If you were visiting Rhode Island, where would you go for dinner on your first night? It is a question that is asked more often than we locals may realize. And coming up with the right answer is vitally important. According to Mark G. Brodeur, Rhode Island’s new director of tourism (READ MORE), 40 percent of dining out in Providence is done by tourists; that is, people who have traveled from at least 50 miles away or are staying overnight in a hotel. Seasonally, that figure rises to as much as 70 percent in Providence and 75 percent in Newport.
This phenomenon is called culinary tourism and it is big business. There is much work being done behind the scenes to keep these visitors happy. The campaign starts on the ground with a group of ambassadors. Local hotel concierges are often the first people asked for restaurant recommendations. Tourism officials work closely with the hotels to put the most current knowledge into the hands of these ambassadors.
The Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has an ongoing training program for concierges to keep them current on restaurant openings and updates of menus and personnel at local eateries. Once upon a time, hotel concierges had the pulse of the city. They would hold forth for decades at their lobby stations, at places like the Providence Biltmore or the Narragansett, and knew more about the goings-on in the city than the mayor. Nowadays with chain hotels predominating, personnel change every couple of years or so, necessitating such industry briefings. Both the Providence Warwick CVB and the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau hold regular marketing meetings at which restaurateurs and other tourism businesspeople, such as winery owners and innkeepers, are invited to talk directly to concierges as well as tour operators and other frontline hospitality staffers. Speakers include Cindy Salvato, noted chef and culinary educator, who has established a kitchen tour program of Federal Hill restaurants that is a must-attend for many conventioneers. Johnson & Wales University’s College of Culinary Arts offers one-day cooking classes called Chef’s Choice. This type of “insider information” is made available to concierges.
On the restaurant side, the savvy restaurateurs establish relationships with their colleagues in the lodging industry to stay top of mind.
The White Horse Tavern in Newport stocks the major hotels in town with menus and information on upcoming events such as their recent Colonial-beer dinner. General Manager Gary Swanson regularly gets calls from veteran concierge Daniel VanWaus at the Hotel Viking. When VanWaus sends hotel guests to the White Horse, he alerts Swanson, who makes every effort to accommodate the guests’ particular requests such as a table by the fire or a private dining room.
Swanson developed a coupon for a complimentary dessert, which concierges can distribute to their guests inquiring about restaurant recommendations. Newport has numerous bed and breakfast inns whose guests are seeking unique dining experiences during their stay. Innkeepers of such places as the Hydrangea House and the Hilltop B&B work closely with Swanson to be able to offer packages including dinner at the venerable tavern with a stay at the inn.
What about those hotels that also have fine dining restaurants? In a dining destination such as Rhode Island, some of the most unique eateries happen to be located in hotels. How do the concierges direct their guests to the right restaurants without losing business for their own hotels? The answer is, they sometimes work together to share the business.
At The Chanler at Cliff Walk in Newport, the Spiced Pear restaurant is world-renowned for its culinary experience. Hotel concierge Peter Barry is putting together a Newport concierge club. Barry and his colleagues plan to meet in various restaurants here in Newport every month to talk about what new restaurants have opened and what restaurants are doing to promote business. Barry calls his plan “a great way to keep on top of one’s game.”
Those thoughts are echoed at Aspire restaurant in the Hotel Providence, where restaurant general manager Michael McBride recently delivered Aspire’s signature sushi to concierges at other downtown hotels. McBride says his front desk staff, led by concierge Jim Beller, makes every effort to find out what type of dining experience the hotel guest is looking for. Aspire features seafood on its menu, so it may not be the first choice of a visitor in search of an Italian meal, for example. McBride and Beller interact with their guests to find out their particular likes and dislikes.
As Mark Brodeur puts it, “Tourism and culinary tourism is the shining light that will lead us out of our economic problems.”
The Rhode Island restaurant scene is attracting attention nationwide. Brodeur spoke to Providence Business News from a conference on tourism that was being held in Portland, Ore. The word from the conference was that Providence is on the map with tourism executives, who consistently rave about the great food served at our local restaurants.
That should make us want to be a tourists in our own state and see what all the talk is about. And that would be a really satisfying way to do our part to help the local economy. •
Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio show can be heard on 920 WHJJ-AM Fridays at 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays at noon. E-mail bruce@brucenewbury.com.
