Blueprint Article

One of the greatest and yet most difficult things about the English language is how many definitions a word can have – sometimes vastly different depending on context or subtle and nuanced. And as I sit here in Singapore, having recently been fired for the first time in my life and pondering either opening my own bar or re-entering the job market one word in particular keeps coming up and is a prime example of this idea – experience. The word – and the many definitions it has – I feel hold the key to success in our industry on many levels.

An Industry that Creates Experiences

In my consultancy and training sessions I often start off by asking bar and restaurant owners and managers what business they are in. Not the drinks business I say as they are not producing the brands that we sell. Nor the food business as they are not growing plants or livestock to sell on. Nor the cocktail business because although they may sell those they are just a facet of their business along with music and chairs and lighting. And they most certainly aren’t in the music, furniture or lighting business. No, the best operators understand that they are in the Experience business where experience is a verb that means “to feel (an emotion or sensation)” because they create an emotion or sensation within their guests.

Creating a Sense of Being Welcome

Service is what we do to people. Hospitality is how we make people feel about themselves while they are in our care. And to make people feel something we must create an environment where we control as many factors as we can. It starts with being brilliant at the basics from being aware of who is walking through their doors by use of one of the various CRM systems available today or by creating great systems to communicate to the staff why guests come to your bar in particular.