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EFFORTLESS, INC.
PO Box 280
Gig Harbor, WA 98335 USA
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| EHC #550
Insights for the Professionally Curious |
August 15, 2008 |
Good Morning!
In the Special Edition of the EHC last week, I got off on a bit of a rant. (below) It felt good. I haven't done that for
awhile. I lost a few subscribers (that I know of) over it, usually a good
sign that I am hitting a nerve that needs to be strummed.
Much of the
mail I received was of the eye-rolling kind where folks said, "Yeah, that has
been bothering me too." Not to be unkind, but if it has been bothering you, why
don't you do something about it?
Assuming that it is your present
operation that is in need of being pulled up by the bootstraps, Option A is to
express your feelings, get some agreement and then help your management do what
needs to be done to do it right.
If you don't get a sympathetic audience from
the present management, Option B is to leave and find a place that does it the
way you know it needs to be done (unless you are the owner, in which case it is time to find new management).
Either way, you are doing something to
improve your company, the hospitality industry, not to mention your own peace of
mind. To just sit back and accept the unacceptable is, well, unacceptable.
Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor |
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 Survival of the Fittest
A Rant on Being Unremarkable
The next issue of Time will tell it like it is ...
"Americans who want to peruse oversize menus for oversize portions of unremarkable food in unremarkable settings may soon have to check out Applebee's or Chili's or Ruby Tuesday or TGIFriday's or the scores of other family-style restaurants serving deep-fried mozzarella sticks beneath hypnotically rotating ceiling fans."
-- Time Magazine, August 11, 2008
The road to restaurant riches is littered with the bodies of those who allowed themselves to became unremarkable. They didn't start out that way, of course, or they never would have gained traction to begin with ... but time has a way of sneaking up on us, particularly those who start to take their success for granted.
Howard Johnson's was once the toast of the turnpike. Ground Round was a hot concept, Applebee's was building a restaurant in every town with more than a hundred residents. But all fell on hard times because they all got complacent and took their eyes off the ball. When they looked up, the market had passed them by. They had become unremarkable. Such is the arrogance of success.
Don't feel too smug. At one point, YOU were the new kid on the block, the hot concept that satisfied an unmet need, the place with the line out the door. But that was when there were only ten competitors within two miles. How many restaurants are serving your market area today? How many of them are appealing to the same market segment that you are ... in about the same way?
Forget what you were when you started out ... what are the unmet needs of your guests right now? Have you evolved to meet those needs or are you just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic thinking that a fresh coat of paint and a new menu is somehow protecting your investment?
Fugeddaboudit!
Today's McDonald's is not the same operation that sold 15-cent hamburgers ... but when did they change? McD's is a force because they are so good at evolution. They don't talk about blowing up a restaurant to let people know they are changing, they never let the market think of them as stale in the first place. (If you think McDonald's is a threat now, this should scare you: what if they had good food?!)
Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You empire has been brilliant (and brave) -- pulling the plug on a concept at the peak of its popularity and re-inventing the space rather than allowing the format to get stale. Do you have that kind of courage? Are you willing to think in such a long term manner?
Tough times will either kill you or make you stronger. As Bennigan's demise and Time's spot-on reading of the casual dining market so clearly points out, you cannot afford to let yourself become unremarkable. This will mean paying more attention, spending some money and making some changes. This will certainly mean getting your ego out of the way long enough to face the very real possibility that have become boring and indistinguishable from the competition.
Don't dismiss out-of-hand the notion that YOU could be the next bit of road kill on the road to prosperity. The more certain your belief that you are unique in the marketplace, the greater the odds that you are, in fact, unremarkable. Ordinary. One more place to eat.
Why? Because not to at least seriously consider the possibility suggests that you insist on seeing things the way you would like them to be rather than the way they really are. The first question you should be asking yourself is not, "How do we do this better?" but "Is this what we should be doing in the first place?" Not only do you need to be asking that question, you need to be actively searching for the answer. It will take some work.
Don't be a cheap SOB and think you can save a buck by trusting your own perception of your operation. You are biased at best and blind a worst. You really need to tap a knowledgeable third part to get a brutally honest reading on your strengths and vulnerabilities. The truth can often be hard to hear, but wishful thinking is not a great business plan. Your success will be in direct proportion to your willingness to embrace uncomfortable truths.
So be afraid ... or at least nervous enough to take a hard look, ask the tough questions, pay careful attention to what you hear, then get busy and do something about it. A perpetual state of (low level) paranoia will help you stay on your toes. Do the work!
I feel better now.
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 Six Star Hospitality(tm)
Rethinking Restaurants
WHAT IF some of the best minds in the business came together to re-think how restaurants operate ... to imagine how they could be ... not waiting for change but becoming the catalyst for it?
WHAT IF we were determined to trigger a contagious resurgence of hospitality in the world by delivering the experience of heart-felt caring to every patron of every independent restaurant, every time?
WHAT IF we devised an elegantly simple system that provided the logic, methodology and support structure that would enable every independent restaurant to operate with effortless excellence?
WHAT IF this approach gave restaurant owners and staff a fulfilling sense of purpose and the joyful experience of enriching the lives of the people they serve?
WHAT IF this program was so irresistible and easily affordable that hospitality truly became the competitive point of difference in every independent restaurant in the world?
WHAT IF we said we were already figuring out how to do all these "impossible" things?
Would you think, "These people must be crazy!" ... or would you ask, "How can I be a part of this?"
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The Six Star project
is taking on a life of its own. I appreciate the nearly 250 operators who
have helped the cause by responding to the general survey. Have I heard from you yet? If not, it's not too late to share your thoughts.
The program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... so what would you like to see invented? The next few EHC surveys will take each element of the Six Star program and ask you to go WAY outside the box of what you think is possible.
Essentially the drill is to complete this sentence: "Wouldn't it be cool if ______" Go crazy! Be unreasonable! We want to know the resources you wish you had at hand if your wildest dreams could come true. Then we'll see how close we can come to giving them to you.
 The August Survey
Fiscal FitnessThe Internet opens up possibilities that were unthinkable only a few short years ago and Six Star will take full advantage of that.
A common complaint of independent operators is the amount of time they spend pushing numbers so we will automate as much of the grunt work as possible. This survey will give you an outline of what we already want to create ... and we need your ideas to help us see even more radical applications.
The numbers may not be the most exciting place to start, but the programming will probably be the hardest piece of Six Star to develop and we need to get started. So let's see how big a game you want us to play. If you said you wanted to be part of the development process, this is the way to do it right now. You won't be able to field test something until we have created it!
As usual, I will send copies of the survey results to everyone who participates. In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including the massive WOW Ideas collections. Click here to add your thoughts to this month's survey. |
 Here's What You're Passing Up To Save 75 Cents!
In This Week's EHC Special Edition ...
- Becoming Extinct - why independent restaurants are in danger of becoming an endangered species and why you should be very afraid of that
- Taking Responsibility - the remarkably simple (but not always so easy) secret to prospering in difficult times
- The Holiday Dilemma - how this holiday season is likely to be different and what you need to do to prepare for it
- What Did You Learn From Your Staff Today? - one operator's insight into getting her staff to take ownership
- Special Offers on Management Resources - while I am still in that business
Solve the problem of what to talk about in your next staff meeting. Upgrade to the EHC Special Edition and get it all!
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Copyright ©2008 William Marvin. All rights reserved.
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e-mail is sent by William Marvin, Effortless, Inc., PO Box 280, Gig
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