The Secret Sauce of Great Marketing? Empathy. (And Yes, Probably Waiting Tables)
If you've never had to deliver a medium-rare steak to a table that swears they asked for medium-well (they didn’t), you haven’t truly met the gods of patience. And if you've never smiled through your molars while being snapped at over a lukewarm cappuccino, then buckle up, because you may be missing one of the most valuable crash courses in marketing, humanity, and humility.
This is where The Bear gets it so heartbreakingly right. Watching that show feels like attending a therapy session for every former server, line cook, barista, or bartender who’s ever tried to keep it together during a Sunday brunch rush. It reminds us that the service industry isn’t just about food—it’s about feeling. It’s about care.
Anthony Bourdain, patron saint of culinary grit and emotional honesty, once said:
"You can always tell when a person has worked in a restaurant. There's an empathy that can only be cultivated by those who've stood between a hungry mouth and a $28 pork chop."
First of all—poetry. Second of all—truth.
Empathy Is the Ultimate Marketing Tool
We marketers love to toss around words like “customer journey” and “human-centered design” like they’re fresh out of a TED Talk. But real empathy? The kind that comes from making eye contact with someone who hasn’t eaten in twelve hours and just wants their damn fries? That’s something else entirely.
Working in a restaurant teaches you how to read people. Not with data or analytics, but with your gut. You learn when someone’s about to complain before they even speak. You anticipate needs. You finesse your tone depending on the vibe. You care. These are not soft skills. These are power moves, and in the world of marketing, they are everything.
Marketing is Just Storytelling... with a Side of Fries
If you've ever pitched a campaign idea to a client who doesn't get it, that’s basically the same as explaining the day's specials to someone who’s already decided they're mad. You need charm. You need timing. You need to be five steps ahead. You need... restaurant brain.
The best marketing campaigns don’t just speak to people; they speak for them. And that only comes when you’ve practiced empathy over and over again—in real-time, with real people, under real pressure.
Your Next Hire? Maybe Someone Who’s Done a Double Shift
Let’s be honest, half of the folks with “strong interpersonal skills” on LinkedIn would spontaneously combust if they had to bartend a wedding. But service industry vets? We already know the dance. We know how to be on, how to hustle, how to pivot. We don’t just say “team player”—we mean it, because we’ve lived it. At 11PM. Covered in someone else’s marinara.
More Restaurants. Fewer Whiteboard Brainstorms.
With all due respect to every overpriced marketing seminar I’ve ever attended (and the hotel coffee I choked down while attending it), nothing compares to what I learned as a hostess during Saturday night dinner service. Or a barback on New Year’s Eve. Or a café manager trying to fix a jammed espresso machine with one hand and calm down a caffeine-deprived customer with the other.
So here’s my wild idea: If we want to build better marketing teams, let’s stop filtering resumes by Ivy League schools and start asking: Have you ever worked the brunch shift at a diner? If the answer is yes, hire them immediately. And give them a raise.
Because the best marketers? They’ve already mastered the art of service. Now they just have better shoes.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go emotionally recover from remembering the time I had to comp a crème brûlée because someone’s date ghosted them mid-meal.
