Dining among the STARRs
Hello fellow Interns! My name is Margaret (Maggie) Davis and I am a senior Advertising major double concentrating in Brand Strategy and Research as well as Media Planning. This Fall semester I have been working as a 20-hour part-time intern with Starr Restaurant Group. Starr owns some of the biggest restaurants in Philadelphia, New York, D.C., and Florida. Some of my favorite restaurants in Philadelphia include Parc, The Dandelion, and KPOD.
This has been my third internship while studying at Temple University, and certainly my most loved and most valuable. Before working as Starr’s Social Media Marketing intern, I was under the impression that I understood the world of social media marketing. That quickly changed as I began to learn the proper way to use social media as a marketing tool. I quickly learned that when it comes to restaurant groups, each restaurant has its own unique brand voice. Of course, this also comes with things to keep in mind while marketing such as font, color, tone, and even ways to respond to messages on Instagram. Another thing that I quickly learned is that social media jobs never turn off. Unlike putting out traditional forms of advertising, social media is always moving and changing. However, this certainly does not need to be a negative thing. I have found it very rewarding to be able to put more effort into the job when you are seeing real and quick results.
One of my favorite experiences with Starr has been being able to work within the different restaurants. For example, last week I helped my coworker take photos of Morimoto’s (an iron chef sushi restaurant) anniversary cocktail. Afterward, we were able to sample the cocktail, work from one of the tables in the restaurant, and I got to meet the Morimoto managers. This is certainly unique especially when we work from restaurants while customers are dining. Another fun story I have loved telling from my internship is earlier in the semester I was working on responding to direct messages on Instagram for the Pastis NYC account. Pastis is a famous french restaurant in New York City where celebrities are frequently dining among regular people. Serena Williams’s manager DM’d the account and talked about how much she enjoyed her dining. It has been fun interacting with people who I never thought I would be in contact with.
This internship has been very rewarding and I have loved my time at Starr. If a full-time position opened up, I would certainly apply!
