Throughout the North Bay, restaurant owners have been coming up with enticing ways to lure in diners.
I’ve been driving by Rocker Oysterfeller’s on my way to the beach for years and, each time, I’d think: “I’ve heard of that place. I should stop and check it out.” And each time, it wasn’t quite the right time. A couple of months ago, the Valley Ford restaurant was celebrating its annual Oysterpalooza Festival. That finally nudged me to make a conscious effort to drop in. The festival was a spirited blend of live music throughout the day, outdoor eats featuring lots of oysters and plenty of good beer on tap. Hay bales had been put out by the stage for extra seating. And the patch of earth next to them was covered with oyster shells, which made for an interesting crunching sound as dancing revelers stomped and grooved. Adults laughed and danced as kids ran around and played.
The restaurant, which offers fresh, local food with a Southern flair, is a natural stopping off point for adventurous tourists and wandering locals. Packed with a joyful crowd of cyclists in their spandex, bikers on their Harleys and families in their minivans, it’s a casual spot to cool down with a drink on the tree-shaded patio, have a bite to eat or stretch your legs and walk around the grassy back area. It’s the perfect place for the kids and I to stop during our meandering, backroad adventures. But I would have never known it if I hadn’t stopped by that first time during their special event.
For many brick and mortar businesses, the most important step is that first step in the door. Once someone knows how to get there, where to park, what it looks like and what to expect, he or she is much more likely to come again. The question then becomes: How do you attract that customer in the first place?
Throughout the North Bay, restaurant owners have been coming up with enticing ways to do just that. Whether it’s theme dinners, special events, winemaker dinners, participating in festivals, fund-raisers or other organized group activities, these small business owners have been figuring out what works—and what doesn’t—when it comes to bringing in new customers.
One thing most agree on is that any special promotion should accentuate the existing atmosphere, whether that be the ambiance of the restaurant itself or the general vibe of the geographical location and local culture.
Winemaker dinners
For example, both Sonoma and Napa counties draw upon their Wine Country cred by hosting a multitude of winemaker dinners. Typically, a winemaker is invited to work with the chef to pair a special menu with the appropriate wines. In addition, the winemaker usually gives a talk during the meal, educating customers about the offerings. The wineries benefit because regular customers of the restaurant enjoy attending the special dinners and are then exposed to the wines. And, of course, it works the other way around. The restaurants benefit because fans of the winery will often try out a new restaurant so they can have a special experience featuring some of their favorite wines.
The general idea for this cross-pollination is the same in Napa and Sonoma. But the restaurants in each area put their own special spin on the events by accentuating their own, unique “terroir.” Napa Valley is known as one of the most sophisticated dining destinations on the globe. Ever since Robert Mondavi brought in top chefs from Europe for special dining events at his winery, Napa has been a leader in food and wine pairing. (This summer, a number of events are being held in the area to honor the 100-year anniversary of Mondavi’s birth.) It’s a place of luxury and riches, where well-healed foodies flock to experience the finer things in life. When the fine restaurants of Napa host winemaker dinners, they’re typically replete with the elegance and decorum one would expect.
In Sonoma County, folks like doing things a little differently. Sonoma is also known for great food and wine, but the atmosphere is typically much more down-to-earth and friendly. Locals like to think of themselves as simple folk who happen to like the best things in life, such as family and friends, a beautiful natural environment and, of course, amazing food and wine. So, when Healdsburg’s SCOPA puts on a winemaker dinner, it skips the formalities and the fuss. Instead, it’s casual and friendly with the winemaker going from table to table, pouring wine and chatting with the guests.
Themed celebrations
Just a little east of SCOPA, at the Madrona Manor, the culture of the county takes a back seat to the ambiance of the restaurant itself: A beautiful, Victorian manor in the midst of luscious landscaping, Madrona Manor is its own little world. And the management has taken full advantage of that opulent atmosphere to attract new customers with its extravagant theme dinners.
The popular Dickens Dinners are held for two weeks leading up to Christmas, including a seating on Christmas Day. The Manor is decorated from top-to-bottom in festive, holiday décor, ornaments hanging from chandeliers, garlands draped over mirrors. An a cappella group in period costume strolls through the rooms of the mansion singing carols. Owner Bill Konrad gets into the spirit as well and has been known to dress like Santa and wander through the restaurant delivering gifts.
