Thursday, May 16, 2024
Everyone has seen the Food Shows where Adam Richman goes to a restaurant and eats the 12 pound hamburger or the 8 pound burrito, or some over the top challenge that a mere mortal could not achieve. And truth be told, 99% of the people who visit those restaurants on a regular basis are not there to complete the over the top challenge of a ridiculous dish. But, the restaurant doesn’t care. All they want is for people to talk about it in the community so that the word of mouth makes people come in.
We had a Pirate bar and created a sandwich called a “Shipwreck Burger”. It was two grilled cheese sandwiches for the buns, a half pound burger, a fried egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, barbeque sauce, onion rings and pickles, all held together with a twelve inch bamboo skewer. It was huge and we created a challenge around finishing it in a certain time limit. If they did, they got a T-shirt proclaiming their gastronomic accomplishment. And we put their time and name on a plaque. Seems rather simple. They ate a burger and had fun. And they paid for a $20.00 burger. Additionally, when we carried it through the dining room, everyone looked.
But, they wore their shirt proudly around town. They told their friends about the adventure. They had bragging rights and it created word of mouth. In the business, it’s called having a “whale” on the menu. Something that is not intended to be ordered frequently, but something that is so over the top that people talk about it. True to form, I introduced myself one time and the person saw the restaurant name and said, “wait, you’re the guys with the crazy huge burger that’s impossible to eat”. Mission accomplished. The real secret was that we didn’t sell that many of the burgers. But we didn’t have to, everyone talked about it.
We introduced an item at one of our restaurants that features great jumbo wings. It was a “Dinghy of Wings” . Ten dozen wings with sauces in a Large Plastic Dinghy for like $135. And for an additional $400, you could keep the dinghy! When you highlight that on the menu, it makes everything else look like a bargain. But it gets the conversation started. Don’t spend $135 for the wings, “Wow. A dozen wings is only $18.00”. What’s your whale that gets everyone talking about you and makes all the other dishes seem like a bargain?
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Father of Five , married to the love of his life for over 40 years and a business Card that reads; “The Idea Guy”, Steve lives in a world of creativity. He attended the University of Maryland where he majored in mass communications that help to fuel that creative streak. His Foray into Hospitality and his creative ideas and concepts has allowed him to have fun all of his professional career. He has owned five award winning restaurants and that has fueled his passion for “thinking out side of the box”. His restaurants have received accolades including “Top 100 in America” and Steve was named the State of Maryland’s “Restaurateur of the Year”. Steve has a passion for Philanthropy and his Restaurant Group has helped to raise over 7 Million Dollars for Charities. He is passionate about writing, public speaking and Maine Lobster with drawn butter.