4 ms·
Not likely. The issues were far deeper than cash flow. The new business was primarily one and done visitors anyway. By the time you've made the trip to the foo
by brewdad 8y ago
Not likely. The issues were far deeper than cash flow.
The new business was primarily one and done visitors anyway. By the time you've made the trip to the foodie Mecca of Portland and traveled across town to try the "country's best burger" would you really be deterred by a $15 price tag vs $10?
How much would you have to raise the price to make that work? How do you do this without forever alienating your loyal local customers once you have successfully chased the hordes away?
- deckar01 8y agoThere is a fancy burger place near me that only serves a fixed number of customers per day. It is famous for the chef kicking people out for bringing children, dressing disrespectfully, and being offended for other random reasons. They gave out a membership card that allowed regulars to be seated immediately and avoid the daily limit.
- mikepurvis 8y agoThat seems like a really smart way of handling it. There are a bunch of restaurant types which just aren't that elastic to changing demand; basically anything which has a longer preparation time and is expensive enough that you can't afford to just massively overprovision. Thinking like slow-roasted meats, most soups/chilis, or fancy pastries like croissants, yeast-raised donuts, etc. Basically any place that's serving that stuff (and legitimately making it in-house vs warming it up from frozen like a chain) is going to be done when they run out for the day. So handing out cards to locals to skip the line would be a great way of not alienating your loyal customer base.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mholmes680 8y agoGive the locals a loyalty card that gives them half-price burgers.
- vinay427 8y agoI wonder if those punch cards (or the digital equivalents) for loyalty points are effective at building a consistent customer base. They're not limited to locals but it might encourage locals to come back.
- cortesoft 8y agoI used to work right next to Union Square in San Francisco, and the restaurant right across the street would give us a 'locals' card that would get us $5 off the crazy high prices. That way, locals could eat a normal meal but they could keep the tourist traffic at a reasonable level.
- jetrink 8y agoI think it would be interesting to try surge pricing with a twist: Keep menu prices the same, but when a line forms, require people eating at the restaurant to donate to a worthy charity. The price mechanism continues to function, but people feel good about paying more instead of feeling ripped off.
- crooked-v 8y agoCharge normal prices for anyone who shows an ID with an address in the state, double or triple it for anyone else.
- robocat 8y agoI think the article mentioned that the number of people coming in from from the suburbs were also a problem.
- king_panic 8y agoWould you have travelled to Portland for the "country's best burger" if the price tag was $15 instead of $10? How about $20? How about $25?