It seems that we need to accept change. A change is supposed to be like a holiday. I recall when Skype changed on me - it certainly was not like a holiday even trying to do the simplest things I had done in the past. Gmail changed on me and I spent so much time trying to use BCC to make my Discount Member Subscribers happy. The old gmail was so easy to work with. The new gmail is wierd to say the least. Is change really what we need.? I am old fashioned and try not to make changes. My Staff sometimes point out a change that can improve a process. In such a case I change in a flash and within days I forget how I did a process that survived years. I wonder at times what has changed in nearly 27 years at Alfreds Homestead. Perhaps a few homemade sweets have been added to the menu. Salads are still the same - we may have stopped salads that included nuts. The roasts beef and pork are still carved onto the plate. The seafood has not changed - we did have Morton Bay Bugs years ago but we decided to stick to seafood that woud be available all year. It seems that a lot of things are not allowed to change. I have many patrons who visit every 5 or 10 years - they look forward to returning assuming that not much can change in 5 or 10 years. I certainly dont recommend one changing their partner - change is not essential. Here I am typing in a new Facebook page environment. Already I have nearly forgotten the old facebook page lay-out. I have been told it is better so I will accept the change. I suppose there are a lot of things that change for the better and life goes on. Talking Mobile phones,computers,foods from different cultures,fashion etc. What would we do if change was not paramount?. Just imagine life without a Pizza Shop. I recall going to Tasmania in the early 1980s - Pizza was something you saw in a movie. I had an interesting experience last Saturday Night. A lady asked me where the chips,party pies,chicken nuggets and frankfurts were. I replied that we have the Kids Menu only on a Sunday Lunch. This Lady was very upset with my reply. She stated - what are my kids going to eat?. Obviously there are many who provide their children so called Kids food.I would have thought that kids would eat by example food that parents eat. We are in a new world where advertising seems to affect the habits of a family especially in relation to food. One customer told me that I should have replied with - It would be a good experience for your children to enjoy a variety of meats and vegetables and Homemade sweets. I wonder how long this lady will keep feeding her children Kids food. I suppose we could on occasions where we have over 25 children on a Saturday Night provide a Kids Menu. I have on certain occasions when a person has booked a Saturday Night and begged to have a Kids Menu since her children would not eat anything else. We do try to please and at times we have needed to have 2 carvery boards since customers could not eat pork .We had to carve with different knives on these occasions as well. I wonder if the new generation of Australians will bring about further change in eating habits.I recall when french fries were first introduced to Australia - I was very frustrated since I needed that full potato flavour. I sometimes look at the Alfreds Homestead menu and wonder what can be changed.Years ago I did have fun making sweets. I even tried making bread - I have always made the base for Pizza. Unfortuately time is our enemy - it seems to slow down change. Money or lack of it is also a problem for change. If you are reading this and have not been to Alfreds in a long time then be assured that not much has changed in 27years. Alfreds has still Table Service for drinks even though the cost of Staff is so high. We could not possibly entertain Bar Service. When a party is celebrating a special occasion it would be awful if someone needs to break conversation to cue up at a Bar for the next drink. At Alfreds you still have more time for conversation and dancing because of Table Service. Many modern restaurants are restricting the time allowed to enjoy a night out to at most 2 hours. At Alfreds on a Saturday Night you arrive at 7pm and you can finish drinks and leave after Midnight. You have a good 5 hours to party. There are so many considerations that cannot be changed in relation to an Alfreds Homestead experience. Certain old fashioned ideas withstand change and must be upheld. I had to smile a couple of weeks ago when the Best Man for a shared wedding commented on the Pictures that I had in the Bridal Change room. He said those pictures are ancient. I said - yes you are right since some were from the 1980s. The fact that they were old in my opinion does not make them bad. Do I change them for more modern pictures of Bride and Grooms _ I dont know - What do you think?. There are certian areas that necessitate change - for example advertising. We all in business need to advertise and it is an onerous burden. It is getting harder and harder to do effective advertising. The large companies seem to spend heaps and small business is suffering since all forms of advertising is so expensive and in an age where discounting is paramount it seems we are doomed to working extra hard for very little return. Advertising in newspapers,leaflet drops,radio and TV advertising and direct mail are all that we have tried in the past. These methods of advertising either dont work any more or are too costly. The new forms of advertising such as Facebook and the web site are also not providing substantial return for effort. Internet browsing has reduced and more and more people use facebook for socializing - any advert is avoided like the plague. A change that can make advertising worthwhile is indeed necessary. Large companies attract facebook members by offering holdays and other special gifts - even cars. These large companies may get thousands of likes within weeks but as soon as they advertise because adverts are ignored they get very little recognition for money spent. I have been discounting for 2 or 3 years now and I have experienced a huge increase of customers for doing so. I am even offering extras to go with the special discounts. Do I need to provide freebies? What do you think? I would love some advise on marketing Alfreds Homestead.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 06:22:25 +0000
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