Category Archives: food

May 3, 2013 · 9:37 am

Eggplant Parm And Your Business

It’s Foodie Friday Fun time again, thank goodness.  Today I want to write about a dining issue we had here and how it made a great business point.

Eggplant Español: Berenjena

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My family has very diverse meal preferences.  We have a vegan, a vegetarian, one who won’t eat eggs if they’re discernible (but loves meat), and an omnivore (that would be me!).  Even though two of the four are not usually around for dinner, finding dishes that the vegetarian and I can share is a challenge.  I avoid most pasta these days but since we both love Italian food I thought eggplant parmesan might be a good choice.  That’s when I was told that eggplant is on the “slimy foods I don’t like” list.

My solution was to alter the preparation method.  Even though I was taught the dish in the traditional way (slice the eggplant and fry it first), I changed it up.  I salted the eggplant, which is not unusual, but I did so to condense it a bit, not to make it less bitter (which I think is a myth).  I breaded it and let it dry on wire racks before baking the slices in a minuscule amount of oil.  They came out of the oven looking as if they’d been fried as usual.  From there it was just sauce, a couple of kinds of cheese, and a little more oven time.  She loved it – and it’s now a favorite meal although it takes a lot of time to make.

That’s what cooking – and business – is all about.  You listen to your customers and try new methods to adjust the product or service to their needs.  What I heard when she said “slimy” was “greasy” and “oily.”  That comes from the frying and isn’t inherent in the eggplant.  What happened when we removed that impediment?  Total bliss.  That’s what we need to do as businesspeople as well.  Listen carefully and hear what people mean, which may be different from what they say.

I’ve made adjustments to many other dishes – kale and white bean stew to which I add the sausage (definitely NOT vegetarian!) later.  Using flax seeds and water to replace eggs for thickening (and it’s vegan!).  My job at mealtime is to keep my family happy and fed and I’m willing to think differently and to work a little harder on the meal to do so.  Your job is to keep your customers in that same state.  Are you prepared to change your thinking to do that?

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April 26, 2013 · 8:30 am

MSG

For our Foodie Friday Fun this week, I want to talk about MSG.  No, not the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, but the stuff many people ask not be added to their food in Chinese restaurants.  MSG is Monosodium Glutamate and the reason many folks avoid it is something called Chinese Food Syndrome.   You may know someone who believes it affects them when they eat MSG.  They tell you that they get flushed, they develop a headache, they might even experience numbness.

99% Pure

(Photo credit: dltq)

All of these symptoms were reported in a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. A doctor noticed his friends had complained of similar symptoms after going for Chinese food – flushing, headaches, and numbness. Over the years, his letter turned into reports of a big study that demonstrated how MSG caused these effects and so people avoid it.  Here’s the problem:  scientists have been unable to replicate any of these physical manifestations in tests.  Chinese Food Syndrome  has never been demonstrated under rigorously controlled conditions, even in studies with people who were convinced that they were sensitive to the compound.  People hear the myth and don’t want to take the chance they will be similarly affected.

It’s not really surprising.  MSG is a substance that naturally occurs in tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and  aged steaks among other foods and people who avoid it in Chinese food probably eat it like crazy all the time. Yet the myth goes on and people ask that it be left out of their food.  Which is, of course, the business point.

Many businesses labor under the burden of myth.  These myths generally surface when someone, probably a new employee, asks about a business practice they’ve encountered elsewhere or a missed opportunity they’ve figured out.  They’re often told some myth at that point about why the business just can’t go in that direction which is not based on fact but on some urban legend.

Maybe it’s the myth about “we don’t need to hire an expert to do social media – it’s free and everyone here uses it.”   Then there’s the one I get told to me a lot: you don’t need to get paid to consult for start-ups since taking equity will be worth a lot more.  Or maybe it’s the one about how working for yourself solves all your business problems…

What myths go on in your business or in your office?  What “truths” are told without being based in fact?  Just as MSG makes food taste better, whether it’s natural or added, adding facts to your business life makes it a lot more palatable as well.

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April 19, 2013 · 9:23 am

Is Hospitality A Goner?

After a tough week, it’s finally Foodie Friday.

Andrew Zimmern before taping

Andrew Zimmern before taping (Photo credit: Lester Public Library)

I’ve written a lot about service and how I think that’s one of the most important aspects of any business in a time when many goods and services are being commoditized in most consumers’ minds.  That notion came up again yesterday during an “Ask Me Anything” with food writer Andrew Zimmern on Reddit.  He was asked the following and gave this answer:

Is there a current trend in food that you wish would go away?

[–]andrewzimmern[S]  Where to begin! I think one trend that is very noticeable in restaurants is less and less emphasis on service. I think that’s a horrible trend. Even at a hot dog stand, you want to be greeted.  The saddest trend is that the word hospitality is going extinct.

Exactly.  Hot dogs, to use his example, can be found everywhere from convenience stores to food trucks to specialty restaurants, and there are few foods that are more of a commodity item.  What ultimately gets people to choose your business to provide them, and to get the customers to return, is service – the biggest part of the relationship with the customer.

Over the years I ha the pleasure of working with the folks at Anheuser-Busch.  They had a very simple goal at the core of their marketing:  make friends with the customer.  Even today, when you distill their marketing down, it’s about making the brand a friend.  Service is what does that along with delivering the inherent brand promise – this is how our product makes your life better by fulfilling a need or want.

So that’s the question with which to end the week:  when was the last time your did a service check on your business?  Maybe it’s mystery shoppers or maybe it’s a survey but how are you checking, analyzing, and improving customer service?  Another great partner – Microsoft – bases a fair piece of their reps’ compensation on annual feedback from partners.  That’s a great notion – maybe one you might consider.

Zimmern called it hospitality.  I’m using the term service today.  Call it what you will, it’s the lifeblood of any business and while he thinks it’s becoming extinct, I think it’s the businesses that lose it that will be the ones leaving the scene.  What do you think?

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