Once upon a time, there was a very successful restaurant chain with multiple locations in Denver, Colorado. They had a devoted following of dedicated and discriminating patrons. The chain had won organization of the year on two occasions and other premier awards from The Colorado Restaurant Association. In August of 2016, a new management group made the decision that they were going to change their focus and cater to less discriminating customers. They made wholesale staffing changes that they hoped would satisfy a less demanding clientele. The group promoted this as a best practices effort when, in reality, it was just a way to reduce expenses. Performance dropped immediately as managers were questionable and new servers missed shifts entirely or arrived late.
The patrons just shook their heads and wondered how punctuality was such a difficult skill to master. In September, it was announced that a new menu would be debuting for the winter session. Customers recoiled knowing that their favorite item had already been stripped from the menu. Hundreds of patrons loved the super rich chocolate milk shakes that drew people from all over town. Wham…bam…that item was discontinued with the lame promise that the shakes were too expensive to create and would be immediately replaced by skim milk.
Gretchen had been a devoted customer and had finally had enough. She called the corporate office and asked to speak Rob Blanda who initiated these changes. She asked what the driving force was behind these changes. He finally admitted that he had to cut expenses to keep his job regardless of how many people were up in arms.
Mr. Blanda tried to explain it this way.
For the last dozen years, patrons had multiple options that included…
Super Rich Chocolate Shakes. Whole Milk. 2% Milk. 1% Milk.
‘Now, I admit we’ve taken away the best of these choices but we’re hoping that Skim Milk will one day be as popular as those incredible shakes of the past.
Gretchen almost laughed out loud before hanging up. ‘I know you and others on your team have been drinking but it surely hasn’t been Skim Milk. I’m not a fan at all of Skim Milk…it’s really kind of like your name in a way. It is just a watered down version of the real thing. Why, with our chocolate shakes, it was as if they were always full to overflowing…the aftertaste seemed to last for days. You can have your Skim Milk as it has little to no appeal for me.’
What You’re Saying