Lifestyle

Apple's Latest Acquisition Puts Them Inside the Building

Mitch Joel writing for the Harvard Business Review highlights a little-known story that Apple just bought a small start-up last week for $20M called wifiSLAM. Basically they provide GPS for indoors and it is thought this will help Apple to augment the shopping experience in or near Apple Stores (initially) as you walk around the Mall.

 The interesting thing here is that we as consumers, are willing to share our most private data with stores and brands that we wouldn't want shared with security firms or government agencies.
"Internet Retailer reported: "80% of smartphone owners want more mobile-optimized product information while they're shopping in stores, finds 'The Shopping Experience in a Smartphone World,' a study conducted by ad agency Moosylvania."
And what that might look like:
"This aisle by aisle, real-time ability to flip offers, while getting a better understanding of how foot traffic flows, where consumers stop and engage is going to affect everything from pricing to shelf space to how end-cap placements are sold."
Apple might suck at Social Media, but they're at the leading edge of Social Business.

Playing the loyalty card with every acquisition.


There was a time when big was beautiful. When economies of scale for the mammoth supermarkets pushed more product out to more depots and into ever expanding trolleys in what became known as the 'space race' to become your one-stop-shop for everything. Soon this was mirrored by homogeneous coffee brands, casual dining chains and even monotone bed factories. While it does mean fewer rollout costs, staff and admin headaches, it also means fewer deviations from the plan. And eventually that has lead us all down a dark cul-de-sac of rancorous disapproval.

During all this empire building, the struggling independent operators lamented the lack of support from government, media and us the general public as we upped sticks and flocked to our new cathedrals of cheap. A few stayed, remaining loyal despite the treehugger label, but not enough to arrest the demise of our greengrocer, butcher and baker once so prominent on the high street. The holy trinity of shopping days gone by.

 Recently however the trade winds have changed tack across the retail landscape. As high streets dwindled to resmble back streets, we found ourselves forced to forage further afield. It was a novelty at first, but everyone piled on and now it's just a bunfight at the till. And with petrol prices skyrocketing, the trip out of town for the weekly shop has lost it's appeal as well as any potential savings on that 2-for-1 voucher.


One of many documentaries on how suppliers are treated by supermarkets.
As consumers we read stories of how some of our favourite brands weren't paying their taxes fairly. Or were forcing farmers to dump veg that was the wrong shape. (One onion grower who frequented our old pub in Bedfordshire said he ploughed 3 tonnes back into the ground.) Or paying dairy farmers less than cost price for their milk. Every month there seemed to be another story of supermarket dominance until finally we got to Horsemeat, the daddy of all the scandals. Supermarkets had put so much effort into winning the race to the bottom, they finally scratched the barrel floor. Had we at last had a glimpse of the fat little man behind the curtain who convinced us he was Great and Powerful?


Tom & Barbara brought us self-sufficiency
Now add in a never-ending spate of unpredictable weather, changing work patterns and a grazing culture of dining out to see why some of those profit bubbles are bursting. Tired of jostling in the aisle, we have finally embraced the one-click browser experience and forced retailers to come to us instead of trundling out with our list and a bag for life. Younger shoppers are buying less albeit more frequently, baby boomers are rediscovering the Good Life and their joy of allotments (Fifty Sheds of Grey?), while pensioners conjure up that post-war spirit which has led to such popular TV shows as Super Scrimpers and Rip Off Britain. Heck, even my own work colleague Ian made the national press by shunning supermarkets for a year. Good on him, we cheer.
35 years later, it's back into fashion.
So where is all this heading? Well you could be forgiven for thinking the independent operators are finally on the up and up. The smart ones are, to be sure. However multinationals didn't get to be multinationals without adapting to market forces and consequently are very quick to learn, and emulate. This I believe is where the battle is morphing into something more deviant. The Big Four may have steamrolled their way across the shopping landscape, but they have made shedloads of cash along the way and now it's time to use that cash pile to beat the independent's at their own game.

 Ever so stealthily, supermarkets (as well as fast food brands and PubCos) are moving into new markets in ways they haven't done before. Who could have imagined Tesco becoming a silent partner in an artisan coffee chain such as Harris + Hoole? Or as I mentioned in my previous posts here and here, buying out a standalone restaurant chain like Giraffe to install into larger stores? Or Sainsbury's going into the high street takeaway business? Or that king of consistency, McDonald's varying their decor and hamburger prices according to region?

 These clandestine measures are more of a threat to independent operators than many realise because they are taking them on at their own game. The smaller operators could always differentiate themselves due mostly to some very niche targeted marketing, bags of energy, a fanatical focus on customer, staff and supplier relationships and of course by offering the one thing the big nationals couldn't replicate up to now, that personal touch.

 But with the big conglomerates hiding behind smaller outfits which are tightly integrated into their local community, they will undoubtedly seduce people into believing the new brand cares about us more than the old brand did. I saw this very clearly demonstrated by the 1600-outlet Mitchells and Butlers group when they relaunched the Kings Arms pub in Cardington (our nearest competitor some years ago) in a re-branding exercise that termed the General Manager as your new "village pub landlady". A hugely successful move at the time and a sign of things to come.

