Resplendent is a story-based PR and social media agency servicing the hospitality industry. Established in 2012, Resplendent offers a boutique and tailored approach with an enterprise service level. Shoot them a note to learn more at [email protected].
How did you come into this particular career/industry?
Since we got started in this industry in 2012 as a public relations agency, we’ve added a handful of core services to our business. We still do PR, we still do earned media for our clients, we’re still very much hospitality-focused and work with multiple bars, restaurants, and consumer packaged goods. We started out by saying if there’s anyone who has any kind of food and beverage or venue that you can offer those things at, we want talk to them. Breweries, distilleries, spirits, all those things fall within our background. As the media landscape changed, we added our social media department. We now offer full social media management services, which include everything from content creation to engagement, strategy development, paid visuals, and the PR department has evolved to include this as well through brand partnerships and community and event relations. Another core service that has grown in the past few years is influencer marketing. Finding influencers, especially with our CPG and even our hotel clients, has been a beneficial service for us to offer to work through negotiating contracts and receiving deliverables from influencers. This service has overall increased brand awareness and sales for our clients, and ultimately secures this kind of newer media placement that didn’t initially exist when I started this whole thing eleven years ago.
What do you find unique about the F&B industry right now?
What I’m really enjoying is a lot more diversity across the board. Diversity in ownership, in types of food, it’s all so much more diverse now. A lot of what the food and hospitality industry used to look at was European-derived cuisines, and that’s changed recently, which I love. I’m someone who’s waited tables, I’ve bartended and worked in hotels. I’ve always loved and worked in this industry. To see more diversity when it’s historically been lacking in the hospitality world is something that’s been really great.
How do you approach working with new business owners?
I feel that I approach new business owners in a very empathetic way, as I’m also a small business owner. I understand a lot of their pains because I’ve gone through them myself. I’m looking at similar P&Ls, I’ve got people problems, I’ve got growth issues, so I can help navigate those things because I’ve shared those experiences. Even though we may be in different industries, a lot of times entrepreneurs’ problems are very similar.
What is a service that your company provides to the F&B industry that has a big impact but can be initially undervalued or overlooked?
Of course, I think that all of our services can make a really big impact, but I think the challenge can be that impact can hit in different ways. For example, a brand awareness campaign’s impact can hit differently than a sales impact, and a revenue impact, which is different from a customer loyalty impact. I think it’s important to make sure your strategy aligns with what you want out of your customer, whether that be through touching all of the points or solely focusing on one. But, specifically, something I’ve been hearing lately from current clients and prospects is our ability to create in-house content, it is definitely something that sets us apart. There are a lot of social media agencies out there that just do strategy and management, but they’re not actually creating content. We have an in-house studio for our clients with CGP products. Most of our social media contracts include going on-site to grab and create content. Having that all in-house has been really helpful for us so we don’t need to be booking other photographers or videographers, we’re doing it all here.
What’s one restaurant you would recommend to somebody visiting from out of town, a place that’s locally loved in Austin?
I have to pick just one!? Okay, I would say because this is Texas, everyone who comes here wants barbecue. We’re well known for our Texas barbecue, and you can’t leave without having some. My recommendation is the original Black’s BBQ, which has been owned and operated by the same family for over 90 years. They’re the oldest BBQ family in the state of Texas, they still exist at their original location and have grown to either four or five now. I’d say that the Lockhart location is the best to do a barbecue crawl in the area.
What Now Media Group shares daily restaurant news in 24 US cities and counting, but we’re also dedicated to the continued support of brands as they grow in this busy market. We pride ourselves in knowing the best in the business when it comes to restaurant industry experts. Whether you’re opening a new restaurant or growing an existing one to multiple locations, What Now’s Preferred Partners can help you every step of the way.
