Voice of the Restaurant Industry®
What a difference one letter makes!
I was reading something today that talked about the economy "souring", but as I read it quickly, thought it said "soaring" at first and was struck by what a difference one little letter makes in the meaning of that phrase!
It's a lot to hang on a single letter of the alphabet - the difference between boom and bust, in many ways. It's a little chilling to think about it.
The challenges the foodservice industry and for that matter, the global economy, face today are daunting to say the very least. And yet there are those who are doing well, despite that.
Yesterday, for example, a friend and I checked out two restaurants in
my immediate neighborhood. The first was so busy, the wait was too long. At the second, we waited less than 10 minutes and got seats at the bar where we observed that people just kept coming in in a fairly steady stream for the next hour and a half.
Why are these places so busy on a Sunday night? One has an awesome harbor view. The other has very good food and on Sunday nights, several entree specials priced at $12. I'm sure all those factors contribute to their success at a time when many restaurants across the entire Boston area, suburbs included, are struggling.
But also, I suspect it's because people are still going out because these are places they can connect with other people and that's an important driver of business.
As someone commented to me recently, "people want to talk to each other about what's going on, and it doesn't matter whether it's good news or bad news that they want to talk about."
Restaurants that capitalize on this, by providing an environment that's welcoming and conducive to "connecting" will be okay. When the economy sours, they're the ones whose business will continue to soar.
It's a lot to hang on a single letter of the alphabet - the difference between boom and bust, in many ways. It's a little chilling to think about it.
The challenges the foodservice industry and for that matter, the global economy, face today are daunting to say the very least. And yet there are those who are doing well, despite that.
Yesterday, for example, a friend and I checked out two restaurants in
my immediate neighborhood. The first was so busy, the wait was too long. At the second, we waited less than 10 minutes and got seats at the bar where we observed that people just kept coming in in a fairly steady stream for the next hour and a half.
Why are these places so busy on a Sunday night? One has an awesome harbor view. The other has very good food and on Sunday nights, several entree specials priced at $12. I'm sure all those factors contribute to their success at a time when many restaurants across the entire Boston area, suburbs included, are struggling.
But also, I suspect it's because people are still going out because these are places they can connect with other people and that's an important driver of business.
As someone commented to me recently, "people want to talk to each other about what's going on, and it doesn't matter whether it's good news or bad news that they want to talk about."
Restaurants that capitalize on this, by providing an environment that's welcoming and conducive to "connecting" will be okay. When the economy sours, they're the ones whose business will continue to soar.
Tags: business, connecting, meeting, places, restaurant
Comment
-
Comment by Debra Straka on March 10, 2009 at 6:53am -
It does get down to "Is your glass half empty, or half full?" Like you on first blush, I thought the word was soaring, not souring. Although the human mind reads whole words, not individual letters I think that positive people will probably see the word first as soar.
So too for businesses who maintain a "can do" positive attitude and create an atmosphere in their business of being upbeat and caring.
Very positive post Susan~thanks for sharing.
-
Comment by susan holaday on March 9, 2009 at 9:20am - On Saturday, I understand that one of the city's newest high end restaurants was virtually empty, and the weather was nice Saturday. I think it's a question of giving customers what they need.
-
Comment by susan holaday on March 9, 2009 at 9:15am
- It was Sunday, which was nicer - but the one we ate at is like that pretty much every night, so it's not the weather in that case.
-
Comment by John R. Hendrie on March 9, 2009 at 8:36am -
I think the weather helped on Saturday, too.
John
Advertisement
Social Media News
social marketing
© 2010 Created by FohBoh.
You need to be a member of FohBoh to add comments!
Join FohBoh