There are different approaches to take with your promotional videos collected on branded YouTube channels. You can simply show off your TV commercials. You can interview guests. If you’ve got big bucks, you could produce your own high-concept entertainment (see McDonald’s Bite Size Video Project). But a tactic open to every concept is the behind-the-scenes video, and as a way to extend your brand and connect with the customer it is still one of the best. Here are five who do it the right way. Click the restaruant name to see for yourself.
Alinea
Hard to think of a more intriguing restaurant on which to gain an inside look. Grant Achatz and crew show how dishes are ideated, plated and presented. Check out the presentation for the Chocolate Pumpkin Pie. A showstopper.
Del Posto
Mario Batali’s Del Posto channel combines sumptuous production with an infatuation for every detail of food prep. There are no how-to videos here, but lots of high-def scenes with chefs meticulously preparing dishes. You feel slightly transported.
BR Guest
While the production value of the previous two is commendable, the lack of it doesn’t detract as much from BR Guest’s videos as you might expect. It feels more like a real restaurant kitchen. These videos focus on instruction from chefs at the different BR brands: learn to prepare a Valentine’s Day dinner from the head chef at Primehouse and a Chinese New Year’s dish from the chef at Ruby Foo’s.
Seasons 52
Master Sommelier George Miliotes and Executive Chef Cliff Pleau are the stars in Seasons 52’s video series. Pleau demonstrates recipes and introduces the seasonal menus. The real standout is Miliotes, who highlights wines on the menu—and makes you realize how seriously the restaurant takes wine—but also educates the viewer on wine trends and tasting notes.
Twin Peaks
Like we said, videos are about branding, and the behind-the-scenes videos from breastaurant Twin Peaks drive its brand home, parks it in the driveway and has bikini-clad women wash it in the hot sun. The videos here don’t take place in the kitchen but at photo shoots for their calendar featuring its buxom waitresses. A novel approach from a wickedly innovative brand.
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