Take a good look at the photo above.
I was walking past this shop on Saturday and realized; I have no idea what they sell.
At first glance, you may say, “they sell bagels” but then when you read a bit more, the badly-hung ad hoc sign in the window says “2 SLICES + SODA CAN $3.75.” As the shop is in New York, the implication is 2 slices of pizza.
Wait, what? I thought this was a bagel shop.
Are you confused? You are probably not alone. As confused as the customers are, think about how confused and scattered the employees must feel. The owners look like they are scrambling to sell whatever food item they can. If they need to sell pizza in a bagel deli to make the rent, they do.
Many cafés fall into this trap. They start off with a concept and instead of marketing to an audience who identifies with the niche, they panic and start adding things to the menu. In the end, they will most likely fail because they will become nothing to everyone. Nothing separates their bagels from the deli down the street or the food cart two more blocks over.
When providing service with boundaries, it’s important to never forget Rule One: You can’t be everything to everyone.
To read more about Service with Boundaries, start here where it all began.
