According to statistics released by the Federal Reserve, Personal Savings in 2008 were nearly 5 times greater than in 2005. As a ration of income, this frame doubled again in January and February 2009.
At a modern food aid seminar, the Cfo of a major international food conglomerate stood in a room with hundreds of bistro owners and in a brilliant presentation challenged that if a bistro was not production money today, it is its own fault, and could not blame the economy.
Food And Dessert
Dollars are still going out in record numbers. What has changed is where are these dollars going..
In the past several years there has been a shift in the way many people are dining out.
10 years ago, if my parents went out to eat, they went to a nice restaurant, ordered apps, entrees, deserts and wine with the meal. You did not share entrees, or worse yet, split an entree. The format of dining out was set and you did not ask for anything special, or heaven forbid asking for a substitution.
I will skip the lengthy transition and fast transmit to today's consumer. (However, I love to talk about it, so call me if you want to hear more...)
What has changed:
Let's take Joe for example (not his real name). Joe was reared by parents who both worked. With both parents working, Joe was on his own for meals most of the time. This complex Fast food, or Microwave food. Joe never learned how to cook. Now Joe is married to Sue (also, not her real name) Sue also has never learned to cook, being brought up with the convenience of fast food, microwave dinners and everyone's favorite, a 99 cent box of macaroni and cheese.
Joe and Sue are fresh out of college and at 23 years old, they eat out approximately 5 times each week. Joe and Sue will go into a bistro on a special opportunity and drink cocktails before dinner, maybe a bottle of wine with dinner, and a beer or another cocktail after dinner.
Joe wants to go into a bistro and order two appetizers, which he splits with Sue, one entree, which he shares with Sue. On Tuesday, Joe wants to be able to go into his beloved bistro wearing jeans and a t-shirt (ok, its a hundred dollar t shirt) and sit at the bar and have a beer and a hamburger and be left alone. Saturday is Sue's Birthday, and they will dress up, go to the same bistro and order wine, apps entrees and dessert- in the same restaurant. Next week, for Granny's birthday, they want to go to the same bistro for a nice birthday party with Granny with a table of 10 (separate checks (you better be ready)) and orders will run the gamut from 1 beer for "seat 1" apps, entrees, desserts and wine for "seats 2 and 3" and every person else will order things ranging from glasses of wine to five procedure meals.
Flexibility is the key.
I was invited to supper at a bistro with some friends. After meeting there and watching every person have some apps, drinks and wine, I noticed that no one was eating a "traditional meal" (whatever "traditional" absolutely means). This was a first for me. It was decided that we would go to a neighborhood watering hole for the rest of the evening. The checks were delivered. The check median was still nice, and the server smiled and received great tips. every person was happy. I was fascinated.
Years ago when I was working the floor, It was unheard of to go to a bistro and "mix and match".. Back then, no one had the nerve to ask the chef to split up orders of food (or you just brought an empty plate and maybe expensed a "split charge"... Chefs ruled, and no one questioned their authority.
A new wave over the past few years (and I did this in my last restaurant) was that all of the servers had the authority to say "Yes" to any special requests if they knew that we had the wherewithal to make it happen. There was a grocery store nearby, and we even accommodated extra special requests if we could send a utility person to the store.
Fast transmit to today..
1. Thousands of choices of wines. (who can know all about them..) Many of today's diners, instead of "choosing a wine" which the server kept bringing bottles to the table while the procedure of a meal, pick a bottle to have "with the meal".
2. Cocktails, craft beers and glasses of wine will be served before, while and after the meal. It is much more bearable to pay 5 dollars for 4 cocktails than 35.00 for a bottle of wine. If they want the wine, it will more likely be a glass.
3. Flexibility in ordering. Apps as entrees, entrees shared and split among the table, people who join the table and only order drinks and no food, cocktails and glasses of wine while the meal (even if a bottle is present). Patterns in ordering food seem to no longer exist. With the advent of today's Pos systems, you can (and had better) split all checks, and be ready to split private items in the middle of guests.
Guests quiz, flexibility and choice. The successful restaurants have learned to increase the perception of value, and give people a option to eat anything they want (they have been doing this in Europe forever).. In Spain, most menus offer a Racion (full portion) or as Tapas (to share). Dining in the Us has become The entertainment for many people. Not supper before a show or movie, many times the night in a bistro Is the "Night Out"
The art of intelligent at home has dwindled with a newer generation of people who did not learn how to cook and entertain. If you cater to this market of young professionals or a "hip" crowd, the restaurants that are doing well, are whether "Value Focused" or an prolongation of their own home, a place to do what you want, how you want it, and when you want it.
Are you going to be a success in your new venture? Make sure you throw out your pre-conceived notions of what people want, and go visit some of the restaurants that have a line out the door. You can bet that they have opened a bistro that gives the people what they want, instead of giving them what the bistro owner feels the need to give them.
There are institutions that have been in company for a long time, and there will always be anomalies, any way this is the hereafter of the bistro business.
I am stuck in the generation in the middle of my parents, and young professionals of today. I will always remember my mom afraid to differ from the "Norm" (whatever she believed that was) and still feel a twinge of something when sit down at a table of 10 friends and order a beverage, calamari app, and dessert, because that is what I want at that singular moment..
Today's consumers quiz, Value. With all things most people do today, they will be aware of value.
Do you encourage this leisure of option and present a "perceived" value?
Perception is Reality. bistro owners who step back and understand their customers "perception" will approximately always be successful.
My last thought: Isn't this the way it should have always been?
bistro Trends in Today's cheaper - Flexibility is the Key
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