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Who’s Playing with Dinner?
A look at how one musician is helping restaurants pair food with music.
Photo: Liz Steger Photography
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Since my college days I have dabbled in just about every aspect of the music industry, from working at a record label to choosing songs for television shows. Maybe it’s my Motor City roots, but rhythm and sound are just instilled in me. Much like movie soundtracks, restaurant music has come along way. Recently I spoke with former NJ drummer Rich Eldert (and husband to restaurant publicist Gail Schoenberg) to find out how he goes about creating the right vibe.
How did you get into this business?
Surprisingly, music is one of the last things that anyone has time to think about when opening a restaurant. My wife and I sat through so many dinners accompanied by techno, bland smooth jazz or a random iPod shuffle that just didn’t work, so we thought that we could offer a complimentary “mangiamix” service—to advise clients on what kind of music they ought to play. There are very few genres I don’t like. I have a huge music collection, I’m obsessed with hearing new music, and I’m also compulsive about sharing music that I like. So why not share my knowledge of musical genres with our clients?
In addition to Muzak and royalty-free music, what other options are there available to restaurants?
The best source will always be live music, but the circumstances are not always right. I think that the most commonly used source of music is the iPod, either the owners’ or the staff’s. Some places use a DJ, satellite radio, or Pandora. Then there are some spots where you might hear an entire album during your meal; me, I don’t really want to hear every track from a classic rock relic during my dinner.
How do you go about selecting music for a restaurant?
Forget about what you like, and think about the customer base, the food, the feeling that they want to create, and the time of day it’s to be heard. One of the best rules of thumb is that it should be unobtrusive, both to the people who don’t care about music and the people who pat their feet.
How often does the music need to updated before the staff gets bored?
Having to work this stressful job while hearing a song you dislike over and over or your favorite song—it could ruin that song for you forever. You’d probably want to change playlists once a month.
Can you tell me about a few different restaurants you’ve worked with and what kind of songs and/or genres worked well for each?
A good example might be Pamplona. I believe in authenticity; the food was Spanish there, so the recommendations included flamenco, of course, classics like Andres Segovia, but also contemporary Spanish groups like Ojos de Brujo, who are considered “electro-flamenco.” The kind of songs you’d hear on an Almodóvar movie soundtrack worked well too. I don’t like it when people play “generic Latin.” If it’s a Cuban restaurant, I want to hear Cuban music. But you can over think it. Some of Pamplona’s food was from the Basque region, and the Basque folk music I researched would just not work in a restaurant. As far as genres go, jazz never fails for me. Latin jazz works in Latin restaurants and a jazz interpretation of Nino Rota’s music works in an Italian restaurant. Even if you’re playing club music for a late night crowd, ’60s soul jazz/boogaloo or ’70s jazz funk will never fail.