In a food business in particular, your aim should really be to awaken your customers’ human senses - see, smell, hear, touch & taste. Human senses is what humans will respond to, form a memory to and ultimately influence their future decision about you. Watch this video to learn more about the human senses.
Hi everyone.
I've always believed that the ultimate food experience is one that's when the human senses have been awakened.
To me, the food experience is not just about how it tastes, but its about what it looks like, and what it sounds like, and what is smells like, and also what is feels like.
And, in fact, it's been proven.
A recent study by Cornell University, and published in a Journal of Food Science, used virtual reality to show how people's perception of real food can be changed if their environment is also changed.
So they gave participants virtual reality headsets to wear and they split them into three groups. The first group is the control group and they put them in a virtual booth. The second group, they put them in a virtual park bench. And the third group in a virtual reality barn.
Then they gave all participants blue cheese to eat. In fact, identical blue cheese to eat. And the results was the participants, who was placed in the barn, reported the highest pungency level of the blue cheeses they ate.
So, it just shows that changing people's environment impacts greatly on their perception of food.
So, if you're in food retail, you really need to consider how are you going to awaken the human senses?
In fact, if you're in business of any size, you should be aiming at awakening the human senses too, if you want to build a human connection with your customers.
But how do you do that? Well, ask yourself theses questions.
What do you want your customers to think and feel when they touch your furniture, and fittings,
and loose materials, like cutlery?
When they see your decor, your furniture and fittings, and your staff.
When they smell, scents and aromas from within the venue.
And what they hear, music, sounds, and other noises from within your venue.
And if you're a food retail, what do you want your customers to feel and think
when they're tasting your food?