What We’ve Discovered About Discovery
The past year decimated perhaps no industry quite like the travel industry. The very definition of a quarantine means travel isn’t permitted. And we are not only in the business of travel, but we need to travel for business.
Back before the world was turned on its head, it was written into each of our project’s proposals that a few members of the B&Co. team would hop on a plane and travel to the hotel, resort, restaurant or mixed-use development we were hired to brand. In fact, four of us were packed and ready to head to the East Coast last March when the country completely shut down.
The Discovery phase is an involved process and vital to the work we do. What we’ve discovered is that site visits and in-market research are essential to finding the hidden stories. For example, the red in Coyote South could only be inspired by the hatch chiles we ducked under on every porch in Santa Fe. Alta Peruvian’s tagline “you’re always high in Alta” came verbatim from some eavesdropping around the hot tub after a tour of the lodge. Even Che Figata’s entire brand narrative was inspired by the chef’s anecdote about his greatest compliment coming from overhearing a patron say, “what did that table order?”
Without on-site discovery sessions for most of 2020, we still were able to uncover a property’s story and wow clients and guests alike. We never took discovery trips down to Dallas for Bullion: To Go or even up the street to Shorewood for Hiya! Taco – yet we still managed to launch successful restaurant operations in the hardest time for the food & beverage industry in our lifetimes.
That being said, as our lives slowly return to something we remember, we’re optimistic about getting on the road again – because in our world, there’s nothing like the real thing.