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This is something I've thought about as people complain about things like restaurant photos being AI and such. You know what kind of customer this pushes away?

This is something I've thought about as people complain about things like restaurant photos being AI and such. You know what kind of customer this pushes away? The kind that complain about minor details that don't really matter. Might be a net good for many businesses.

zanecodes 11d ago
If you can't be bothered to get the minor details right, how can I be confident that you'll get the major ones right?
- ragequittah 11d ago
  Alternatively: if you're wasting a bunch of your time on the minor details how do you have enough time for the major ones? I'd much rather my restaurant owner worry about sourcing ingredients, keeping the kitchen clean, improving the taste of the food than anything else.
  - zanecodes 11d ago
    If you don't have the time or money to have actual menu photos taken, what are the odds you have the time and money to source high quality ingredients, keep the kitchen clean, or improve the taste of the food? The minor details are precisely the ones that require the least time and money to handle, so if those are being skimped on, it's likely that the major details are too, in my experience.
    - usewik 11d ago
      It depends, probably. If we are talking about high end, off the beaten path places, marketing is important. For the $1.50 slice pizza at the hole in the wall in Times Square? I doubt those places are cleaned and no one is checking the reviews, people just line up because others are, and because the smell and taste is right.
  - notarobot123 11d ago
    ...so lack of attention to detail as evidence of a focus on meaningful quality?
  - deleted 11d ago
    [deleted]
  - jrflowers 11d ago
    Hell yeah I will ship you a box of ‘food’ for two hundred dollars. You know it’s going to be great because I don’t spend my time on stuff like describing or photographing it
zxor 11d ago
Yeah! Restaurants, famously businesses who can lose customers with no downside and don't operate with a high chance of failure. this is an idiotic take
- ragequittah 11d ago
  My bet: it's less than a 2% loss in customers that are just very loud on the internet.
  - simonw 11d ago
    Given restaurant margins are in the single digit percentage points, even a 2% loss of customers could be a big deal.
imawakegnxoxo 10d ago
To the people who are saying these little details aren't an indicator of what matters: As a chef of close to a decade I will tell you right now: If people in the restaurant aren't getting small details right... They DEFINITELY aren't getting the rest right either Someone who isn't paying attention to the food they're serving and the conditions they're serving it in just doesn't care and isn't paying attention to how they wash their hands or that piece of meat they dropped behind the fridge a few days ago that's bringing in roaches and rodents or the sour smell coming from the bag they just opened or the open wound that just dripped blood into your sauce Most likely, they probably don't even know what allergens are present in their menu, posing a genuine risk to people I promise you Who are you people sticking up for? I don't understand the "I mean they clearly didn't put any effort in here, but I believe 100% that they're doing their absolute best everywhere else!" sentiment It's great to be optimistic about life and people in general but that's entirely unreasonable and you're only gonna be let down (or in the case of a restaurant probably get sick) Would you trust a pilot that advertises his services with some half assed ai generated ad with spelling mistakes? I know I wouldn't
- rurp 10d ago
  There's a great episode from the Search Engine podcast about this. The gist is that it takes a lot of concerted effort to make something great, otherwise it will probably suck. The host got interested in a restaurant that seemed obsessive about doing things well and talked to the owner about it. The episode title is "How to pursue excellence ... in noodles".
- robocat 10d ago
  >> You know what kind of customer this pushes away? The kind that They are saying their belief about how other people act. I'm guessing they themselves do care. People typically underestimate others. All too often bosses do. It's like the common belief that only other people respond to advertising: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect A prevalent problem everywhere: most dangerous in politics where we tend to call it hipocrisy.

zanecodes 11d ago

If you can't be bothered to get the minor details right, how can I be confident that you'll get the major ones right?

ragequittah 11d ago
Alternatively: if you're wasting a bunch of your time on the minor details how do you have enough time for the major ones? I'd much rather my restaurant owner worry about sourcing ingredients, keeping the kitchen clean, improving the taste of the food than anything else.
- zanecodes 11d ago
  If you don't have the time or money to have actual menu photos taken, what are the odds you have the time and money to source high quality ingredients, keep the kitchen clean, or improve the taste of the food? The minor details are precisely the ones that require the least time and money to handle, so if those are being skimped on, it's likely that the major details are too, in my experience.
  - usewik 11d ago
    It depends, probably. If we are talking about high end, off the beaten path places, marketing is important. For the $1.50 slice pizza at the hole in the wall in Times Square? I doubt those places are cleaned and no one is checking the reviews, people just line up because others are, and because the smell and taste is right.
- notarobot123 11d ago
  ...so lack of attention to detail as evidence of a focus on meaningful quality?
- deleted 11d ago
  [deleted]
- jrflowers 11d ago
  Hell yeah I will ship you a box of ‘food’ for two hundred dollars. You know it’s going to be great because I don’t spend my time on stuff like describing or photographing it

zxor 11d ago

Yeah! Restaurants, famously businesses who can lose customers with no downside and don't operate with a high chance of failure. this is an idiotic take

ragequittah 11d ago
My bet: it's less than a 2% loss in customers that are just very loud on the internet.
- simonw 11d ago
  Given restaurant margins are in the single digit percentage points, even a 2% loss of customers could be a big deal.

imawakegnxoxo 10d ago

To the people who are saying these little details aren't an indicator of what matters: As a chef of close to a decade I will tell you right now: If people in the restaurant aren't getting small details right... They DEFINITELY aren't getting the rest right either Someone who isn't paying attention to the food they're serving and the conditions they're serving it in just doesn't care and isn't paying attention to how they wash their hands or that piece of meat they dropped behind the fridge a few days ago that's bringing in roaches and rodents or the sour smell coming from the bag they just opened or the open wound that just dripped blood into your sauce Most likely, they probably don't even know what allergens are present in their menu, posing a genuine risk to people I promise you Who are you people sticking up for? I don't understand the "I mean they clearly didn't put any effort in here, but I believe 100% that they're doing their absolute best everywhere else!" sentiment It's great to be optimistic about life and people in general but that's entirely unreasonable and you're only gonna be let down (or in the case of a restaurant probably get sick) Would you trust a pilot that advertises his services with some half assed ai generated ad with spelling mistakes? I know I wouldn't

rurp 10d ago
There's a great episode from the Search Engine podcast about this. The gist is that it takes a lot of concerted effort to make something great, otherwise it will probably suck. The host got interested in a restaurant that seemed obsessive about doing things well and talked to the owner about it. The episode title is "How to pursue excellence ... in noodles".
robocat 10d ago
>> You know what kind of customer this pushes away? The kind that They are saying their belief about how other people act. I'm guessing they themselves do care. People typically underestimate others. All too often bosses do. It's like the common belief that only other people respond to advertising: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect A prevalent problem everywhere: most dangerous in politics where we tend to call it hipocrisy.