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April 14, 2016

Cart-Service Customer Service

Chip Carter – Vice President

In addition to reading Oklahoma’s state newspapers daily, I try to read the Wall Street Journal every day (failing all too often). I also usually scan Bloomberg, which has grown to be my second favorite news source. Last week I ran across an article I particularly liked, Bartenders at the Table: The Flashy New Trend in Luxury Dining.

Now at first blush this may not seem like the type of article a public relations professional in Oklahoma would key-in on and recommend – but stay with me... If it’s Bloomberg it’s almost certainly going to be NYC-centric (which it is, but that’s okay – just like New Yorkers need to know about fly-over country, it’s helpful for anyone in business to know the difference between Peter Lugers and their local Outback Steakhouse). So aside from my general love for the Big Apple, why is this article interesting? Because restaurants of all stripes, from corporate franchises to your local bistro, are in a vicious business. I’ve found you can learn a lot about business from studying successful restaurants.

The hot trend for some high-end restaurants, Kara Newman explains, is tableside cart-service cocktails. Whether it is a signature drink that is only available tableside or a cart of specialty Cognacs and Armagnacs, the important point I believe she makes is that the customer experience really matters. If you are shelling out hundreds of dollars for that bone-in fillet with bourbon-soaked peppercorns with a side of potatoes and leeks fried in duck fat, then quite simply you expect more. You expect an experience.

Whether your business is a restaurant, oil field services, an IT firm or a PR agency, your customers have a multitude of choices, and you must find a way to not only provide superior services than the competition, you must also find a way to stand out to differentiate yourself. You can go the Outback route and offer high-volume, standardized services, or you can go the cart route, offering highly customized, highly personal service where your customers know you take the time to understand their unique needs and serve them something special. I don’t know about you, but I’ll do about anything to avoid corporate chain restaurants, but the next time I’m in New York, I’m definitely visiting Daniel’s.

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