Netflix Steps Into Connected Experience Space With Pop-Up Restaurant

Netflix’s new pop-up eatery comes as brands leverage restaurants to create physical touchpoints to connect with consumers, either building on existing affinity or looking to reestablish what was lost.

The streaming service announced Wednesday (June 14) the launch of Netflix Bites, set to open in Los Angeles on June 30, offering meals from celebrity chefs featured in series on the streaming platform.

“Netflix is already a destination for beloved food programming, from documentaries to competition shows,” Josh Simon, VP, Consumer Products at Netflix, said in a statement. “From episode to entrée, with NETFLIX BITES we are creating an in-person experience where fans can immerse themselves in their favorite food shows.”

The move to create immersive, in-person experiences could be part of an effort to reestablish customer affinity for the brand, after the streaming service’s move to crack down on password sharing may have succeeded in driving subscriptions, but (as even a cursory search of social media platforms reveals) left many consumers frustrated with the brand.

Launching a full-service restaurant could be especially effective in creating positive sentiment now, as consumers yearn for the hospitality that used to be the norm across the restaurant industry. Research from a PYMNTS survey of nearly 2,500 U.S. consumers reveals that 63% of diners believe restaurants are becoming increasingly understaffed, and 39% said that they are becoming less and less personal. The same survey revealed that 77% of diners say staff friendliness is the most important feature a restaurant needs to provide.

Netflix is not the only brand leveraging pop-up restaurants to drive positive connections with consumers. Mattel, for instance, is feeding into (as it were) enthusiasm for the Barbie brand timed with the upcoming film by launching a pop-up Malibu Barbie Café in partnership with events platform Bucket Listers. The pop-up opened its doors in Chicago this month and in New York last month, and both are running through mid-September.

Back in 2021, dating app Bumble opened its Bumble Brew café and wine bar, which was not meant to be a pop-up, but which ultimately shut down in 2022 after a burst pipe.

PepsiCo, for its part, ran pop-up virtual restaurant Pep’s Place, also in 2021, in an effort both to encourage consumers to add more beverages to their typical restaurant delivery orders and to learn about the virtual brand space.

“Pep’s place for us was really our first experience with the world of virtual brands [and was] an opportunity for us to learn firsthand,” André Moraes, senior director of marketing at PepsiCo Foodservice and head of PepsiCo Foodservice’s Digital Lab, told PYMNTS in an interview. “We learned [that] communicating what’s special about the menu — but in a familiar format — is really important in guiding the consumer experience to be a pleasant experience to be one that’s not one of questions or uncertainty but one of excitement.”

Some brands have even made restaurant offerings an ongoing part of how they connect with consumers in the physical world. For instance, Japanese entertainment company Sanrio launched a Hello Kitty food truck back in 2014, and the brand continues to hold truck events across the United States in addition to its static Hello Kitty Grand Café in Irvine, California.

Meanwhile, Ralph Lauren’s Ralph’s Coffee café chain has become an icon in its own right, with 16 locations across five states in addition to a line of dozens of branded products that consumers can order online.