Good Is No Longer Good Enough

[00:00:01] I need to tell you something that's going to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Your restaurant is probably pretty good. Good food, good service, good atmosphere. And that's exactly why you're struggling. Because in 2026, good just isn't good enough. It's not cutting it anymore. Today I'm going to explain why. Good enough is the kiss of death for your restaurant and for tons of other restaurants out there. But most importantly, we're going to talk about what you need to do about it. All of that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy. [00:00:32] There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking. [00:00:58] Foreign. [00:01:03] Thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. This is the Restaurant Strategy podcast. Two episodes every single week. You know me, I wrote a book. It's called the Restaurant Marketing Mindset. I give talks. We have a membership site, it's called Restaurant Foundations. We give away free month long memberships so you can check it out free for 30 days. That link is in the show notes. I also run something called the P3 mastermind. It is the signature program that we run. It's a group coaching program for independent restaurant owners who are looking to level off profitability and scale. So if you got 1, 2, 3, 5 locations, if you're doing at least a million dollars in revenue per location but you are not making a consistent predictable 20% every single year, then this is a conversation we need to have. There's no pressure. It's 30 minutes. You ask me a bunch of questions, I ask you a bunch of questions. Let's see if we're a good fit. Let's see if you struggle with the thing that we've gotten really at fixing. Again. It's called the P3 mastermind. It's group coaching program. Over 150 people currently enrolled in the program. We've put over 350 people through the program. You get started by setting up a phone call. RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com Schedule Grab time on the calendar again RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com schedule no pressure. We'll just get to know each other. That link is in the show notes. [00:02:22] Now. What's the food cost on your third best selling entree? You don't know. With Margin Edge you could know instantly. Margin Edge is a complete restaurant management software that I recommend. I have been recommending to all of my P3 members. If you are looking to improve profitability, this is the program for you. With Margin Edge. You just snap pictures of your invoices and you get real time data for all areas of your business. You can see plate costs in real time. You get a daily P and L, your inventory count sheets are automatically up updated. It saves you a ton of time and it lets you make really informed real time decisions. My client, Gather Brewing, they started using Margin edge and within one month their food costs went from 38% to 28%. You do the math. That is meaningful savings. There's a reason I recommend Margin Edge to so many of the P3 members. It's because it works. I know it works. I've seen it work. If you're interested in learning more, or if you want to see how Gather brewing went from 38 to 28% food costs, head over to Marginedge.com there's this incredible video that they filmed. Again, Margin Edge.com chip, watch the video, grab time, set up a call. That link is always in the show notes. [00:03:39] Okay, so let me paint this picture right. You run a good restaurant. Again, Your food is good. Not amazing, but good. Nobody complains. Your service is good. Friendly staff, they get the orders right. Most of the time. [00:03:52] Your atmosphere is good. It's clean, it's comfortable. Again, maybe nothing special, but there's nothing wrong with that. You get decent reviews. 4.2 stars on Google. Some people come back, most don't. Business is fine. Not great, not terrible, just fine. And every month you wonder why you're not busier. Here's why. You're competing in a sea of good. [00:04:15] Every street has five restaurants just like yours. Good food, good service, good enough. And when everything is good, nothing stands out. When nothing stands out, guests make decisions based on convenience and price. Which one's closest, which one's cheapest, or which one is available right now. [00:04:33] And when that happens, you have become a commodity. And commodities compete on price, on convenience, on familiarity, on location. And that's it. And that's the problem with good. So why good used to be good enough? Right? Let's talk about it and why it isn't anymore. Twenty years ago, good was plenty good enough. If you had decent food and you didn't poison people, you could make money. There wasn't a restaurant on every corner, right? Delivery apps didn't exist. People didn't have 800 photos of food on Instagram every day. Good stood out because bad was the alternative. Restaurants are good or bad. But now now we have 47 different ways to order food without even leaving your couch. Meal kits get delivered to your door. Ghost kitchens are optimized for delivery. Social media shows everyone where great food is, what grade food looks like. The bar has been raised. What used to be good is now the bare minimum. And the bare minimum does not get people off their couches. Now think about it from your guest perspective. Well, you can go out or you can stay home, order doordash, watch Netflix, call it a night. [00:05:41] Right? Or the alternative. They get dressed, they drive to your restaurant, they pay a premium, and they have a quote, unquote good experience. [00:05:48] Why would they do that? The answer is they won't. They're not. Not unless you're offering something that they can't get anywhere