I have been doing a lot of reading of others blogs today.  Particularly on http://fohboh.com  all the rage is to talk about Social marketing.  Twitter, Facebook and how to use it to market your Restaurant.

  I want to make one thing clear the ” Old Dogs ” are successful for may reasons.  You have to provide a quality product and experience.  You have to be fiscally savey…money problems are the quickest way to totally destroy every aspect of your Restaurant business.  knowing your market and knowing your customers, repeat business is the core that keeps you humming!

  Many older Restauranteurs would do well to learn more about Online/Social Marketing today, but many lack the computer knoweledge to know what to effectively.  The days of placing advertisments in newspapers are going the way of the Dinosaur.  Sophisticated clientel and the younger generation are rapidilly embracing technology.  Often right from there i-phone and often with the help of fun apps such as Urban Spoon.

  Here is an exceptional tutorial on how to create a Facebook fan page for your restaurant.  http://www.marketingrestaurantonline.com/2009/10/09/how-to-create-a-facebook-fan-page-for-your-restaurant/

If you don’t know why here is an eye opening quote from http://www.marketingrestaurantonline.com

Facebook is no doubt one of the most popular social networking site in the world with over 300 million users by now. Restaurant businesses can not afford  to not care about Facebook and not make it a part of it’s marketing strategy if it really wants to win in this new age of social media we are entering into. Lots of big brand chain restaurants like McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, Pizzahut and many others have started building a great brand with millions of fans. But I have yet to see small restaurants take advantage of marketing opportunity that Facebook offers.

Twitter is another very popular marketing option and http://www.marketingrestaurantonline.com has an excellent article gaining your Restaurant success on Twitter.

http://www.marketingrestaurantonline.com/2009/07/30/7-key-factors-that-can-determine-your-restaurants-success-on-twitter/

  The big problem that I see is Older Restauranteurs know this is BIG, but they don’t participate in Social Media themselves and know little about it.  From my own personal experience amongst my late 30 something friends is that 2 years ago Facebook was still for ” College Kids”, but within the last year have seen a mass exodus of them joining FB. 

Older Restaurant owners do not realize the interactive aspects that go along with Social Marketing.  As much as you want to promote your positives, you also need to control the negatives that go along with people being able to post comments, etc.  You need to have a knowledgeable and trustworthy individual with the time and dedication to spearhead your Social Marketing campaign!

I am in no way critical of ” Organic ” food, I incorporate locally grown food in my diet as much as possible.  As a Chef I have many scattered thoughts on the issue.  First of all I personally believe that food grown on a small-scale has more flavor and has more nutritional value and doesn’t necessarily require the expensive Organic label.  A large amount of valuable information is out there and available to make your own informed opinion, however a lot of it is disputed for political reasons.  I could go on and on about various aspects, but I am going to focus on my personal issues I have experienced as a Chef.

COST

As a Professional Chef you have many decisions to make.  Organic food is more expensive, you need to balance quality with costs.  Are your customers willing to pay more for Organic food in your Market???  The answer is different for every Chef, especially in this Economy.  Can your prices compete with other Restaurants in the area?  This a very competitive business.  I would love to always use the products that I deem to be the very best as a Chef, but the reality is you can’t!  In a sense you are making a decision for every customer that walks through your door.  They all want a great meal and experience, but most don’t give a damn if it’s Organic.

SOURCING

Very big problem for a Chef.  Can you get a reliable consistent source for a reasonable cost?  Very challenging problem and adding to this complexity is Ownership.  Some of the better sources for Organic products are small farmers.  Owners are open to a host of potential problems in regard to Liability and Food Safety.  Taking any risk in these areas have the potential to put you out of business.  So many small producers that I would use for my table at home do not meet the criteria to get in the restaurant’s door.  One more complexity you experience as Chef is most Owners like to pay their bills on terms 14 days 30 days,etc.  So I have also been frustrated by not being able to use certain products because the Ownership is reluctant to do things on a cash basis.

THE ” NEW ” DILEMMA!

The new dilemma facing consumers and Chef’s is the double edge sword!  A lot of the appeal of Organic food besides taste and nutrition is the idea of small-scale, local, sustainable agriculture.  As people have been becoming increasingly attracted to such products the marketing people at the big mega companies have taken notice!  An increasing trend is for Organic companies to be bought out and become subsidiaries of the large corporations.  While this trend may reduce costs and make Organic more available to more consumers, the Ideals behind the choices we make are being watered down.