Are you someone who thinks:
“Despite the fact that location of my restaurant is in the heart of city, I barely get customers. Repeat customers? Hell No. Maybe I should change the location. Maybe the location is cursed. Maybe … Maybe I can focus on catering side business so that the $$$ I pay to the chef and support staff can be justified.”
Do these thoughts sound similar?
If yes, you need to seriously consider something: Only the “Right” location is not enough, you need the RIGHT menu too.
And, did I tell you that your right menu is made not only of the food items you serve; it includes right interior, right chef, right customer service directors (Yes, I’m referring to attendants and waiters!) and of course, great customer service.
We don’t live in 2002. This is 2013 and we’re welcoming 2014. We are competing with people who have ample resources, a better understanding of the subject and wider marketing capabilities that get attention.
Just Spray and pray won’t work.
So, how should you operate your business?
By adding value.
Not just by adding value, by adding GREAT value.
How do you add great value?
Understand your customer’s needs. Make unique dishes for them. Offer them your best dish that is best not because you think it is best but because your customer thinks it is best for her.
Create products and services that serve your customer’s needs like no one else does and make offers that are opportunities for your customers.
How do you figure out what’s your customers’ needs?
By learning minute things about your customer behavior. If a customer likes All Vegetables Pizza then she might like Onion Capsicum Pizza with Sun-dried tomatoes. Well, there are chances.
Make decisions for your customer and assume the risks of such decisions. Make your customer a fan of your decisions, not just dishes.
“But understanding customer’s needs is difficult,” You might argue.
Indeed it is. But when you solve that problem, you make your business thrive.
Before 30 years, it was more difficult to enter a new business. Today, it is not. Your unique differentiator will be the experience you will provide, not just the location of your restaurant or the products, which are on your menu.
So it is obvious that you are facing tough competition. No mediocre products will survive for long. You need to push your limits and enter the greater depth of what services you offer.
It is easy to copy a menu from one restaurant to the other, it is extremely difficult to copy the user experience from the other restaurant. That’s where you win!
This applies to every business on the planet. May it be offline or online. May it be a restaurant or an Online e-commerce Store, the principles remain the same. Run an extra mile or you have begun to lose the battle.
Figure out how you will run an extra mile. Remember, there are no traffic jams on an extra mile and that’s actually good news.
