I’m still not where I want to be with the book review I’m working on, but here’s something I can share. I’m going to be moderating a panel at G2E about F&B as a marketing tool. Here is the info:
Thursday, November 19, 2009: 9:15 AM – 10:15 AM
Role: PANEL MODERATOR
Creating Identity: Using F&B as a Marketing Tool
The modern food and beverage portfolio creates more than just a tool to feed your hungry guests.
Learn why F&B directors should work closely with casino operations executives to maximize
everyone’s revenue potential. Experts will reveal effective ways to strategically couple your product
offerings. Whether it is innovative comp programs, unique marketing opportunities, or creating
casino F&B events featuring celebrity chef book signings or VIP dinners, a well-aligned F&B
strategy will be a value-added proposition for the casino.
If you’ve got questions you think I should ask the experts, email me or add them to the comments.
I’m guessing the audience will be mostly f&b directors, with a few other executives attending as well.
One thing you should do Dave, is place a link to your ’50 Years of Las Vegas Dining’ webpages on any type of documents you might be handing out.
It provides a very good insight into the subject and anyone would welcome that.
When I re-visited your site, about a week ago, I spent a lot of time zooming in on the old menus and looking at the descriptions and prices.
Those earlier restaurant-people did a terrific job in making their menus exciting by writing fun histories of their restaurants and their mission to please customers.
I think it was Aku-Aku or Don the Beachcomber that wrote really great descriptions of their crazy drink names. Caesars went all out to describe the grand experience of eating at their restaurant.
One thing that really struck me was The Dunes’ menu. Even considering the adjustment for inflation…their prices were very high. I ‘cross compared’ their prices with some other restaurants from the same time period, and Dunes’ prices were nearly (in some cases) about 60% higher.
I don’t think prices really matter much (although in these weird economic times that might not be the case). People usually gladly pay a high price if the overall experience provides them a happy night.
When cab driving, people always liked discussing their ‘restaurant experience or meal’ with me. A fun food-experience keeps people upbeat for hours.
I was surprised by the places and distance people would drive to go to a restaurant they liked or to a place they heard or read about.
It always stuck me weird that people would leave a beautiful hotel, that had probably 6 fine-dining restaurants…to travel far away to someplace else to eat.
One night I drove a food-critic from Gourmet Magazine. He told me that ‘Hugos Cellar’ (at the Four Queens) had the absolute best food in town and we talked about various good places for steaks.
Because I was a cabbie…he wanted to make sure he didn’t leave me out of the picture and mentioned that Rio’s ‘All American Sports Grill’s’ Filet Mignon was nearly as good as Hugos and actually the best steak available for $15.95. (That was 9 years ago). But his point was that good Vegas Steaks are available in every price range.
When I came here in 1977, a local doctor I met at MGM told me “you MUST go have a steak at The Golden Steer” (the 1958, non-casino restaurant on Sahara). Again. I wondered why people always recommend leaving a great hotel, in order to find a good meal.
But people do that all the time…and I sort of think it’s because they want to show their business associates or friends that they know a unique, secret place.
It was hard to understand why anyone would want to me to drive them all the way from Mandalay Bay…out to the run-down Commercial Center to go eat at the King of Siam Restaurant. But, they read in a book (and Sunset Magazine) that it was rated Number One.
The food might be great…but it’s a long ride to a (IMO) ugly, shoddy and (IMO) sometimes dangerous area…and sure didn’t seem to be too romantic of a place to have to struggle to get a cab ride back to the Strip.
Still. Strip visitors will gladly drive far to find a ‘special place’.
Lawry’s, Del Fuego’s and Ruth Chris (on Paradise) get plenty of patrons from the Strip. And so does that Brazilian BBQ place nearby.
Many times I drove groups of people to Decatur and Flamingo just so they could eat Kosher Chinese food.
Other people would have me drive them far-out to distant golf-course restaurants in Summerlin…just because they heard it was a good place to eat.
One night a guy was going way out to ‘Rosemary’s’ (in Summerlin), cuz, he heard the food was good…but, his wife was disappointed and angry when she finally saw that it was just a restaurant in a strip-mall.
I drove about 15 groups of people, in about two weeks, to the Firefly Restaurant (on Paradise) simply because Rachael Ray mentioned it was a good place.
