Justifying $3
Had lunch today. Not Lobster.
Let me not beat around the bush on this one. We’re in a cafe. The cafe owner comes over to tell us about the specials of the day. Chicken & Vegetable Pie, some variety of soup…and “the lobster is now $3 more because it’s much bigger”.
Okaaay…
See that last part? The “We charge $3 more because the lobster is bigger part”?
Here’s the thing. The menu had a little sticker over the lobster on the menu…made obvious by the owner when he pointed out the price rise.
The fact remains…I wouldn’t have noticed it anyway. Why would I? It’s not like I go there everyday to eat lobster. So why tell us?
Why advertise the fact that your price has changed? I saw a few lobby’s come out after I order…they were big, and I thought the price was more than justified.
But perhaps the owner didn’t believe it was justified…thus the reason he had to explain it to EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER!
Ya…”Sir…Maam…the lobster is now $3 more because it’s bigger”.
Something was wrong enough with this scenario that made me want to write about it. I have my opinions, and they’re probably different to yours.
Opinions like…if this guy had just printed 30 new menu’s, he wouldn’t have to explain it to everyone! He probably wasted an extra 1 hour of his time today inefficiently explaining something he didn’t need to, and advertising the fact he’s just put his prices up.
Point of order…her didn’t need to explain it anyway. And if the price is justified, people will pay without needing you to explain it to them.
Do you have an opinion? Let’s hear it below.
2 Responses to “Justifying $3”
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I think one thing that may need to be considered is that he might have a fairly cost conscious set of customers frequenting his business. With the recent changes in the economic environment people aren't spending their cash.
Having worked in restaurants for years, I know that people can get very touchy about price when times are hard.
Then again, I've never seen a restaurant where the Lobster price is on the menu, it is usually on a chalk/white board so it can be adjusted dependent on supply.
Could be Tom. I guess the thing that confused me the most was just how much time and energy he had to put into explaining it to everybody, whereas printing new menu's for the day would have probably taken 15 mins tops…
Anyway…people will run their businesses the way they see fit. Mine is simply an observation