Category Archives: food

July 27, 2012 · 9:03 am

Off The Menu

It’s a classic scene from “When Harry Met Sally.” Harry orders “a number 3.” Sally asks for  something that’s not exactly off the menu but not exactly a number that’s on it:

GLENDALE, CA - JUNE 21: A Domino's Pizza rest...

(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

I’d like the Chef’s Salad, please, with oil and vinegar on the side, and the apple pie a la mode … but I’d like the pie heated, and I don’t want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side, and I’d like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it’s real. If it’s out of a can, then nothing.

I’m not sure why that popped into my head as our Foodie Friday Fun this week even if it does seem to be one of the most true scenes I know (and to preserve familial bliss I’m going to leave that there).  However, it does raise a good business point:  customers that order dishes that aren’t on the menu.  Most restaurants will accommodate a reasonable request if they have the ingredients and it’s not the dinner rush.  Substituting chicken for veal or leaving the anchovies off a salad isn’t a big deal.  Even national chains have secret menu items that aren’t on the posted menu but regular customers order all the time.  My favorite comes from my favorite burger chain, Fat Burger.  It’s called The Hypocrite and is a veggie burger topped with bacon.

I bring this up because if any of us want to foster success we need to let people order things that aren’t on the menu and to honor their requests as best we can.  It seems obvious but pay attention to how many “one size fits all” products and services you encounter out there.  Too many in a time when there are very few mass markets any more.

I can hear some of you grumbling that Apple doesn’t behave that way but I think if you reflect on some of their product history (the iPhone antenna issue, for example), they do adjust to meet customers’ needs.  An organization’s ability to let customers put their own spin on things from time to time is a secret ingredient every pantry should stock.

What have you ordered that wasn’t on the menu?  How did the organization meet your needs?

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July 20, 2012 · 10:35 am

Chopped

I went to make dinner the other night and was scouring the refrigerator for inspiration.

Chopped (TV series)

Chopped (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eggplant, chicken thighs, some leftover San Marzano tomatoes were what greeted me. What would you have made? I did a chicken/eggplant curry – it took all of 25 minutes and was delicious. I thought about that as a topic for our Foodie Friday Fun and was reminded again about it as I watched “Chopped” on the Food Network. That show is a cooking competition where the chefs are given a basket of ingredients and told to make something using all the ingredients in the basket, generally in 30 minutes or less. The twist is that there’s always something in the basket that doesn’t go with everything else – flounder, lemons, capers, and olive loaf, for example. Perfect for business thinking, right?

The key to being successful in this sort of improvisational cooking is to step back and think more broadly – and very differently – about the ingredients.  Olive loaf as a seasoning, for example, and not as a protein.  It’s how successful companies think about their businesses.   The iPhone wasn’t thought about as a phone per se but as a communication device with the Internet as an important form of communication.  I suspect it was thought of in an even more broadly way – a handheld computer with voice connectivity, perhaps.

We live in a non-linear world these days.  Thinking in straight lines may move us forward but it may mean we’re missing some fantastic opportunities.  You might think of your company as being in the tech business.  Maybe you need to focus on being in a solutions business.  How does that change how your technology performs or is designed?  The folks in sports realize they’re in the entertainment business – that opens up many new challenges but a ton of new opportunities.

I like Chopped.  Improvising solutions under pressure with seemingly incompatible ingredients is what business today is all about.  It’s inspirational to me.  You?

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July 13, 2012 · 8:29 am

Zucchini Blossoms, Gazpacho, And Your Business

Our Foodie Friday Fun is all about Summer, my favorite food time of the year.

Gazpacho (Spanish liquid tomato salad).

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it’s possible to grill all year long, it seems more appropriate to the Summer months.  I also find it difficult to fire up the smoker at times of the year when the air temperature is cooler and fluctuates more widely during the long periods of time required for real barbecue.

Grilling and smoking, however, are not the food topic today.  As you can tell from the post title, today’s screed is about two of my other Summer favorites.  It’s impossible to have great gazpacho at any other time of the year.  Then again, why would you want a cold soup at any other time?  The blend of fresh tomatoes, peppers, vinegar, garlic, and olive oil thickened by stale bread (and there MUST be bread in gazpacho!) is the best of Summer in a bowl.  For those of you who are uninitiated, stuffed zucchini blossoms are something you must seek out as well – find an Italian grandmother!  Stuffed with fresh ricotta and fried or even just sautéed on their own, they are well worth the effort it takes to find them.

My diet includes either fresh tomatoes or zucchini flowers (or both) whenever I can find them.   Of course, the time when these items are at their peak (or even available at all) is pretty limited, which makes them all the more dear to those of us who love them.  Which is exactly the business point.

One of the things that is getting lost these days is the sense of scarcity which breeds urgency.  After all, everything is always available, it seems.  There’s something to be said for scarcity.  The way, for example, that McDonald’s released the McRib sandwich for a limited time, or the way that great barbecue places often run out of food early in the day gives those who most value the product  a reason to act NOW. There are plenty of non-food examples, of course, but you get the point.

We need get our customers to think of our products like ripe tomatoes or zucchini flowers.  October is right around the corner, after all.

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