The importance of Screen Addiction for bars and restaurants
I once heard Brody Sweeney, founder of Camille Thai, speaking on an Irish business radio programme; “Down to Business” with Bobby Kerr. He made an observation that stuck with me. His view was that people increasingly order takeaway food because they’re spending so much of their lives in front of screens, he saw that modern life revolves around them.
That wasn’t really a comment about takeaway food. It was a comment about human behaviour.
Let’s look at that idea through the eyes of a bar owner.
Walk into almost any pub, restaurant or cocktail bar today and you’ll see the same thing. A couple waiting for friends. Both scrolling. Four people around a table. At least one checking Instagram. Someone walks in alone, orders a drink and reaches for their phone before they’ve even taken the first sip.
Whether we call it screen addiction, habit or simply modern life doesn’t really matter. The behaviour is real, and every hospitality owner sees it every day.
Most people see this as a problem, I saw an opportunity.
For the first time in history, your customers arrive already conditioned to look at a screen whenever there’s a pause in the conversation. The question isn’t whether they’ll look at a screen. The question is which screen they’ll look at.
Will it be the five-inch screen in their hand, where your business disappears from their attention completely?
Or will it be the large screen on your wall, showing something worth looking up for?
This is where many bars get it wrong.
They treat their televisions as decoration. A rolling news channel. A random Spotify visualiser. A sports channel with the sound turned down. Something that fills a space but adds very little to the customer experience.
Hospitality businesses should think differently.
They understand that attention is one of the most valuable assets in their building.
Every time a customer looks up because a favourite music video starts, laughs at a classic clip, nudges a friend and says, “I haven’t heard this in years,” or decides to stay for one more drink because the atmosphere feels alive, that screen has become part of the entertainment rather than part of the furniture.
Music videos compliment good service, good food or great drinks.
The venues that understand this are giving customers a reason to put those phones down.
Bobby Kerr speaks with Brody Sweeney
Mike Magan – Founder