Marketing To Single, Affluent Women - Traditional NYC-Style Restaurant Reviews Don't Cut It

Common for men, uncommon for women, now moregrows older, there's been a need to cover the
than ever, more women are venturing out on theirblurring of activity that constitutes engaging dining
own void of the traditional packs of women or onlyand socializing, and to bridge the gap between the
with a date. The Baby Boomer & Gen X womenstandard restaurant review and that of a nightclub
who are 35 and over have hit their stride and arereview. In other words, if it is fun to go to a certain
more independent and affluent than any generationestablishment, and if so, the specific nights that are
of women ever has been. They're not going to themost active for singles. Many restaurants have a
bars for ladies nights anymore either. They have thenight that's often livelier than others where singles
inclination, the attitude, and the moxy to go it alonefeel more welcome than being stuck in a small corner
to fine dining venues, and won't let being alone stoptable all alone albeit for a magazine, or worse yet for
them from enjoying life. Affluent, well-educated singlea woman on business, to order room service due to
women have become a demographic group thatbeing alone.
more and more restaurant owners are trying toThe solutions
attract as their spending habits are as much forTo address the gap between restaurant review and
clothing and cars as for sushi, steak and fine liquor.bar review, new sources of information are cropping
The conceptup. Several websites have sections for "single
While men have never been adverse to venturingfriendly" establishments, lounges, and are designed to
out alone, women have traditionally waited for Roomspecifically target the best restaurants on the best
Service if traveling, taken a quiet table in some offnights of the week. Other regional sites have
beat spot, grabbed a quick bite, waited for theircropped up as part of traditional newspaper and
girlfriends, or just didn't go out. Until recently, manymagazine sites, but it can be hard to really ferret out
restaurants conveyed almost a sense of pity when athe information and get "in the know" so to say. If
single woman walked in the door. Otheryou were to call a restaurant, most will say every
establishments have had an almost sense ofnight is good in order to get patrons, but we know
astonishment at the lady's bravery. Now, many arethis just isn't the case. For a single woman venturing
offering welcoming atmospheres, communal tables,out on your own, nothing is worse than to decide to
and letting women know the best nights to visit theirgo out to a fine dining venue and find 40 tables of
engaging establishments, not just to dine on finecouples squirreled away quietly talking. Then, to find
entrees, but to relax and meet people.out from the bartender that last night was the hot
Until recently, most fine dining or restaurant reviewsnight.
have been tailored more for where to go with a dateAt a recent women's networking function held
or business associate than on the concept of goingrecently at a Ruth Chris's on Long Island, one of
there as a single. They talk only about the food andthese sites, ElleEatist got an overwhelming "Finally!
little about the atmosphere. These reviews often useWhat a great idea!" After this one rather small event
the puffery and stuffy references to things such asattended by just 20 women, the site received a
the aged quality of the steak or the pizzazz of aspike of interest with several hundred hits alone that
sauce. Sure, this is very important to a foody, butnight due to pass along readership. It seems that
for affluent single women, most want to know morethey've been waiting for this for several reasons -
about the crowd, the friendliness and comfort levelthe site identifies places to go when they travel on
of the setting.business; with precious little free time, they want to
The other review category is for bars or nightclubs,know where to go to socialize & when; and
which rarely talk about the food but the party thatlastly, several said it's a great resource for where to
starts late in the evening for a much youngergo for first dates or meetings. The sites traffic picks
audience. As a larger segment of our populationup as the weekend gets closer.