ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - June 6, 2003

We made it safely back from Italy on Tuesday night and I am facing "the pile" that accumulated during the past three weeks. The trip was terrific. Too much food, too much wine, too much fun -- what's not to like? I stay close to home for another week, then the travel starts again. Keep those frequent flyer miles coming, folks!

LESSONS FROM ITALY
I really don't think there is such a thing as bad food in Italy ... with the possible exception of US fast food franchises (sorry!) and a few "convenience" products. The good wines are exquisite and even the cheap wine was quite quaffable. We found a great red at a small local winery for 3.25 euro a bottle! In no particular order, here are a few things that stick in my mind about the food in Italy.

Italians like Italian food. We saw very few restaurants offering other cuisines -- a few Chinese restaurants, one Mexican place and the ubiquitous McDonald's. The produce seemed much fresher and more flavorful than what we get here, particularly melons and tomatoes. That may be because food for the US market is grown for maximum shelf life which has bred much of the flavor out. It takes more work to locate truly top quality produce, but it is noticeable when it happens. Do the work.

The olive oil had much more flavor, perhaps because the oil that is exported must be stabilized for longer shelf life. (Better living through chemistry?) I was tempted to bring some back it was so good. With the movement to produce world class olive oil in California, perhaps we will see the quality of our choices improve. We can hope. Still, if you are going to offer olive oil, use the highest quality you can find. Cheap oil can kill an otherwise fabulous dish.

The bread in central Italy -- Umbria and Tuscany -- is not salted so it tastes very bland. The bread baked farther north has salt and tastes more like what I expected. It should go without saying that you must have fabulous bread. If you want water in a restaurant in Italy, you buy a bottle. I did not see tap water offered anywhere. I think we can develop a similar market here with some guest (and staff) education but it will take awhile.

BUSINESS UNUSUAL
If your business is down, don't start trying to place the blame somewhere else. The local plant closed, the weather has been too hot/cold/rainy, new competition -- you know the drill. Maybe all those things happened, but so what? That's just life. The question is not so much what happened as what are you going to do in response to what happened? It comes back to the question of who is running your business.

The simple truth is that the business climate of last year or last week is gone forever and will never be seen again. The approaches and ideas that made you successful in the past will not make you successful in the future because the game has changed. Your choice is to change along with it or become road-kill.

I see fine dining restaurants adopting a fixed price menu during the week, casual dining restaurants getting aggressive with new take-out and retail options and quick serve operators shifting their service concept up a notch. In short, it is adapt or die ... but don't waste a minute whining about how things SHOULD be because they aren't that way any more and likely will never be again. The time you lose to complaining is time that your competitors are using to get ahead of you.

Year of the Guest is a program that can help you start thinking in new directions. The Super Summit is another great way to help you re-invent your business. Read a book, take a trip, talk to your peers/staff/guests and start questioning "the way we have always done it." But make no mistake about it -- you must re-invent yourself ... and you must do it every day. You are not likely to see "business as usual" again. Get used to it ... and get busy.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?

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