EatAspen Blog

The newly increased online ability of customers to share reviews and comments about your restaurant can be a bit frightening.  What is really the best way to deal with this newly empowered consumer?

Well EatAspen.com attended the Aspen Food and Wine Trade Seminar “Social Media: Managing a Newly Empowered Consumer” to find out.  The ballroom of the Hotel Jerome was full of restaurant industry profesionals and a panel discussion was led by representatives from Facebook, UrbanSpoon, Kimpton Hotels and a famous Twittering Chef.

We know you are in a hurry and want the meat of the seminar, so here are the main points.

Build an online strategy: With an online strategy you can keep the information fresh, have a focus on who and what can be posted by your employees and a way to respond.

Don’t outsource Facebook or Twitter. It needs to be your voice, honest, and genuine. You have to respond to angry or upset customers. This is also a great opportunity to improve your restaurant by listening to the consumer.

Don’t use Twitter & Facebook to Promote. Your Facebook and Twitter accounts should promote customer dialog. If you are only promoting your restaurant and specials, people will stop following your restaurant. Now you’ve lost their ear for good.

The online conversation is happening with or without you. Customers are talking about your restaurant, service, and business online no matter if you have a twitter or Facebook account. It is better to be part of the dialog and learn from your customers than to be in the dark.

Keep your restaurant information online & up to date. Consumers are more likely to come to your restaurant if they can find your menu, see pictures, and your information is up to date.

If you have further questions or need help building your on-line strategy, please contact us at info@eataspen.com

Thanks to the panel!  Kevin Colleran (Facebook’s director of national sales), Chris Cosentino (executive chef at Incanto in San Fransico), Niki Leondakis (COO of Kimpton Hotels), and Ethan Lowry (Urbanspoon).

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WC3 World Cup Kick Off Party – England v USA. Saturday, June 12, 2010 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Woody Creek Community Center is showing every kick of every game on a giant 7 foot screen in a room dedicated to The World Cup. Full bar and great food at great prices…. Lots of free parking. Come join the fun! Downtown Woody Creek. Contact 970-922-2342

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The summer season is in full swing with the re-opening of Syzygy restaurant tonight, June 11 2010. Owner Walt Harris, brought it up a notch when he remade the long loved Syzygy restaurant this past winter, with it’s premier in a new space with seductive interior design elements.  The menu is also brought up a notch with Tom Fritz as the new Chef de Cuisine.  Look for Tom’s spring interpretation of the menu with the inclusion of fresh, local ingredients as well as a few new inventive menu additions.

Good Eats!

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Social restaurant located on Aspen’s restaurant row on Hopkins St. will not be reopening for the summer of 2010.  Following is a note from the restauranteurs.

“We are sad to announce the closure of Social restaurant in Aspen. After two and a half wonderful years of good times, laughter, smiles, cries, heartaches, awesome food, creative drinks, great customers, good memories and bad ones, we have decided to close the doors and focus on Elevation restaurant and bar. It is a bittersweet decision, yet a necessary one, as our lease is expiring and we are not able to make ends meet.

“May you live in interesting times” was a saying in ancient China. Indeed we are. However, with everything we do in life, we must remember the great things, learn from the bad ones and become better people for it. The foundation of Social (literally and figuratively, both) was always Elevation restaurant. Rather than focusing on the bad things that comes with closing a business, we want to look at this as a new beginning. We are condensing, downscaling and taking the best of Social’s menu and ideas to make Elevation even better and more competitive.

We would just like to thank everyone that made Social a great place to eat, drink, socialize and work. First and foremost, all the staff who believed in what we were doing, put their heart and soul into it and sincerely looked at Social as more than a paycheck. Of course, also the people who expressed that Social was their favorite restaurant in Aspen or the world and how could we forget the five year old who said that “this is the best day in my life” as his mouth was covered in chocolate fondue, when asked how dinner was.

To all the fellow restaurateurs and small business owners in Aspen –keep up the good work and let’s continue to make Aspen the greatest place on earth to visit and live in.”

Tommy, Gunnar, and Denise

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