I’ve got a new column in the Las Vegas Business Press about how food and beverage offerings (well, mostly food) can help or hurt a casino:
Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. The same is true for the masses of gamblers, conventioneers, and tourists who visit hotel-casinos. With a generally similar product offering, casinos can look to food as one of their most flexible — and important — branding options.
I run through some of the history of casino dining (going from 1638 to 1992 in six very short paragraphs) and conclude with a little bit of philosophizing about the role of value.
If you want to see more about this, go to G2E and check out my panel on F&B as a marketing tool.