Sunday, September 27, 2009
Click here for part two of the story
Yikes....not quite sure that the phrase "There is no such thing as bad press" is relevant here.
Click here for an interesting video on food safety
Here are a couple of links to some NY news stories about food safety. Relevant in any market. Is price the most important part of your food buying decisions? If so, you could be the next star of a news segment. Imagine Dave Savini knocking on your door. Is it worth it?
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Building a Better Mousetrap
“The great thing about tomorrow? I can be better tomorrow than I am today.” Tiger Woods, professional golfer.
This economy has done some weird things to competition. Instead of competing to see who can make the most money, it seems as if the trend is heading toward competing to see who can stay open the longest regardless of profitability. Instead of being in a race to make the most, it seems like we are all racing to see who can lose the least. Not particularly a fun time to be a business owner (or a commissioned salesperson). How can we right the ship and get things back to normal? How do we be innovative and take a risk in a market that is shaped the way it is? How can we survive? More importantly, how can we flourish?
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and Taco Bell came out with their $1 menus, which work when you have their buying power. Subway came out with its maddening $5 footlong jingle and had some success wresting business away from their competition. Which worked until the competition came out with $4 torpedoes….what is next $3 half a footlongs and $2 bullets? Where does it end? How can we, the independents, stand up to this blood letting? How are we to position ourselves so that we can continue to survive and thrive in this marketplace?
We need to take advantage of what they are doing by capitalizing on their trend creations and marketing dollars while taking advantage of what they aren’t doing by providing that service and connection that you can only get from a local haunt. Chains are cutting staffs, cheapening their inventory and in many ways getting away from the things that made them successful. In their haste to create cheapness many of the chains are abandoning the fact that consumers still want value….they may have less to spend, but they still want to make an acceptable value exchange for their dollars.
What does this mean to you, Mr. or Mrs. Operator? This means that we need to be creative to find new ways to offer value for your customers’ dollars. The little things can’t be overlooked. It is the little things that are going to make you stand out from the competition. Recognizing your customers, knowing their names, clean bathrooms, quality napkins and disposables, clean tables, friendly staff, and quality food are what is going to drive your customers back to your establishment. People are still dining out. We are still spending money….let’s not forget that. We have to be better and different to keep earning the repeat customers and their dollars.
Each time you make a decision to save money, are you considering the value trade off? For example, I used have a neighbor that used to brag about buying the cheapest toilet paper….while I used to assume that was the reason his kids liked playing at our house. Who is the winner there? Is some facet of that happening at your establishment? When is the last time you looked around to see if it was? The phrase “jumping over dollars to save pennies” comes to mind when I think of some of the ways we come up with to save a little money. Who is your “Big Picture Policeman”? What stopgap measures do you have in place to make sure that you don’t win the battles to ultimately lose the war? Who can you rely on for this? Are your vendors helping you? Are your employees helping you? Is your family helping you? It has got to come from somewhere.
Let’s revisit value menus and their impact on the marketplace. It is very hard to be competitive without giving in to the value menu mentality. How can you get around it? One way that I have seen have success is by having multiple portion sizes at different price points. Think regular portions and a petite version….don’t compromise the quality or anything, just lower the portion size so that you present an option for the price conscious. The important thing is to keep your product integrity at all costs…..don’t bastardize your product to try to be competitive. You will soon become the restaurant that everyone used to go to….
Take a minute and look around at what the competition is doing. There are some great ideas out there that work. My parents about wet themselves when Maggiano’s came out with the take an entrée home with you deal. The best part was listening to my dad try to figure out if it was a deal to pay more for an entrée so that you could get a second entrée for free….Regardless of his conclusion, they have been back to do it again, and again, and again…..Why couldn’t you market something like that too? Morton’s Steakhouse is marketing a three course meal for two at $65. Not any meals, but the meals that they can construct to fit within that price profile. Why couldn’t you? You control the profitability and the menu. The perceived value gets people in the doors and gives them something to talk about the next day.
Today is not the day to say “we’ll just keep doing what we have always done.” Don’t abandon your brand or identity, but try asking yourself and your employees “what have you done today to earn a repeat customer?”
This economy has done some weird things to competition. Instead of competing to see who can make the most money, it seems as if the trend is heading toward competing to see who can stay open the longest regardless of profitability. Instead of being in a race to make the most, it seems like we are all racing to see who can lose the least. Not particularly a fun time to be a business owner (or a commissioned salesperson). How can we right the ship and get things back to normal? How do we be innovative and take a risk in a market that is shaped the way it is? How can we survive? More importantly, how can we flourish?
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and Taco Bell came out with their $1 menus, which work when you have their buying power. Subway came out with its maddening $5 footlong jingle and had some success wresting business away from their competition. Which worked until the competition came out with $4 torpedoes….what is next $3 half a footlongs and $2 bullets? Where does it end? How can we, the independents, stand up to this blood letting? How are we to position ourselves so that we can continue to survive and thrive in this marketplace?
We need to take advantage of what they are doing by capitalizing on their trend creations and marketing dollars while taking advantage of what they aren’t doing by providing that service and connection that you can only get from a local haunt. Chains are cutting staffs, cheapening their inventory and in many ways getting away from the things that made them successful. In their haste to create cheapness many of the chains are abandoning the fact that consumers still want value….they may have less to spend, but they still want to make an acceptable value exchange for their dollars.
What does this mean to you, Mr. or Mrs. Operator? This means that we need to be creative to find new ways to offer value for your customers’ dollars. The little things can’t be overlooked. It is the little things that are going to make you stand out from the competition. Recognizing your customers, knowing their names, clean bathrooms, quality napkins and disposables, clean tables, friendly staff, and quality food are what is going to drive your customers back to your establishment. People are still dining out. We are still spending money….let’s not forget that. We have to be better and different to keep earning the repeat customers and their dollars.
Each time you make a decision to save money, are you considering the value trade off? For example, I used have a neighbor that used to brag about buying the cheapest toilet paper….while I used to assume that was the reason his kids liked playing at our house. Who is the winner there? Is some facet of that happening at your establishment? When is the last time you looked around to see if it was? The phrase “jumping over dollars to save pennies” comes to mind when I think of some of the ways we come up with to save a little money. Who is your “Big Picture Policeman”? What stopgap measures do you have in place to make sure that you don’t win the battles to ultimately lose the war? Who can you rely on for this? Are your vendors helping you? Are your employees helping you? Is your family helping you? It has got to come from somewhere.
Let’s revisit value menus and their impact on the marketplace. It is very hard to be competitive without giving in to the value menu mentality. How can you get around it? One way that I have seen have success is by having multiple portion sizes at different price points. Think regular portions and a petite version….don’t compromise the quality or anything, just lower the portion size so that you present an option for the price conscious. The important thing is to keep your product integrity at all costs…..don’t bastardize your product to try to be competitive. You will soon become the restaurant that everyone used to go to….
Take a minute and look around at what the competition is doing. There are some great ideas out there that work. My parents about wet themselves when Maggiano’s came out with the take an entrée home with you deal. The best part was listening to my dad try to figure out if it was a deal to pay more for an entrée so that you could get a second entrée for free….Regardless of his conclusion, they have been back to do it again, and again, and again…..Why couldn’t you market something like that too? Morton’s Steakhouse is marketing a three course meal for two at $65. Not any meals, but the meals that they can construct to fit within that price profile. Why couldn’t you? You control the profitability and the menu. The perceived value gets people in the doors and gives them something to talk about the next day.
Today is not the day to say “we’ll just keep doing what we have always done.” Don’t abandon your brand or identity, but try asking yourself and your employees “what have you done today to earn a repeat customer?”
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