One night I picked up a group of people who asked me to drive them to ‘Roy’s', that he read about. I told him they had two locations and one (on East Flamingo) was much closer. But, his notepad listed the Summerlin location and that’s where he chose to go.
My point is that people will drive far just to go to some place they read about….and to search for someplace off the beaten trail.
Other people would prefer going to non-casino restaurants that they knew about from their travels in Washington DC, New York or Chicago,
(stand-alone places like Smith-Wollensky, ot Mortons’ or ‘The Capital Grille’, etc.
Still others would want me to drive them from the MGM to have the ‘Rio’s Seafood Buffet’.
The cost of a cab ride to and from one hotel to another…plus all the additional time spent…never seemed to matter. I’d drive people from Wynn Las Vegas over to the Palms Nine restaurant and pick them back up. The experience is what the seemed to love most….and I think, sometimes people just want to drive away from their home-hotel…just to experience the ride and another hotel.
Whatever their reasons…people will travel a long way to eat at some other casino-hotel.
I have endless stories about driving chefs, restaurant managers, and waiters and eaters…too numerous to mention. But, they all have funny stories to tell.
On a different note is my memories of people getting in the cab and wanting to go to a nearby emergency walk-in medical center or hospital because they thought they had food poisoning. It didn’t take me too long to find out they’d eaten seafood earlier. (Watch out for them mussels).
Whatever my point is here…I suppose I’m just trying to see if there is a need…or a way…for casinos to try keeping people from leaving the hotel they are staying at…to eat somewhere else.
I don’t think there is. When eating…people are mainly just concerned with having a good experience with food, service, atmosphere..and maybe most of all…with the recognition of being known as a ‘regular’(or as a returning guest) at a place and being giving a warm welcome by a staff that remembers them.
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One last thing. Many, many times I had people want to drive from the Strip to the nearest ‘In & Out Burger’. This happened all the time.
One night I drove a family (who came from Italy) from the Bellagio to In&Out.
They wanted me to come inside and eatwith them, but I chose not to. I’d usually turn the meter off (in traffic jams, etc), but because the Taxi Cab Authority (and cab company) calls that a crime (and because other cab drivers will report that if they see it) I had to let the meter tick away while this family ate their hamburgers.
They didn’t seem to mind one bit that their excursion to In&Out Burger cost them over $26…plus the bagged cheeseburger they wanted me to have.
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The biggest complaint I heard…about ‘Las Vegas eating’ was this:
“Geez. This is supposed to be a 24 hour town. Why are all the good restaurants closed so early?”.
In this regard…Ruth Chris (West Flamingo location) was open until 3AM…and did good late night business because of that. They’re currently closed-down…but their sign says they are re-opening soon.
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Lastly. People used to always get in the cab and ask “Hey. Where’s the best steak in town? Drive us there”.
I’d usually say: “There are probably 20 ‘great steaks’ within 500 yards of where we are now.”
It’s funny how people want “the best”.
One thing you should never do is ask a cab driver where ‘the best’ restaurant is. They’ll usually recommend the place that’s the farthest distance away. haha.
I’d always try to tell people to look thru the ‘free Vegas guidebooks’ that I kept in the cab. They list all the best restaurants.
It seems strange to me that so many people fail to look thru those ‘free guides’.
People seem to prefer eating at places someone else recommends.
I have no idea why. Most every restaurant in Vegas is great.
As for me. Someday I hope to eat at Wynn’s Buffet.
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Sidenote:
I don’t care too much for the current trend for ‘gourmet food’ or having lemon-grass and walnut truffles on my Porterhouse Steak.
I’m a ketchup and A-1 guy myself. I have to keep that a secret though. If a chef or waiter hears you asking for ketchup they think you just arrived from Hootersville or someplace even less sophisticated.
My love for ketchup, A-1, Worchester Sauce and Heinz 57 Steaksauce has caused me lots of problems when trying to but a steak. Every time I’ve asked for those condiments (outside of a coffee-shop) I got frowned upon by family, friends and waiters alike.
I told my cabbie friend this story and he joked back and said that if some VIP or “if Larry Flynt asked for a gallon jar of mayonaisse for HIS steak…the waiters would all say”:
“Excellent choice Mr. Flynt. Excellent. Right away”.
Well, I’m not sure about saying this, but, The Wynn Buffet really is “the best in town”, IMO.