The restaurant business is absolutely brutal, especially for a small, mom-and-pop op. Just getting customers in the door to try the food you’ve spent months perfecting, instead of hitting up a chain, can be a huge challenge.
So it’s no surprise that restaurants will come up with gimmicks to get hungry bellies to their tables. It never hurts to aim at the funny bone, and you have to wonder if anyone does that better than the El Arroyo in Austin, Texas.
The El Arroyo has become known well outside Texas for its eye-catching messages on its signs.
If nothing else, they’ll amuse folks stuck in traffic nearby, and maybe help El Arroyo’s name stick in people’s heads when their stomachs start to rumble.
The sign gets changed up with a new, funny — or at least topical — message every day.
And apparently they don’t have one joke-writer on staff, but a group of about 15 people, including managers and owners, chime in with ideas. They also take suggestions on their website if anyone wants to put their wit to the test.
There’s no one particular theme to their jokey sign.
Sometimes they’ll post seasonal things, sometimes they’ll comment on current events, and sometimes they’ll even use it to remind folks that they are, indeed, a licensed restaurant serving food as well as witticisms.
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But, unless they’re honoring someone in particular, the bottom line is that it has to be funny.
From that group of 15 people who put their best ideas forward, the day’s winning message is “generally picked based on how hard we were laughing reading,” according to Austin360.
That seems like a good recipe for daily hilarity, especially when you consider how long they’ve been able to pull this off.
You’ve probably even seen a few of their signs come up in your various news feeds from time to time as folks share them around on social media. And now, they’re largely available in book form, too.
The El Arroyo has gathered hundreds of their gut-burtsingest signs for two full books and one mini-book.
Kind of a nice way to branch out from just the food business, amirite? And if they can keep it up, it wouldn’t be a shock to see further volumes in the future.
