Is eating out really theatre?
Pondering which eatery to visit for any occasion is a consideration that goes way beyond what’s on the menu. Service for example is high on the list for most eating out experiences, and the word experience can be influenced by an array of wants and needs.
So, for any eatery the experience delivered will be the key driver for diners to return.
If that is the case, eateries could plan to produce each production similarly to how a theatre director would.
The production of course needs to be scripted, the cast assembled, and the performance rehearsed and ultimately delivered.
The experience promised by the eatery needs that needs to be delivered, needs to be delivered in a memorable way, and the cast need to know their lines.
What prompted this article was a simple lunch visit to a local eatery the other day, that from recent evening dinner visits we knew delivered authentic and tasty tapas. Lunch was simply a spur of the moment treat that we don’t do very often, or not often enough, and as such we simply wanted good food and service that was sensibly priced.
The restaurant in question, as just mentioned we have enjoyed dinner at, but the visits were on Saturday nights when the restaurant is packed, and as such the people watching was fellow guest focused. Our lunch time visit was not so busy and gave us time to take an ad hoc operational view.
We didn’t go with a mission or even the intention of composing this piece, it came from our experience. Following the experience, we discussed it as most diners will to form an agreed view of the experience.
The food was good, the service was equally good, and the cast knew what they were doing, the KP was visible from where we sat knew exactly what he was doing and got on with it almost invisibly.
We will certainly return and as such a more than satisfactory experience was delivered.
We will keep it simple in conclusion…
The producer knew the performance script as did the cast and as such it was delivered. The component parts required to deliver such an experience was dependant on one thing, people.
We report all too often on people and skills shortages across our industry as a whole, so happy to report on an example we were delighted to enjoy, through good people being on set.