 Artisan traders can compete for sure, even if they don't have the safety net of astronomical hoards of cash to underpin their business model. But how are they going to tackle this newly evolving threat? I think this quote from Peter F. Drucker sums up that challenge very neatly:
“Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth."
As long as our independent operators continue to relentlessly innovate in meeting their customers' needs and exceeding their expectations, the multinationals will find it takes more than a cheque book and pen to re-write that Customer Service Promise which up to now hasn't really been worth the paper it's written on.

Take three tablets...

Here's an iPad ad that screams "Wild!"... "Bright!"... "Together!"




Meanwhile on his commute home "...every evening, at exactly 6:07 District Manager Thomas M. Wilkes" does this on his Dell XPS...


 Or in meetings, this young hipster executive daydreams of escaping a world full of spreadsheets on his Microsoft Surface Pro...


Which lifestyle do you aspire to?

 Bonus: And can you guess which tablet has the biggest market share in unit sales?

A cooking show for the rest of us



Come to think of it... Imagine a weekend TV show with a time slot like Sunday Brunch and the budget of Saturday Kitchen. 

 Presented by Roy Ackerman and someone like Ravinder Bhogal. In-the-field reporting from Brian Turner (Cuisine), Fred Sirieix (Service) and William Curley (Patisserie). 

A different perspective.
Featuring latest industry news; aspirations, technical prowess and results from Bocuse D’Or; World Skills Competition; National Chef of the Year; National Waiters Day and AFW Awards of Excellence as well as OUR industry perspective on current affairs, awareness campaigns and the grass-roots people making a REAL difference in our sector today.

I’d watch that. Would you?

 And if you're in TV and could make this happen; well, you know the rest..

Cool as a cucumber


There are some hidden gems in our industry really worth sharing and here is one of them for anyone with a love for hospitality. 

 The indefatigable Roy Ackerman hosts his own Digital TV channel called Cool Cucumber TV. 
Click here for a small taster of Cool Cucumber...

The interface is not the prettiest and there are no 'share' buttons, but boy does Roy make up for it in content with celeb chef interviews, restaurant profiles, wines, ingredients and recipes. Check it out now - it's fantastic.

Critics Criticise. Writer’s right?


Vanity got the better of me this weekend. To help promote this humble little blog I sent a tweet to Jay Rayner in the hope of tapping into his Seventy Six Thousand followers with this:
Hi @jayrayner1, any chance of a cheeky RT? The Art of Menu Engineering: Winning Words Your Menu Needs Today: t.co/Eh0imo2Mwh (Thanks)

I didn’t give it another thought as I was sure it would be ignored. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply from Jay a few minutes later. Well pleasant may not be the word. If you’re not on Twitter, here it is:
@mykitchensync I'd like to think you're taking the piss because 95% of that is the worst advice I have ever read. Sadly, I fear you mean it.
Mightier than the sword: master of the dark art of criticism.

OOF! What a kick in the ribs. I read the words again, but still couldn’t find a glimmer of positivity. (OK, so 5% of my piece was not the worst advise he ever read. That’s good, right?) 

As I processed it, I kept thinking: How belligerent is that? Why doesn’t he agree with my viewpoint? Now what am I going to do? It would have been easy to rattle off some stupid tweet, but who needs to start a flame war (that's a pissing contest, Chef) which Mr. Rayner would win hands down. So I just tapped out a rather meek;
@jayrayner1 Fair point Jay. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
My earlier link to a piece by Seth Godin sums up the fact that you can’t please everyone. Jay Rayner’s job is to sell newspapers, his new book and an inordinate love for beards. A nice incendiary comment will do that. Or even a harmless tweet if you have the platform. 

To the Specialist in Soft Facilities Management, the Section Manager at John Lewis Partnership and the Catering Consultant in America who valued my article enought to ‘like’ or comment positively on LinkedIn, I thank you.

To Jay Rayner, thank you also. I’ll still vote for you again should you enter the Beard of the Year contest this year. Even if your point of view, just like your prominent goatee, really bristles.

Menu Engineering: Winning Words Your Menu Needs Today.

This post is part of a series to help you build a winning menu that will engage with your customers, assist your team and most importantly, drive your bottom line.

Dining out is a social experience. Think about those words for a moment: Social. Experience. 

Mrs K. enjoying a chat over lunch at The Cube. (R)
Social in my mind means conversation, to regale a story or to enjoy your dining companion’s perspective. And what better way to trigger those stories, that human interaction, than with the document your diners collectively hold in their hands: your menu. As your guests browse the Chef’s list of recommended dishes, any emotive words or descriptive phrases will help trigger conversation. THAT is where the experience comes in. Your guests don’t just eat - they have a dining experience. And customers WILL pay a premium for the pleasure.

The funny thing is, they may not even remember what they ordered when they later tell friends about the meal they enjoyed at your great restaurant, (put that down to your awesome wine sales technique), but they will remember what a great conversation they had as they reminisce. Before you’ve even lifted a pen or a pan, your menu has captured the imagination and generated some great word-of-mouth referrals. Now you’re really cooking.

