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Tra Vigne. Photo: Flickr/asmythie
In 1987, a successful restaurant (or at least my successful restaurant) had a simple checklist:
Beautiful courtyard (check)
Well-executed pasta dish (check)
Great wines (check)
Vibrant atmosphere (check)
Bartender who could make a very good Manhattan (check)
In 2010, Bottega has all of this and more but the customer base is very different. It’s bigger for one thing, and my average customer is younger and more savvy than our first customers in 1987. A customer can go on their iPhone, check 20 different wine lists in the neighborhood and know what everyone charges for the same wine. Our customers have many more choices than were available in 1987 and Food Network, Top Chef, hundreds of food blogs, Yelp, Chowhound, and all the other social media sources to guide their choices. I have to laugh when I see people looking at their phones, flipping through the Yelp photographs of the dishes on our menu before they order.
The bar has been set so high that the experience required to satiate a customer is much bigger than it was 25 years ago. I sometimes feel that I’m charged with providing a bowl of pasta that is life-changing.
On the flip side, what hasn’t changed is customer loyalty. I once read that of the ten things that bring someone back to a restaurant, the food isn’t the top deciding factor. Your food had better be fantastic, don’t get me wrong. But if you know the customer, greet the customer yourself, provide a place where the customer feels welcome, included, part of us, that customer (provided your food meets its mark) will return. That is what we strive for at Bottega. And it may be the most gratifying part of running a restaurant.
At the end of the evening, when the kitchen is more or less calm for the first time since 7 a.m., and you say goodnight to the last guests who are still sipping espresso and Amaro and you realize they want to linger and stretch out their experience as long as possible…that’s a great night
