National Restaurant Association launches Restaurants Revival campaign to bring customers back to restaurants

Joanna Fantozzi

The National Restaurant Association has released a new national advertisement meant to entice diners to come back to restaurants. The commercial, called “Sounds We Crave,” is part of the organization’s recently launched Restaurants Revival campaign and features the familiar sounds of a working restaurant: plates clinking, knives chopping, butter sizzling in a pan, and beer pouring into a glass. The advertisement asks, “doesn’t dining out sound good?” and is the first national consumer campaign ever released by the National Restaurant Association.  

“This campaign is about reigniting the memories we cherish about dining out,” Tom Bené, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “While diners have been able to enjoy some restaurant meals through take-out and delivery, we all have missed hearing the words, ‘Your table is ready,’ and the unique experiences that dining out provides.”

The advertisement is more than just an auditory callback to times before the pandemic; it also is meant to reassure customers that are nervous to dine out again and highlights the association’s ServSafe Dining Commitment, which shows the lengths that restaurants are going through to make sure their employees and customers are safe during the pandemic.

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When a restaurant participates in the program, they are committing to the National Restaurant Association restaurant reopening guidelines as well as the CDC’s health and safety guidelines and local COVID-19 regulations, and they also have to participate in the ServSafe food handler courses and reopening training. Participating restaurants will receive a decal to display in their restaurant.

“We know safety is top of mind for returning diners — it’s top of mind for us as well — so, the ad pairs the familiar sights and sounds with new visual safety cues, including servers wearing masks and the ServSafe Dining Commitment door decal.”

The commercial was created by The Richards Group and sponsored by major food and beverage companies including Coca-Cola, DoorDash, Stella Artois, Ecolab, Beam Suntory, Cargill, Tyson, Hormel Foods, International Foodservice Distributors Association, and GP Pro.

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