Not Everyone Should Open a Business

Here is an excerpt from a post that I recently read regarding someones super experience at a meal assembly kitchen:

When they finally did open, we waited a full month for them to let things shake out. Our first sessions did not go well. Fully half of the meals we had pre-registered to make were unavailable when we got there. To make matter worse, they had overbooked the session by at least half, so it was every bit as chaotic as the much smaller DD store. We had to constantly request ingredients, staffers couldn't be located when needed and when we did find them they seemed clueless or were very slow to help. It wound up taking us well over 2 hours to do what were accustomed to doing in 30 mins. Our second and their sessions weren't much better, with changed
menus, missing ingredients, less-than-helpful staff, etc. We found the menu much more to our liking though.

Good lord, are you kidding me? If this is representative of my competition, I should be rich! Unfortunately, if someone has this type of experience at a competitor, I may not even get that second chance for reasons touched on in my previous posts.

If you are going to go into business selling any type of product, you better make sure you have an understanding of customer service. Isn't this common sense? Frankly, I don't seem to find this as a hard concept to grasp. Treat people as you would want to be treated as a customer. It baffles me that so many people don't get that.

Business performance good or bad, I am proud of my accomplishments of opening up my business, but I take special pride in the customer service we provide. Here is just one simple stat that I think provides a telling look into our performance...

Total Number of refunds processed over first 10 months of operation: 11

• 4 Refunds due to failed coupon code
• 3 Refunds due to site incorrectly overcharging customer (customers were unaware and informed that they would be due a partial refund)
• 1 Refund due to customer accidentally signing up twice
• 2 Refunds due to customer changing orders resulting in lower price
• 1 Refund due to accidentally double charging customer (again we brought this to the customer's attention with a follow-up call, not the other way around)
• ZERO - number of refund requests received due to any customer complaint including poor experience, quality issue, or incorrect order fulfillment.

I don't know what the industry standard is for a new business, but I'd say that's pretty damn good. Hey, what's wrong with tooting your own horn once in awhile?

The worst complaint that I can recall over 10 months was a mom who was unhappy that their kids didn't eat the Pesto Chicken because they didn't like the green color. Silly? Yeah, probably. My fault? Probably not. Did I give her a free meal because her pesto sauce was green? Yes. Should it be forgotten? Never.

Customer service can either be an asset or a liability. If you view it as an asset, then it provides opportunity. I didn't really give this customer a free meal because her pesto was green. I gave it to her because she would remember I gave her a free meal because her pesto was green.

Good customer service is accomplished by simply listening to your customers. Its information gathering. The more information you have and the more you understand your customers, the better service you will provide. If this particular customer's next order contains spinach cannelloni and I don't remind her that spinach is green, I have failed her, and I probably won't stop thinking about it for another 5 months. Moms are busy people, and if I have to remind them that spinach is green, then so be it.

Changing the Spin

Google almost any product that you can think of and what usually shows up on the first page of links? Online stores, product description sites, consumer reviews and manufacturer websites are usually par for the course. Go ahead and try it...take the first consumer product that pops in your head and throw it into Google and see if it passes the test. The common thread is that all these types of sites are geared towards the end consumer of that particular product. It is quite easy to research, learn, compare, discuss, and purchase almost any product under the sun.

Now Google my product: "meal assembly" or "meal preparation" and observe what is shown in the first page of links. Blogs geared towards franchise owners (many with negative spins) and franchise opportunity sites dominate the screen. In an industry that is still struggling for general public awareness, how does this help the education of a potential customer? Now of course customers certainly aren't purchasing "meal assembly", but rather family sized dinners. But if you have never heard about this concept before and are curious to learn more about it, what might be the first thing you do? I'd venture to guess that firing "meal assembly" into google might be high on your list.

This is a real problem for this young industry. In the online world where most of our customer base does the bulk of their consumer research, meal assembly has always been more about the business opportunity than about the actual product or service. As consolidation begins and the shakeout occurs, those of us that are left standing will need to determine how to collectively move the industry forward and into the mainstream and that includes the Internet. We need consumer focused websites chock full of fantastic product information sharing all the unbeatable benefits of meal assembly. We need champion consumers who blog to no end about how 12 meals a month have changed their lives.

Unless we start using all available media outlets, especially the Internet, to start spinning the benefits into the public consciousness, it will continue to be an uphill battle. After all, if Google doesn't "get it"...who will?

Super Disaster or Super Opportunity?

If you search the blogosphere for meal assembly information, you will quickly find an array of disheartening posts related to the rise and fall of this young and still mostly unknown industry. Some might even surmise that this industry will be all but history by the end of 2008. Well that would certainly be troublesome news to me. While I am not sure the end of the world is coming, those of us that intend to make it a success are currently faced with many challenges for which one of the biggest is the wake left by my now defunct local competition.

While not necessary to name any particular competitor (although certain clues might allow you to infer your own conclusion), many of the first to market meal assembly stores understood the benefits, but forgot about their product. According to some self-proclaimed experts, food quality is not a differentiator between meal assembly stores. Well my friend, I beg to differ..in fact I believe it is actually all about the food.

Many stores were trying to understand what happened to their dwindling customer base that flooded their doors during their first few months of operation. Many industry pundits want to point to changing consumer habits, the impatient "I want it now" consumer, or just another dying fad. While that may have some merit, I don't really think that its that complicated. Customers loved the concept and the convenience, but they took the food home and their family puked all over it - plain and simple. It just doesn't matter how much money or time you can save - if your actual product is no good, customers don't return.

Now one of the issues that our friend touches on is that everyone claims to have "better ingredients" and thus we are all the same. Well it is true that we all make this claim and thus is one of my many marketing challenges. When everyone claims the same thing, how do you stand out from the crowd? Plus it can be difficult to sell "fresh ingredients" when your product is intended to be frozen until use. While I will save my thoughts on "fresh vs frozen" for a future post, the bottom line is we are really no different than comparing any two restaurants. We have our own chef, our own unique menus, our own unique recipes, and we select our own ingredients, just as any restaurant. When 10 pizza joints all claim to have the best pizza in town, would you believe them all? Probably not, but one thing you might eventually end up doing is trying them all and drawing your own conclusions.

The problem with this young and mostly misunderstood industry is that the consumer will lump all brands together into one of two groups: good or bad. As many of my customers would tell you, we are definitely not like the competition, no more than Morton's Steakhouse is like TGI Fridays. Unfortunately for meal assembly, its a little harder to get everyone to try steak again when the first one tasted like a shoe. A little harder..but not impossible.