Is The Cafe More Important Than The Attraction

With the new Stonehenge visitor centre very much in our thoughts, some writers have been taking a light hearted look at the importance of the facilities that some of these centres offer, and even suggesting that the restaurants, cafes and gift shops are sometimes more important than the attraction itself.

Pointing out that the new £27 million visitor centre at Stonehenge has an “eating area” that accounts for the best part of 50% of the entire floor area, some observers are suggesting that centre amenities are becoming an important part of the visitor experience.

V + A - free objets d'art with your salad

We are reminded of an iconic campaign that was run by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1988, which asked the question, "Where else do they give you £100,000,000 worth of objets d'art free with every egg salad?"  It continued by describing the museum as: "An ace caff, with quite a nice museum attached."

All of this might strike a chord with regular visitors to National Trust venues where the obligatory queue for a cuppa and something to eat is considered equally as important as viewing the occasional Landseer or Reynolds.

Food writer Giles Coren can remember visiting London Zoo when he was young and caring more about the gift shop than the animals: "Thousands of school children, coachloads of them have to visit these places, and all they care about is the shop."

He associates past visits to stately homes with rock-hard scones but thinks for many people it's increasingly all about the food. "It's like the Colosseum in Rome, people go all that way to see it only to discover it's a lot of boring old stones, but at least you can get an excellent pizza."
With visitors now demanding a nice place to eat, having to put up with poor facilities is becoming a thing of the past. Coren suggests. "Everything in Britain has been rubbish for years and people won't put up with it anymore."

There is scepticism among some about the new generation of visitor centres, with web sites being full of reviews from  people who are far from impressed.  Ranging from internal alterations at attractions right through to the quality of the vegetable soup (we had to ask for butter to go with our roll!), there are still members of the public out there who feel that things are just not right.

But the general feel is that the trend is for the cafes in museums, galleries and castles to get better and better. Those in the heritage business are not unhappy with that.

"A good shop and cafe greatly enhance the overall experience," says Matthew Tanner, chairman of the Association of Independent Museums. "No visit is complete without an interesting shop, a fine cup of tea, and not forgetting a good loo too."

There are two good reasons to spend money on the facilities, namely visitors have come to expect them, and the revenue raised helps subsidise the attraction.
One place where this takes place is RHS Wisley in Surrey where the gift shop and cafe are to be found before people enter the gardens. Nigel Eaton manages the shop and says it is part of the whole experience.

"We've got three kinds of customers - we have the RHS members who visit on a regular basis, the gardeners who come just for the plants and then we've got what we call the payers, who come on coaches for a nice day out. Every penny that is spent in the shop goes back into the RHS, so the shop is very important to us."

Over a million people visit Wisley every year, and the results of a customer survey have revealed that 22% of those visitors came just for the "retail experience". Last year the shop - including one of the world's biggest gardening bookshops - made £3.8m and they expect to make an even bigger profit this year.

Wisley - £3.8 million from facilities

David Else has visited a lot of tourist attractions and feels that they are a good thing "In the case of Stonehenge, a good visitor centre is going to tell you so much more about the history of what is essentially a group of old stones. I've got no problem with cafes, either - I like a good cup of tea after a visit and don't mind if they want to make a few bob to help preserve the site."

Getting the shop and cafe right at an attraction is a win-win situation, according to Jane Temperley from the Association for Cultural Enterprises. "Sure it is about generating income - everyone is looking at how to make their sites more sustainable. But research says visitors enjoy cafes and shops, happy visitors spend more and tend to become repeat visitors or members, which generates more income."

RHS members account for 80% of Wisley’s members, therefore making many repeat visits. Over 25% of the Wisley staff work in either the cafes, shops or restaurants, emphasising the importance of these facilities.

Laurent Trenga is the chef responsible for the planning of menus at Wisley. He points out that a burger and chips at Wisley is no ordinary burger and chips. "Our burger is made from locally sourced quality pork and apples grown in our own orchards, even the bun is made fresh on site."

Apparently the plants are rather splendid as well.