A few weeks ago, I attended an Idea Exchange event in South Florida put on by the International Council of Shopping Centers, the trade association that ties together the various parts of the shopping center industry. And that includes the restaurant industry. Each year, the ICSC puts on these educational, networking and leasing events all across North America. In 1957, when the organization was formed, these one, two and three day gatherings were intended as a learning process for a brand new industry in which members could compare notes on what worked and what didn’t work. The events were also intended as a gathering point for practitioners of a new real estate venue, the shopping center. And make no mistake about it, these event were intended to attract new businesses and to attract new members, the life-blood of any association.
Over the past 50-something years, the ICSC has been very successful in organizing events, educating its membership and adding members. Today there are well over 60,000 members in more than 90 countries. And yes, the events are well attended by shopping center owners, developers, managers, investors, suppliers, retailers and brokers. Yes, the broker category has grown to the point that it is taking over some of these events. What was originally designed as an opportunity to meet and network with the principals of new businesses and potentially new tenants, has become little more than an assembly of brokers and consultants ‘hawking their wares’. Representatives are talking to representatives and the result is usually, “I’ll present it and I’ll get back to you.” Basically, that is right up there with, “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”
Let’s be honest here. The best person to market and promote a new business, be it a restaurant or a retail concept, is the principal. He/she is the person that has first-hand knowledge of what concept is and where it can go. Most important, he or she isn’t ‘selling’ a portfolio, they are concentrating on one ‘product’. He or she has the excitement!
At the Idea Exchange, I met with about a half dozen restaurant people at the Idea Exchange that were ready to talk about their company and where they were going. But they didn’t have much time as they were generally ‘between appointments’. I also met with many more brokers that were ready to tell me about their clients. It was like comparing excitement to a prepared script.
Representatives have their place but at the end of the day, nobody can promote and describe your new concept better than you. And booking yourself up leaving no ‘chat-time’ defeats the purpose of these gatherings.
The moral of the store is simple. These events are going to be here for a long time so maybe it’s best to ‘work’ them properly. Attend in person. Talk to people. Your broker/consultant may be getting good results but think of how good the results could be if you were there too? Hey, and you might even learn a thing or two………..after all, it was designed as an educational forum………………….WP