Denny's
Corporation and Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. have announced
their intent to merge their restaurants into a new company, Denny
Morton's Fine Cuisine, Inc.
According to their joint press release, the combined company
plans to consolidate operations by closing all Morton's locations
and reopening a Morton's in a corner of each Denny's. Denny's and
Morton's will share the same kitchen, utilize the same chefs and
servers, and purchase their food and other supplies from the same
vendors. And depending on whether the customer being served is a
Denny's customer or a Morton's customer, chefs and servers will
switch their jackets and aprons throughout the service period:
green for Denny's and red for Morton's.
Consolidating Denny's and
Morton's into a single location? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
It's nonsense, of course. I just made this all up. Yet
that's exactly what many so-called "high end" cleaners have done to
counter a drop in business over the past year.
They've introduced a 2 tier pricing system generically dubbed
their "basic" and "premium" service.
They'll tell you that their basic service is for your "regular
garments". And that their premium service (often accompanied by a
special name such as their sterling, gold, platinum, diamond or
artisan service) is for your "fancier garments". Pressed for
details, they'll tell you that their premium service is their
"extra care service," where your designer and couture garments are
"pressed by their best presser, inspected by hand, hung on wood and
chrome hangers, and stuffed with logo printed tissue."
Can it help? Possibly. But not likely.
The real question you should ask yourself is this: is their
acidic, logo printed tissue paper (not recommended), non-contoured
non-shoulder-supportive wood hangers (not recommended) and plastic
or chrome hangers with impression-forming quarter inch metal clips
(not recommended) worth the premium price?
Because, in many cases, that's probably the only difference
between their basic and their premium service. In other words,
apart from the packaging, the true difference between your
cleaner's basic and premium service is zero.
Their rationale for this strategy is simple: We'll continue to
give customers the same "quality" they've been accustomed to
receiving, but at a reduced price, say 30% less. We'll
call this our basic service and tell our customers that we've been
able to introduce this "new", lower priced service by eliminating
the fancy packaging. We'll also tell them that they can continue to
request our premium service for their "fancier" garments at our
current price levels.
Of course, what we won't tell them is that, apart from the
packaging, there's no real difference in quality between our basic
and our premium service. And we'll gain by charging a premium price
for what is essentially a "bang and hang" garment dressed up with
fancy packaging.
Let's put this in perspective: Think back to the last time you
sat down in a fine steak restaurant, and your server asked you
whether you wanted their basic or premium steak? Did they also ask
you whether you wanted your basic or premium steak just tossed on a
grill or prepared to their exacting standards?
So the big question to ask yourself is this: Is it possible for
a Denny's kitchen to consistently deliver a steak of Morton's
quality just because their steak is prepared by their "best" short
order cook and served on "better" china?
Don't think so.
Clients who choose a true quality cleaner want best of breed.
Not a mutt that has the characteristics of two or more breeds.
How can I help you?