else. [00:05:57] So here are the three ways that restaurants fail by being good. [00:06:01] Let me show you how this plays out. Failure number one, the menu. Most restaurants have a good menu. A burger that's fine. Pasta that's decent. Salad that's acceptable. Everything is, yep, you guessed it, good. But here's the problem. Nobody talks about good. Nobody posts good on Instagram. Nobody tells their friends, oh, you have to try this burger. It's good. [00:06:23] Good is forgettable. I worked with a restaurant that had 38 items on their menu. All of them were good, not one was exceptional. I asked the owner, if someone drove an hour to eat here, what would you tell them that they had to order. He hesitated and he goes, well, I mean, everything's good. And there, right there is the problem. [00:06:43] So we cut the menu to 22 items. Then we took the five core dishes and made them extraordinary. Better ingredients, better technique, better presentation. [00:06:54] And this stories behind every single dish. Same kitchen, same staff, different focus. Within two months, those five items accounted for. Get this, 60% of their orders, reviews changed from it was good to you have to try this dish. People started driving from neighboring towns. They would go an hour out of their way. The lesson here is that excellence in a few things beats adequacy in a lot of things. [00:07:25] Failure number two, the experience. [00:07:28] Most restaurants provide good service. Servers are friendly. Food comes out in a reasonable time. The bill is accurate. Good, but exceptional restaurants create moments. Let me give you an example. Restaurant A, server takes your order, brings your food, checks once, brings the check, good service. [00:07:46] Restaurant B, server notices it's your birthday from the reservation note brings out a special dessert. The chef comes out to say hello. They write you a personal note and drop a postcard with your check. [00:07:59] Both provided good service, but only one created a moment that you're going to remember. Only one is going to get talked about tomorrow and only one is going to get a return visit and five referrals the next day. [00:08:13] I consulted with a restaurant that was obsessed with efficiency. Get the food out fast, turn the tables, keep it moving. Their table turns were great, their reviews were fine. Good food, quick service, nobody came back and we made one change. We created three moment triggers, or what we called speed bumps. Number one, if it's someone's first visit, the manager personally welcomes them and explains the story behind one quote, unquote their favorite dish. Number two, if it's a. If it's a special occasion, something unexpected happens. A free dessert, a signed card from the staff, a photo. There are so many things we explored, but something unexpected happens. [00:08:54] Number three, if we notice a regular, meaning somebody who's been here on their third visit or more, they're greeted by name, asked if they want quote, unquote the usual or something new. [00:09:06] Server service got slower. To be clear, yes, table turns dropped slightly, but repeat visits increased 34% in eight weeks time. [00:09:18] Again, I want to be clear here. Service got slower, table turns dropped slightly. It was an eight minute increase, but repeat visits increased 34% in eight weeks. And that is real top line. The lesson here is efficient is good, memorable is exceptional. [00:09:36] We got more to talk about in just a second after a word from another one of our sponsors, restaurant owners. Because I know you guys out there are restaurant owners. If you want a steady, predictable flow of new customers, you need to check out restaurant scale secrets. They're fully done for you. Marketing systems have helped tons of restaurants, including more than 50 members of this the restaurant strategy community. [00:10:00] Their systems have helped fill tables and add tens of thousands of dollars to top line revenue. If you're ready to take marketing off your plate and start filling tables, head to restaurantscale secrets.com/chip to book your free discovery call again restaurantscale secrets.com chip. As always, you'll find that link in the show notes. [00:10:22] Okay, we're talking about these failures shared the first two. Here's the third one. Failure number three, the value proposition. Of course we're talking about why good is no longer good enough. Most restaurants offer good value, reasonable prices, decent portions, fair quality for the money. Good but exceptional restaurants give you a reason to choose them over everyone else. Ask yourself, why should someone come back to your restaurant instead of the three others on the same block? Most operators answer with well, we've got good food, good service, but guess what? So does everyone Else, that's not a value proposition. That's the price of entry. [00:11:02] A value proposition is specific. It differentiates you. It's a reason that someone would choose you instead of any of the other options. Here's some examples. [00:11:13] Bad example. We serve fresh, quality food in a welcoming atmosphere. A great example. We're the only restaurant in town, sourcing everything from farms within 50 miles. A bad example. We have the best burgers around. A great example. We dry age our burger beef for 30 days right here in house and grind it fresh every morning. [00:11:32] A bad example. Great Italian food and excellent service. A great example. [00:11:38] Third generation family recipe from Tuscany. Prepared exactly as Nona made it in 1952. You see the difference? One is generic. The other is specific. The other is exceptional. I worked at a pizza place drowning in a market with 14 other pizza places. I don't know, maybe you've been to