A new Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar opened in Tampa, Florida, earlier this month with a new look and feel: a 16-foot glass-window porte-cochere, a towering 2,500-bottle wine vault, embroidered seating and balanced steak knives that promise to feel “just the right weight” in the hand.
But perhaps a more memorable feature will be the way the restaurant smells.
When guests walk through that porte-cochere, they might immediately be struck by a signature scent developed specifically for this restaurant. Dubbed “Newport at Night,” the branded aroma is infused through the restaurant with what is described as a blend of salted santal, woody greens, jasmine, sage and amber.
It’s meant to evoke the cool, coastal nights of Newport Beach, California, where the first Fleming’s debuted in 1998. And, fundamentally, the goal is to establish an emotional connection with guests as soon as they arrive, said Amyra Finamore, director of product marketing for Fleming’s, which is part of the Bloomin’ Brands portfolio.
At the recently opened Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Tampa, Florida, guests will be greeted with the scent of "Newport at Night," a proprietary fragrance created for the brand. | Photo courtesy of Brandon Munoz
“Scent can help set the mood, complement the ambiance, and influence feelings of joy, relaxation and comfort,” said Finamore. “Creating a memorable and impressionable dining experience is the heart of our brand, and this is one way we are setting that expectation at our new flagship restaurant.”
This type of scent marketing, as it is known, has long been in use in hotels and retail stores. Properties of the French hotel chain Sofitel, for example, are perfumed with evocative aromas (“French Riviera,” “Joie de Vivre”) no matter where they are around the world. In fact, the fragrances are so popular, guests can buy them online as candles or diffusers so they can live—or at least smell—like a first-class business traveler on an expense account at home.
But scent marketing is increasingly being used by restaurants as a branding tool, but also with functional applications, said Olivier Delenclos, vice president of global business development for the scenting company Prolitec.
Based in Milwaukee, Prolitec works across a number of industries to create ambient fragrance for generally two reasons: To give pleasure and stimulate the senses, and to create positive cognitive impressions.
How a place smells impacts how a consumer evaluates it, the people and their experience, said Delenclos.
Stinky restrooms or the smell of a sour kitchen drain will likely give a negative impression. But a whiff of jasmine, whisky or crushed pine needles, for example, could touch a memory that sets off a positive vibe.
“It’s going to have an impact on behavior,” he said. “It’s going to influence how much time you spend in the place, or your perception of the time. You will stay longer and you will come back because you had a good moment.”
What’s that smell?
Scent marketing has arguably been an element of the restaurant industry since its beginning, with the inviting smell of fresh-baked bread or grilling meat drawing in passersby. There is no better way to stimulate appetite than with the smell of something delicious.
Cinnabon, of course, is famous for its use of the irresistible aroma of cinnamon rolls in the oven, aggressively piped into the path of oncoming consumers in malls and airports to hook them by the nose. It has been so effective that now, as parent-company GoTo Foods hopes to encourage franchisees to shift the brand to streetside locations, some have expressed concern that Cinnabon would lose its best marketing tool.
“We’re bakers. It’s about the smell, and you don’t get that off the street,” said franchisee Steve Bradshaw of Prezalter LLC, who operates Cinnabon units in Seattle.
Protecting the scent of the core product has also long been an issue at Starbucks.
Former CEO Howard Schultz in 2008 pulled back on breakfast sandwiches, saying they were interfering with the aroma of coffee that he felt should dominate.
It’s a concern that has continued to this day. New CEO Brian Niccol, in his introductory letter as he stepped to the helm of the coffee company earlier this month, wrote that he is committed to elevating the in-store experience at Starbucks, “ensuring our spaces reflect the sights, smells and sounds” that define the brand.
Other brands have also tapped into the power of their unique aromas to lure in foot traffic.
