By Kathleen Cassedy

You may have thought it was cable cars that reach for the stars, or the incredible views of San Francisco Bay, the 49ers and the Giants, or the spirit of individuality that permeates this former Gold Rush town that draws 4.2 million visitors annually from all over the world. If so, you are partly wrong. Many people come to San Francisco for arguably the finest dining experiences in America. Here you have the melding of French, Asian and Latin cuisines, combined with California fresh produce and the most discerning chefs in the world, not to mention the fine wines from nearby Sonoma and Napa Valley, but also new wineries proliferating south and north of San Francisco, which make the Bay area a paradise for “foodies,” who are also oenophiles. Some will save all year, then fly coach, and lodge at three-star hotels in order to dine at the plethora of tony restaurants that pervade the city. Most, however, enjoy an affluent lifestyle or expense account that allows them to pursue the best of cuisine as an adventure.

Foodies, as these connoisseurs of the palate are called, have become an important travel market segment of San Francisco. They know the chefs’ names, different spices, and food preparation techniques; they stay up-to-date on new restaurants, the designers of the restaurants and their investors. Foodies do their homework by reading food and wine magazines, attending wine tastings and seminars, and taking cooking classes.

When the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) decided to examine this culinary segment within cultural tourism, they thought it would be a small niche, an exotic group of dilettantes. But results of various studies surprised them to the extent that they began to design marketing programs explicitly aimed at this discriminating group of travelers.

FOODIES ARE HIGH END

Foodies are a lucrative market, and much larger than some marketers suspected, according to a national study by NFO Inc. (Toledo-based National Family Opinion), which was released in October 1999. The survey tallied responses from 3,057 randomly selected individuals with no apparent connection to San Francisco or the restaurant industry. The study allowed those being surveyed to identify themselves as “foodies,” so in this regard the term is less defined than how a publicist for toney restaurants would identify “foodies,” who comprise their clients’ clientele.

Of those surveyed, 38.2 percent described themselves as foodies, which would translate into 77 million adults who “have a high degree of interest in foods and enjoy fine dining.” Results of the survey showed that 44.9 percent prefer trying something new to something they have tried before. Of those who had identified themselves as foodies that percentage was higher at 58.1 percent. Nearly a third, 27.8 percent would drive 50 miles to visit a particular restaurant, 10 percent of those who defined themselves as “foodies” would travel 100 miles. Of all surveyed, 64.1 percent said that a city with good restaurants is “a more attractive leisure destination,” compared to 87.2 percent of foodies. When asked to identify good cities for restaurants, the survey results showed more than half of all respondees (53.2 percent) favored San Francisco, followed by New York (53.1 percent), New Orleans (50.9 percent), and Chicago (37.3 percent). Las Vegas was also in this running at 31.4 percent.

While foodies and non-foodies were nearly identical in age, gender, marital status and home ownership, foodies were more likely to travel for leisure (3.2 trips compared to 2.6 for non-foodies), travel for business (1.7 trips per year, compared to 1.0 for non-foodies), have a higher household income ($52,800 compared to $47,000), and live or work in a large metropolitan area (46.5 percent, compared to 36.7 percent).

According to David Bratton, SFCVB research manager, foodies will spend more in restaurants and spend more when they decide to “splurge” on a special meal or bottle of wine. More than 65 percent of foodies dine in restaurants once a week, and 22 percent eat out three times a week, compared to non-foodies who eat out once a week (46 percent), and three times a week (13 percent). And more foodies (35 percent) would wait one month for a reservation at a special restaurant, compared to non-foodies (12.5 percent). “We were able to study the habits on a national basis of American foodies, and from that learn a lot why they travel to destinations that have great restaurants, which, of course, we’re very fortunate to have those characteristics, said Brian Baker, SFCVB senior vice president of marketing.

