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Ellen Malloy is redefining restaurant marketing through Restaurant Intelligence Agency (RIA), a company founded in 2007 to connect restaurant industry pros directly to the media and dining public through fun, engaging and easy-to-use online software. Malloy designed three web sites that, together, are creating a new online community where food experts � chefs, mixologists and sommeliers � can manage their own digital brands, and build relationships with media and diners.
Behind the scenes: �It might be easy to assume I�ve always worked in restaurant PR, but that just isn�t anywhere near the truth.� ● Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers � 2006 ● Associate Degree, Culinary Arts, Kendall College � 1997 ● Masters Degree, MS LAS, DePaul University � 1993 ● Bachelors Degree, Journalism, History, Indiana University � 1986
Ellen Malloy worked in public relations, marketing and as sales manager for Lyric Opera of Chicago before working in the restaurant industry. Determined to learn the business of cooking from the ground up, she worked for two of Chicago�s most esteemed chefs, Michael Kornick and Jacky Pluton. She rounded out this on-the-job training with a culinary education from Kendall College, where she graduated at the top of her class. She later earned a Sommelier certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers.
It was in the kitchen that Malloy first encountered the inner workings of restaurant PR. Applying her marketing background, she recognized the need for more efficient and personalized representation.
Behind the scenes: "I knew I would never be a chef but I could be a publicist who truly understands kitchen life." After completing culinary school, Malloy opened up shop as a restaurant publicist. From 1997 to 2008, she turned her company, Paperclip, Inc., into one of the country�s premier restaurant PR firms, representing Michael Jordan�s restaurants and nationally acclaimed chefs such as Paul Kahan and Rick Tramonto.
Behind the scenes: "Given the incredible efficiencies of the web, traditional PR had become a broken business model."
At the forefront of her industry, Malloy was in a unique position to anticipate that the traditional PR model would no longer work, given the shift to online information distribution. In 2007, she moved her PR operation to the web.
Restaurant Intelligence Agency (RIA) began as a service that delivered the foundation of good restaurant PR � information distribution � at a fraction of the cost of traditional PR. Malloy's team collected, wrote, posted and distributed each client�s media information to the searchable RIA website, giving journalists easy access to the latest news about her clients.
● The RIA website was designed to house an affordable, digital version of a paper press kit, with room for marketing events and promotions. ● RIA distinguished itself from restaurant websites by being fact-checked, edited and up-to-date, while also taking advantage of a network platform. ● RIA grew from a basic tool for streamlining PR to a powerful content marketing platform, reaching approximately 10,000 media outlets and a growing audience of concierges and diners.
Behind the scenes:: �Chefs need to speak for themselves.�
As American chef culture grew, the number of rabid foodie fans exploded and so did the hunger for knowledge about the restaurant world. Websites like SeriousEats.com and GrubStreet.com covered chefs' every move while Yelpers and other citizen reviewers competed to be first in to review restaurants. Foodspotters angled to get the best pictures and FourSquarers struggled to stay Mayor.
But in none of these sites did the chefs spend much time interacting with diners. Chefs communicate with food and their jobs keep them in the kitchen all day so they are unfamilar and uneasy with most online platforms.
Determined to build a website that would engage the chefs and give diners the insider access they crave, Malloy built a tool chefs would appreciate and understand. The website has three portals, mirroring restaurant design to be familiar to her chef members. Spoonfeed acts as the back-of-the-house, where prep work is done. Soapbox is the front-of-the-house where the customers are. And Mediafeed is a special place for journalists who need unique access.
With this platform, Malloy initiated a true chef/diner/media dialogue, while simultaneously solving biggest marketing problem of restaurants and chefs: effective distribution of brand-supported information.
Our Goal: "What we're building is the community."
The Internet has the power to transform restaurant marketing, by strengthening connections amongst local food communities, networking chefs nationally, or simply housing information in one organized system that is easily searchable. Yet the early impacts of our connected society have too often been negative for restaurants: instant review sites damage reputations unfairly; celebrity-driven media focuses on a few while ignoring most; a culture of discounting has ripped into profits; and a developing phenomenon of chefs-as-gladiators has focused the dining public on crass culinary entertainment. RIA builds tools that help diners connect with chefs they can follow over the arc of their careers; media discover the true voice of the respected artisan chef; and chefs realize that they can support their business, honor their craft and express their individuality � all at once, online. Through RIA, chefs will finally be celebrated � for their authentic pursuits, as the experts, and in their own voices.
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