Let me share
a story with you about a recent restaurant experience.
Myself and
some people from our office went to nearby restaurant for lunch. Sort of a
diner-type place; a place where you’d expect decent home style food at a fair
price. Nothing fancy, but good food for good value.
So I ordered
one of my usual favourites at such a place, and a few minutes later I had my
toasted ham and Swiss sandwich. Here’s what I got: you know that really low-end
ham you can buy? The kind that appears to be 40% water by volume? The kind that
leaves a puddle on your plate? That.
And it was
topped by a slice of processed Swiss cheese (which, unless on a burger with
sautéed mushrooms shouldn’t be used for anything, and even that’s a
stretch). This was accompanied by a
couple of leaves of iceberg lettuce, on white bread, with a couple of swipes of
mayonnaise.
You know
what it tasted like? Nothing. Watery ham with processed cheese and iceberg
lettuce with mayonnaise on white bread toast. It would be hard to make
something with less taste.
If it was my restaurant here’s what I would do:
get some decent quality ham; maybe some Black Forest or honey ham, or if you’re
ambitious bake your own and slice it. Or
at the very least slice that lousy ham thin and throw it on the flat top for a
couple of minutes to add some flavour and remove some of that moisture.
Then I’d add
a slice of real Swiss cheese. I’d add
some baby Romaine lettuce, or maybe some mesclun. Maybe even a little bit of
shredded cabbage or a light coleslaw. I’d make a special mayo with a little bit
of horseradish or mustard in it. And I’d offer it on something more interesting
than white bread. Maybe some kind of whole grain loaf, or maybe a bagel.
Sounds pretty
good eh? And it’s not complicated. I would just sweat the details a little to
make sure my guests got something better than ‘ok’. I mean, who wants ‘ok’?
‘But!’ I
hear you saying – ‘that will cost more!’ Yes it will. But if the quality is
good and you’re offering good value, your guests won’t mind paying for it.
I think the
sandwich I had at that restaurant cost me around $3.95. Pretty inexpensive, and probably still a
decent profit margin for the restaurant. But you know what, I never went back. None of us ever did.
If you had
made the sandwich the way I would, with better ingredients resulting in a
better product, you’d probably have to charge maybe $5.95 or even $6.50. That’s
still pretty good value for lunch as far as I’m concerned. There might not be
quite as much profit for the restaurant. But you know what? I would go back.
Often. We all would.
You don’t
always have to offer the most extravagant activities, or have the absolute best
products – but what you should do is try to objectively measure the value your
guests receive from the tourism experiences you provide them.
Are there
opportunities to make small changes to what you offer that can really enhance
their time with you? And isn’t it better
to make these changes, adjust your pricing a little, and create happy guests
who will return and tell others about your business . . . than to leave them less
than satisfied with nothing positive to say? Sweat the details.
Oh, that
restaurant I was talking about? They went out of business a few months after
our lunch.
If you’re
interested in talking about the details of your tourism product and how we can
help, email me at jason@cesclients.com,
or call me toll free at 1-877-444-5550.
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