The Menu

Our Foodie Friday post this week is about the menu.  I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to seeing the menu when we dine out since it tells me a lot about the chef as well as his staff.  Are the dishes pretty much what you’d expect or do they demonstrate thought about available ingredients and take the diner into new territory?  Is this the same old tired interpretations you’d expect or something new?

Mostly what I like about the menu is that it’s about possibilities.  But it’s also about choices.  You have to make up your mind about how many dishes, the mix of big plates and small, are you sharing with anyone else, etc.  In short, it’s a great business lesson.

You see, no company has unlimited resources.  You can’t choose to do everything just as you can’t order the entire menu (although I have ordered the entire left side – every appetizer – more than once).  What you choose to do as a firm is as important as what you don’t choose.  Making those choices can be uncomfortable (especially when some else’s food or business looks better than what you picked) but focusing resources is a big part of what managing is about.  Just as you can walk out of a restaurant regretting spending your dough on a crappy meal, your company’s resources can be wasted through those choices.

It’s hard not to over indulge, at least for me.  So many possibilities but NOT an unlimited bank account.  Like the diner with a menu, being a great manager is about finding the best thing, spending on it wisely, and making it your own.

What’s on your menu?