Commitment

“No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.” Michel De Montaigne, French Renaissance Essayist and Philosopher.

It seems like I am having the same conversation four or five times a week these days. You know the one that goes “How is it out there? I am dying here. My numbers just keep dwindling. I can’t figure out why the when I drive by the chains, their parking lots are still full. I serve better food than they do. What is going on? What do they have that I don’t?” Those are some loaded questions.

I think I could write for hours on some of my opinions of why the chains have full parking lots and some of the independent operators are struggling to bring people in – there are many things that the chains do very well that the independents should take note of and try their best to implement some variation of.

How is it out there? I think my fictional operator answers it pretty well, my numbers are getting smaller and the chains still have comparatively full parking lots. People are still dining out. Maybe not as often, but they are still doing it. Simply put, they are more judicious about where they are spending their money, but they are still spending. It has become less about the quality of the food, and more about the perceived value, the dining experience and the consistency.

As I think about why chains are holding up better than independents one thing jumps out at me, the chains have done an effective job of creating a destination atmosphere in their restaurants. There is no one magical ambience that we should all work to replicate, but rather there are commonalities between the successful operations’ atmospheres that we can all draw from and implement into our own vision. As I try to narrow down the most important component of setting the atmosphere and ambience the word that keeps coming to mind is COMMITMENT. It doesn’t have to be fancy, loud, quiet, white tablecloth, sporty, clubby, clubhousey, upscale, retro or any of the other decorative options – it just has to be committed to the vision. Without that commitment, great ideas become muddled, misguided and ineffective. Pick a direction and commit to it. With commitment crazy ideas work – Ed Debevic’s jumps to mind – kitschy décor with snotty servers dressed in a pseudo 50’s style, and they have flourished for over 20 years. How about ChuckECheese? Loud, game filled, anxiety inducing rooms filled with animated creatures fake singing to taped music, and they hung around for years? I know you can think of one or two places around you that leave you scratching your head when you try to figure out how that idea works. They all have one thing in common – commitment to their vision and a willingness to carry it through.

Coupled with their commitment and their vision chains have a clearly defined brand. They are keeping their menu fresh without overwhelming it with options – in fact, studies show that 80% of the national chains have reduced their menu sizes over the last 4 years. They have decided who they are and have worked to preserve and build upon that self image. They are not trying to have everybody’s favorite childhood meal on their menus, but rather they are limiting the selections and perfecting them. They track their sales and dump their dogs in favor of new ideas that have a greater potential for generating sales. Limiting the selection also limits their inventory dollars, increasing the velocity of their inventory dollars and thereby increasing the ROI of their inventory dollars. Tying up your money on inventory for menu dogs doesn’t do you any favors. In fact menu dogs are a double negative – they cost you money and muddle your successful image by lingering on the menu. To me, the message a reduced menu sends to consumers is one of confidence. It says “Here I am, this is what I do best, and you are going to like it!” It is not pandering to everyone’s secret desire to have to choose between an open faced roast beef sandwich, liver and onions, and a filet. It is incongruous to have those items on the same menu – what are you communicating to your customers by having them all on the same menu – that I can’t figure out who I am, so I will make sure that I turn over every stone and put it on my menu lest the 1% of my customers who want that obscure entrée leaves unfulfilled? Define your brand and stick to it. You and your customers won’t be disappointed.
The last part I want to address is consistency and perceived value. I have been out with friends and listened to the discussion about where we are going to eat. Frequently a chain will win out because each of us knows what to expect when we get there. We know 80% of the menu without looking at it. We know roughly where it is going to be priced. We are confident that while we may not always get the best food, we will get food that tastes exactly like it did the last couple of times we ate there. The consistency and the brand identification of the restaurant created perceived value. It may not be the “most valuable” meal, but the risk/reward relationship has been defined – I will go there to find ___ on the menu priced at ___ and I know what it will taste like, and I find that to be acceptable. Many independents haven’t defined their brand and worked through having a clearly outlined step by step menu prep manual that creates consistency regardless of who is doing the cooking tonight.

The characteristics that have made many of the chains successful ARE transferable and can be implemented to help you, the independent operator, achieve similar success even in down economic times. You CAN do it with a vision, a commitment and consistency.