I've been watching a run of cooking shows lately... the sort where the professional chef comes in and helps turn around ailing businesses.
Kitchen Nightmares, a British show with professional chef, Gordon Ramsay at the helm, came to the rescue of chef, Nick Anderson at Rococo.
According to Ramsay, Nick was stuck in the 90's with his food, and was clinging to past glories as an award winning chef at another restaurant. He was charging top dollar with very few customers, and sinking fast.
Sophocles Restaurant from my previous night's viewing of The Chopping Block, an Australian show, had a similar dilemma. They were serving a staid menu including a 1970's style garlic prawns with a thick creamy sauce on a bed of soggy microwaved rice.
At both restaurants, they were r
eluctant to let go of recipes and approaches which had worked for them in the past. Both were suffering a down turn in trade.
Having seen the light, after the Gordon Ramsay "tell it like it is" Kitchen Nightmares treatment, Nick Anderson, the British chef said,
The Great British public are eating out more and more and more and are becoming more discerning all the time.
If I can't move with the times because I can't see what everyone is doing then they're not going to come here because the food is staid.
The public are indeed becoming more discerning in their expectations. It's easy for business owners to fall into the trap of providing what they think customers need, rather than being proactive in responding to a changing marketplace.
As customers vote with their feet and their wallets, fine tuning your business antennae and encouraging customer feedback can be helpful, if not essential, strategies.
- How have you changed your business or product mix to meet changing customer needs or market priorities?
» Profit Margins - Food For Thought From The Restaurant Industry from SmallBizMentor
This week we've been looking at the food industry for some small business lessons.One of the main lessons I was reminded of from my viewing of Kitchen Nightmares and The Chopping Block was how easy it is to lose profit... [Read More]
Tracked on: March 15, 2008 10:39 PM | Permalink to Trackback