Category Archives: food

March 8, 2019 · 7:20 pm

Overdoing It

It’s Foodie Friday and I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve all lost our collective minds, at least with respect to some of the food trends I see out there. Everywhere one looks you see food that seems to echo one of the favorite phrases from my youth:

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!

Let me give you a few examples. The dozens of flavors of Oreos, ranging from candy corn to Swedish fish to watermelon, and hot chicken wing and wasabi Oreos have hit stores in China. Buffalo Fried Cornish Hens. Kimchi Salsa. Jerk Chicken Pizza. All the different flavors of chips (because who doesn’t want a chip that tastes like a lobster roll?), and of course, Strawberry Lemonade Beer. Now I’ll admit that I actually liked a cucumber beer that I had last summer but at some point, don’t we need to draw a line? It’s bad enough that most people drink “coffee” that’s flavored with everything from hazelnuts to birthday cake. It may be a lovely morning pick me up but it’s not coffee.

This kind of thinking is how we got some of the great food fails. Bacon soda. Coca-Cola Blak. Orbitz Drink. It’s instructional no matter what business you’re in. Let’s say you make a pain-relieving cream and you say to yourself “Hey! We can fix the pain in other ways!” Voila! Ben-Gay Aspirin. Maybe you own the women’s magazine market and think “hmm…women eat yogurt, maybe while they’re reading. Let’s make yogurt!” Cosmopolitan Yogurt was off the shelves in 18 months. Coors Spring Water? No thanks. Each is an example of overdoing something that not only is worth doing but is something you’re doing quite well. Right up until you decided to do more.

There are some things you can’t overdo. Great customer service. Being grateful to customers, vendors, partners, and staff. Taking most good products and blurring that goodness with too many things that too few people want isn’t helping. Don’t overdo it!

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March 1, 2019 · 1:38 pm

The Mysteries Of Food

It’s Foodie Friday and today I’d like us to consider some of the things about food that I, for one, find mysterious. As usual, there’s a business point we can take away from these questions as well.

Let’s start with an easy one. What are the different flavors of Froot Loops? Purple in food tends to imply grape and yellow, at least in cereal, makes me think banana. Well, as it turns out, there is exactly ONE flavor and it’s neither strawberry red or blueberry blue. Why do the loops taste different to some folks? It’s a mystery.

Why are French Fries called that? No one knows, exactly, although there are a few theories. They’re “frites” in France and “chips” in Britain. The History Channel attempted to get to the bottom of the question but came up without a definitive answer, just theories.

Why are deviled eggs called that? I know that “devilling” originally meant making it spicy or searing it over high heat. What changed in the interim? Why is steer meat “beef” and pig meat “pork” but chicken is…well…chicken? Why are the holes in Swiss Cheese disappearing?

I could go on but I’m trying to show you that even the most basic things that we take for granted can raise questions, and those questions often don’t have definite answers. We find that all the time on business but we have to be willing to ask the questions first. One of the most formidable business weapons is an inquiring mind. A mind of that sort which is open to having their assumptions rebutted is an even greater tool. This happens in science all the time and that’s where many great discoveries are made as knowledge grows based on questioning the world around us.

You might not know what’s in surimi (it’s fish, not crab) but you can enjoy it just the same. Still, you might ask why “Krab” or “Froot Loops” or “Cheeze Whiz” are spelled that way. That first question leads to many others (not the least of which is do I really want to eat this). We need to constantly question thing in business too, don’t you think?

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February 22, 2019 · 2:15 pm

A Second Opinion

This Foodie Friday, it was an old Rodney Dangerfield joke that got me thinking:

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.

OK, so what does that have to do with food and, of course, with business? These days, much like Rodney’s psychiatrist, everyone’s a critic. There is a huge problem with that since constructive criticism implies that the critic knows something about the subject. Unfortunately, with the internet offering everyone with an opinion a place to express that opinion, the assumption that the critic knows anything about the subject is often proven to be completely wrong.

Think about a professional restaurant critic. They dine out several times a week at a minimum. They are exposed to many different types of cuisine and usually many different chefs cooking each type of those cuisines. They can distinguish between types of pizza or BBQ and write knowledgeably about what makes one execution better than another. Before they write about a place they will usually dine there a few times both so they can sample more of the menu and to make sure that their impressions with respect to service and the dishes are correct.

Now take your typical Yelp reviewer. They may go to a place once. Their experience with many cuisines is limited and the examples that they’ve sampled might not actually be representative of a great execution (think someone who stumbles on to real Chinese food vs. the American Chinese food served nearly everywhere). Maybe they had to wait 10 minutes past their reservation time and got angry so they wrote a bad review. In short, they often criticize based on limited information and out of spite, exactly the opposite of what any constructive criticism should be.

As a reader trying to figure out where to go for dinner, I look for a second opinion. One thing I do is to only look at the 1- or 2-star reviews. Generally, they have very little in common with one another which tells me that they might have been posted out of anger or a single bad experience. Maybe everyone thinks the desserts are awful but since I don’t eat dessert that’s not relevant to me. When things are apparent across the bad reviews, I trust that information. Ignore the false criticism and get a second opinion.

It’s the same in business. You can’t just listen to the praise directed at you, of course. You need to hear the criticism so you can grow. That said, you need a second opinion much of the time. Don’t take it personally, don’t listen to the tone but only to the words, and ask yourself what you can learn. Then go ask someone you trust – someone with enough experience both with you and your work – about the validity of the bad review.

Yes, opinions are like asses in that everyone has one. But they’re not all created equal. Get second opinions before you make changes, just as a smart restaurateur does. Value the informed critics and ignore the trolls. Can you do that?

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