they would likely share on social media […] She invested in dinnerware, glassware, and drink vessels that would surely photograph well.” (Business Insider)
That user-generated content is free advertising and social proof that pays dividends.
In a word, high-ticket dining must now be Instagrammable.
Younger affluent guests are the regulars of the future, and their expectations of the dining experience are different. A budget-friendly way to elevate the guest experience and create a photo moment for guests to share is through botanicals.
From the sidewalk to a green wall, fresh flowers and greenery draw people in, create intimacy, and an expression of attentiveness and welcome.
“You use fresh ingredients – herbs, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat – and you create a spontaneously fresh cuisine, with no camouflage. What else could embody this ideal better than to have fresh-cut flowers every day in the restaurant?” Charles Masson of Manhattan’s La Grenouille, quoting his father, Charles Sr.
3 key floral leverage points for post-pandemic restaurant decor
So here are my picks for a minimum of 3 areas where business-district eateries should be adding botanical design to grow their customer base and keep covers turning in the post-pandemic transition.
1. The entrance
Container plantings or vines can do this job, where zoning allows. For a spontaneous guest, your exterior must stand out and offer a sense of your interior ambience.
Continue the greenery into the vestibule and host station. This is also a good area to create a vignette for the selfies that will bookend a memorable meal.
2. Tabletop
Of course the plating must be designed with social media in mind. Fresh garnishes speak to your quality ingredients, and a bud vase or small arrangement offers an extra layer of intention and ambience.
Particularly for any farm-to-table concept, local stems are a must, and the cut flower industry has grown stateside to offer in-season blossoms.
Lighting design, including natural light, will undermine all your efforts if not carefully considered and paired with dinnerware and glass selections. So invest in those updates.
3. Powder Room
I cannot stress the importance of the bathroom selfie for young women diners. This room must go beyond bare minimum function and cleanliness, and offer ambience and glamour with flattering lighting. Flowers and plants can make the moment.
To appease a budget-crunching comptroller, there are options to implement floral design at different price points - fake if you must, or a well-designed mix of fresh and faux, with a weekly vs. daily refresh.
Hiring the right floral designer who gets your dining concept and your customer is essential to create a biophilia strategy geared toward social media.
The downtown district is evolving and the corporate dining business may never be the same. Thankfully, young creatives and upcoming professionals represent a new source of foot traffic for whom dining is a participatory, aesthetic experience.
The downtown restaurant sector needs to respond, not only to the young professional cohort who arrived pre-pandemic, but also by making downtown a dining destination for young couples and families who acquired suburban property during the pandemic homebuying frenzy.
Restaurateurs in central business districts can stay resilient and adaptive to whatever this transition brings by elevating their interior and exterior presentation with greenery and floral design.
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