Drawing once again on the Victorian feel of the restaurant, the Manor will be hosting its first “Downton Abbey”-themed dinner in January, when the fourth season of the popular show returns to TV. The menu and entertainment will be based on the era, but decor is already set since Madrona Manor was built in 1881, the same period as the show’s first season.
Although the Manor’s ambiance is perfect for such English-themed dinners, it also has the aura of a charming Southern mansion. When “The Great Gatsby” movie came out earlier this year, the restaurant took advantage of the buzz to host a Great Gatsby-themed soiree.
“Themed dinners are a great way to reach a large demographic, if you choose a theme that’s currently in trend or related to a current event,” says Kacie McGranahan, special events director for the restaurant. “Our Great Gatsby Soiree took place just a few days before the release of Baz Luhrmann’s film, so between all of the trailers playing on TV, images in magazines and talk about the movie, there was a lot of Gatsby buzz.”
According to McGranahan, the secret to a successful themed dinner is “in the details! The costumes, music and food should be as authentic as possible. But while people focus on the larger, more obvious aspects of a theme dinner, we definitely make sure to cover the small details as well. I used resources like Etsy to find vintage-style aprons for Gatsby and have found these small details really add to the overall look and feel.”
The Gatsby afternoon included entertainment by The Turnaround Jazz Quartet which played 1920s standards. There were lawn games, such as badminton, and parlour games like checkers. The vintage cocktails and menu were inspired by passages from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book. For example, one passage reads: “At his parties, Gatsby served spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.” Executive Chef Jesse Mallgren interpreted that passage and created a menu that offered crispy local oysters wrapped in spiced ham, a Waldorf salad and suckling pig “pork pie.”
Another passage reads: “A succulent hash arrived and Mr. Wolfshiem, forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy.” In turn, the menu included lobster hash with cured egg, dry farmed potato chips and caviar.
Did all that effort translate into new, returning customers? Angela Lazear, who attended the Gatsby Soiree, says, “With all the options in fine dining these days, the opportunity to experience magnificent food in such a setting really allows for the venue to stand out. Now that we know what they’re capable of, we will be back!”
Community involvement
Like the Madrona Manor, Nick’s Cove in Marin County’s Tomales Bay is also its own little world. Out in a natural wonderland and far away from any city, the restaurant is so secluded that there’s not even cell phone coverage—a true hallmark of remoteness these days. When the restaurant does its special dinners, it focuses on old-fashioned, low-tech, local, artisan foods.
In Napa County, the area’s atmosphere of sophistication, luxury and a love for the good life is once again used to optimal effect, this time at La Toque restaurant, with its annual truffle celebration starting in January and concluding whenever truffle season ends. The restaurant also co-hosts the annual Napa Valley Truffle Festival (the next one takes place mid-January 2014).
One of most expensive foods in the world (black truffles go for more than $800 per pound, while white truffles can be three or four times that much), the much-touted delicacy is featured on La Toque’s menu each season. No one knows truffles like La Toque chef and owner Ken Frank, who’s been creating truffle menus for 32 years. “The first time I had a fresh, black truffle, it was a revelation,” he says. “After all these years, I’m still not tired of them. I love my job.”
“Napa is the only place with this sort of concentration of top-level restaurants basically down the street from each other,” Frank continues. “This is a foodie paradise. So, this was the ideal place to have a truffle festival, because you get people here with the appreciation—and the means—to really enjoy something like this.”
Frank points out that Napa isn’t just about expensive food and exclusive restaurants. Many local chefs also participate in fund-raisers and festivals. For example, he just took part in the recent BottleRock festival. “It was a blast,” Frank says. “We served chopped salad. Lots and lots and lots of chopped salad.”
There’s an abundance of such events in which restaurants set up booths and patrons can try the food. Aside from helping out charity organizations, restaurants participate in these events for the exposure they offer. People who may have never gone to the establishment will give it a try if the booth is right there.
“It’s a good way to get exposure, but you have to be careful,” warns Frank. “The best food you make is going to be the food you create in your own restaurant in your own kitchen. So, as a chef, you have to be careful what you serve when you go to one of these events. It’s tricky. You need to experiment with what will show you in the best light in that type of atmosphere.”
Taste of Petaluma offers a festival-like atmosphere, along with a fund-raiser for a local theater program, while at the same time letting most participating restaurants operate out of their own kitchens. Patrons buy a book of tickets, which allows them 10 tastings in the downtown event. Most of the tastings are at the restaurants themselves. But participating eateries that aren’t within walking distance have booths housed in downtown storefronts.
