Starting Your Own Café - The Right Product
Starting Your Own Café - The Right Product
Philip Rundlett shares his insight into the coffee shop industry
Part II - Supply the right product at the right price
In my earlier sales career I was introduced to the wisest of quotes, from a gentleman in the 1800’s by the name of John Ruskin, he said -
“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”
I used to put this at the end of all my emails but I stopped it, not because I don’t believe it but because people didn’t seem to read it, and if they did many didn’t take heed.
My philosophy has always been to supply the right product at the right price, without sacrificing quality or service and to strive to meet and surpass the requirements of the customer, something I’m sure John Ruskin would approve of.
So was John Ruskin right in his observations? How many times has the product not lived up to the mark, or the delivery is later than expected, the goods are damaged or in fact that the delivery never arrives; in today’s hectic world should we not stop and give a moment’s thought to these wise words, as professionals how many times have we been in to a coffee shop or restaurant and been disappointed with what we are served, however when the waiter or waitress comes to the table and say’s “is everything OK?” our instant response is “lovely thank you”, has this response been as a result of pity or did we knowingly go there because it was affordable, so what do you expect? So in Ruskin’s wise words, “when you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything!”…