A Cosmic Kind of Love(43)
“So what do you think?”
The question brought me from my musings back to present day and the very important client standing in front of me. I smiled at Natalia Pisano, owner of the Manhattan restaurant we now stood in. It hadn’t opened yet, and it wouldn’t until Lia Zhang Events pulled off an opening night to remember. Natalia successfully ran an earthy Italian restaurant in Brooklyn with her chef best friend, Paola, and they’d decided to open a fine-dining restaurant in the city. Of course, running a restaurant was a precarious undertaking, and my client wanted to give hers its very best chance.
Hence why she’d hired us to open it with a splash.
“It’s beautiful,” I said honestly. Polished floors I could see my reflection in, chunky oak tables with angled shapes and legs, oak pillars between dark wood screens that created a booth-like dining experience and privacy, soft mood lighting . . .
Simple, modern, elegant.
We had plans to add lighted faux topiary, and our team was working on swag to give to guests, but mostly I’d been working alongside Althea to get the “right” people into the restaurant on opening night. We’d tasted Natalia and Paola’s menu. The food would speak for itself.
I tapped my tablet. “Shall we go over the plans?”
Natalia gestured to the nearest table. “Can I get you anything?”
“Oh.” I gestured to the jug of water and glasses that were already on the table. “Water is fine, thanks.”
As my client poured me a glass, I jumped right into it. “So here is my proposal: we start with a soft opening. We invite your friends and family, especially those willing to be honest, and we’ll send out a survey to them afterward so they can give you feedback anonymously. When do you think you’d be ready for that?”
“Two weeks,” she said without hesitation.
“Great. That gives us time to send out invitations for the soft opening. Once we get the survey back, you can work out any of the issues that guests might have raised.”
“I actually did that with Pisano’s.” She referred to the Brooklyn restaurant. “But not the anonymous thing. That makes a lot more sense.”
I nodded. “People tend to be more honest if it’s anonymous. And once you have the kinks worked out, that’s when we can move on to a grand opening. We’re already working on decor, which you’ve signed off on.”
Natalia murmured in the affirmative.
“And good news. Althea, who has been working very hard on the marketing side of the event, has come up with two great opportunities. First is for swag to give away at the grand opening. People love free stuff, and you want to give them something they’ll use often that will also regularly remind them of the amazing food they experienced here. Althea talked with Key Buddy, the tech company behind the key-holder tracker that connects to your smartphone. We can customize the Key Buddy with the restaurant’s logo, and the company will give us a bunch of those at cost for cross-promotion. We’ll also add a few gender-neutral gifts with your logo on it, but Althea and I really feel like the Key Buddy is a winner. Their sales have seen an exponential rise this year, and consumers are really attracted to the product. I can send you the costs if you’re interested, along with all our other swag suggestions?”
She seemed to think about it. “You know a few people in my family have those key-tracker things. I think that’s actually a pretty cool idea and not anything I would have thought of. Yeah, send me the information.”
Buzzed that she liked the idea, I continued on. “Althea has also reached out to two influencers with a combined following of more than three million people. Both regularly review restaurants on their posts, one of them is based in Brooklyn, the other Boston. We’d have to pay for their expenses, but I think that would be worth it to have them attend.”
I continued as Natalia nodded along. “We’d also like to invite a few local politicians, a couple of chiefs from the New York Fire Department, same with the police department, et cetera.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“They tend to know a lot of people and do a lot of networking, so they can spread word of mouth. You should obviously put as much energy as possible into your social media, but for the grand opening we want the people who were here to do the work for us too, because the food is just so damn good.”
“I get it. Again, I wouldn’t have thought of it.”
“Great. And last but not least, I want you to think of a charity that means something to you, because I think it would be a wonderful idea if we make the grand opening a fundraiser for your charity. It makes your business look good, it creates positive energy around the restaurant from the offset, and your guests will be donating to a cause that means something to you.”
“A local charity for cancer perhaps,” Natalia said instantly. “My grandmother died last year of lung cancer.”
A pang of sympathy echoed in my chest. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Her eyes brightened. “She was a wonderful lady and so proud of Pisano’s. She would be amazed to see me opening a fine-dining restaurant in Manhattan.”
“I’ll have Althea look into local charities and send a list for you to choose from. I’ll also email you over the budget breakdown. You’ll see a significant amount is going into swag, advertising on social media, banners, sidewalk boards, et cetera. After seeing the completed article”—I gestured to the dining room—“I’m glad we’re going light on party decor. We need to let this beautiful space shine.”