Why Henning's Local Blows

I got a lot of sympathetic emails from my clients and friends regarding my last post about Hennings Local.  And don't expect a lot of blog posts for awhile cause I'm just going to leave that one up there for awhile so it sinks in.

Like I often say, we have a lot of savvy clients so it was interesting to hear their feedback - most of it resolved around 'these guys are obviously clueless, amateurs and don't have the experience to really think this one through and see how it's going to play out'.   I agree totally, which doesn't less my frustration, it increases it, since not only have they harmed the thing I have going, it's another example of the pointless and dramatic errors business people make when they open a business up here.

So, let me dissect it, the way I would have, or would be, thinking about it.

Ok, let's just say Henning Nordanger of Henning's Local actually thought out how this might play out - this would have had to been considered.

1.) When I, Henning Nordanger of Henning's Local in Eldred entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will just take it in stride and just move on with his life and business and continue to use his various and extensive methods of outreach to help my business grow.

2.)When I, Henning Nordanger of Hennings Restaurant entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well, and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will be pissed, probably won't eat at my restaurant, but will in time accept this.

3.)When I, Henning Nordanger of Hennings Restaurant entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well, and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will actually be very pissed off and use his many skills, relationships and business acumen to negatively impact my fledging business, just as I negatively impacted his.

So, as a business person evaluating the cost/benefits of enticing a person out of Chuck's employment and into mine, what may that cost me, considering his companies are responsible for more diverse local spending than most all other local businesses combined?

Let's review quickly -

1.  Catskill Farm's Annual Christmas Party - $4500
2.  Chuck and his family's weekly business - conservatively $300/month ($3600/year)
3.  Catskill Farm's gift certificates that he sends to vendors, clients, and other assorted relationships - $5600 per year.
4.  General referrals from the the 200 people who come up and visit our homes and are looking for a bite to eat before blowing town - $4800 per year.
5.  Home concierge and catering businesses who understand exactly where I'm coming from and now won't utilize Henning's Local to prepare the food, instead using Early Bird Cookery and other great alternatives - $10,000 per year.
6.  The bad word of mouth coming from our position in the community and people deciding not to eat there, or not to eat there as much - $2000 per year (but I bet this is much higher).

So Henning made a business decision that cost him conservatively $30,000 in direct business, in year 1, without calculating the damage to his brand and reputation.

From what I know of how businesses struggle up here- to me - his relationship that he built over the 18 months of working for us was a competitive advantage, since he had a relationship with me that he could leverage into real, solid, consistent business at his restaurant.

Instead, what the general consensus seems to think, he didn't think it was important and instead played a high-handed amateur, shortsighted card.

Now the only question is - with brains like that, I'd like change the wager on my mailbox (btw Gary, you lost the bet, pay up) - will my gaudy red barn mailbox or Henning's Local last longer?

So instead of getting rave reviews from a blog that gets widely read, he gets panned - he gets less than 1 Star.  That may mean a lot in reality, or maybe it doesn't.  In my experience, with how hard it is to keep a business rolling up here, it's not the type of thing you want to leave to chance.

And the fact that my Steak Diane was literally swimming in some over-spiced sauce and people are already complaining about the service and the time it takes to get served - well, you gotta do better than that, regardless of how this whole Henning's Local Original Sin thing plays out.