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Method
Marketing Newsletter: Volume 2 Issue 23
March 22nd, 2002
Engineering
Magnificent Experiences
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Synopsis:
Arlene's
philosophy is encapsulated in three principles: understand
that waste is a terrible thing, respect everything that
comes from the earth and put love into everything you do.
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"The
old lessons still apply. Be prudent. Care. Pay attention to
the details. Put love into everything you do."
-
Arlene Spiegel
Your
guests define 'value' by the totality of the experience:
the service, the décor, the food and its flavors
and aromas and the cost: all details that create a memory.
The most memorable experiences come from an organized,
well-rehearsed and communicated performance. Great 'word
of mouth' is built note by note, scene by scene, act by
act, so that by the end of the visit your guest walks
away 'wowed'. Or bored. Or, worse of all, disgusted. It's
your choice. |
Arlene
Spiegel comes from three generations of 'foodies'. Her grandfather
arrived in America at the turn of the 20th Century and started
in business with a pickle cart. It became Farbie's Kosher Delicatessen,
passed down to the next generation of four brothers. Arlene
remembers helping portion control when a she was a little girl
and learned her first important lesson: "Waste is a terrible
thing". Her grandmother made syrups by hand, with a 'from
scratch' philosophy that utilized every scrap of food.
Her mother had a chain of produce markets. Here Arlene learned
her next important lesson: "Revere all that comes from
the earth". She remembers her uncle hand picking gorgeous
fruit for a customer and wrapping it as if it were Steuben glass.
Her last lesson is encompassed in all that she says, "I
put love into everything I do. I believe that we must create
an uplifting experience for the guest, one that has the potential
to transform their lives. I value their time and take the responsibility
to use the time they spend with me to enhance their life in
some way. Did they have a wonderful time, by their standards?
Our work transcends food and ambiance.
"I take nothing for granted. God is in the details and
I treat everyone, from employees to vendors to my customers
as guests. (This mirrors what Christopher Myers said in Issue
#16). I believe that the neighborhood 'is everything'. It means
that operators need to know their guests more intimately; who
just had a baby, got married, lost a loved one, got into the
college of their choice, received a promotion or lost a job.
It is how my family built their business.
"I believe we are in the 'soul-nourishing' business, particularly
after 9/11. The restaurants that understand they are more than
distributors of food, that they are, in fact, community centers
for their guests to gather, will succeed in the coming years."
What are the most prominent obstacles to reaching this evolved
state?
"Bad habits! Most people want to evolve to be the best
they can. But because of ego, bad experiences, ancient fears
or rocky relationships, they have become selfish. They have
forgotten the simple and innocent idea of 'do unto others as
you wish to be done unto you'."
She used the story of Michaelangelo to illustrate her next point.
"After he carved the David sculpture, someone asked how
he had done it. He said, 'It was always in the marble. I simply
carved it out.' It means that our true soul is inherent in our
restaurants, and we manifest it by 'chipping away' at all the
garbage."
When I asked for one last piece of wisdom, she offered this
in much the same way I imagine her uncle presented a piece of
fresh fruit: "Excellence in restaurants can be recognized
when we start to measure 'growth', not as a number, but as a
commitment and mind-set." She is a hero of mine.
In the next issue, we will look
at how to evaluate all the media 'opportunities' that come flooding
in your doors. -->GO
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