We had this for lunch today, among other things we ordered at Sakura Sushi, Labuan. My wife asked why the fish served boneless. Well, it’s a fillet mackerel. It’s Saba Shioyaki, means grilled mackerel. The mackerel were season with salt for about 15 – 20 minutes to remove the smell. More than that will result in the fish lose its texture.
But I come up with this opinion, and I tell her – maybe that’s how this restaurant save your time eating, while making your dining comfortable. At the same time, when you’re done, you will pay and you leave. So there will be one table ready for next customer.
Think of it from a business owner point of view.
You have 10 tables in your restaurant. Each of this table is your source of income. To make these tables generate bigger income is by having more customers eating. But can you tell your customer to eat faster so the next one can come in? Of course not. It will be awkward, and your customer will never return.
So you make the food easy to eat – which is why they serve a fillet instead of a whole fish with the bone still intact. Actually, to some owner, they will evaluate your satisfaction by looking at your leftover. If it’s clean to the bone, it means the food is good.
Or, the other reason is, it’s easy to pick a piece of fillet using chopstick instead of combing the fish meat off the bone if you are not a natural chop-stick user.
One thing I learn when I studied about Hong Kong prior to visiting (sometimes around 2014) is, most of the coffee shop do everything fast. Take order, prepare your food, deliver – could take about 5 minutes. And they expect you to eat faster. That’s why sometimes you get the plate flying to your desk (Kidding, not flying, but you know what i meant) and you eat fast because you sense the urgency. But I didn’t experience it first hand, because I only went to Halal restaurant. And there’s not much customer at Halal restaurant there.
Business-wise
Simple math. The more customer come, the more you will gain. This is a normal scene in coffee shop – because it’s cheap, tasty and simple. This is the place you see people lining up to the street.
Can I compare it to cafe?
Maybe yes, maybe not. Cafe will let you sit longer, but you know the coffee you pay is equal to 8 or 10 cup of coffee at a simpler coffee shop. You get a meal too on half price you pay for a coffee at fancy cafe.
So what can I conclude from this sharing?
Business can profit from high volume of customers. Make your product simple, cheap and accessible so it’s attractive to the masses. Then, you add in a knowledge of money management for your business planning. You may not see profit in 6 months, but within that 6 months is your period of building your brand, customer loyalty and your ability to manage resource (supply, workers, licensing, etc.). Get through this 6 months with no intention to be rich. Better, make it a year so your projection is too high you don’t even realize you’re actually already making profit.
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