The Benefit of Variety
“I have been thinking a lot recently about the benefit of having so many independent businesses here and what that offers us as consumers in comparison to bigger places that have more corporate hospitality businesses servicing their area.
For me the beauty of the independents is the variety they can offer depending on their guest preferences. An off the shelf solution can only satisfy a certain element of the market and doesn’t suit every area.
I can summarise this conveniently with a theory I’ve used for years when teaching drinks courses.
The Bacon Sandwich Theory
Apologies if you’re not a bacon fan, but I’m sure the analogy will at least make sense to you. I use this often with a group of people in front of me when trying to explain individual preferences.
When asking a room full of people, I go individually and ask them to describe their perfect bacon sandwich. I normally prompt this with a set of questions to answer
Smoked or unsmoked?
Back or rasher?
Crispy?
What kind of bread?
Butter? Or another spread?
Sauce?
Just answering these few questions with a few people in the group very quickly shows how many differences there can be to a simple bacon sandwich, and to make the perfect one for someone can be quite tricky when servicing a multitude of people. For me a lot of our amazing venues here try and provide a perfect ‘bacon sandwich’ to the best of their ability.
By understanding that everyone is different, we can begin to try and find common themes to provide the best experiences possible. I find this is a lot easier with independent venues that can spend their time focusing on individual customers rather than having a fixed model that is mirrored across all their venues.”
Simon Soar is the CEO of the Jersey Hospitality Association