Then, @Bread_Winners went on to make my case.  Last week, I tweeted that I had seen a wine on the wall at Bread Winners while brunching there.  The wine intrigued me, then I learned the label had earned a spot in a San Francisco MOMA exhibit about wine labels as art.  My tweet only mentioned Bread Winner’s (and even failed to use their correct handle).

Within a day, @Bread_Winners asked if they could help.  I explained that I had looked for and had trouble finding the wine, saying I’d just have to wait to have it there on my next visit.

Bread Winners took the initiative to help.  They contacted a liquor store near me, connected their senior wine consultant with the right wine rep, and told me I could pick up the wine there soon.  In the meantime, they invited me to come for dinner, have a glass and leave with a corked bottle.

They rocked it.  And made an advocate out of an already-fan.

The wine, by the way, is The Supernatural, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with hints of passionfruit and honeysuckle.

Bread Winners social media is handled by an undisclosed agency.

Many I have spoken with (or read) believe sales growth versus 2010 will fall somewhere between the 1.6% increase forecasted by Technomic back at the start of the year and the 3.6% predicted in The NRA’s 2011 Restaurant Industry Forecast.

One factor that will play an important role in determining the degree of recovery the industry and individual brands will see in 2011 is the consumer behavior known as ‘trading down’ or ‘trading up’. Most in the industry are familiar with the behaviors; what’s important to realize is these behaviors are directly linked to mindsets.

Recently released research from The NPD Group, a report titled The Changing Consumer Mindset: What It Means to the Restaurant Industry, begins to explain this connection. It identifies two mindsets when it comes to spending – those that cannot spend freely and those that can – and addresses how the dichotomy between these two mindsets will shape the industry now and into the future.

According to this report, three-fourths (76%) of consumers fall into the cautious, controlled spender group – those who would be more likely to trade down; the other 24% appear relatively unaffected by the recession, are optimistic in general and have been less inclined to change their restaurant behavior.

These optimists will be enticed to visit restaurants more often by good service and a relaxing atmosphere, which matter more to them than price and value. And while the optimists are naturally more likely to be employed and live in affluent households, NPD says this mindset cuts across all demographic groups.

This has created opportunities for both product offering and marketing communications directed specifically to this group. When it comes to communicating with them, it’s important you recognize they think and feel differently and will respond best to messaging that reflects their own more confident outlook.

Regardless of when you think we’ll see major recovery in the industry, we can all agree the restaurant turnaround happening now is nascent. A significant bounce back to pre-Great Recession days is not expected this year, and it will take a long time to get back to sales levels of 2007 and 2008.

Until that point, restaurateurs have to think about being most relevant to their best prospects, and that 24% – the optimists – just might be yours.

See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOxFa0cZhCs

The occasion was staged in the basement level of the Aloft Hotel downtown, a venue where complete lightless dark was easily achieved. Our server, like all working that evening, was legally blind – and the perfect hostess for helping us navigate a four-course, nearly two hour and utterly sightless meal.

There was some initial trepidation to be sure. More on Kim’s part, but probably the most disconcerting part for both of us though was the total trust you had to place in people (and food) you could not see.

As you might expect, your olfactory senses and taste buds work overtime when unaided by vision. Less predictable was how hard your eyes strained for light during those first ten minutes, how quickly you adapted to the darkness after that, and how you relaxed into the whole thing. Trusting the food, your server, and that your wine glass would be just to the northeast of your plate when you reached for it again.

To say it gave us an appreciation of what it would be like to be blind diminishes the immense challenges that must entail. It did provide a tiny taste though. It also gave us a new way to connect over a meal. And it awakened us to how sleepy your taste buds get when each flavor is forecast by sight.

Upon leaving, we were given a card that said: Dark is never black; just a deep, deep shade of red. The thought felt right – for Valentine’s Day and as summation of the whole experience. It was dark indeed, but we’re happy we took the chance to see things a little differently.

In a recent MediaPost article, Gary Leopold referenced two studies that could indicate future generations won’t share that love.

First, a study of 100K global teens by virtual world site Habbo concluded that today’s teens are far less inclined to want to travel or work overseas.

Then, a study commissioned by lastminutetravel.com said young people were spending more of their money on entertainment and technology than traveling the world. This, in turn, caused the UK’s Daily Telegraph to jump to say “perhaps worringly, a new generation will reject travel altogether in favor of gaming, social networking and ‘always on’ media.”

Telegraph, meet giant leap.

Still, would it surprise you if tomorrow’s adults liked to travel less?

This is a generation weaned online. They explore and connect virtually. It makes sense these experiences might supplant some of the need to travel.

Add to that the joys of travel today: Airports. Security. Global tensions. Not to mention, expense. And, let’s face it, you have to love travel to make it a priority.

Leopold offers the travel industry two pieces of advice. They’re good thoughts, whether you buy the doom-and-gloom or not.

Turn today’s youth into tomorrow’s travelers. In short, make them want it. To do that, you need to recognize what drives them is not the same as generations past.

Create ways to engage children (and help parents interact with their kids). Start a dialogue now that is going to make them want to pursue the wonders of the world beyond the screen.

Really, he’s saying, understand and engage the next generation.

Whether the studies cited point to anything or not, traveler marketers need to heed the advice. Turn on the news — terrorism, storms, oil, the economy. It doesn’t exactly breed a love of travel. If we hope tomorrow’s adults will have one, we might invest in helping grow it among our kids and youth today.

*RevPAR