“It’s a win-win,” says Madeleine Ashe, who’s attended the event and works for Cinnabar Theater, the recipient of the fund-raising effort. “This way, out-of-area restaurants can still take part in the event, and they pull participants into the local businesses, and vice versa. And it’s fun for the customers, because there’s that added reason to walk around and explore the entire downtown.”
The festival optimizes Petaluma’s unique atmosphere, as festival-goers walk from one venue to the next for the tastings.
“I think another reason the event is so successful is because the food is great and there’s a lot of it,” Ashe says. “It’s built a reputation and people know they’ll definitely be getting their money’s worth. Believe me, I’m not shy when it comes to eating. But every time I go, I end up with a few leftover tickets that I just give away to people on the street.”
Spotlight on restaurants
Ever since the recent recession, getting one’s money’s worth has become a very important issue among consumers. Back in 2011, the California Travel & Tourism Commission noted that California is the leading destination for culinary travel in the United States. So the commission created “Restaurant Month” to entice foodie travelers to come during the slow month of January by offering discounts at participating restaurants, thereby boosting the state’s economy. Both Napa and Marin counties take part.
The centralized marketing effort has benefited some establishments. But to take part in the promotion, restaurants need to be members of the tourism bureau. Many popular restaurants see themselves as catering to locals and repeat business, so they opt out of becoming members of their local visitors’ bureaus—and the fees that go along with it.
What ends up happening is that a high percentage of the restaurants taking part in Restaurant Month are part of a hotel group, because it’s the hotels that make up a sizeable portion of the tourism association. Although many of these eating establishments are very good, the selection is nevertheless skewed and the reputation of the program has suffered for it.
Sonoma County has steered clear of these problems because the county’s Economic Development Board helms the local Restaurant Week promotion, which takes place each March. The event has been a hit and 124 restaurants took part in the most recent promotion. “We view the restaurants as a vital part of the economy, so we organize the event to help these businesses,” says Audrey Bendowski, tourism research project coordinator.
The Economic Board staffs the project and prints out posters, flyers and other advertising material. Instead of paying any membership fees to participate, each restaurant simply contributes a $25 and a $50 gift certificate to be used for promotional giveaways on radio, social media sites and other venues. For example, Maverick Media, which runs five local radio stations, contributes in-kind advertising to the project and uses the certificates for listener call-in contests. Local print media also contributes advertising. “Everyone pitches in because we’re all part of the same community,” Bendowski adds. “Good business for the restaurants is good business for all of us.”
Project Zin
By Julie Fadda
While events such as Restaurant Week and Dining Out for Life (which benefits the Food for Thought Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank locally but is also a national effort) are always popular in these parts, another important event does its fair share to raise awareness about Down Syndrome—something that hits close to home for Clay and Carrie Mauritson of Mauritson Family Winery, whose oldest son (Chase, now 5) was diagnosed at age 2.5.
The third annual Project Zin will take place August 17 at Hotel Healdsburg, featuring 21 highly acclaimed (and often unobtainable unless you’re on the allotment list) Zinfandels and at least 13 restaurants taking part. There’s even a silent auction with outstanding lots during this intimate event. “We wanted to create something that people were excited about and wanted to attend,” says Clay. “My wife and I started with the help of Charlie Palmer [chef/owner of Dry Creek Kitchen]. We looked at the success of Pigs and Pinot [a benefit for Share Our Strength, which works to end childhood hunger, as well as local scholarships and charities] and modeled the event after that.
“We wanted to make it intimate, so we limited the number of wineries to 21 [a significant number in the Down Syndrome community, as it’s the 21st chromosome that has the third replicate and causes Down Syndrome]. Attendees can mingle with the wine producers while enjoying iconic Zinfandels, great food and entertainment—there may even be a ‘surprise’ celebrity MC this year.” The event takes place on the grounds at Hotel Healdsburg, where people can wander and taste at their own pace.
After all is said and done, proceeds benefit Down Syndrome Association of the North Bay (formerly the Sonoma County Down Syndrome Support Group), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization Clay and Carrie helped start. “We were overwhelmed and overjoyed by their support. So grateful to them for helping us overcome all our new challenges. They were our inspiration to create Project Zin as a way to give back,” says Clay. Over the past two years, the event has raised $80,000.
“The most humbling thing is the unbelievable response from producers and restaurateurs out there. Not a single person said, ‘No,’” adds Clay.
For tickets as well as a list of participating wineries and restaurants, please visit www.projectzin.org.
