While Selling Eating blogger Charlie Hopper is off on vacation, we’re re-publishing a few of this year’s most popular blogs so far.
AS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 7, 2014:
On the occasion of the announcement of the availability of my restaurant marketing book Selling Eating: Restaurant Marketing Beyond the Word “Delicious” on Kindle, Nook and iBooks, I present this flow chart from its early pages.
Over lunch conversation a couple-three weeks ago I learned from the CEO of a 22-unit casual dining restaurant chain that this chart is not easy to get through honestly, and can domino into a series of uncomfortable questions. Just so you know.
Feel free to share it with anyone you think can stand to look at it.
A few remarks that follow this chart on page 7 of the book:
Four Observations About that Chart:
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You can do pretty well if you make really, really (two reallies) good food people don’t think they can get anyplace else. It’s the fastest way through that chart, powered by positive word of mouth and good reviews.
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If you’re affordable and the only nearby choice, the food doesn’t really matter (if it’s tolerable): you’ve eaten a mediocre meal at a zoo or museum, or at the only decent-looking restaurant near your motel, right? Those restaurants will be fine. Sort of depressing, but fine.
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If you’re expensive and there’s nothing special about your food that people are aware of (or are capable of comprehending), mere atmosphere won’t really save you— Steak & Ale and Chi-Chi’s offered memorable experiences during their ascendancies. But they couldn’t survive their imitators: they were more expensive than some, less “special” than others. They’re gone now.
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If this chart challenges your existence, it might be time to shake things up. Says the Ghost of HoJo.
