I’m sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. I’m back in the saddle again now.
In my strategy classes I often use the example of a “Noodle Joint” as a means of trying to get students to think about how, if they were in the noodle restaurant business, they would go about beating the competition. (This exercise works really well in places like Hong Kong and Singapore – but it translates well here in Australia too).
I ask them to imagine that they are running a Noodle Joint and that competition in the area is fierce. How would they compete? What strategies would they use?
Usually I get a swag of responses that include:
- More advertising
- Cheaper Prices
- Better decor (more attractive)
- Faster service
- Happier staff (friendlier service)
- Special promotions (get in a movie star to promote!)
- Different flavours
- Begin another business – get into DVD sales!
- etc.
It can be a lot of fun when the students get involved and there have been some really kooky solutions to the problem – but then I make it a bit harder. I tell them that their business is just surviving. That the market is saturated, and all the neighbouring Noodle Joints have slashed their prices almost to the point of being at cost, and that throwing money at the problem (e.g. redecoration and increased advertising) is not an option. To make matters worse, there is little to differentiate between dishes on the menu of the various restaurants and any new innovation in terms of dishes is quickly copied and adopted by the competition.
What now? What strategies will you use to compete now? How will you maintain sustainable competitive advantage?
It’s usually at this point that the class goes relatively quiet. Even when I get them to break into groups and try and solve this problem, students seem to have a problem coming up with a workable solution.
Well, here’s a solution: Take what you normally do and get very good at it. Make a big fuss about it. Involve your customers in it. Get emotional buy-in.
In my last trip to Singapore, I was lucky enough to be taken to a Noodle Joint in Smith Street (also known as “Food Street”). My colleague took us from our hotel, down into the train system where we changed two lines, and up into “Food Street”. We were then hustled along past rows and rows of Noodle Joints and other food places – many of who had touts out the front trying to solicit our business – to number 19.
My first impression was that the restaurant was unremarkable to look at: although it had many photos of customers on its walls. It wasn’t until I looked closely that I saw that all the customers were dong the same thing: they were standing in the kitchen with the same man and they had what looked like a large spool of rope between their outstretched hands.
We took a seat and waited for someone to come over and we duly ordered. The menu wasn’t all that remarkable, and the prices weren’t all that special – I was seriously wondering why we had bothered to trek such a long way in the heat and humidity of equatorial Singapore in July.
Then came out the Master Chef.
I’ve never seen noodles made by hand before. All I can say is that it is this magical process of taking the dough and by ‘throwing’ it around and stretching and kneading and playing it gets turned into long, silky noodles. It was fascinating to watch.
And then came the good bit: I was invited into the kitchen to have my photo taken with the Master Chef and my very own noodles.
I’LL INSERT A COUPLE OF PHOTOS HERE ONCE I GET PERMISSION FROM EVERYONE THAT THEY ARE HAPPY TO HAVE THEIR IMAGES ON THE INTERNET
Not very long later we were eating the very noodles that we had seen being made in front of us. We were involved; we were thrilled; we were keen to tell others about it so that they could also experience it!
After lunch we were talking to the Chef about how he did it and we asked him how business was going etc.. One of the most interesting things he said was that he would love to open another restaurant – even though he was doing very well with just one.
“Do you think you could compete in another market?”, we asked.
“I love the competition” he said. ”Of course I could make it work”.
Now, here was a man that was competing in one of the most cut-throat industries that you can imagine and was-doing-very-nicely-thank-you-very-much.
It goes to show that all it takes is a bit of imagination, a flair for being able to exploit a capability and to involve customers in the experience to be different.
Has it made a difference? Of course it has. There were hundreds and hundreds of photos on the wall of happy, smiling customers, and of they are anything like my colleagues and I, each of them will have been just as thrilled as we were. I personally know that I have recommended this particular Noodle joint to hundreds of students in Singapore, hundreds more in Hong Kong and Melbourne and when a friend told me that he was off to Singapore with his family for the Grand Prix, I said he just HAD to go there for lunch.
Now I am recommending it to you. Even if you don’t et there – go and watch how it is done. Think about what you do in your business that is ‘normal’ to you, but would be really cool to someone else. See if you can find a way to exploit it.
Being different can make all the difference.
Jason.
ps. I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Margaret Heffernan AOM who guided us to this fabulous restaurant and Dr. Alan Montague for being such a fantastic lunch companion.
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