Food for thought

A group of photographer friends and colleagues are planning a dinner night out to talk photo, ideas, things geeky and laugh. They’re gathering at a Chinese Buffet I frequented in high school. It was the closest restaurant to school and we always took a bunch of eggrolls back to class.

One photographer replied that the buffet is her favorite Chinese Restaurant. It didn’t occur to me till I began a reply that my favorite Chinese restaurant is directly across the parking lot. So how, then do two similar restaurants stay in business? Here’s my reply that got ME thinking while I wrote it.

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Should you get the chance, drive, walk or take a rickshaw across the New China parking lot north toward Ireland Road and walk downstairs to China Garden. Same great fried goodness, less sitting-in-a-buffet-bin texture. Order your food, not scoop it.

Disclaimer: Sara and I frequent China Garden. Probably 25% of the time that we have their food we order it carry out. We’re hooked. I won’t pass up a buffet meal with friends or family, but given the choice between these two Chinese restaurants within a fortune cookie’s throw of each other, I’ll be found at China Garden.

Small business lesson here? Two restaurants, pretty much same ingredients. Two different approaches to serving similar* foods.

Differences?

New China / Buffet: (Been there at least since 1998)

U-Scoop – eat as much as your digestive system allows.
One price and you get everything in the bins
Great to try different dishes that at your leisure, good for picky eaters too.
Staff takes payment and takes away dirty plates
Conversation: Hi how many?” and “Are you done with that plate?”

China Garden / Sit-down: (25+ years in business including restarting after a building fire)

A greeting where, if followed by “How many?” is to determine your party size not your order total upon entry
Meal courses (appetizer, entree, dessert) served individually and not all available simultaneously. Timed delivery keeps the food coming a portion at a time.
Portions are generous and I often take home leftovers
Servers take your order at table, bring food, and in most of my experiences there, conversation.
Did I mention an experience?

My first time eating at China Garden with Sara was not long after her mother had passed away, not two months into my dating days with Sara. When we arrived the staff asked how Sara was and how her family was doing. When Sara told our waitress that her mother had recently passed, the waitress broke into tears. I didn’t realize how long Sara’s family had been visiting the Garden and how they had gotten to know the staff.

Their chef, Jimmy, has come out to our table to see how our meal was (always tasty!). The exact date escapes me but within the last year or so he lost his wife. More than once he’s had conversations with us and with Sara’s dad about lost loved ones.

Once the fried goodness digests and tiredness subsides, what are you left with? A rumbling stomach, perhaps. Smelling like deep fried Chinese food, most certainly. What’s the experience that will get you talking?

What’s your business’ experience that will get your customers talking?

* Foods similar to American tastebuds and relatively safe to assume isn’t intestines, dog, or anything too “weird” for Americans to eat. Fellow China travelers can you agree?