Now some people may think I am crazy but I love watching Gordon Ramsay in Kitchen Nightmares. I love food and love cooking but I see the show more like “an expert comes into the business (a business he knows very well) and helps the owners improve the business” the food is just a product.
I was watching Kitchen Nightmares the other day and I thought gee how long does it take for the owners to get it. Gordon asks the “manager” to tell him why the restaurant is failing, her response “not enough customers”. I laughted and thought you poor sod you don’t get it.
Then it hit me! I am just as bad as the poor sod copping it from Gordon.
So what did I learn?
- Run your business like a restaurant. If you are one person band then how can you run it all. I mean, who can take the orders, make the order and keep the customers satisfied all at the same time?
- Listen to your customers – They know your business better than you they are looking from the same perspective as everyone else outside is seeing it. Make sure you get their honest feedback.
- Good Food – Its easier to run a business that sells good food – What’s your good food/service/product?
- Employ the best chef you can – See number 3.
- Have a small menu – find your niche – the one thing I have learnt lately is that your niche is very important because it helps YOU focus when YOU are selling your business/wares/service. When people ask what do you do and your answer is “everything” which part of that do you think they need? which part do you think they think they need? None of it. They want someone to fix A need not all of them. I have also learnt that having a niche helps you talk to customer in their language. For example a chemical biologist sounds very technical and there is no way I need one, however someone who makes tablets for the common cold is someone we can all relate to. (I hope that’s something a biochemist can do…)
Hopefully this helps someone else make the same realisations! Good luck.