Front of House Collaborates With Restaurants To Create An NFT-Inspired Experience

As the digital age expands, the potential for creative ingenuity develops into spaces previously unknown. With the emergence of Web3, there's so much to wrap our collective heads around (and Google on the daily). Yet, when brands fuse futuristic ideas with the existing known, sometimes they can meet consumers and interested folks in the middle with a happy yet forward-thinking medium. 

"The cool thing about FOH is that while it's obviously very digital, most of our collectibles have an analog component, like getting a reservation at an impossible to dine at restaurant, merch, food items, and donations to charity," says Ostroff. "And on top of that, while we're starting as a marketplace for restaurant and bar-focused digital collectibles, we have plans to collaborate with fun CPG brands."

Front of House (FOH) is a conglomeration of digital restaurant collectibles designed for people who love eating and drinking, fusing restaurants as we know them with the Web3 space. That can also help independent restaurants develop new revenue streams outside the traditional dining room. FOH provides its partners with 80% of digital collectible profits, ranging from dining perks and community benefits to special events, exclusive merch, and charitable donations. 

The project will launch featuring some of the best restaurants in New York and LA, aiming to become the #1 marketplace worldwide for restaurant and food-related digital collectibles. The collectibles themselves will range from photos, animations, and unique artworks, many of which with some perk. Now, foodie fans can receive bonuses including impossible-to-get reservations at restaurants like Dame or early access to limited-edition Donut Friends collectibles.

In the future, the project also aims to work with CPG brands, but for now, the packaged goods focus on the Digital O's, a cheeky collectible cereal. The packaging highlights a grid system with whimsical photography and a cheerful yellow and blue color palette. While the physical box is reminiscent of a classic cereal box, the nods to Web3 design are prevalent. 

The only downside might be that the demographic of Web3 users is currently an exceptionally niche group, not to mention the downside of some folks owning a purely digital asset and their damaging effects on the environment (and scams and rugpulls, and well, you get the idea). Still, in our post-COVID era, where restaurants are still recovering from lockdowns and quarantines, it makes sense that they'd be willing to experiment with different revenue streams and advertising methods. 

The collective was established by a group of food, tech, and restaurant industry insiders, including Phil Toronto of VaynerFund, Colin Camac, a former restaurateur, and Alex Ostroff of Saint Urbain. Toronto has worked alongside Gary Vaynerchuk for the past twelve years, leading all investing across personal angles and funds. Camac has deep relationships with some of the top restaurants in the city, and Alex is the founder of Saint Urbain, a creative agency behind the branding of some of New York City and Los Angeles' most popular destinations, including Black Seed Bagels, Sweet Chick, and Milu. 

Saint Urbain has found a fun way to blend the future with the current, and it'll be fascinating to see how other CPG brands adapt to modern technology to stay relevant and generate buzz. 

The Front of House logo highlights the connection between the web and food culture with an amusing '90s aesthetic, acting as a paradox to a futuristic take on the internet. The clean sans-serif typeface is playful, while the hand-drawn "of" acts as a nod to traditional restaurant branding. The retro aesthetic also helps act as an approachable branding system in a futuristic world that feels daunting to most.