Restaurants Add Social Media to the Menu

Recently I’ve been to a few restaurants where I’ve noticed signs pointing people to the restaurants’ social media presences. More and more local businesses are catching on to the importance of Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Foursquare, etc. And what’s even better is watching the interactions that are taking place between these restaurants and their customers (both online and off).

In Arlington Heights, IL (a suburb of Chicago), I go to a monthly networking group for Momtrepreneurs at Egg Harbor Cafe. It’s a great breakfast place with locations all around the Chicagoland area. However, with all the roosters and chickens making up the decor inside, I really didn’t expect to see this on their whiteboard:

I loved the creativity and had never seen anyone using their whiteboard at the front of the restaurant for promoting their social media worlds instead of their daily specials. And on their Facebook page are all kinds of fans commenting about the restaurant. (My personal favorite was from a woman who said, “wanted to share that my 3 year old son dreams about your banana bread French toast!”)

It was only a few weeks later that I was in Grand Rapids, MI, where I had dinner at a fabulous tapas restaurant, San Chez. As we waited for a table I noticed a couple signs on a little counter near the hostess stand. One mentioned the fact that they have “Tweet Ahead Seating” which I thought was genius. You just tweet at them with your name and number of people, and they’ll reply with a confirmation. Brilliant! They also had this sign on the table, recognizing the Mayor of their restaurant. It’s one thing to check into Foursquare and know you’re the Mayor of a location, but to actually walk into that place and see your name and Mayorship on display for everyone…come on! That’s just fun! On their website, they take their social media pretty seriously. They have an entire page devoted to all the places you can interact with them online for special offers, and even a free tapa if you check into Foursquare. (Hey, wait a minute…I’m sure I checked in there and I never got my free tapa!)

What I love about all these restaurants engaging with people online is the fact that dining out is a very communal experience. Most often you’re eating with friends or family, and there’s great food and conversation shared (and, if you’re lucky, some amazing Sangria…San Chez has a great recipe!). The fact that these (and many other) restaurants are trying to maintain the communal feeling with people after they’ve left the physical restaurant makes people feel even more connected to the experience they had at that place. It’s a beautiful thing to see social engagement taken to this level. I’m excited to see how other retailers and restaurants participate in the conversation…

Got a good story about a restaurant’s social media menu? I’d love to hear it…