5 Business Lessons I Learned From My New Favorite Restaurant

My wife, daughter and I have a new favorite restaurant in the greater Boston area that we recently started regularly going to.

It’s called the Border Café and it serves the most amazing Tex-Mex / Cajun food (for those friends and colleagues who know me, rest assured, The Cheesecake Factory is still on top of my list 🙂 )

In Massachusetts, the Border Café has locations in Burlington (the one we regularly go to), Cambridge and Saugus. They also have a couple of locations in New Jersey and Delaware. If you live close to any of those areas, make sure you try it out. You will not be disappointed – especially if you have kids.

So why do I like it that much that I’m writing about it? I’ll get to that in a second, but first I wanted to share the story behind how I found out about the restaurant.

Several months ago, I was taking a graduate course at Harvard called Managing Workplace Performance. As part of the course requirements, the students had to form separate groups and have dinner together at a restaurant of their choosing to analyze how well it’s managed from a customer perspective.

I was assigned to a team of 5 individuals and each of us started making suggestions of places to go to. One of the members suggested the Border Café. I had never heard of it before, but given that I like to try new places, and that it was close by in Harvard Square, I didn’t have any objections. However, a couple of other students pushed back and made some counter-suggestions.

The person who recommended the Border Café mentioned that she was very picky about food and that she couldn’t just eat anywhere. She basically said that if we all decide to go somewhere else, she would be happy to come along with us but probably won’t have anything to eat.

To avoid leaving anyone out of the experience, we all just agreed to go there. Plus, I now really wanted to see what this place was all about given that she spoke so highly of it.

Needless to say, everyone had a fantastic time and our overall assessment of the restaurant was superb. The service was extraordinary and the food was delicious.

The restaurant is by no means a fine dining restaurant. It’s very casual, the atmosphere has a nice laid-back vibe to it, and the food is very reasonably priced.

I called my wife on the way back home and told her we had to try this place together someday. When we did a few weeks later, she was also sold on it and it’s been one of our regular go-to places since.

How This Applies to Your Business

Whether you are an employee, a blogger or a business owner, you always have a customer. This could be your boss, your readers, or your clients. To get promoted, increase your blog’s readership or grow your business, you want to always make your customers happy.

Here are 5 things I learned from the restaurant to do just that:

1. Excellent Quality: People go to restaurants for many reasons, but the main one is to have a great meal. The food at the Border Café is outstanding and quite tasty. My wife and I have tried several dishes now and they have all been remarkably well done. Regardless of what industry you work in, never lose focus on what you’re creating – whether it’s a service or a product. If you produce high quality work, customers will love you. No one enjoys a lousy meal.
2. Freebies: As soon as you get seated at the restaurant, you get a basket full of fresh, great-tasting tortilla chips and a side of salsa for free (with unlimited refills). Kids get a couple of nice freebies as well: crayons with a coloring sheet, and a helium balloon. People just love free stuff. If you’re working for a customer, give them a valuable freebie such as a complementary consulting session or a coupon for a sample. If you’re working for a boss, surprise him or her with an additional helpful report when they don’t expect it.
3. Value for Money: I mentioned earlier that the food is very reasonably priced. That was an understatement: it’s actually exceptionally priced compared to other restaurants in the area. Most meals at the Border Café are in the $10 range and the portions are very generous. Kids’ meals are only $3.98 and can actually feed a not-so-hungry adult (a good-sized entrée with fries, a drink and either M&Ms or Starburst for dessert). Simply put, you get a lot more than what you pay for. Give your customers more value for their money and you’re golden.
4. Continuous Improvement: The first time we ordered chicken strips, they were a bit dry. So the manager came out to ask us what was wrong with them and happily took them away.  A few visits later we heard from someone that they changed the chicken batter recipe, so we ordered them again and they were delicious. I don’t know whether they had received a lot of negative feedback or they just saw that their chicken strips weren’t selling as much. What matters is that they did something about it to keep their standards high. By listening to your customers and continuously improving, you’ll always have an edge. This reminded me of the “permanent beta” concept I wrote about in my previous post.
5. Consistency: All of the above doesn’t matter if it’s done only once. The key is to do it every time, all the time. I’ve been to the restaurant so many times and it has never disappointed me. Consistently producing quality content of good value will establish a certain reputation about you with your customers. Make sure you always deliver on their high expectations.

A couple of things happens when you implement all those lessons.

First, people talk about you and you end up with free word of mouth marketing (I’ve never seen an ad for the Border Café, but I found out about it from my colleague, and now I’m spreading the word about it on my blog).

Second, you get repeat customers who are willing to wait in line at your doors when they have thousands of other options to choose from.

My professor summed it up nicely. This restaurant has been around since she was a student at Harvard, so they must be doing something right. Most restaurants don’t last that long.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below or on my Facebook Page!