Just lately, I used to be visiting a pizzeria and discussing its menu with the proprietor. He does a New York model hand tossed pizza, and he does it nicely. It’s the workhorse of his menu and he’s very happy with it. When the dialog turned to his appetizer checklist, he grew to become dismissive. Although he acknowledges appetizer gross sales are pink scorching proper now, he insists he desires to be recognized for his pizza.
As nicely he ought to. However, at what value? In at this time’s market, having nice pizza might not be sufficient. The operator I used to be talking with appeared to agree with that time to a small diploma. He had an entire menu, however he appeared to deal with the nonpizza gadgets as undesirable stepchildren. Living proof: I requested him about his hen wings.
“Oh,” he mentioned, “these are simply on there as a result of folks count on us to have them. However we don’t actually promote a lot of them.” “Hmmm,” I replied. “Most locations do. Have you ever tried having your servers push them a bit of?”
“It wouldn’t matter,” the operator responded. He then named a competitor up the road. We’ll name the place Dave’s Pizza for this commentary. “Dave’s has significantly better wings, so folks go there when they need these.”
I requested what made Dave’s wings higher. The operator answered that they had been bigger and simply fl at-out had higher taste.
I couldn’t assist however ask why he didn’t improve his wings to be extra aggressive. He kind of dodged the query and mentioned he was pondering of taking wings off his menu altogether. I couldn’t consider what I used to be listening to. For those who attempt actually arduous to promote a product and simply can’t transfer it, then, by all means, take it off the menu. However this was a unique story altogether. The operator in query admitted he was serving an inferior product and he didn’t care as a result of he had nice pizza and that was sufficient for him.
As for me, I consider that an operation ought to try for perfection on each menu merchandise. Positive, you need the very best pizza on the town. However you additionally need the very best wings, the very best hoagies, the very best carrot cake … you title it. For those who’re going to serve it, do it proper. In any other case, don’t do it in any respect.
Finest,
Jeremy White, editor-in-chief
