Observations by Joe Sicilia (“Diminishing The Quality Of Life In RPB,” Feb. 15) are not without merit. Indeed, the fear of “Browardization” is very real to many of us.
A delicate balance must be reached to ensure that the growing demands of growing families and increasing numbers of seniors are met.
Location has always been important for small business to survive and to thrive. Pressure of rising prices from suppliers has always been passed on to consumers, but an increase in prices has not shown to be “the deal breaker,” and not the reason why customers go elsewhere, but rather the lowering of services.
I once attended a seminar where it compared winners and losers, and why many businesses fail while other businesses thrive.
Business “A” felt that food presentation and service was not as important as food quality and that was not the hallmark of its business, and when business slowed, they reacted by raising prices and increasing their budget for advertising. It failed, and so did a once-thriving business.
Business “B” felt that while quality of food was important, presentation was equally important, along with good service. To emphasize the point, the manager instructed the waitresses to place a lemon slice on the edge of each water glass. Perception of an increase of quality was picked up by the customers, and a 20 percent increase was noticed over the preceding month.
Will this work all the time? Of course not, but any “perception of better quality” does work.
It has been reported that many of the popular chains are in trouble and are losing business. Location does not seem to be the issue. Some may not recover, and some should consider “putting a slice of lemon on the edge of the water glass.”
Richard Nielsen, Royal Palm Beach
