We Need to Talk About Restaurant PR in Poland

There are many things about the Polish food scene that surprise me, but the almost complete absence of in-house PR people at restaurants is somewhere near the top of the list.

There are random people running social media, two and a half PR agencies charging decent money for moving influencers from point A to point B, and random “specialists” who can message complete strangers at 11:48pm on a Sunday – but actual PR people who are personally responsible for a restaurant’s image are practically nowhere to be found. And that’s very strange.

Let’s look at all of this through the example of the PR agencies I mentioned above, which restaurants usually turn to in exactly three situations:

1.  the restaurant is just opening and there’s an opening budget to spend,
2.  everything is going badly and there’s some money left to spend before the restaurant closes,
3.  the restaurant has a budget for ongoing activities and needs someone to delegate the organisation of all those ideas to.

On the one hand, PR agencies are convenient. On the other, in about half the cases, the whole thing operates with such low efficiency that even watching it from the sidelines is simply painful.

Take the most basic situation: a restaurant has a piece of news that needs to be covered. A new menu, a visiting chef, an updated concept – anything.

Even something as simple as inviting journalists or influencers to dinner is handled not by representatives of the restaurant itself (which could easily be the case), but by a PR agency. Which – in the finest traditions of bureaucracy – simply complicates a process that could be straightforward and convenient for everyone.

If journalists or influencers have questions for the restaurant, how does the communication work? Correct: the question goes to the agency, the agency asks the restaurant, and then comes back with an answer. Usually, three days later. And, damn it, I still don’t understand why owners don’t keep an eye on these things and ask both sides for feedback on how an event they’ve usually spent a considerable amount of money on was organised.

And don’t even get me started on proper press releases and briefs. These “professionals”, however, can easily send out a pitch on behalf of a restaurant without even mentioning the restaurant itself, while spending plenty of time explaining what a great PR agency they are. And believe me, I’ve heard plenty of stories like this from bloggers.

PR agencies usually have some kind of hand-picked pool of influencers, but – surprise, surprise – the influencers themselves can basically be counted on one hand in Warsaw.

And personally, I don’t really understand what makes such a database “unique”. Other than the fact that it hasn’t been cleaned or checked in the last five years. 

And then there’s the most important thing – if a restaurant has a proper PR person, they know the place inside out and can help showcase it. Always, to everyone – a journalist, an influencer, a chef who happens to drop by, whoever.

Representatives of PR agencies – even when they organise someone’s visit – are usually nowhere to be found on site. And if they are there, they mostly act as extras or doorman, checking people against a guest list.

I don’t go to restaurants on invitations and I don’t eat for free, but I have enormous respect for the work good PR people do. I see them all over the world, but in Poland – almost never.

Organising a dinner for someone “on invitation” is not PR. PR is meeting them, getting to know them, showing them around, explaining things, pointing out the nuances, and then taking responsibility for the result. And later on – analysing what happened, identifying the formats that work best for each particular restaurant, and improving.

You won’t believe it, but a good in-house PR person can build a chef’s public image, organise shoots, reach out to bloggers or journalists directly (and even tell them on the spot what they can and cannot do), handle reporting, oversee social media alongside everything else, come up with activities for your restaurant, and do a whole lot more.

Yes, you need to find someone like that; yes, you need to invest time and effort into them. But believe me – it’s worth it. Of course, if what you actually want is to promote your restaurant, rather than simply make yourself feel better or spend a budget.

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