22
| Hospitality
Today | to Spring
Feb
/ March
2017
2017
Appealing
especially
those
who
are
looking for a drink and some light bites,
the bar menu will feature delightful small
plates such as spiced monkfish cheeks
(£9), girolle mushroom and black truffle
arancini (£9) to accompany an innovative
cocktail menu.
The Grab & Go service will run seamlessly
throughout the day, opening at 8am every
weekday morning (9am at the weekends),
and offering a breakfast menu complete
with freshly baked pastries and breads,
homemade preserves and comforting
cooked breakfasts. Continuing through
to lunch, a superb selection of freshly
made sandwiches, salads and decadent
cakes will be available.
Oliver Peyton, founder of Peyton and Byrne,
said “We are delighted to be re-opening
The National Café and we look forward to
welcoming guests, whatever their preference
- through the door for casual dining, lunch or
dinner in the restaurant or a drink at our bar.
Whether visiting an exhibition at the National
Gallery, looking to enjoy a pre-theatre menu
or holding a bespoke event, the new National
Café provides a stunning setting.”
Young diners influenced by social media
Two thirds of consumers (66%) will visit
a restaurant’s social media pages before
eating out, according to HGEM. According to
its latest research, 58% of millennials were
found to go to a restaurant’s social media
pages before every visit or ahead of the
majority of their visits, with 53% of 56– 65
year olds following this pattern, reinforcing
that social media audiences extend beyond
‘Generation Y’.
When questioned as to why they had
visited a restaurant’s social channels,
almost one third of all respondents
(30%) said they were looking for menu
information, while almost a quarter
(22%) were seeking customer reviews,
highlighting the effect these platforms
can have on a customer’s decision making
process. Although on-site conversations
with staff were deemed to be more
important than social media conversations
for 62% of consumers, more than one
third (34%) of those surveyed believed
social media interactions to be an equally
important part of the guest experience.
With this figure rising to 43% amongst
the millennial audience, the study
highlights the demand for consistent
communications between consumer and
operator, online and offline.
The research dug deeper to look at
what content was most appealing to
consumers when visiting a site’s social
media page. Offers and promotions
proved the most popular type of
content, followed by photos, events and
competitions. Facebook proved the most
widely used platform - almost two thirds
(64%) of diners chose the world’s largest
social media network as their chosen
channel for interacting with restaurants.
Reflecting on the results, Steven Pike,
managing director of HGEM, commented:
“We know that social media is an incredibly
powerful tool for operators to monitor
customer feedback and maintain a seamless
guest experience, however the results
emphasise the influence that such platforms
have over what drives diners to visit a
venue in the first instance.