FOOD AS ADVENTURE

However, restaurant publicists would say that foodies will almost always try something new. “I think the foodie culture spawned fusion cuisine...That open-mindedness on the part of the paying customer allowed chefs to experiment in ways they couldn’t have gotten away with, from a business point of view, in a state (such as California) that wasn’t so full of foodies,” remarks Tom Walton, owner of Fortune Public Relations, a company that represents high-end restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. He describes a foodie as someone who has taken the need to eat from sustenance to another level of entertainment. Foodies are “interested and challenged by experimentation, techniques, and ingredients that they are not familiar with, which may not be household names, but they want to try variety for the sake of variety,” he says. He compares their interest in food to a hobby. “I think inherently in the word ‘foodie’ is an unprecedented appreciation of pairing (wine with food)....The foodie talks about and treats wine almost like it is a food, rather than a liquor....It reflects the additional time, not just eating, but doing your homework. Your research [about wine, food and restaurants],” he says.

NFO survey results impressed upon SFCVB marketers that enough of the American public identified themselves as foodies to look at this group as a market segment. “We also learned a lot about the dining preferences of the average American, foodie or not,” Baker notes. The national study also validated earlier studies. Results of a study by the SFCVB and Visa U.S.A., publicized in 1998, which surveyed 1,177 affluent travelers, found that the average foodie has a household income of $93,150, is married, middle-aged, and tends to be female. They will go to a particular restaurant for a particular dish, will try a new restaurant rather than one they have already experienced, and are more concerned with food quality than price. They also like to shop for art, gourmet cookware, and candy when away from home. According to the SFCVB, 26 percent of all visitors identified dining as the primary reason for visiting the city.

PREFERRED TRAVEL PROGRAM

To attract more foodies more often, in 1996 San Francisco entered an exclusive cooperative marketing program with Visa U.S.A., called “Preferred Dining in San Francisco with Visa,” it was later expanded to include hotels and attractions, becoming “Preferred Travel.” The program was based on the proliferation of world class restaurants in the Bay area.

In just the past year, for example, three major restaurants opened in San Francisco, including Gary Danko Restaurant which has already received a Mobile five-star rating. “We had an instinct that they (foodies) were there, and that they would travel to San Francisco because of the restaurants,” recalls Baker. In a city where it can take two months to get a reservation between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at hot restaurants, VISA has established a relationship with thirty of the city’s top dining spots, which include Masa’s, Fleur de Lys, Aqua and One Market restaurants, that provides travelers with various amenities, whether it is a priority reservation, a 20 percent discount on the price of a meal, a complimentary appetizer or dessert with a meal, or two-for-one dining.

Hotels that have joined the program since its expansion to Preferred Travel must provide the best rate available at the time of reservation. Attractions typically offer discounts. In fiscal year 1998-’99, the program was used 205,000 times, pulling $29.6 million into San Francisco restaurants. The program curently provides offers from 130 restaurants; and 80 retail, 30 lodging, and 90 cultural and entertainment businesses. Preferred Travel has been advertised nationally in Bon Appetit, Saveur,Gourmet, Food and Wine, Architectural Digest and the New Yorker, and on television’s Food Network (TVFN), and localy in Contra Costa Times, the Nob Hill Gazette, and Where magazine.
To join the program, a traveler receives a complimentary preferred membership card with an 80-page San Francisco visitor guide, which are sent upon request using an 888-number or on the web site. Participants must use a Visa-brand card with the Preferred Travel card.

COOP MARKETING

“We believe that we have been leading the industry in cooperative partnerships because we have sought out nonendemic partnerships,” says Baker, who considers his job as being the brand manager of San Francisco, which is an upscale brand. Baker points out that most people who visit the Bay area live in metropolitan areas themselves, and realize that San Francisco is an expensive destination. By nonendemic, he means partners who are not travel related, but whose markets share the same demographic and psychographic attributes as the markets that the bureau targets. As an umbrella program, Preferred Travel has partnered the SFCVB with nonendemic businesses, such as Colavita Olive Oil, Forest Glen Winery, Kodak, Noritake and Smith and Hawken. Those brands which are food products are part of “advertorials that we produce that speak about the great restaurant and dining scene in San Francisco,” Baker says.

Other coop programs are aimed at regional visitors and those tourists staying with friends and family. Called a “second” season cooperative program, which is attraction-based, and underwritten by Amtrak, is aimed at the regional visitor during the low season, between November and March, with the exception of the holidays, when hotel occupancies drop from the 80s to the 60s. Amtrak actually stops in the suburb town of Emoryville, from which Amtrak buses passengers to San Francisco. The goal of the SFCVB-Amtrak cooperative program is to encourage Californians to consider San Francisco as a destination getaway. The program includes offers from the city’s children museum, the Exploratorium; Pier 39, which has amusement games, rides and restaurants; and the ferry service. This three-year old cooperative program, which was recently expanded to include hotels, is advertised in the Triple A magazine for Northern California, Via, and on a local television station.

