Chain Leader

Lane Cardwell

Dining for Dollars
May 2, 2008

I love this industry, and my role in it. Basically, I go out to eat for a living. For the past 25 years I have been eating in approximately 600 restaurants a year. People outside the industry are usually amazed by a number this high, and ask how someone can eat in so many restaurants. Some people inside the industry ask me where I am eating the other 500 meals a year, and comment that perhaps I am not as loyal to the industry as I should be. My doctor says that he doesn't care what I do for a living; those 15 pounds have to come off. It is frustrating. I have tried everything, but changing my behavior.

Every industry requires a certain amount of work to maintain the skill set necessary for success. Professional athletes practice, work out, and watch game film of others that they compete against. The practice and workouts keep their bodies in shape to do their jobs at the level required. Watching the game film, however, is where athletes and teams seek the competitive edge. They look for weaknesses that can be exploited during games and matches. They look to see if others have found a new, or better way to play the same game. In this industry, going out to eat in other concepts is our game film.

We are fortunate that our industry is such an open book. You don't have to worry about being caught filming another team's practice. For the price of a meal, everyone in our industry has the opportunity to check out every restaurant in the country to see what is new, what is working, what has changed, and what needs to be fixed. You can read or hear about a new restaurant in the morning, and be experiencing it at lunch. What do they sell and how do they make it? Just look at the menu and order.

It took me a while to adjust to the requirements of doing competitive reviews and assessments. You have to approach the work with a split personality. To be effective, you must maintain a customer-like approach to the experience so that you can constantly gauge the strengths, or weaknesses, of the operation through the eyes of a customer. When traveling, however, you also have to maximize your time in the restaurant by ordering more food and beverage than a normal customer is likely to consume. We are fortunate that the price of evaluating new and existing concepts is relatively low. An appetizer or two. An entrée or two. A couple of interesting looking beverages. In the scheme of what is at stake long term for a chain, a laughably low sum of money.

You have to fight the temptation of being hyper-critical of the restaurants that you visit, even when deserved. Remember why you are there. You are looking for new ideas that you can incorporate into your own operation. If it is a competitor, you are looking for reasons why other customers prefer this concept to yours. If it is a new or popular concept, you are looking for signs that perhaps there has been a shift in where the market is headed. Being critical for the wrong reasons closes your brain down to the thought that there is almost always one idea that you can leave with, even if it is never implemented. 

I have watched leaders in our industry over the years, and have learned that you can divide them into two groups. The first group start eating in nicer restaurants than their own, due to their increased incomes, and start to assume that everyone, their customers included, are moving up the quality and price ladder. It influences their decision making on their own concepts, and they slowly lose touch.

The second group may go to nicer restaurants for some personal visits with friends and family, but they manage to keep those experiences mentally separate from the business they are in: growing a chain and feeding the masses. I assume that if you are reading a blog on a website for a publication called Chain Leader, you are in the feeding-the-masses business, too. The really successful leaders and concept creators in our industry have the ability to compartmentalize their dining visits between business and pleasure.

Norman Brinker never lost the touch for what the public wanted, and appreciated. His wealth, and society friends, left him unaffected when it came to making decisions about a new burger, or salad that any of his concepts might be thinking of adding. He didn't let visits to upscale restaurants interfere with his business of feeding people for a living. Phil Romano and Rich Melman were the same. They became wealthy through their restaurant successes, but never let their success keep them from staying successful. They stayed in touch with the customers of their various concepts.

Over the years I have learned to go to eat in concepts that I may not personally enjoy, and to order and eat foods that I may not like. You need to understand why the concept is popular, or growing; and why a menu item is unique, or sells well. It is not necessary that you enjoy the concept, or that you eat all of what your order. It is only important that you understand what is going on in the industry, and how it relates to your concept.

If you live with someone who eats out for a living, you get used to being told what to order. "You order the burger, you order the pasta, you order the shrimp, and I will order the ravioli." The most telling impact is on your children. I didn't realize this until one evening when I told my two sons that it was time for dinner, and they both headed for the garage.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on May 2, 2008 | Comments (7)