Ramsay’s kitchen lessons.
Back in early 2009, in the depth of recession, an old friend invited me to dinner and I found myself sitting next to Gordon Ramsay.
He was exactly the same as he comes across on his various TV shows: direct, curious, opinionated, funny – an excellent dinner companion.
On top of all that, he had an excellent grasp of business fundamentals, and a lesson he taught me that evening seems highly appropriate for the current times.
I asked him how his restaurants were faring, (at the time he had half a dozen in London alone), and he replied that they were all making more operating profit than before the economic crisis. Intrigued, I asked him how – and he shared his secret sauce.
“We’ve changed three things” he told me:
1. Expanded the options on the set menus.
2. Offered “puddings to share”.
3. Increased the number of wines available by the glass.
The set menus (which acted as an attraction magnet) encouraged people to feel able to treat themselves despite the economic climate and associated belt tightening. All the items were on the à la carte menu and hence wastage was reduced, and this allowed the food margin to be improved.
Offering “puddings to share” boosted sales of desserts tenfold – again, any feeling of guilt was assuaged by sharing, both the food and the emotion.
The biggie though was the wine. Gordon told me that many people would order a more expensive wine because “we’re only having the one glass.” However, all too often, one glass became two, and in many cases three. The margin on serving by the glass, rather than by the bottle, was 50% higher.
The lesson for now is threefold: menus, bundles, and upgrades.
Break down your product/service range into component parts, then offer it as a bundle, (or perhaps a variety of different bundles), position them as a menu of options, and with the potential to upgrade.
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