2. The importance of food and drink in an attraction or experience
Consumers are raising their expectations now more than ever, and attractions and experiences need to adapt to these emerging trends to elevate the overall guest experience. Food and drink in an attraction or the way it contributes to an experience, can no longer be an afterthought.
Museums, attractions and theme parks are recognising the importance of food and drink as part of the experience. By providing great food, then people are far more likely to spend longer in the attraction breaking up a visit with a meal or snack in the cafeteria, restaurant, or snack bar.
Operators can leverage the food and drink offering to make it an integral part of the experience and the memory of the day and can even be a main contributor to the decision for the guest to visit.
Festivals and street food opportunities
Attractions are realising the new trend for street food and festival – type catering and using the food festival as something additional to add to the offering within the attraction. In addition to adding value to the experience, this encourages spend, and increased dwell time. Creating food festivals can generate revisits, and high levels of consumer engagement. Other Festivals – such as flower and garden, beer, whiskey etc., can be linked to food, local or themed, and festivals can be delivered throughout the year round on differing themes, and incorporate food offering relevant to the theming.
Using food to Educate
There is an opportunity to use food to support the attraction and the subject matter on display, the stories and history or educational stories within it. Museums and Heritage attractions can use relevant food items to tell stories. Food can be used to fit in with the theme, and provides a unique and authentic food experience which encourages people to return again and again.
The British Museum of Food was created in 2016, and celebrates the story of food. It had an exhibition in the Summer of 2018 called SCOOP which explored the history of Ice cream, and created a fun experience for visitors of all areas.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin brings the brand story to life for visitors of all ages through an authentic and engaging experience, including a new Rooftop bar experience where visitors can sample Guinness whilst overlooking the city.
Other Food and Drink opportunities
Incorporate your food offerings with other events and themes:
- Seafood and local delicacies
- Beer/Spirits/Cider/Presses
- Country/City themed food & drink
- Family sharing bowl foods/platters
- Calendar – based theming – e.g. Hallowe’en/Christmas/
- Seasonal Foods/Spring/Harvest festival etc
Operationally, it is easy to charge an ‘all in’ price to visit a number of stands/food offerings which will save the transactions at each point, and encourage upsell and pre-order upon booking. This can be monitored by lanyard, wristband or electronic token.