THE EXPERIENCE OF SOUND
When we go out with friends, the energy of the group might influence where you go without you even knowing it. We have very subtle emotional recordings of every experience we have. There are many places I have gone alone and left with a negative opinion because my energy didn’t match the energy of the place. My opinion might change after going with friends and having a good experience.
The challenge for business owners is that the first experience is the one that sticks with us. Like a habit it can take anywhere from 10-20 good experiences to break the memory of the bad one. The reverse is also true. If you have a great experience you might need 10 or 20 bad experiences before you stop going back.
Sound can be used to shape the outcome of the first experience no matter if we go it alone or arrive with a group of great friends. Once the location is built, the “house music” his how the proprietor can shape our experience with sound.
The baseline will always be the room noise itself. Anyplace that has hard surfaces and is very noisy will not be a place I like regardless of how good the food and music is. That said, for 90% of the population, that extra energy can add to the bottom line of the restaurant.
EATING IN QUIET
Higher end restaurants that pride themselves on great for and wine lists tend to be very quiet. Many don’t even play music. When they do it is soft, clear and easy to hear without overpowering your conversation. The sounds of clanking glasses and silverware are what creates the aura of the place.
When we eat at these places it has a very different effect on people based on their experiences. Some people who aren’t comfortable with themselves will be very nervous and bring a very high level of energy to the table out of a fear of embarrassment. A great server can ease that anxiety and bring the diner to a level where they can enjoy the house aura, food and their company.
The scene in Pretty Woman where she flings the escargot, and the waiter grabs it out of the air without flinching is a perfect example of this. If he made her feel bad about not knowing what to do with the snails she would have never enjoyed the company, the food or the restaurant.
When we are in a quiet space, we feel safer. We let our guard down and our offensive senses come alive. We now shift our sense of smell, taste, hearing and vision to a receiving mode. Food tastes better, music is better and we feel better overall. We move slower but spend more money because we aren’t defensive in any way.
EATING WITH EXCITEMENT
A great secret of the chain restaurant business is noise. This isn’t a place to name names, but we all know of chain restaurants that are near colleges. They are loud inside and play loud music through bad speakers. They include the sounds of clanking glasses and silverware hoping to keep the more discerning diners engaged.
They do this to increase our level of anxiety and shift our senses into the defensive mode. In defensive mode, we talk louder, eat and drink faster and tend to leave quicker. This has a lot of benefits for the right kind of restaurants.
When we are in a defensive state, our sense of taste narrows focusing on salty and sweet. If you think about the food at these places what do you get? Salty meat or pasta and sweet drinks, sauces, dressings and desserts.
The additional energy makes us eat faster so we leave quicker allowing for a higher table turn. Many of my favorite restaurants have a turn rate of four or less. Meaning a table is used four times or less the entire evening. I know of a major chain franchise that has it in the owners manual to make a goal of 30-45 minutes for the table turn time. This means during a normal dinner service a table could be used by up to eight different groups of people.
The purpose of a high energy restaurant is to move product. The food is lower quality and while lower priced, it probably has a higher profit margin than the higher end restaurants creating more profit for the owner and the food vendors. Michael Moore forgot to mention that part in “Supersize Me”.
This post is an excerpt from the upcoming book “The Easy Guide to Acoustics” by Scott Bourquin