So here are a few pointers that I tend to use when describing my dishes:

Use Femininity 
If your menu appeals to ladies, then the fellas will follow. How many restaurants have mid-week tables of ladies enjoying a girl’s night out? Get them returning on the weekend with hubby or that dishy new beau with words like fluffy, softly, lightly-scented, gently folded, delicate. You get the idea...

Steaks are Masculine
So use words like Seared or Pan-fried or Char-grilled - all manly things to do to a steak or a piece of chicken.
What other dishes could be framed as ‘masculine’?
Who Cooked It?
One of the most powerful ways of engaging your customers and your team is by mentioning the people involved. If Chef Robert makes the bread, then say so. Anna's Red Cabbage Coleslaw or Jan's Sandwiches (as we had in our pub once upon a time) really personalises the experience and wins loyalty. In fact Jan used to have to come out to personally inform our guests what her sandwich of the day was. Why? Because they loved it and came back time and again for more.

Drop that letter ‘a’
This drives me absolutely nuts. Welcome to Mediocrityville.
“Steak served with a Mushroom Sauce”. Why is that ‘a’ in there? Get rid of it.
Char-grilled Steak with Mushroom Sauce

Avoid the word ‘with’. 
Your page is valuable real estate. Don’t clutter it up with unnecessary with's, and's and a’s. Use a comma instead.
Fish Cakes with a Mustard Sauce becomes 
Fish Cakes, Mustard Sauce or 
Dill-Scented Salmon Cakes, Wholegrain Mustard Sauce or 
Salmon Cakes on Lightly Foamed Creamy Mustard Sauce
(Which dish would you choose?)

Invoke that sense of Smell 
Smells tap into your reader’s memory bank and that can be very compelling when making a choice on what to eat.
Scented with, infused, minted, pungent, caramelised

Describe Textures in your dish titles. Again this is great for feminising a dish.
A sauce can be creamy, shiny, silky, velvety...

Think Nigella...
Think Nigella: Use terms that invoke luxury
Smothered, rich, oozing, Luxurious, tipsy, soft-centred, gooey...

Think Heston: Invoke memories (Think of school days and apple pie here...)
Old-fashioned, retro, childhood, vintage, classical…

Think Delia: Mention the cooking method, but in a feminine way.
Gently Baked, lightly poached, herb-roasted, slow-braised...

Think Jamie: Describe how it’s dressed on the plate:
drizzled, a squeeze of, shavings, a cordon, sprinkled, layered, piled, bosh!

Compare and contrast
It’s a writing trick, but it’s also a way of constructing a dish, so an example could be:
Iced Parfait of Caramelised Hazelnuts, Warm Chocolate Sauce (Hot/Cold) or
Velvety Chocolate Mousse, Peanut Butter Brittle (Soft/Hard)

Talk up your Provenance
If you’re not mentioning how you source your food, then start today. 

Be aware however, of how you go about that. There is a current trend to mention the farmer, butcher, grower, cheesemaker, trawlerman or every man and his dog to get across the point that you are sourcing ethically and locally. If you think it makes sense to your customers, continue doing it. 

Personally, I find it clutters up the menu (Pan-Seared Red Tractor Sirloin, Creamy Sauce of John Smith foraged Wild Mushrooms just doesn’t work.) What does work is perhaps a small text box at the bottom or at the back of a menu that mentions all of those acknowledgements and logos in one hit. 

Oh, and train your staff to be ready for the question from inquisitive or enthusiastic guests. Those you nourish will flourish.


I hope this has given you some inspiration to revisit your menu wording and create that connection with your customers that’ll have them coming back for more. For more ideas on how to be creative with your dish descriptions, open any cookbook and have a browse. More than recipes, they are lifestyle aspirations. Have you got that on your menu?
Bookmark or Subscribe now: Upcoming posts will look more specifically at unlocking Dessert’s Hidden Treasure and the psychology behind a great Price Point Plan.

Twelve Days Inn

12 days in, here's what I think:

Don't give up the booze because...
... you want to lose weight. (Although you will.)
... you want to save money. (Although you will.)
... you want to 'turn over a new leaf'. (What's wrong with the old one?)
... alcohol is 'evil'. (It isn't.)
... it's the 'right thing to do'. (According to whom?)
... your partner or spouse 'has given it up'. (Make your own mind up)
All of these are short-sighted goals that you can summarily reason against as you cave to that temptation.

But DO give up the booze (or reach out for help) if...
... it is a negative impact on your life.
... it is a negative impact on your friendships and relationships.
... it is making you ill.
... it is tempting you into serious crime.
... It is putting people in danger.
... It is putting your livelihood in danger.
... its effect alters your personality for the worse.
If you answer 'Yes' - an honest Yes - to any ONE of these, then you need to seriously consider your position.

But if your answer is 'No' to ALL of these (which is a good thing), it begs the question:
Is there a truly long-term positive reason for you to give up the booze?
Yes there is and it is profoundly simple:

To tap into all the energy, creativity and positivity that floods BACK into your life which alcohol has been draining out of you all along.

This is the real reason why I am enjoying my sabbatical for the time being.