Riddles and games
- Posted by Sara on January 3rd, 2008 filed in Entertainment, Food and beverage, Services, Tourism and travel
Opportunity: make your menu a main attraction point
While enjoying a quiet evening at Ceai la Cotroceni with some friends, we took some time to look over the menu and select among the couple dozen varieties of tea. When the waitress came to take our order, she also took the menus away - but we wanted to spend some more time reading the stories and descriptions attached to each type of tea!
This got us thinking of other ways in which the menu can be used to raise the attractiveness of the restaurant, create a unique experience, generate buzz and free marketing. While Ceai la Cotroceni certainly has a very interesting menu with stories and aroma descriptions, more interesting things can be done. For example, the menu could be filled with jokes, or with riddles that guests can try to figure out during the meal; as they leave, they get the chance to find out the correct answer to one of the riddles from the waiter. 
Or, the menu could contain interesting conversation starters, ranging from items similar to the entries in Asimov’s Book of Facts to questions like the Ungame.
Like this ridiculously huge menu at ‘Bikkuri Donki’ or ‘Surprise Donkey’, the stress relief restaurant in the Philipines, where you can pay to throw plates and even TV sets against a wall, or Dick’s Last Resort, where customers love to get terrible service - elements extraneous to dining can do a great deal to generate interest and bring loyal customers to restaurants. The investment necessary to set this up is minimal - all you need is a little creativity and careful coaching of existing and new staff.
Would you like to muse over a riddle as you enjoy your meal?
Written by Sara
January 4th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
This is a great concept. People are often looking for entertainment as much as a meal. After thousands of restaurant visits over a lifetime, I am sure many would welcome a surprising and humorous distraction or a conversation starter.
At Dick’s Last Resort, I noticed a sign near the kitchen where the waiters gather that could have said “the customer is always right” but instead it said “Thinking weakens the team”