By: Matt Molino
Socially prescribed.
We need great hospitality more than ever.
Within American society it’s well-documented that our collective Loneliness has reached record levels.
Confirmed by the U.S. Surgeon General, the American Association of Psychiatry, and leading thinkers and institutions across the country.
These levels reflect a continuation and growing of trends linked to societal shifts, including but not limited to:
- Erosion of neighborhood connections. In an increasingly fast-paced society traditional practices like neighbors checking in on one another or regular family gatherings have declined, and as a result, fewer people have reliable social support systems.
- Increased technological reliance. Technology as an increasing substitute for physical interaction. While technology facilitates more global communication, replacing face to face interactions has a mounting impact.
- A decline in community involvement. Participation in local community organizations, religious institutions, and civic groups are all down year over year.
- American individualism. Independence masked as individualism has driven people to feel they must prioritize personal achievements over communal ties.
If interpersonal connectivity is at an all-time premium, there is an incredible opportunity and appetite to hear from our leaders in the drinks & hospitality community. For them to serve more prominently as thought leaders. To stand on the shoulders of our incredible storytellers and nightmakers sharing hospitality lessons learned & practiced nightly with the culture at large.
For our leaders to share transferable tenets across channels and platforms on the importance of safety, attentiveness, personalized experience, resilience, creating flavors, generating memories, and connecting people to make lives a little more interesting and way less lonely.
By elevating our industry’s voices beyond the hospitality trades to greater audiences, we remind people of the joys that come from more human connections at the temples of socialization that we professionally call home.
No place may have more power than a local bar or pub in preventing the aforementioned social isolation… take it from Eric Van Beek, Co-Owner, Handshake Speakeasy (#1, World’s Best Bar 2024)
“I think a bar could, or should, be a place where you actually put your phone away and live a little you know – interact with your friends, family or girlfriend or boyfriend, mom, dad and then you do that over a drink or snack or whatever or with a bartender. In our bars we try to be as engaging with the guest to the best of our ability so that the use of phones besides taking pictures is unnecessary.”
Beyond our bars – think about inspiring action to slow the erosion of neighborhood connections by hosting more in our personal homes. Can our hospitality leaders become more active and visible on social channels sharing advice on how to welcome guests, ignite conversation, and tie food & drink experience to seasonal cultural events? Create a signature drink for your home bringing people together with one another, your personal equivalent of The Honey Deuce for the U.S. Open or the Mint Julep for the Derby.
Can we teach loudly by welcoming guests into the process of creating with one another across platforms and channels (food, sport, wine, etc.) Spotlighting the chemistry that goes into making beautiful drinks and flavors at the right time of year, along with a few failed experiments along the way given cocktail creation can be intimidating.
Will Guidara and the landslide success of his Unreasonable Hospitality properly illustrated the impact of a hospitality expert’s ability to counsel people outside the industry to create better communities, lives, and businesses by taking a bit more time and care to make someone’s life better. There’s a lasting effect created by reaching out and encouraging personal interaction, the same way the hospitality industry does nightly to reinforce community.
As an industry we need to write social prescriptions for more time together over great drinks and even better stories. Take two and call one another in the morning.
