Running a hospitality business should be a simple process. As long as the food and/or drinks that you serve are good, and the experience relaxing, what else should matter? While that is a perfectly reasonable question to ask, anyone who has tried to start a hospitality business any time recently will know that it isn't as simple as we would all wish it to be, and that you need to be ready for a significant challenge if you want to be successful in even the medium term.
One of the key points that anyone hoping to have this success needs to realise is that it's really not enough to be great at what you do. You could, genuinely, offer the best cup of coffee in town, make better pizza than any other pizzeria within a 100-mile radius, or even be the place with the best keto options, but that's not necessarily going to be enough to make your business stand out as one that should be the biggest and best in town. You need to add a USP - a unique selling point - which will get more people through the doors to try your superior product.
A memorable experience
Word of mouth is still one of the most potent methods of advertising there is. If people leave your cafe or bar having been impressed by what they just experienced, they're sure to tell people. So while it is important to know your way around a sushi kitchen or have memorised the coffee machine buying guide to get the best equipment, going the extra mile will pay dividends. Having super-friendly (and helpful) staff is a good start, as is offering free samples of new lines at the table. When people feel like they could have an "above and beyond" experience any time they visit, they'll continue to visit.
A signature dish or drink
If a food or drink is good enough, or remarkable enough in any way, it can sear itself into the human mind in a way you would scarcely believe. A simple salad thrown together with apples, grapes and walnuts at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in 1896 caught the attention of so many people that the dish bears the name Waldorf Salad to this day. The dish doesn't need to be particularly extravagant, it just needs to be different enough to catch people's attention (and, ideally, it needs to be good). One tip worth following is to fuse different cuisines or flavours. A memorable example of this is the Fat Duck's Bacon and Egg Ice Cream.
An attractive atmosphere
Starting a coffee shop can be nerve-wracking when it's easy to name at least three well-known coffee chains with outlets across the country and beyond. Equally, it's a brave individual who starts up a burger bar given the long-standing duopoly in that niche. You're not going to make people forget those places exist, so it's worth leaning into it. Chain places tend to be noisy and relatively formulaic, because they're targeted at the widest clientele demographic possible. You can't be the only coffee shop in town, but you can be the quiet one with the great wi-fi; it's a good way to harness a remote working crowd.
