Portland Harbor Hotel

To stay up to date, operators are upgrading older televisions to LCD—liquid crystal display—screens. These upgrades represent more than a light face-lift. Restaurateurs, hoteliers and chain operators alike find that LCD screens with high-definition capabilities not only please sports fans, but also can make restaurant spaces look tech-savvy and appealingly modern.

Gerard Kiladjian acknowledges that many guests staying at the Portland Harbor Hotel in Portland, Maine, devotedly follow New England sports teams. To draw people out of their rooms and to the bar to watch the game—and purchase food and beverages—the hotel recently installed a 40-inch LCD screen above the fireplace.

“It’s been an attraction,” says Kiladjian, the hotel’s general manager, particularly during this summer’s Olympic Games coverage.

Einstein Bros. Bagels

“The other night, the bar area filled up before the main dining room,” McGowan says. “Usually, because it’s a neighborhood restaurant, the bar fills up second. But in the last several weeks, the bar has been full before the dining room.”

During weekday lunch hours, four screens play different sports events while two screens run news channels in the bar. For dinner hours and weekends, all screens are dedicated to local college and professional sports coverage. The high-definition images are so sharp that McGowan is considering adding an after-8 p.m. movie night once a week to complement the restaurant’s small-bites bar menu.

Despite the success, he won’t go so far as to say that upgrading to LCD screens in the bar has increased business.

“What I do think is that it has helped us not lose business,” he says. “I feel that we are not losing the people who wouldn’t want to go out because the game is on.”

Not all diners want televisions, high-definition or otherwise, as part of their dining experience. Although a few tables in the dining room might be able to see a TV screen, most cannot.

At the Portland Harbor Hotel, the LCD screen looks like a nicely framed mirror when it is turned off.

“You don’t want the TV to stand out,” Kiladjian explains. “You want it to blend into the décor.”

At units of Lakewood, Colo.-based Einstein Bros. Bagels, guests waiting for their order can turn their attention to local news, traffic and weather on a closed-captioned LCD screen. The screens, which are part of a partnership with a third-party provider, “are very customizable,” says Jim Hood, chief marketing officer for Einstein Noah Restaurant Group. “You get local weather, traffic, ski reports and surf reports if you’re on the coast.”

In addition to local news coverage, the screens run branding messages and promotions that can be custom-made for different stores.

Although LCD screens are becoming less expensive, operators say, they still require upfront investment. L. Woods’ McGowan estimates that he spent more than $20,000 on the six new screens and accompanying high-definition upgrades. Kiladjian spent more on the Portland Harbor Hotel’s specialized LCD screen to give it the mirror effect. The hotel also plans to add LCD screens to guest rooms.

Because Einstein Noah Restaurant Group partnered with a third party, its screens are installed and maintained free of charge—in exchange for the stores’ running of advertisements supplied by the partner company.

“It’s advertiser-supported,” explains Hood. “The screens will carry a certain amount of advertising messaging, but they are noncompetitive advertising. We have the reasonable ability to say yes or no to what kinds of ad messages appear.”