Brooklyn before. All of them had, quote, unquote, you guessed it, good pizza. But none of them stood out. So we created a specific value proposition. The only wood fired Neapolitan pizza in Brooklyn certified by the Associazione Verace. Pizza Napolitana. It's a mouthful, I know, but it's specific. It's verifiable. It's different. They put it everywhere. On their website, their menu, the social media. They put it on the windows. They talked about it. Traffic increased by almost 30% in three months. Not because their pizza got better, but because their positioning did. The way they talked about it changed. The lesson is good isn't a value proposition. Specific and differentiated is. [00:12:39] So then here's what exceptional looks like, right? What does it mean to move from good to exceptional? It's not about being perfect at everything. It's about being extraordinary at something very specific. Let me give you a framework. You pick your spike, right? Every exceptional restaurant has a spike. One thing they're known for. It could be a signature dish that nobody else has. An experience you can't get anywhere else. A level of hospitality that's uncommon. A specific expertise. Expertise or authenticity. Maybe it's simply a unique atmosphere or vibe. [00:13:13] Chipotle spike. Fast casual customization with visible assembly in and out Spike. Extreme quality control with a teeny tiny little menu. [00:13:23] Cheesecake Factory spike. An absurdly large menu with consistent execution. Alinea's Spike. A theatrical fine dining experience like performance art. [00:13:34] Notice, none of them are good at everything. They're exceptional at one thing and good enough at everything else. So my question to you is, what's your spike? If you don't have one Guess what? You're just good. And good is no longer good enough. [00:13:49] So here's how to find your spike. Here's how to identify what you should be exceptional at. First, look at your best reviews. Not the it was good reviews. The ones where people use specific words like amazing, incredible, best I've ever had. [00:14:04] Notice what they're talking about. That's your potential spike. Second, ask your regulars why they come back. Not what they like, but why they choose you over alternatives. Their answer is your differentiation. [00:14:18] Third, look at your competition. What's everyone else doing now? Do the opposite or go deeper or go narrower. If everyone has super big menus, go small and perfect that. If everyone is fast, go slow and be theatrical. If everyone is casual, get elevated, find the white space and own it. Fourth, finally, commit completely. This is where most operators fail. They identify their spike, then they half commit. We're known for our steaks, but we also want to know, want you to know that we have good seafood and good pasta and also these really good bar food. No, wrong. Exceptional means you go all in. If you're a steakhouse, have the best steaks anyone has ever had, period. [00:14:59] Everything else can be good, but your spike must be exceptional. [00:15:04] Now there's an investment required, right? Moving from good to exceptional does require investment. [00:15:10] Not necessarily money, though. Sometimes that's required. But always an investment of time, focus, discipline and sacrifice. Remember, you can't be exceptional at everything. You have to choose what matters and let the other things just be good enough. You're sacrificing almost everything else to be exceptional at one thing. And this can make people uncomfortable. [00:15:34] But what if. What if people want that other thing that we're not focusing on? Then fine, they will go somewhere else. Sucks. But it's okay. Because the people who want what you're exceptional at will seek you out for the thing that you're exceptional at. And they'll pay more and they'll come back and they will tell everyone. And that's worth more than being mediocre to everyone. Here's the bottom line. Here's what I need you to understand. [00:15:58] The restaurant industry has changed. Good food isn't enough. Good service isn't enough. Good value isn't enough because everyone has that. The restaurants winning in 20, 26 and beyond are the ones that stopped trying to be good at everything and started being exceptional at something. They picked their spike. They invested in it completely. They became known for it, famous for it. And when you're known for something exceptional, everything changes. You're not competing on price you're competing on value. You're not competing on convenience. You're competing on experience. [00:16:31] You're not competing with everyone. You are in a category of one. You have no competitors because you're the only one who does what you do. That's the difference between good and exceptional. And in 2026, good is no longer good enough. So here's my question for you. Number one, what's your spike? What's the one thing you're going to be exceptional at? If you don't have an answer, that's your homework. And if you need help figuring it out, that's what we do. Let's talk restaurantstrategypodcast.com schedule. It's a key component to the P3 mastermind that calls 30 minutes absolutely, absolutely free. We will identify what makes your restaurant different and how to amplify it. We'll answer questions you have about the program. We'll ask you a bunch of questions so we understand what's going on. [00:17:17] Good restaurants survive. Exceptional restaurants thrive. Question is, which one are you going to be? [00:17:24] I appreciate you guys being here. Thank you very much for tuning into this show. Restaurant Strategy. I know you got a lot of great shows to listen to. I appreciate you making this part of your week. Thank you very much and I will see you next time.