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"Customer experience is the new battlefield for differentiation."
"Customer experience is the sum of discrete moments that work together to strengthen or weaken a consumer's preference, loyalty and advocacy for a brand." - Gartner Restaurant guests don't want cheaper prices......
....they're really looking for a better experience. (hey there, dealers and wholesalers......your customers feel the same; oh....and tabletop manufacturers - ditto)
To learn more about Walco and the wide range of flatware, holloware, and buffetware for the hospitality industry, go here:
http://www.walcostainless.com/ - DJames In an article describing restaurant industry traffic in the U.S., Bonnie Riggs from industry research firm NPD Group states: “…offering a good product at a fair price is no longer good enough. To attract them will take a deeper understanding of what they want when dining out…....the fact remains that Americans still make billions of visits to restaurants each year, but they are more conscious of their spending and want to be certain that the return on their investment in a restaurant meal is a pleasurable dining experience that meets their needs and expectations.” More than ever before…..#TabletopMatters. To read the entire article from NPD Group, go here: https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/income-gap-and-shrinking-middle-class-take-a-toll-on-restaurant-industry-reports-npd/ Recently, Sales and MarketingManagement.com published an article ”5 Ways to Differentiate Your Company During The Selling Process”. Adapting the SMM principles to the hospitality tabletop industry, TabletopJournal discusses these five principles and why they are important to tabletop suppliers….whether you are a manufacturer, manufacturer's rep, or a dealer. 1. Make proactive recommendations. When responding to a customer request for a quote on a new tabletop product, make recommendations beyond what the customer is requesting that you feel will benefit the restaurant operator in some way. Will it save money? Perhaps there’s a single piece that will take the place of two others? Or, maybe you can recommend a glassware piece or a serving piece that will better merchandise a particular menu item? You will often know of new products that will better meet the needs of a customer and can differentiate yourself and your company by making these helpful recommendations. So, think beyond the original customer's request for information. 2. Define your niche. Don’t let your company categorized with multiple other suppliers. Make sure that the customer knows that while many companies have glassware, you are THE specialist for craftbeer glasses, for instance. Or, if the customer is looking for showplates, make sure they understand that your selection of glass showplates is the widest range available and your large inventory allows quick re-supply. Make sure you tell the customer why working with your company and products is very different than others….not by disparaging your competition, but by showcasing your company's and your product's strengths.
4. Sell your culture.
Every company has a different culture. Make sure you articulate your company’s culture and why it aligns well with this potential customer’s company culture. Whether it is your company’s structure, it's flexibility, or simply the style in which you conduct your business….the SMM article is correct – often these “soft” issues are the true differentiators in the selling process. 5. Communicate benefits by audience. The benefits of buying your products or working with your company (versus competitors) will be different for the owner, the food & beverage director, the chef and for the accountant. Make sure you sell your company and product benefits to each of those constituencies. Often we simply sell one overall list of benefits and hope they fit all the various decision makers on the customer end. Make sure you tailor your presentations to the audience who is listening…and having input to the final decision. Decision-making in the food service/hospitality/catering industry is complex and often unique in each situation. Tabletop products often appear to be similar and therefore the decision-making process gets quickly to whose products are the cheapest. Only by differentiating your company and its product strengths and then showing how your company or product aligns best in solving the customer’s problem can you avoid the downward spiral “race to the bottom” of price. Differentiation in the hospitality tabletop selling process is key to adding value and showcasing your company and its product's true value to your customers. If you are interested in reading the SMM article - its a great read and we think you will enjoy it, you can read it in its entirety by going here: http://salesandmarketing.com/content/5-ways-differentiate-your-company-during-sales-process Artland, 20 years a glass manufacturer that owns its own factories, is increasingly such a specialty source for unique glass drinkware, dinnerware and specialty serve items. There are few things that will differentiate a dining experience more than a piece of unique, colored drinkware. Each piece conveys a very special, tactile feeling as it rests in your hand or touches your lips when you drink. A major difference for the Artland range of glassware is that the color is actually in the glass, not sprayed or applied onto the glass. This allows for both Hi-Temp and Low-Temp dishwashing. Artland’s entire collection of colored glassware helps a restaurateur or bartender serve an experience as well as a drink.
