One of our close associates, Kevin Bacon, recently told us an interesting story regarding his use of consultants when running The Restaurant Group, and how having an external viewpoint – especially when things are going well – can save a business.
In the first four years running Frankie & Bennys, now a leading UK restaurant brand, they had been growing at an extraordinary rate, with five locations within the first twelve months, and past thirty locations within two years.
The board were extremely impressed with the growth, and there was no pressure to seek external advice, but Kevin liked to keep an eye on the business. After 12 months, he employed a consultancy to contact their customers to find out what they thought of Frankie & Bennys. The feedback was very positive, and they pushed forward with all their goals for the next year.
After twelve months, he decided to repeat the work. Within hours of the research, phone calls started to come in from the focus group, with all the group leaders saying the same thing: the customers enjoyed Frankie & Bennys, but they now didn’t perceive them to be value for money.
This was a big surprise, since average spend per head was actually up from twelve months before. Prices had not changed. So what was different?
They needed to get to the bottom of this, and started to explore – with focus groups – why customers did not think they were value for money. The response that came back surprised them even more. “Even though the food is good, it is too expensive for microwaved food.”
The food was not microwaved. Instead, in the previous twelve month period, they had spent significant time optimising back end delivery to be able to process and cook orders faster and faster. A special grill cooked burgers perfectly and swiftly. They had intended to make a better customer experience, since many of their restaurants acted as “pre-cinema” or “pre-flight” dining experiences where time was at a premium.
The Customer Perception
For the customer, however, this was too fast, and the customer’s perception was that the company was taking short cuts and microwaving the food.
What was the solution? Not going back to the slower, less efficient ways of cooking, but realising that the company had different customer types, with different needs.
The “movie goer” was in a hurry and looking for a quick bite. They enjoyed the speedy service and quicker cooking times. The “first date”, however, was looking for a longer, more relaxed experience. The trick was training staff to ask the right questions to find out which type of customer they were, and then using the point of sale system to ensure those customers who wanted a more relaxed experience did not get their food served too quickly.
Six months later, the company ran the focus groups again, and value for money had returned back to original levels.
Kevin says, “if we hadn’t found the problem when we did, we would have continued to open new stores, improve efficiencies, and eventually wonder why we had half empty restaurants as our customers perceived we were even less value for money. Companies can’t wait until their tills are half empty before doing customer research. They need to do it when things are on the up, so they stay on the up.”
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