Regional Restaurants Vie For Autumn "Leaf Peepers"

From Lisa Kaplan Gordon:

For six weeks from September through mid-October, hundreds of thousands of people spend hundreds of millions of dollars to view the glorious foliage across the nation's northeast corridor. Winning their patronage is a small window of opportunity that can color a restaurant's financial performance for the year.

According to Boston Magazine, "leaf peepers" in Vermont alone spend almost $100 million annually on food, and more than 300,000 international visitors come through Boston's Logan Airport for the sole purpose of looking at local leaves.

So how does a restaurant rake in its share of customers?

Answer: Any way it can.

Leveraging social media for restaurant traffic

The Common Man Family of Restaurants, based in Ashland, N.H., leverages social media to attract tourists to its 22 establishments throughout the state. The company's Facebook page recently invited its 10,000 friends to submit their favorite fall foliage photos. (The company's Twitter account has 2,000 followers.)

“We’re a little ahead of the curve in our social media, and that helps get people in the door," says CEO Jason Lyon. "That's our competitive edge. We started using it five years ago but really ramped up our fan base in the last nine months. It’s been highly successful and continues to grow.”

"October is our largest month of sales," Lyon says. "We attract a wider variety of tourists—not only from across New England, but a lot of Europeans come over for foliage season, too.”

Catering to tourists

Jay Foster, owner of the 1761 Old Mill Inn in Westminster, Mass., said he does a third of his annual business during the six weeks at the height of New England's fall-foliage season. He increases his competitive advantage by marketing his scenic landscape—duck pond, covered bridges, waterfall—to bus tours catering to senior leaf peepers.

"We're a good destination place," says Foster, who estimates the restaurant attracts about 50 bus tours during the foliage season, usually scheduled for mid-week at lunchtime.

"It's a real good pickup for us," he says.

To add to the ambiance, the inn recently built and elaborately landscaped an arbor that faces the foliage. The arbor provides an unforgettable backdrop for autumn weddings, a new source of income for the restaurant.

"We picked up a lot of new business for weddings because of our fall foliage," says Foster, who also considered planting an apple orchard or "doing something with pumpkins" to attract tourists when the leaves begin to turn in late August and early September.

"We're always looking for new ideas," Foster says.

The Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret, Conn., takes advantage of its location on Route 169—dubbed one of the country's most scenic byways—to grab customers, feed them a good meal at a rapid pace and then speed them back on their way in search of color.

"There are very few cafes directly on Route 169," says co-owner Barry Jessurun. "You can be in and out of here quickly. You're not waiting for your waitress or check or change."

Jessurun also makes sure his cafe supports the area's promotional guides that herald the Last Green Valley, a swath of lush and quiet land between northeastern Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts, including Pomfret.

"Anything that helps to promote this area, we help promote them and ourselves," Jessurun says.

Creating seasonal cuisines

Most restaurants augment their fall-foliage menus with seasonal dishes that take advantage of fall produce or add autumn colors to the plate. The Vanilla Bean Cafe serves pumpkin French toast, ham and apple omelets and autumn salad with butternut squash. The Common Man serves hot apple cider (spiked with apricot brandy upon request).

Some restaurants present entire menus that are niche and unusual to attract generations of fall-foliage motorists.

Since 1954, Hart's Turkey Farm in Meredith, N.H., has specialized in everything turkey: white meat, dark meat, stuffing and gravy.

"It's a fall, feel-good meal," says Russ Hart, a second-generation owner of a restaurant that serves more turkeys in one day than many restaurants roast all year. "We’ve been here since 1954. For many, it's a tradition to stop at Hart's during foliage season. We've had some people come for 50 years. Hopefully, we're bringing along new generations."

Lisa Kaplan Gordon is a reporter whose 20-year writing career has earned three National Headliners Awards and two Pulitzer Prize nominations.

Source: http://www.openforum.com/articles/regional-restaurants-vie-for-autumn-leaf-peepers

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