Another marketing program is aimed at residents in the nine counties that comprise the San Francisco Bay area. Regional radio advertising urges local residents to call the bureau for visitor packets for themselves or when friends or relatives are visiting. The kits contains maps, itineraries and suggestions for what to do and see.

“My job is to produce information that helps position and sell the brand,” Baker says. “The more people who have information then the better potential for either an overnight stay or a visit to a bureau member.” SFCVB does not market any city festivals because there are too many and they are too short-lived, Baker says. However, the calendar of events on the SFCVB web site is among the most popular pages.

INTERNATIONAL PROMO

International markets are primarily reached through sales missions and representatives. A promotional film for the state of California was cooperatively produced by IMAX, the state of California, several CVBs, and some private companies, such as Hewlett Packard, American Express, and United Airlines. The 44-minute documentary, Wild California, which highlights California’s scenic biodiversity and rustic areas, was completed earlier this year. The film is traveling to major international cities, which include London, Hamburg, and Tokyo, and will be played at IMAX theaters which are typically at a museum or a theme park. At some locations, San Francisco will hold promotional events around the film’s debut.

“Our first goal is to get people interested in (visiting) our state, because internationally we compete with a lot of other destinations. Technically, the world is our competition. If they come to California, than we have a pretty good chance of getting travelers to visit San Francisco,” Baker says. In 1999, an estimated 2.8 million overseas travelers came to San Francisco. Cooperative marketing is done with cultural institutions when opportunities present themselves. For instance, when a traveling exhibition of ancient Chinese art objects was scheduled to visit San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum this summer, a coop advertising piece ran in the New Yorker magazine in June by partners, the Hotel Nikko, the museum, and the bureau.

San Francisco’s top producing overseas markets are similar to those of other major U.S. cities: the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France and Taiwan. Baker believes that NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has helped attract more international business travelers who return later on holidays with their families. The largest percentage of growth has been with Argentina, Brazil and Chile, although those numbers remains quite small.

Recently expanded to accommodate more than 40 million annual passengers, the San Francisco International Airport is the world’s seventh busiest airport, and among the most beautiful, having its own highly rated museum galleries. The bureau has partnered with the airport at two international sales offices, in Tokyo and Shanghai. John Marks, SFCVB president, believes that San Francisco has an edge over other destinations in attracting the potentially huge Chinese market because of the city’s large Chinese ethnic population who retain family and cultural ties to their former homeland.

EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE CITY

Each year, major travel magazines, such as Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler, come out with their annual readers’ favorite choices of travel destinations and travel related qualities or services. San Francisco is always highly rated, often topping the list, of favorite city, best ambiance, and top dining. “I’m the luckiest guy in travel marketing. We’re very fortunate,” Baker remarks about the great publicity.

“We do not take the city for granted,” says Marks. “We are as aggressive in selling this city as if we had far less to offer.” The fundamentals of marketing have not changed, even though San Francisco is so unique, he says “We don’t spend as much time promoting San Francisco icons, like the Golden Gate Bridge or cable cars, but we focus on new trends and on developing partnerships....Our marketing emphasis at any given time will reflect what’s hot and what works.”

The San Francisco travel mix is nicely balanced among one-third leisure, one-third convention/meeting and one-third transient business. With the expansion of Moscone Convention Center, adding 300,000 square feet to 600,000 square feet, scheduled for completion in 2003, the city will be able to handle more multiple and smaller meetings. Meanwhile, the area around Moscone center in the past decade has become quite hot, with several new museums, Sony’s Metreon (entertainment center), an ice rink, a children’s play park, more restaurants, new dotcom companies, and trendy hotels. This area, south of Market Street (SOMA), is about nine blocks from the new Pacific Bell Ballpark, home of the San Francisco Giants.

An upscale brand, the focus of San Francisco’s marketing efforts is to reach affluent adults, whether its through cultural tourism or regional tourism, says Baker. “Foodie marketing has been our hallmark for the past four years.”