Why Experiences Aren’t Enough Anymore: The Future of Hospitality

In my last article, I wrote that “goods and services don’t matter anymore” and that’s the truth - but I want to backtrack a little and unpack what that actually means, because obviously, we still need food, phones, and forni… well you get the idea.

Buying simple goods and services will always have its place, especially in the hospitality industry; you’ll likely have gone with a particular supplier because they’re able to beat your current pricing (goods) or because they can deliver at better times and they actually answer the phone (services), but you’ve probably never chosen a supplier because they make you feel better. The minute that another supplier can promise to beat those prices and make deliveries more convenient, then you’re going to ditch the original supplier move over to the new one. It’s all very transactional and there’s no real reason to remain loyal.

To put things into perspective and to hopefully make a little more sense out of what I’m saying (and more importantly the impact of it), let’s walk it back a little bit more:

If you want to make a cake yourself, you’ll go out and buy the raw ingredients. It might cost you a few quid and you’ll be able to make a couple of cakes out of it. A step up from this and you can buy a cake mix (you know the one where you just add an egg) and you might spend slightly more than you would if you were buying base ingredients. After this you’ve got your conventional store-bought cake which might cost £12-£15. The next level up might be having the cake made for you and you might spend £50-£60 – this is where we start to transition from “goods” to “services”.

To move it up a notch you might go to a soft play centre where you’ll get a cake thrown in with a birthday party and a few hours of play for the kids. That might cost you £200-£300 – an now we’ve transitioned into “experiences”.

Obviously, there are different levels of goods, services, and experiences - and prices will vary massively - but you get the point. (Also I’m a bit annoyed that I started with the cake reference as I’m a bit stuck on how to transition to the next bit, but I’ll give it a go...)

After “Experience” comes “Engagement”- think teppanyaki and Benihana, or wine clubs and loyalty communities. Benihana mixes experience with engagement by having guests sat around the hot plate whilst the chef “performs”, and venues like 3 Levels in Belfast play on a similar model.

To sum it up so far:

·        Goods are about “feed me”

·        Services? “Serve me”.

·        Experiences are about being delighted and leaving with lasting memories.

·        Engagement is about part of being something bigger - brand loyalty, engagement, and community.

Many hospitality business owners have already cracked services and experiences, and some also have a focus on engagement. The question is, what comes after engagement?

·        Transformation

As corny and Americanised as this sounds, this is where we’re headed next - not just leaving them with great memories, but giving them something more; a change in perspective, a change in identity, and helping them to leave differently to how they arrived.

Kitchen Theory in London does exactly this. Their Chef’s Table menus are designed to be immersive and multi-sensory- food paired with sounds, visuals, and storytelling. Their approach is closer to a workshop in perception than simply “good food done well”. I know what you’re thinking; “this is great for someone with that kind of budget, but it doesn’t apply to my small restaurant”. Here’s the kicker, it absolutely does, you just need a little change in perspective and to stop thinking about high-budget, multi-thousand-pound ideas and start thinking about what you can do with what you’ve got.

Here are a few examples of transformation in action:

• A neighbourhood bar that holds a monthly cocktail-making class. Not only do they have a great experience, but they’ll leave with new skills; “I can make a proper Negroni at home”- they’ll feel more confident and possibly even more cultured.

• Setting up a “stranger’s table” in a local pub- anyone who comes in alone can sit down at that table and chat away with whoever is there. Presto, you’ve turned loneliness into connection. Those people leave happier and with a sense of belonging.

• As with the menu creation exercise I mentioned earlier- “this is Dave’s dish, he’s one of our runners, and this is his great grandad’s recipe”. This one is super powerful as it has a double-impact. Your customers feel more connected to your staff and see their humanity whilst your staff feel recognised.

• Here’s an internal one; staff training. Not your typical staff training where you’re sort of teaching them how to do the job, but rather teaching them life skills that they can take with them post-employment i.e. how to budget their income, first aid training, mental health first aid training, what a mortgage is and how to apply for one, or even how to construct a proper CV (I appreciate that some of these are financial but at the end of the day I am an accountant, so I’ve got to go with that angle).

• A restaurant that gives out birthday cards that have personal messages in there written by the staff. Customers feel seen and it’ll be a memory that they’re likely to treasure forever.

• What about closing your restaurant for the afternoon (or even just doing this on one of the days that you’re closed) and opening your kitchen to a small class of some of your regulars?

• Or what about focusing on a particular fish dish that week and having one of your suppliers come in the explain the provenance of the fish, how it was caught, and where it was sourced. Not only do customers leave feeling educated, but they’ll also enjoy the food that much more as they know something about it.

Transformation in the hospitality industry doesn’t need to mean “life-changing”. It can be as simple as someone leaving and being able to say “I can cook this”, “I belong here”, or even “I know more about this than when I went in”. Too much time gets spent on focussing on how to “turn the dial to 11” and not enough is spent on looking at incremental ways to improve lives.

You don’t need a big budget to change lives.