Learn how to use olfactory memory for organizing and promoting your restaurant to impress and retain customers.

Running a restaurant is a complex business that involves designing preparation and dining areas, establishing the menu, selecting suppliers, and creating decor, among other tasks. Beyond tasty culinary specialties, a good restaurant must offer a pleasant, even memorable experience. This drives restaurant managers to pay special attention to details.

Smells play a significant role, greeting guests from the moment they enter and lasting until they leave. You want all customers to be satisfied and eager to return to your restaurant. To achieve this, use scent marketing methods that emphasize people’s olfactory memory. Here are the main methods you can use to leverage olfactory marketing tools to your restaurant’s advantage:

Choose Scents Suitable for Your Restaurant’s Specifics

Just as fashion accessories vary depending on the elements of an outfit, scents in public dining establishments are selected based on criteria such as the menu specifics, dining area size, and location. For diners or fast food places, maintain a neutral, fresh aroma that doesn’t overwhelm the fried food smells on your menu. For traditional restaurants, an alpine, pine scent is suitable, while Mediterranean taverns might benefit from marine ambient perfumes with subtle coffee and citrus notes. Choose HORECA (Hotels, Restaurants, and Catering) odorizing devices specifically designed to provide restaurant scents that match your specifics. Opt for premium professional ranges to ensure high quality under intensive use. Your guests’ olfactory memory will link a particular scent to the pleasant experiences they had during business lunches, romantic dinners, or coffee breaks.

Help Separate Scents Between Different Areas of the Restaurant

Olfactory memory can differentiate between various areas of the restaurant. At the entrance, guests should sense a fine aroma similar to that of a hotel reception. Dining tables are set in a separate decor, offering aromas that match the menu’s specifics. On the way to the restroom, especially if it passes by the kitchen, there should be no heavy smells lingering on customers’ clothes and noses, ruining their experience. Use professional indoor air fresheners for this purpose. You have access to olfactory devices equipped with fans and aerosols to smartly regulate scent intensity. Restaurant aromas should remain subtle olfactory suggestions that create pleasant memories and agreeable experience associations.

Create a Brand Identity that Differentiates You from the Competition

Just as you have a unique logo and established visual identity both offline and on social media, olfactory memory helps you create a memorable brand that stands out from the competition. Choose IFRA (International Fragrance Association) and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) certified scent solutions. Consult scent marketing specialists to identify the scents that best suit your restaurant.

A Useful Tool in Launching Special Offers and Seasonal Menus

Guests return to your restaurant to relive the experience of a delicious meal in a pleasant ambiance. When you have a seasonal menu or a special offer, communicate this through new scents that draw attention and evoke memories of places they have visited or the nostalgia of childhood culinary dishes. For example, a brunch with traditional desserts can be promoted with baked apple scents, a Turkish night with refined hookah notes, and a Cuban fiesta with a discreet hint of tobacco.

Build a Strong Connection Between the Restaurant and Customers

Olfactory memory underpins the creation of a strong bond between the restaurant and its customers. Choose professional scent offerings from fresh, floral, sweet, fruity, gourmand, oriental, citrus, or woody ranges. Depending on the scents customers perceive when they spend pleasant hours in the restaurant, they will associate the place with the pleasant aromas they experience. Upon their second or third visit, they will recognize the familiar atmosphere visually, auditorily, and olfactorily. They will feel welcome, like house guests, rather than mere consumers.