Created by Aram Hong, Beini Weng, Shuai Dong
Camera has been becoming popular as if the
things indispensable to life. Photographs and Social Network Service are
considered together, some social issues are occurred frequently. One of the
issues is to photograph dishes in restaurants.
Is it rude to take a photo of dishes in restaurants?
“It’s reached epic proportions,” a spokesman
for a number of New York City restaurants told the NY Times. “Everybody wants to get their shot. They
don’t care how it affects people around them.” The writer also says that One of
the celeb chefs he reps is David Bouley, who says that when people pull out
their cameras — some even going so far as to stand on their chairs to get a
bird’s eye shot — “It’s a disaster in terms of momentum, settling into the
meal, the great conversation that develops… It’s hard to build a memorable
evening when flashes are flying every six minutes.” (Morran, 2013) .When dishes are eventually arrived at table, it
should be taken a picture by people from time to time without any consideration
of companies. Some say “Hold on! I need to take a picture. Don’t touch!” and
after few minutes, they say again, “One more shot, please.” Than the other say
“I am hungry and food is getting cold.” The attitude towards food has been
changed and it irritates not only company but also people around them.In addition, some chefs don’t want them are
just insecure about their dishes (Clay, 2014) .
Marketing strategy of food business
It disrupts ambience and makes hard to spend
memorial time in restaurant. However, it is a strong effective marketing method
for restaurant and also a way to get an idea for individuals. With sharing and
distributing photos of great foods, the restaurant can get reputation.“These days restaurants court bloggers and
tweeters as social networking is a valuable marketing tool. So shouldn’t chefs
be celebrating the free publicity that a Twitter or Instagram photograph gives
them?” (Clay, 2014) .Moreover, business needs to chase how
customer’s needs are changed by trend. People want to share right then their
instant gratification.
The
way to avoid being rude
Moe Issa, the owner of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn
Fare, said he banned photography several months after opening when it became
too much of a distraction to the other diners at his 18-seat restaurant (STAPINSKI, 2013) .While Chef’s Table banned taking a photo of
foods, Chef Bouley came up with another way to satisfy customers and keep the
ambience of the restaurant at the same time.Chef Bouley is trying to appease food photogs
and keep things civil in his dining room. He tells the Times that he’ll
sometimes invite people to take photos of their meal in the kitchen. He’s also
working on a system that would provide customers with pics of their food before
they finish eating (Morran, 2013) .Many people say ‘no flash’ need to be a first
rule in restaurant. The flash makes food ugly and distracts people.
New trend for Food-graphy
It is obvious that marketing strategy should
make good use of the growing trend for food-graphy.The most important factor for the Picture House
is to invent the payment method by taking a picture on Instagram, then upload
it onto social media and create a fun dining environment, which is an
interesting and fresh way to customers as well as to other competitors in the
industry. Food-graphy becomes popular eating style; Howerer, how to catch this
new trend and turn it into a selling point is worth considering.
Questions:
1. Is it rude to take photos in restaurant? Or
fine? If it is rude, what should people do with taking photos?
2. Why people want to take photos of the food?
Why it is being trend?
3. Is it a good marketing method? If yes, how
can it be developed as a better way for marketing?
References used:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/dining/restaurants-turn-camera-shy.html?_r=0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10648419/Is-it-wrong-to-photograph-your-food-in-restaurants.html
http://gorkana.com/news/consumer/case-studies/case-study-picture-house-the-world-s-first-pay-by-picture-restaurant/
