Restaurants, the new Eldorado for luxury brands?
For a few years now, luxury brands have been taking a particular interest in the gastronomic world. From Chloé partnering with Alain Ducasse to offer a café in its Parisian store on Rue Saint-Honoré, to Alaïa’s new restaurant, Café da Rosa, the restaurant industry is a strategic sector. Why are luxury brands so enamored with gastronomy?
Luxury brands are taking over the restaurant business: they are trying to conquer our taste buds while exerting a new form of influence on customers. Whether these collaborations are ephemeral or long-term, brands are finding a new marketing haven.
Collaborations between brands
The collaboration between luxury brands and restaurants is not new. We can mention the flagship L’Occitane with Pierre Hermé on the Champs Elysées or the restaurant of the designer Jacquemus “Citron“, in collaboration with Caviar Kaspia.
But new collaborations have recently taken place as is the case with the new Alain Ducasse café in the heart of the Chloé boutique in the rue Saint Honoré.
Luxury brands have understood the interest behind these collaborations, such as creating a link between the luxury brand and the customer. Indeed, these brands are not accessible to everyone. A Saint Laurent coffee or a square of Louis Vuitton chocolate is still affordable for (almost) everyone who wants to treat themselves to a piece of luxury.
Another way of communication
In the midst of Fashion Week season, the Alaïa house has opened a restaurant within the walls of its historic boutique. After the café and bookstore inaugurated in the heart of the Marais in 2018, the house reveals Alaïa Da Rosa, located in the 8th arrondissement. We discover a romantic terrace, embellished with a giant plant wall. On the gastronomic side, we find Mediterranean flavors with Spanish, Italian and Portuguese variations at 5 Rue de Marignan, 75008, Paris.
Creating a café/restaurant also allows the brand to be renewed and talked about in a different way. Like exhibitions and celebrity outfits (Zendaya wore Alaïa to the premiere of the movie Dune at the Grand Rex in Paris), opening a café/restaurant allows for great media exposure.
It also makes the brand known to people who are not familiar with it: in particular, it can reach customers attracted by the good image given by the various reviews on the internet, or customers who are not familiar with the brand’s universe. It also diversifies the sources of income for a brand. When we know that perfumes and cosmetics are used to finance the extravagant shows of the brands, it is not surprising to see them finding new channels to round up their turnover.
Live an ephemeral experience
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Prada has launched its street-marketing campaign, “Feels like Prada” by partnering with local artisans and shopkeepers to offer all kinds of treats during Paris Fashion Week. You can buy your signature Prada baguette, with packaging featuring the geometric prints of the brand’s fall-winter 2021 collection. The idea? To be able to admire the Prada logo in every corner of Paris. Quite a publicity stunt!
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Also on the occasion of the Paris Fashion Week, Dior promotes its new campaign for the fragrance Miss Dior through a restaurant. After having set up shop in New York, Tokyo, Milan, Düsseldorf and Oslo, the restaurant is now located on Avenue Montaigne in Paris. It will be possible to dine there until Sunday, October 10.
These ephemeral initiatives are a real spotlight on luxury brands and their new news (here, the Miss Dior perfume and its worldwide campaign with Nathalie Portman). For walkers or brand fans, it’s an opportunity to experience the heart of the brand’s universe, over a coffee or a meal. It also remains a good way to exist and create content on social networks, seen and relayed by the whole world.
Luxury brands have obviously not finished collaborating with the great names of French gastronomy. At a time when restaurants are once again under siege after months of pandemic, all opportunities are good to go back to sit down around a good meal, and why not try to restore straight inspired by the world of luxury?
Read also > HONG KONG’S BEST LUXURY BREAKFASTS
Featured photo : © Getty Images
