Landscape lighting at a restaurant creates the ambiance that harmonizes the cuisine, service, and environment, defining diners’ perception of the establishment. Flower beds, ornamental shrubs, trees, stonework, water features, walkways, signage, statues, overflow seating, and outdoor dining areas are tastefully illuminated with LED low-voltage landscape lighting that has been designed and installed by a master designer with proven artistic expertise.
An Analysis of the Online Presence of Alpharetta’s Finest Restaurants
A rich sampling of Alpharetta’s best restaurants can be found at the city’s annual downtown culinary gala, The Taste of Alpharetta, which has been named a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. According to the Awesome Alpharetta website, the event “…boasts an unforgettable array of culinary magic throughout the area’s charming downtown. This annual event [celebrates] the vibrant food community of Alpharetta through dining events, cooking demos, culinary collaborations, and tasting tents galore. Rain or shine, locals and visitors alike [are] treated to savory, sweet, spicy, and umami dishes from over 60 of Alpharetta’s best restaurants. Previous Taste-goers have discovered everything from elevated Southern cuisine to authentic Korean BBQ, pillow-soft masa tacos to hand-dipped cake donuts, and lots of other stomach growl-inducing specialties.”
A high-level online analysis of the more than sixty participating restaurants and food vendors, as well as other restaurants in Alpharetta’s fine dining sector, revealed the ambiance choices that local restaurants are prioritizing. This informal analysis of the online presence of nearly 100 Alpharetta restaurants yielded the following observations:
- With few exceptions, the content and images were of the highest quality.
- Photographs of delicious food items were abundant on most of the websites.
- Multiple website images captured the restaurant’s interior, showcasing the ambiance patrons would experience.
- Daylight images of the restaurant’s façade or outdoor dining area were present but usually numbered no more than one or two photos.
Nightscapes: An Untapped Asset for Alpharetta, GA, Restaurants
Among the restaurants evaluated, nighttime landscape and entrance images were scarce. Nearly every establishment featured daytime images of the façade, the parking lot, and any outside dining accommodations. In stark contrast, only a few websites contained images of nightscapes illuminated with landscape lighting. However, these nighttime images were breathtaking and presented the restaurant in a new and inviting light.
Nightscapes as a Valuable Tool to Shape the Customer Journey
In the digital age, the customer’s journey to the restaurant of his or her choice frequently starts online. Often the point of contact is the restaurant’s website or social media accounts, which typically are image-heavy. It is essential that these photos portray the restaurant’s exterior, interior, and menu in the best light.
A recent survey conducted by a restaurant marketing firm showed that nearly 8 out of 10 diners visit a restaurant’s website before they patronize the establishment. In contrast, about 7 out of 10 individuals in the survey sample of 1,101 US adults decided not to patronize a restaurant based on the online experience. In general, the biggest turn-offs were typical for any site. The site was difficult to navigate. The layout and color scheme were unappealing. The images put the product — in this case, the food — in a bad light.
These statistics emphasize the reality that an attractive, positive web presence is crucial to a restaurant’s success. A miscalculation regarding where and when the customer first encounters a restaurant can be a massive failure from a marketing perspective.
Many diners enjoy an evening meal, whether they are having a relaxing dinner after a hectic day at work or just eating out with family or friends on the weekend after an outing. Beautiful nightscape images inform potential patrons about what ambiance they can expect during their visit and give them confidence that their dining experience will be just as magical in the evening as during the day.
Creating Nighttime Ambiance with LED Low-Voltage Landscape Lighting
Any restaurant with a curb, both real and virtual, can leverage that stage to create a dazzling ambiance that shapes the customer experience. Restaurant owners can harness the power of tasteful illumination with a beautifully designed LED landscape lighting system. The team at Southern Landscape Lighting Systems of Alpharetta can design and install a landscape lighting plan that creates an online and in-person experience that is second to none.
Contact Southern Landscape Lighting Systems to learn more about landscape lighting design and installation for commercial clients. The Alpharetta office can be reached by phone at (770) 691-1221 or by email at [email protected].