To break this down in your mind is to strip apart your business one by one mind, think of each aspect individually that if you gave away to a competitor, what would cause you to lose the most money?
Although the answer to that is Venue specific, it is incredibly unlikely to be your specs or stocking policy. Even though that was likely to be the first thing to came to your head.
This concept is why I have minimal hesitation about posting Cocktail or Food Specs onto this page. That is not what I'm selling. I have seen many businesses succeed on cheap, horrible products, purely because they've nailed the Branding and Marketing. I'm sure you can think of a few too.
This is also another reason why I am going to put so much pressure on Recruitment and HR as the only thing that can not be replicated is your staff. Yes they could be poached but I'm hoping to create a culture and payment structure where the best of my team are highly incentivized to stay.
Now I am not undermining the incredible work of Cocktail Bartenders or Chefs, if anything I'm trying to maximize their importance. If you want class cocktail specs, just put in #Mixologist into Instagram and look through the most liked photos that have specs attached. You'll look like a pro, for a bit. It's the personal touch, training and creativity of your actual team that will drive your business to success.
Another thing that I'll be strongly pushing along side Self Awareness and Critical Thinking as important things to breathe into your culture is EQ, emotional intelligence. As much as I hate the word Vibe, it is definitely the correct term. Every member of the team, especially Management should be able to read the room. Reading the room with out EQ is more straight forward things such as; If the majority of people still have their coats on then the Air Con is too cold, if you can clearly hear what the table next to you is saying while you're mid conversation, the music is too low, if at any point you have to adjust your eyesight when walking around the venue then the dimmers aren't equal. This attention to detail is important and staff need to look out for it but Managers need to be able to feel it.
Another point I touched on on Instagram was that another incentive to go out is because people don't have to clean up after themselves, this is another social contract in which we must uphold through maintaining high standards of cleanliness in the venue and removing dirty crockery and glasses as soon as possible. This also helps with the Instagramability of your business as people will be less inclined to take photos in dirty surroundings so not only is poor standings having a detrimental effect on the customers you already have in your venue by decreasing spend and dwell time, it is also limiting your reach by minimizing the amount of free advertising you obtain through people taking photos with in your venue.
All of these things will increase footfall and dwell time, therefore increasing the spend on Food and Drinks but the reverse is not true, they will not spend the same amount of money on quality spec Food and Drink if the other pillars of your business fail.
At the risk of sounding like a total p***k. When people say...
"The secret ingredient is love"
What it actually means is that obviously other people can copy your products or your business model but if your team is truly passionate about what they do then you will win.
PSA: This is is not an endorsement for cheap, high GP products as poor ingredients reflect lack of care for customer experience and well-being. As well as staff will find it harder to back products they don't believe in, therefore chipping away at their passion.
Let me know what you think in the comments
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