Buzzword Building a Restaurant
The first time I heard the word “crowdsourcing” was about a year ago. It was in an article about a subject that I don’t even remember. The term wasn’t really clear to me then and now crowdsourcing is being used to develop a restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.
What does crowdsourcing mean? Let’s say you wanted to make a better mouse trap. You would ask a big group of people who all had different skills, ideas and backgrounds to get together and give you input into the project. This “crowd” may be designers, engineers, manufacturers, users, SPCA members, marketing specialists and just about anyone else who wanted to contribute to the development. In other words, you are sourcing out various elements of the idea to a crowd; ergo, crowdsourcing.
On the surface it sounds like a great way to get a lot of free advice, technical knowhow and create a buzz about your plan before the actual product was built and sold. You would think, with all this help, you would have a better product. Sounds reasonable to me with a consumer oriented product that a WalMart, Sears or Ace Hardware would put on their shelves.
Now take the buzzword and apply it to a restaurant concept. You are going to have chefs, architects, POS geeks, restaurant critics, foodies, social marketing experts, consultants, restaurant owners, equipment manufacturers, food purveyors and anyone else interested help you design your restaurant. Sounds great. One consultant (I won’t go into what I think of most consultants), stated in a stroke of brilliance that, “crowdsourcing was like having a comment card before you open”.
Again, on the surface it sounds OK.
But herein lies the rub. What restaurant entrepreneur wants all this input? What inspired chef wants all this help to create his signature dish? What dreamer wants a group of people modifying his fantasy?
Can you imagine if Leonardo da Vinci had all this help with the Mona Lisa? Would Mona have turned out to be a blue-eyed bombshell like a Jessica Simpson, Raquel Welch or Marylyn Monroe? How about the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Would it stand up straight if the developer had better input? Yes, it probably would, but then we would have no Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Food and restaurants are a personal thing. Each Chef puts his/her own touch on a dish. Each guest has their own preference; do you know how many different ideas there are about what a medium rare steak should look like? How about eggs “over easy”? Try to get people to agree on that one!
You can’t take the personal emotions, taste and feelings out of the restaurant business. Guests and owners must mix and share all of these subjective parts.
My point here is that restaurateurs are like artists, entertainers and movie directors all wrapped up in one package. They want people to share their creation. They know the whole world can’t be pleased, but just enough people to profitably support his or her creation will be fine. Perfection never exists for the restaurateur; there is always a new idea, a happier guest, a better way to do things and a new inspiration every day. “Crowdsourcing” might work for the uninspired, but in the restaurant business it’s about building a better mouse trap on your own – that is the fun, motivation and satisfaction. Who wants to share that?
That is why 75% of the people in the world have thought about opening their own restaurant! It’s about people, not perfection.
Larry Edger, Author
The Restaurant Ebook
Restaurant Marketing Plan Handbook
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