Pull Your Levers Wisely
Years ago, I read something that transformed the way I view restaurants. The author explained that every dining establishment has three possible levers to pull:
Great product: high food quality
Great prices: self-explanatory
Great location: some combination of neighborhood, access, scenery/views, and the physical space.
If a restaurant pulls only one, it’s a bad business and will quickly fail.
If a restaurant pulls all three, it will probably fail as well, as it won’t have sustainable margins. Think about a cafe right on the boardwalk along the ocean. Amazing views and killer vibe…..that’s probably expensive real estate. Their food is amazing….top quality. Their prices are extremely affordable, borderline customer robbery. This combination will attract a massive audience, but it doesn’t have legs; it will eventually fizzle.
Therefore, all restaurants must choose two, and can choose whatever two they want.
They can choose a great location, killer food, and high prices. This is the model of a high-end restaurant.
They can choose a great location, marginal food, and reasonable prices. This is your typical tourist trap dining experience.
They can choose a sub-par location, crush the food, and offer reasonable prices. This is what I refer to as hole-in-the-wall gems.
If I have a vote, I ALWAYS choose door #3. I don’t need great views, swanky neighborhoods, or fancy furnishings. I just need mind-blowing food at a decent price.
If I were to inventory my favorite restaurants, it’s not an impressive list of buildings or locations. The kind of buildings most people would be scared to enter. Neighborhoods that are difficult to get to or not where I’d hang on a Saturday afternoon.
Though it’s the restaurants who are pulling these levers, it’s we, consumers, who are pulling our own levers when we decide which establishments to visit. The businesses can’t have all three, and neither can we (well, unless we hit up that amazing beachside cafe before it goes out of business).
This idea has fundamentally changed the way I dine, but It’s also changed the way I view most things in life. There is no magic bullet. There’s no free pass. We can’t always have our cake and eat it, too. We must make these lever-pulling decisions in accordance with our values. There are only so many levers we can pull, so pull wisely.
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