This post should have been timed closer to Diwali. Still, there’s another festive season upon us and it might be useful to turn our attention to the practice of gifts and giveaways from restaurants to preferred customers and media.
Hotels and restaurants would certainly count among the top givers of gifts during festivals and when they send out invitations for openings and other promotional activities. It’s a common and long-established practice and continues, I think, without too much thought or questioning.
But times are changing. And just as we ask whether five-star hotels should rethink the vast buffet, which accounts for huge amounts of food waste, we might want to think about the ‘tradition’ of restaurants sending out goodies.
Excess and extravagance is no longer cool. So why would brands continue to send out massive boxes of mithais and chocolate – prettily crafted but often of poor quality – to media and customers? Imagine a person receiving 10, 15 or even 20 such gifts. What does one do with them? Giving away is an option; but it’s not exactly a wonderful gesture since you are giving away fat, sugar and calories you yourself do not wish to consume. So, this Christmas, I hope hotels and restaurants will go easy on wrapping up and dispatching those plum cakes. And, no, no one can use up so many scented candles either. I would be a happier person at Diwali or Christmas if I knew a restaurant was baking cakes for kids in an orphanage or send out goodies to a hospice.
It’s not just festival gifts. Invitations now come with stuff. A beer brand sent out a couple of bottles and a plant in a pot; the former arrived intact, the succulent had lost all its delicate leaves during transportation. Then, there were the macaroons that came in a box apparently crafted by a top designer. I couldn’t see the point of the collaboration, because the box, smeared with crumbs and cream was going to end up in the dry garbage bin.
Perhaps brand consultants and event managers push restaurants to invest in these fripperies. I’m also concerned about all the wrapping, packaging material and the accessories that come with these gifts. What does one do with the all the wooden trays, cane baskets and big boxes that arrive holding an invitation? I received the other day two slices of toast, a cheese dip and a slice of dehydrated pineapple from a restaurant. Dunzo had been employed for the delivery. Think about the carbon footprint. Think of where the packaging that looks so good on Instagram is going to end up.
If you need to send a token, send something imbued with beauty, useful or quirky and memorable. In most cases, an email or WhatsApp invitation with a genuinely warm phone call to follow up, should suffice to get guests to come to your opening or promotion. Unless we live in times when stuff takes precedence over a personal touch.
