If your customer base is “everyone”, how do you know what they actually want?
This piece was originally shared on LinkedIn in response to recurring conversations with founders and leadership teams around this topic.
I’m publishing it here as part of an ongoing body of thinking around restaurant strategy, market entry, and operational decision-making.
When a restaurant is underperforming, the instinct is usually to add more. Whether it’s marketing, menu items, or events, there’s a belief that more equals better.
The real issue is usually simpler.
Brand. Site. Team. Food and drink.
If any of those fundamentals aren't right, no amount of "more" will cover it. And when your customer is everyone, you end up trying to please everyone and pleasing no one.
The problem is how things feel internally versus how they look externally.
It’s easy to love your own operation, especially in owner-led businesses, and a strong internal culture can actually become a blind spot - what feels good inside can look very different to guests.
This is why measurable signals matter more than internal feelings.
Not just sales, but the signals that tell you how healthy the business really is.
- Training attendance
- Absence levels
- Guest feedback
- Whether local residents know you exist
The operators who fix performance fastest go back to fundamentals first.
They get clinical about what’s working, what isn’t, and focus on mastering the basics before adding anything new.
Since first sharing this, I’ve seen the same issue surface repeatedly — particularly with businesses entering new markets or scaling too quickly. The underlying challenge is rarely strategy itself, but how early decisions constrain execution later.