Restaurant Networking Tips

By Cindy Baccetti

What distinguishes master networker Cindy Baccetti, President and co-founder of Groupdyne.com, is that she seems to remember everyone. "Talk to her. She knows everybody in the industry!" is something Baccetti hears about herself. But she says her reputation actually springs less from how many people she knows than from her dedication to introducing them to one another.

"I don't think I’m necessarily more connected than other people are," she says. "But I think about connecting people more than other people do."

Her success starts with posing the right questions and then truly listening to the answers. Approach every person you come into contact with as a customer of sorts, says Baccetti, who is also the principal of Baccetti Consulting, which provides comprehensive event management and other services. Ask yourself, or come right out and ask new people you meet, what you can do to make their lives easier. "Who can I introduce you to?" asks Baccetti. "What do you need in your business right now? What can I do for you?"



"At the end of the day, networking is still selling," Baccetti explains, "that is, selling yourself as someone who can meet a need, either now or in the future. Rather than doing this by talking about your credentials, investigate your targets' needs and respond. If you can't meet those needs yourself, check your database of contacts for someone who can, or for someone who knows someone who can. And look beyond their most obvious work- related needs. If the winemaker you just met mentions needing a mechanic, and you know a terrific one in his neighborhood, don't hold back!

"People are blown away by the fact that you take the extra step to put two people together," Baccetti says. Your effort and thoughtfulness will come back to you. Those you helped will remember you and be happy to return the favor. So go into any interaction thinking not only about what you have to gain but what you have to give.

Baccetti's company, Groupdyne.com, could be a poster-child for networking. It's an online directory of restaurants that have private dining rooms, can host large groups or do off-site catering in more than a dozen cities, including Portland and Seattle. Baccetti met the first of her Groupdyne partner at a trade show in Las Vegas. When she saw on his nametag that he was from Seattle too, she struck up a conversation. Fast forward to an October 2006 networking event, when he introduced her to other people who became involved in the project. By early summer 2007, the group had launched their site. Between them they have a perfect complement of skills sets for the venture, Baccetti says, "experience in food and beverage marketing, software development and dot-com start-ups. "It was the ultimate example of putting yourself out there and networking, and having it turn into something huge."

Here's the moral of these stories: Networking works, and often in ways that you least expect. So remain open minded, try to be helpful to others, and let the connecting begin.