Today marks one year to the day since we started down this blogging road together. This is post number 233, and at about 325 or so words per post, you guys have been generous enough to put up with 75,000 words. Hopefully one or two of them have amused you and a couple of others have made you go “ah HA!” Thank you for your attention, your comments, and your patience. Continue reading
Filed under food, Thinking Aloud, What's Going On
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Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that one area into which I occasionally veer is food. One of the great business lessons I’ve ever learned from food is that of substance over style. In fact, in many cases, substance IS style. Read on, oh hungry one!
Filed under food, Helpful Hints, Reality checks
One of the things in which I fancy myself an expert of sorts is barbecue. It’s hard to get right and very easy to get wrong. I’ve been to a lot of the great BBQ places around the USA and one of the best is the legendary Dreamland. “That’s nice, Keith” you say “but what the hell does that have to do with business?” Elementary, dear Watsons.
Dreamland, until it expanded, 
had two outlets and one thing one the menu – ribs and white bread. In fact, that’s still all they have on the menu at the original pit in Tuscaloosa. The business lesson is easy – do one thing very very well before you try and do others. Big Daddy may have missed some folks who wanted pulled pork or a hot link but he based their entire business on one thing and one thing only: ribs. And they do them phenomenally well.
Doesn’t it comfort you to know that someplace has been in business with a single product for a long time? If you only had one product, could you stay in business? Is there a single thing you do that’s good enough to carry the entire operation? Too often, the “shotgun approach” of just blasting away, hoping to hit something beats out the carefully aimed rifle. I prefer the Dreamland approach – building your reputation based on a single superior product and then adding on (as they’ve done in their other outlets). It’s much easier to maintain organizational focus this way as well.
And now, I need a rib!
Filed under food, Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud
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