Page 36 - The Disneyization of Society

THEMING

Theming in this sense is very risky and could have been worse for one themed
restaurant had it materialized. It was reported in the news-journal wire services on
27
25 September, 2001 that plans for a disaster-themed restaurant in Baltimore with
simulated airliner wreckage, video footage of train wreckage and building explo-
sions, and explosive sound effects had been scrapped because of September 11. 35
The Crash Cafe was to include a huge DC-3 tail section over the entrance. Clearly,
if the Crash Cafe had been much further on in its plans, the impact of the
September 11 tragedy on its business could have been calamitous.
Third, there is a widespread view that themed restaurants were placing too
much emphasis on theming at the expense of the food and that diners were
voting with their feet in response to the drop in quality. As a journalist writing on
Philadelphia’s themed restaurant scene put it, customers are basically asking
‘Forget Bruce Willis, how’s the food?’. 36 This is a clear reference to the actor’s
Planet Hollywood chain of which he is a co-founder, which, because of its trou-
bles around the time of the article, became a byword for much of what was wrong
with the industry. He quotes the president of Mars 2112, whose restaurant chain
takes diners to their tables on flying saucers, as saying that the lack of attention
to the quality of food was the chief reason for the troubles at chains like Planet
Hollywood and Fashion Cafe. There was a growing feeling in the industry that
themed restaurant chains might be able to get away with mediocre food in prime
tourist locations where there is a tradition of tourists going to such establish-
ments, like Orlando, Las Vegas, and New York City, but in areas where repeat busi-
ness is much more crucial, they would not get away with it.
A fourth reason that has been proffered is that some themed restaurants simply
have not gone far enough in the implementation of theming. Karen Daroff of
Daroff Design Inc., a company which has designed some of the main themed
restaurant concepts, advocates: ‘Don’t tone it down. Turn it up. Every detail in
entertainment architecture should be part of the illusion to support the overrid-
ing story’. In other words, she implies that sometimes themed restaurants do not
37
go far enough in their designs and she goes on to say:
More than anything, what we believe and what we’re seeing is the consumer wants more than a
meal. They want an adventurous experience in a hyper-immersive, cinematic environment that
emotionally, intellectually and physically transports them. If only for a moment, the guests leave
their lives behind and become part of the story. 38

The double bind of theming for themed restaurants is clear: whether on the one
hand to choose the kind of enveloping and costly theming Daroff describes and
recommends and risk sinking a large investment in a theme that may simply not
enthral, or may go out of fashion; or on the other hand to opt for less elaborate
and less costly themes, such as the common ‘diner’ narrative or ethnic theming,
which may not go far enough. However, even in the case of the high concept
themed restaurants, to quote Daroff again ‘Food really does matter’. 39