Back in my earlier years as a restaurant owner (not
restaurateur), desperate for business, I started running a prix fixe menu
(price fix). At the time mostly high-end, fancy French restaurants did this. My goal was to offer a lower priced
three-course menu to entice people to come in and dine. A few of my local
colleagues thought the idea was insanely stupid and couldn’t understand why I
would lower my price point so much …they, of course, had busy
restaurants. To a small degree the price fix worked. But it was never the
answer to my problem -- until the financial crisis in 2007. After stocks
started plummeting, businesses started failing and owners were scrambling to
find new ways to promote value. The price fix menu boom started. Everyone from
fast food chains to Chili’s & Applebee’s to high-end restaurants started
promoting a price fix menu. You would think this would be good for me since I
had a leg up…I had been running my special menu for years…. Wrong! I wasn’t
established enough for the masses to know what I was doing. So I quickly became
a small fish in a big pond.
At the time of the USA economic crisis, my restaurant was
doing much better, but still on shaky ground. I was scared that I was about to
take 3 steps backwards after taking two steps forward and with very little
resources I had no idea what to do. With adversity staring me in the face once
again, I had an epiphany. I realized that for once I was no longer a small fish
flapping alone in a puddle of water, I was part of a group of fish all swimming
in the same pond. I realized that my restaurant had been running in crisis mode
for years and everyone was trying to figure out what I I already knew…. how to run a business in
despair. At that moment I decided I wasn’t going to be a small fish in a big
pond… I was going to be the feeder fish! I am going to be the one that all the
other small fish follow and feed off of.
I was innovative, full of ideas and for the first time I was
calm. How was I going to be the leader? I started looking at all the tactics
and gimmicks. Inferior cuts of meat, frozen portioned fish, price fix menus
that only offered salmon, pasta and chicken, special pricing from 5-6pm midweek…none
of it made sense. I felt as though we would only be ripping the customer off
and selling them short on the proper dining experience. With that one thought,
the idea came to me -- like flipping a light switch. People are scared, desperate
and holding on to their money. If they are going to be brave enough to spend
it, I need to be brave enough to give them value. This one thought was the
birth of our four course “Giro Del Menue” (tour of the menu).
I based the idea on how impoverished areas of Europe always
managed to stay healthy and fed. I learned that they slowly ate multiple
courses of micro regional food. A poorer family couldn’t afford enough of a
luxurious protein for the entire family. So they would portion it out smaller pieces
and fill up their bellies on wonderful local produce & handmade pastas with
simple sauces. By the time they would eat their protein, they appreciated the
few bites and they were satisfied.
This was going to be my new dining experience, slower, and with smaller portions of multiple courses
with no restrictions. No time constraints or limited menu choices. No schticks or cost cutting technique that would leave
the customer feeling dissatisfied. Simply offer them value for being ballsy
enough to come to my place and spend money in a down economy. And, when things
turn around. …I hoped they would remember us for it! Maybe just maybe, I can
finally call myself a restaurateur.
