How to be a great client
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As a client, your job isn't to create the work, your job is to create a platform so the work can be done.
Most chefs skip that second bit. They figure if they hire someone who feels right, that person will figure out what needs to be done. Some chefs, in fact, figure the person they hire should "just know" what needs to be done and do it. I did that when I hired my first web team and, lo, I got a steaming hot mess on a plate.
It takes discipline to create the right platform. It involves learning about the job, understanding limitations, making difficult choices about what you really want and making sure the right work is getting done. It isn't about set it and forget it.
So, I thought it might be helpful to lay out a few pointers to get everyone started:
1) Before talking to anyone outside the restaurant about anything, make sure you and your staff are on-board and ready to be disciplined about the work you are going to have to do. It doesn't matter a hoot if some important journalist is in the restaurant if your chef de cuisine can't articulate the passion behind the food. Believe me, I've lived that ridiculous disaster. Recently.
2) Be clear about what success looks like. Be so clear you can write it down. If you can't write down clear ground rules, precisely how is the publicist supposed to figure out what matters to you? (read: what you want to pay for)
3) After you write down the goals, go cross out all the ones that are on the list because of "old thinking" about media, marketing and getting butts in seats.
4) Simplify your goals, relentlessly and continuously. And be prepared to accept the solution, without wondering what you are missing.
5) Hire the right person for the job. You wouldn't ask the HVAC guy to tile the kitchen backsplash. And you shouldn't hire a publicist to do social media. And while I am at it, stop freaking hiring publicists with no restaurant specialty to do restaurant PR work. Really, you're surprised that person then "invited Phil Vettel in to review your restaurant"? Thank God Phil is a gracious guy and didn't hold it against you -- though I am sure he rolled his eyes at having to deal with yet another clueless publicist wasting his time.
6) Be honest and up-front about resources. I am continuously shocked that not one restaurant I dealt with had any idea what their PR budget was. While I am sure half were scary enough to actually not know, I do know the other half figured by not telling me, they'd get a deal (guess what, my hourly rate is what it is, you want me to do the work for less money, you get less work. Duh.). The people you're working with demand your respect and no one respects anyone who doesn't tell them the truth.
7) Pay what needs to be paid in order for you to reach your goals. Unfortunately and depending on the ridiculosity of your goals, this may be far more than you want to pay. The reality is, if you pay less than needs to be paid, you will be shelling out money that doesn't help you reach your goals, which means wasted cash.
8) Park your ego at the door. Your ego is the biggest money waster out there.
9) Either get a God damn personal assistant or learn to freaking type. Because, and I think I mentioned this before, the world now works on computers, via email and the internet. I know that this is more difficult for you than regular office folk, but, it is the way things are. You need to either jump in or hire the people around you that you actually need.
P.S. I have a personal assistant whom I hired when I was flat broke and she was the best investment I made.
10) If you find yourself with a craptastic publicist, run. The number of people who stick with PR people for lame reasons is, well, scary in itself. Lame reasons include: feeling bad for them because times are tough; not wanting to work with the right person because of some bad blood; thinking that you are their most important client and there's something valuable in that; fear; loyalty. If they aren't reaching your goals (now), dump 'em.
Bonus Tip: Celebrate when your publicist succeeds. Even small successes. Publicists are people, actually, and tend to respond well to people who treat them well -- and that also means that they tend to not care as much about the asshats.
Most chefs skip that second bit. They figure if they hire someone who feels right, that person will figure out what needs to be done. Some chefs, in fact, figure the person they hire should "just know" what needs to be done and do it. I did that when I hired my first web team and, lo, I got a steaming hot mess on a plate.
It takes discipline to create the right platform. It involves learning about the job, understanding limitations, making difficult choices about what you really want and making sure the right work is getting done. It isn't about set it and forget it.
So, I thought it might be helpful to lay out a few pointers to get everyone started:
1) Before talking to anyone outside the restaurant about anything, make sure you and your staff are on-board and ready to be disciplined about the work you are going to have to do. It doesn't matter a hoot if some important journalist is in the restaurant if your chef de cuisine can't articulate the passion behind the food. Believe me, I've lived that ridiculous disaster. Recently.
2) Be clear about what success looks like. Be so clear you can write it down. If you can't write down clear ground rules, precisely how is the publicist supposed to figure out what matters to you? (read: what you want to pay for)
3) After you write down the goals, go cross out all the ones that are on the list because of "old thinking" about media, marketing and getting butts in seats.
4) Simplify your goals, relentlessly and continuously. And be prepared to accept the solution, without wondering what you are missing.
5) Hire the right person for the job. You wouldn't ask the HVAC guy to tile the kitchen backsplash. And you shouldn't hire a publicist to do social media. And while I am at it, stop freaking hiring publicists with no restaurant specialty to do restaurant PR work. Really, you're surprised that person then "invited Phil Vettel in to review your restaurant"? Thank God Phil is a gracious guy and didn't hold it against you -- though I am sure he rolled his eyes at having to deal with yet another clueless publicist wasting his time.
6) Be honest and up-front about resources. I am continuously shocked that not one restaurant I dealt with had any idea what their PR budget was. While I am sure half were scary enough to actually not know, I do know the other half figured by not telling me, they'd get a deal (guess what, my hourly rate is what it is, you want me to do the work for less money, you get less work. Duh.). The people you're working with demand your respect and no one respects anyone who doesn't tell them the truth.
7) Pay what needs to be paid in order for you to reach your goals. Unfortunately and depending on the ridiculosity of your goals, this may be far more than you want to pay. The reality is, if you pay less than needs to be paid, you will be shelling out money that doesn't help you reach your goals, which means wasted cash.
8) Park your ego at the door. Your ego is the biggest money waster out there.
9) Either get a God damn personal assistant or learn to freaking type. Because, and I think I mentioned this before, the world now works on computers, via email and the internet. I know that this is more difficult for you than regular office folk, but, it is the way things are. You need to either jump in or hire the people around you that you actually need.
P.S. I have a personal assistant whom I hired when I was flat broke and she was the best investment I made.
10) If you find yourself with a craptastic publicist, run. The number of people who stick with PR people for lame reasons is, well, scary in itself. Lame reasons include: feeling bad for them because times are tough; not wanting to work with the right person because of some bad blood; thinking that you are their most important client and there's something valuable in that; fear; loyalty. If they aren't reaching your goals (now), dump 'em.
Bonus Tip: Celebrate when your publicist succeeds. Even small successes. Publicists are people, actually, and tend to respond well to people who treat them well -- and that also means that they tend to not care as much about the asshats.
It really is an interesting time for restaurants, isn't it? What's coming out of the kitchen and how it's getting there will always be what continues to bring people back to the restaurant, but it's so painfully obvious that a restaurant builds street cred via social media far faster, and even far more convincingly, than in any other past format. And it's scary how many restaurants and chefs in this city a) just don't understand this and b) think they can get by without learning it.
Great post, Ellen.
One thing to remember (and to temper things a bit) is that marketing and communication is really new for chefs/restaurant people. They went into a profession that they assumed wasn't going to be including computers, writing, marketing, etc. So while all of us who do sit at desks are struggling to learn about social media, the chefs are not only facing that but how to actually market themselves as well.
That's a paradigm shift in their very lives, not just some new social media sites to learn about and master.
"So while all of us who do sit at desks are struggling to learn about social media, the chefs are not only facing that but how to actually market themselves as well.
That's a paradigm shift in their very lives, not just some new social media sites to learn about and master."
That's an amazing point! We sit at desks all day and follow social media. Chefs, well don't. At least yet...but it's people like you who can help them with this shift. Thanks for that:)