To learn more about Figgjo Porcelain from Norway, go here: http://figgjo.com/
In a National Restaurant Association article on how restaurants should market themselves to millennials, author Jeff Fromm makes the point about the fact that this key demographic group doesn’t just want to buy your brand, they want to be a part of it. “They’re looking for ways to participate. And they want to understand why you do what you do not just what you want to sell.” We think many of the same concepts apply for hospitality tabletop companies and the products they bring to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Restaurants, like millennial consumers, define themselves by the brands they choose. More and more, the "why" of what products tabletop companies produce is as equally important as the "what" they produce to today's restaurateur. For instance…. Quality
Fromm talks about how “key basics” such as great food, money for value, etc. are simply the price of admission for doing business with millennials. We would say that those same “key basics” apply when attempting to bring tabletop products to the hospitality industry. Product quality, ability to deliver in a timely manner, and good value are “basics” in most any industry – the hospitality tabletop segment is no different – and are not truly differentiators. Restaurateurs have come to expect these basics in the tabletop products they choose. Tabletop companies who fall short on these basics are not serious competitors in the hospitality tabletop game. Uniqueness Millenials seek unique flavor experiences according to Fromm, and we agree. A quick trip to any supermarket will confirm that. But, the same applies to tabletop as a participant in that helping to showcase and deliver that unique flavorful, often – but not always – ethnic experience. Tabletop products such as cast iron, terra cotta, colored-glaze dinnerware that reinforce a particular culinary experience are more popular than ever. The overall dining experience continues to be important to the millennial customer and tabletop products that contribute to that overall experience will continue to realize higher levels of success. Like the foods they serve, restaurateurs more and more seek truly unique tabletop products to enhance the dining experience of their particular dining guests. Authenticity and Transparency The truth in how and where products are made is just as important to tabletop products as it is to the food products that restaurants serve. We continue to see tabletop companies that produce their own products in their own factories finding favor versus those who simply source from a variety of factories that have cheaper costs of production. Increasingly, millennials care about not only what materials go into making their tabletop products, but how, where - and why – they are made. Tabletop products that are perceived as authentic and transparent to the dining experience will only grow in popularity with today's forward thinking restaurant decision makers. As millennials continue to evolve into a more participatory level of brand and product involvement, tabletop companies must realize that this concept applies not only to the foods millennials choose to eat. This trend extends into all areas of where this key demographic chooses to do its consumer spending. We see it in the foods they choose to eat….the wines they choose to drink….and the tabletop products they use to consume them. So, yes....tabletop matters. You can read Jeff Fromm’s very interesting article by going here: https://www.restaurant.org/Manage-My-Restaurant/Marketing-Sales/Promotion/Millennials-are-changing-the-definition-of-brand-v From the editorial page of the Spring issue of Selling Power magazine comes the "no surprise" news that "the world of selling is changing at breakneck speed and sales leaders need to adapt quickly or risk becoming obsolete". While that news is no exactly earth-shattering, it affirms what we already intuitively know to be true. And that is that the old ways of doing business are pretty much gone. Whether you're a restaurateur trying to find your way to more of a consumer dining-out dollar that is increasingly more splintered in where it gets spent (think grocery stores for dining out) or a tabletop dealer/distributor who is trying to differentiate and show why you're different than the big food guys, internet, or whoever else you see as your competitor, the story is the same. And, tabletop manufacturers....well, TabletopJournal has written at length on how the speed of business has changed dramatically and without brand differentiation...you only have price upon which to sell. Not a pleasant selling scenario. So, what to do? Here are the four major trends that Selling Power states are impacting sales and sales organizations today: 1. Social Media 2. Mobile 3. Cloud Computing 4. Big Data To read the entire article, think you'll have to get a hardcopy of Selling Power magazine. But, in the meantime, here's a link to their website: http://www.sellingpower.com/ We all are aware of the great growth being experienced by the “fast casual” restaurant segment. According to industry resource firm Technomic, the fast casual category grew to $23 Billion in the U.S. last year and is the fastest growing segment of the American restaurant industry. With that growth comes a great deal of competition. As is usually the case, those that differentiate their experience best will reap the most rewards.
In addition to the tasty menu items and great prices, what impressed us about how this fast-casual concept differentiates their dining experience was their use of permanent tabletop versus disposable – glassware for beverages, including soft drinks…..ceramic cups and saucer for espresso…..and round, poly carbonate platters for montaditos, with metal containers for french fries. Clearly, a cut above other fast-casual concepts such as Five Guys, Chipotle, and others. 100 Montaditos is not only a place where you can enjoy of the best Spanish flavors, but also, hang-out and have some drinks with friends and family in an exciting environment tasting Spain’s famed Mahou beer or other typical thirst-quenchers, including red and white wines, claras (beer blended with lemon-lime soda) sangría and tintos de verano. Wines on the menu include Cava, a traditional sparking white wine from Spain’s Catalonia region. And, as we said earlier….$4 wine by the glass – served in a real wine glass. Ditto for the Spanish Mahou beer and the house drink Tinto de Verano whihc also was exceptional. After visiting the Orlando location, its easy to see why 100 Montaditos feels it can grow to 500 North American units by 2015. Good food and good prices…a family friendly fast casual dining experience – all enhanced with permanent tabletop - elevates this the level that many of today’s restaurant guests are seeking. ¡muy bien hecho!
To learn more about 100 Montaditos, go here: http://us.100montaditos.com/ |
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Ment'or Inspiring Culinary Excellence Archives
November 2021
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