Immersive Tasty Details
What’s the Story?
Think of New Orleans, and you think of gumbo and beignets. Boston? Clam chowder. Nearly every city has a link to food, ingrained in the culture as much as big tourist attractions and sports teams. And think back to your first visit to a theme park. Do you remember walking in and taking in the sweet aroma of cotton candy? How did it make you feel? There’s a reason Disney pipes in smells as you walk through the park—scents can trigger memories and emotions. And that t-shirt you picked up on that family vacation years ago that you’re still wearing? It can immediately take you back to the moment you watched your kids’ eyes light up as they met their favorite character. Harness those memories and feelings when considering food, beverage, and retail. They are part of your attraction’s story. Leaning into that story can create a more cohesive, authentic experience for your visitors—and encourage them to spend more.
Let’s Eat
PGAV’s recent Food, Beverage, and Retail Spending Survey showed that themed food carts and restaurants are preferred over non-themed and that 54% of visitors want food items they can’t get anywhere else. Moreover, the study found that themed food carts and restaurants deliver incremental spending intent. Generally, themed food places deliver about seven percentage points (+13%) of incremental demand.
“Dining and retail create more opportunities for visitors to connect with the story of a Destination,” explains Carol Breeze, one of PGAV Destinations’ Designers of Story Experiences. “When it is time to eat, thematic experiences keep visitors immersed with tasteful details on the menu and inviting places to dine. And at the end of the day, thoughtful retail choices give visitors a way to take the story home with them.”
Forty percent of attraction visitors indicated that locally sourced foods were important to them when visiting attractions, ranking 8th out of 14 attributes evaluated. Locally sourced foods might encourage people to spend more/motivate them to purchase. How do you make this part of the story?
The Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian features Native American dishes and utilizes indigenous ingredients. Five stations are dedicated to food from the Great Plains, Mesoamerica, Northern Woodlands, Northwest Coast, and South America. Much of the food is sourced from tribal food companies, including meat from the InterTribal Bison Council.
Let’s Shop
On the retail side, most people want to purchase items unique to the attraction. Visitors indicated they were more likely to purchase items branded with the attraction logo (55%). In an A/B split where intent to purchase was measured mutually exclusive of one another, items unique to the attraction (64%) generated more than 50% of the intent exhibited by nationally branded items.
And while 42% of attraction visitors indicated that locally sourced merchandise was important to them, ranking 6th out of the eight attributes evaluated, locally sourced items positively impact spending—20% more. Local sourcing might not be the sole driver, but it could be part of your story.
The shops at SeaWorld Orlando feed into the stories of the animals and their conservation efforts. After taking in Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin, guests enter Glacial Collections, a penguin-themed shop, where they can create a personalized Cup that Cares. The cups feature an RFID chip that interacts with Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers and calculates the visitor’s environmental responsibility by reusing the cup. Additionally, a portion of the cup sales is donated to SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. Other shops include Trek Treasures, focusing on turtles, and the SeaWorld Rescue Store, which has apparel and gifts that raise awareness for wild animals and donates a portion of purchases to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
“When planning retail and dining offerings, look for themes that expand on your story…and make it fun! These experiences give a Destination more ways to continue engaging visitors,” Breeze recommends.
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