McDonald’s earlier this year reportedly installed mobile mini billboards in the Dutch cities of Utrecht and Leiden. The billboards didn’t include any text, images or signage. They just emitted the iconic scent of McDonald’s fries cooking, and they were strategically placed near restaurants where the fries could be purchased.
‘What if bread could fart?’
And then there’s Subway, a brand that has long touted its baked breads, even offering consumers the opportunity to buy a Subway-scented reed diffuser.
But the distinctive smell of Subway has been somewhat controversial over the years. John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight,” in a 2022 episode famously described the aroma as, “What if bread could fart?”
(Subway, in a response, said its restaurants have been baking bread in stores for three decades, creating "the unique aroma that many of our guests crave and associate with freshness, flavor and variety," a spokesperson said.)
How ambient scents are perceived is a serious concern for restaurant companies, said Delenclos of Prolitec.
His company uses technology that can help mask the stronger odors of certain ingredients, like parmesan on Subway’s cheesy bread, which to some people could evoke “dirty feet.”
He declined to say whether Prolitec has worked with Subway. But he said, in such situations, the company might use fragrances like rosemary or mint to counter the less-pleasant cheesy smell.
It’s a tool often used in places like food courts, where cooking smells can compete for customers’ attention, Delenclos said. Oyster bars and other restaurants where seafood might be on display are also good candidates.
“We can correct that and create a better environment,” he said.
In Europe where Delenclos lives, for example, supermarkets that sell seafood will pipe in fragrances that evoke ingredients that might be used to cook the fish or shellfish, like lemongrass or ginger.
Like lighting and music, aromas can also be psychological manipulators. Vanilla and lavender are calming, while citrus or pine can bring energy and good cheer.
For years, “smoked cocktails” have been trendy, sometimes with smoke-filled bubbles designed to pop before the first sip to release a puff of burnt wood to complement the spirits involved.
Smoke used in cocktails is more about the aroma than taste. | Photo: Midjourney
And scents can be used to suggest a sale.
Hotels use the fragrance of coffee (usually a nice, neutral cappuccino aroma and only for a few hours in the morning) to keep guests in house at breakfast, he added.
Selling pastries that are made in a central facility far away? No problem, just pipe in a fresh-baked scent to make up for the lack of onsite baking.
Prolitec was once asked by an American ice cream chain (Delenclos declined to reveal the brand) to develop a fragrance based on the brand’s vanilla ice cream. But in the winter, when people weren’t consuming as much ice cream, the restaurant asked if they could pipe in the aroma of waffles, which were deemed more sellable during colder months.
Something in the air
At higher-end restaurants, like Fleming’s, Delenclos said fragrances are more likely to be used in an entryway or, perhaps, a bar. But chefs typically want to be able to control the dining experience and what wafts from the plate.
“You don’t want to have a fragrance where you eat,” he said. “Your sense of taste is not as full, if you don’t have a sense of smell.”
It’s also about finding the right balance when flavoring the atmosphere in a restaurant, Delenclos added. Both guests and employees can have sensitivities, and what comes across as a whiff to one person could be overpowering to another.
“It’s our job to develop fragrances where people can stay in a space for a full day without complaining about it,” said Delenclos. “It’s released in tiny amounts, and we can control it.”
Finamore at Fleming’s noted the steakhouse chain also uses fully adjustable diffusers that can be quickly modified to accommodate guests.
The Tampa flagship is the first within the more than-60-unit chain to use a proprietary fragrance, but more are coming.
A Fleming’s restaurant is scheduled to open in November in Sarasota, Florida. It will feature another proprietary scent dubbed “Napa at Dawn,” which is described as representing the “duality of what you see in the spectrum of wine, one style that’s bolder and full-bodied, and another that’s lighter in nature and more herbaceous.”
Will the company bring it to more restaurants?
Finamore said it’s too early to tell.
“We’re excited to be able to use our brand-new flagship as an innovation lab to see how this enhances our guests’ impression and experience at our restaurant,” she said.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.