Quality Food = Happy Customers

My wife and I went out to a chain steak restaurant to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. Not a fine dining establishment with a linen tablecloth, but at least the napkins were linen.

When my sirloin arrived, it was graced with the largest stalks of asparagus that I have ever seen. Now, usually when I order asparagus as a side, I get three or four scrawny stalks, but this particular day I found seven stalks that were each nearly an inch in diameter. I suspected that they might be tasteless, but I found their flavor to be quite good.

Was the chef feeling particularly generous that night? Was the waitress angling for a better tip?

Probably, but I noticed that the side vegetables on every other plate looked as good as mine.

The choices buyers make, whether they’re purchasing for a processor or finding a supplier for a restaurant, can differentiate your company in the marketplace. There’s a pretty good chance that I’ll go back to that restaurant again, and I’ll drive past a dozen restaurants -– and two or three steak places – to get there.

The restaurant I worked in as a waiter in college had a banner over the doorway from the food prep area to the dining area. It said: “A satisfied customer tells no one. A dissatisfied customer tells 10 of his friends. It’s easier to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one.”

It’s a slogan that the fresh-cut produce industry should remember. Whatever your place in the food supply chain, remember not only your customer, but also your customer’s customers. If they’re happy, then your customer will be happy, too.

This issue of Fresh Cut, just like the asparagus stalks, is a large one. In this month’s issue you’ll find a feature on McEntire Produce, which has just expanded its operations to a 160,000-square-foot processing facility in Columbia, S.C. There’s also an article on research that the U.S. military is doing that could have future implications for the fresh-cut industry.

Fresh Cut will be on the road this spring, so if you’re attending United FreshTech or Fresh Marketplace, stop by our booth and introduce yourself.