Soup nazi's heir
Published: Mon, 07/08/19
The names and places have been changed due to living in an overly litigious society full of mush cookies who hold candlelight vigils whenever someone is “mean” to them. But, it serves as a nice example of the power of customer curation, and not catering to everyone.
Anyway, here goes:
One of my favorite places to eat is a classy wine bar in my area.
This place not only has great wine, but the owner personally cooks your meal on the spot, there is nobody else cooking but him, and he is one of the best cooks I’ve ever met. Anyway, when you go inside the first thing you see on all the tables is a little “reserved” sign.
Thus, when you walk in, your first thought is:
“Cripes! did I need a reservation?”
But alas, no.
You see, the owner doesn’t want *everyone* as a customer.
And, as he told me:
“I just put those on the tables to keep the riff-raff out.”
Riff-raff being anyone he doesn’t want to serve.
Example:
After sitting down, a man and a woman came in with two loud, obnoxious kids. The owner really doesn’t like kids in his wine bar because he said they tend to be boring customers that want basic food items he doesn’t serve, which parents then demand he create off-menu items just for them. And, he said, even if they do order something, they don’t spend enough money to make it worth it.
Long story short:
The owner shoos them out and says all the tables are reserved.
Then, he says:
“You’re welcome” to the rest of us.
Immoral of the story?
This guy runs his business the way he wants to. He serves only the types of customers he wants. And, plays on his terms. He’s quite prosperous, too, and is kind of like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi (the Wine Nazi?) in his own way.
Anyway, thus the power of customer curation.
If this way of doing the business appeals to you, then my "Email Players" newsletter can give you that kind of control over your business to do business with the best customers, and repel the riff-raff in your market.
Here is the merry ol' link:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle