QSR Feature
Branding Goodwill
Ana Guevara, deputy assistant secretary for services at the U.S. Commerce Department, says quick-serves can help by taking advantage of her department’s Commercial Service groups. The teams are charged with helping U.S. businesses promote their offerings abroad. Quick-serves with an international presence could even consider using a worldwide sweepstakes offer in appropriate markets with a visit to America as a prize, suggests Guevara.
Other avenues for expanding quick-services’ promotional capabilities include Visit USA committees overseas or cooperative marketing programs at state tourism offices or local convention and visitors bureaus.
Robert Ebbin, senior director of research projects for the National Restaurant Association, offered these tips on how quick-services can take advantage of travelers’ and tourists’ business:
- Highlight regional tastes and flavors by offering crab cakes in Boston or Southwestern chili in Houston.
- Get to know concierges and front-desk workers at local hotels so they will think of you when they give recommendations to travelers on where to eat.
- List your restaurant in tourism guides, both online and in print.
- Write opinion essays and send them to the local newspapers, boosting the idea of promoting local tourism.
Actionable Advice
Bill Hyde, chairman of the Travel and
Tourism Committee of the National Restaurant Association, offers advice
on how operators can help promote United States tourism.
How can quick-serves get involved
in the Discover America Partnership? Whether it’s
a quick-service or casual- or fine-dining restaurateur, whether an
entrepreneur or someone who runs a corporation, the first step is to become
a member of the local convention and visitors bureau. The bureau is recognized
by city, county, and state governments as the official agency to promote tourism
and to provide accurate and unbiased information on tourism.
You should attend the convention and
visitors bureau meetings so you can recognize the challenges facing
people traveling to America and the opportunities that are there for you. It
is important that restaurant owners and operators understand the impact that
travel and tourism have in the community.
Second, lobby local legislators
to help shape a tourism policy. Most great ideas come out of state
legislatures. It works best if a plurality of individuals focuses on putting
together policies that will help impact their area economically.
Who are restaurant operators’ allies
in the effort to attract more tourists to America? Tourism accounts
for a big part of the growth revenues of the restaurant industry. Travel agencies
put together tours of historical or other important areas, such as historic
cemeteries or bird-watching tours. You can usually pick up a brochure in a
hotel to find out more about these kinds of events.
A restaurateur can work with a group
planner and a hotel manager to talk about dining events he or
she could offer. He can host tourists at his restaurant and make sure they
receive special attention. He can partner with a rental car company to offer
opportunities for people to dine at his restaurant, usually at a discount.
There are so many ways you can partner,
but you have to be involved so you know people who are actively
engaged in welcoming travelers to your area.
How might Discover America Partnership
benefit brands considering opening restaurants overseas? Involvement
in tourism and hosting overseas travelers provides a wonderful insight into
cultural difference—in dress, in tastes,
and in tipping policies. By being involved, you will see business opportunities.
When you look at the diversity and
ethnicities of companies in the National Restaurant Association
portfolio, there are a tremendous number of concepts that could be duplicated
elsewhere.
How do quick-serves see a return on
their investment in the Partnership’s goals? Research has indicated that
15 percent of the quick-service restaurant industry’s gross volume comes
from tourism and travelers. The number is 25 percent for casual-dining restaurants.
When people understand that, it makes it more advantageous for quick-serves
to get involved.
If someone said, ‘Tomorrow, we’re
going to take 15 percent of your business away because of security restrictions,
the response would be,
‘Let’s talk about creating a policy that’s reasonable
and balanced and doesn’t turn people away from America.’”
That’s why it’s important
to get involved. We’re the only country that has no cabinet position
for tourism or a comprehensive plan to market to tourists. Individual
states spend $30 million to $50 million to attract tourists, yet we have no
comprehensive plan to do destination marketing.
We see a two-fold process: We have
to figure out ways to get people to come to America without difficulties
getting through customs, and once they are here, make sure they are exposed
to the best we have to offer. Statistics show that international tourists stay
longer and spend more than domestic travelers.
What might be the domestic and international
benefits of being involved in the Partnership? The restaurant
industry is the largest private employer in United States, with 12.5 million
employees. By leveraging the power of a united restaurant industry to the collective
voices of other travel and tourism organizations, we can help promote beneficial
policies that help people want to come here.
As a restaurateur, you benefit in a
two-fold way: You are helping shore up the financial viability
of your restaurant, community, and country. The lasting benefit is that you
have an opportunity to shape a positive attitude about America to travelers
when they do get here.
By going out of our way to make sure
we address travelers’ cultural needs and welcome them with sincerity,
we’ll continue to have the word spread about what a nice place Texas,
Iowa, New Jersey, and every other state is to visit. People go
home and tell others about it.
In 60 percent of the states, travel
and tourism is either the first, second, or third largest employer.
That’s
29 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. It’s a huge economic and public
relations opportunity.
Doing a good job can reinforce that
we are a caring, concerned citizenry who welcomes visitors to
our shores and who want to welcome travelers and show them the hospitality
for which our industry has long been noted.
Our ultimate hope is that we can have
a tourism department within the U.S. Department of Commerce to promote
destination travel to America. end
Page 1 | 2 | End