Every little bit(e) counts
Indie business owners cook up ways to lure clientele
In the back of a glossy New York boutique, pork crackles on the grill. A crowd of 150 mills around, popping beers and nodding heads to the music, and a few try on jackets. This isn’t some underground party but the scene at Operations, a men’s and women’s clothing brand, that like many young stores, throws in free incentives to engage local clientele.
Walk around any city in the summer and you’re bound to stumble across some form of open house.
“God knows people love free food,” laughs Matteo Gottardi, designer and cofounder of Operations. He’s right, since beginning the barbecues last summer, Gottardi and his partners have seen an increase in attendance from around 25 to upwards of 200 people per event, and watched sales climb (though Gottardi is reluctant to draw a direct correlation between the barbecues and sales figures).
“People want to feel like they can relate to a brand, that they’re somehow a part of it, and not just buying from a corporate conglomerate,” he says. “By coming to our barbecues, people get to understand who we are, and enjoy us.”
Operations isn’t alone in this: Across the river in Brooklyn, the founders of a fledgling dance party have the same idea. Disco Dugout, hosted at Sugarland, has the odds stacked against it. The music is mostly obscure old-school house, and it’s held on Sunday nights. But co-creator James Brundage (a.k.a. DJ BFF) is dedicated to promoting house music and getting exposure for his own productions, so he makes sure to serve up plenty of free food during his sets. “Classic house can be a hard sell, so we’re trying to make it fun for anyone to come,” he says. “It’s supposed to be the antithesis of a stank snobby club situation.”
Implicit in these events is the desire to make people feel welcome. There’s no hard sell, no pushy marketing (“I’d hate it if people were to come to the barbecue and feel like they needed to buy something,” frets Gottardi). Offering visitors something to eat is like offering them a place at the metaphoric table, letting them know they’re buying into more than the specific product being peddled.
But most importantly, fostering that sense of community is also good for business, which you can happily ignore the next time you’re inhaling their hot dogs.