Learning Moments: Go to the source

Mission Ranch, Carmel, California

Many years ago, we were kayaking on the Sea of Cortez near Loreto, Mexico. Our good friend, Bill Bengele, was catching fish and asked if we wanted to eat them. I asked if they would taste good.

Bill looked at me for a moment and then said something I have never forgotten, "Glenn, the worst trash fish in the world tastes better fresh than the most expensive fish in your local grocery store will taste by the time you get it home and cook it".
And he was right.

I never liked artichokes as a kid. I could only laugh and repeat the line from the Little Rascals - "It might chock Artie, but it won't chock me!"
Now that I live in California, though, it's a different story. I love fresh grilled artichoke. Proving, once again, that everything is better when you get closer to the source.

From Cabo: Authenticity in Action at the Salad Bar

The Thanksgiving Salad Bar at the Hilton Cabo San Lucas

One of the best books that I read this year was Authenticity.

It's filled with excellent examples and useful models.

What was perhaps most striking to me, however, is the 'rightness' of their observation that we all desire authenticity. The opening of the book, a trip through a grocery store, is dead-on.

I find myself noticing this 'authenticity-jones' when it occurs in me, and boy did it occur last night.

We had a Thanksgiving buffet at the Hilton Cabo San Lucas (I should get a free room, considering how many times I've mentioned the hotel). The buffet was outstanding, but one feature really stood out - the salad bar.

I'm not a really big salad eater, but this salad bar stopped me in my tracks.

"Holy crap", I think were my exact words. I grabbed Angie and said, "You've got to see this. It's the most incredible salad bar I've ever seen!".

The interesting point is that it wasn't the largest I've ever seen, or the biggest variety I've ever seen. It didn't necessarily have my favorite salad makings.

Instead, it was the most authentic salad bar I've ever seen.

Look at the photo above. Click on it to see it in full size. You'll notice:

• The servers are dressed like farmer/grocers
• The greens are all in 'original' form - full leaves, full vegetables
• The farmer/grocers hand-cut your salad to order with scissors, in real-time

This was as close as you can get to an 'off-the-vine' salad without entering a garden.

If you cannot take your customers to the source, how can you (like the Hilton) bring the source (or the illusion of the source) to your customers?
Pick one of your offerings and ask these questions:

1. What does my offering look like at its source?
2. What does my offering look like when I serve it?
3. What is the (authenticity) gap?
4. Is the gap good? Some things - perhaps sausage - shouldn't be seen in 'authentic' state.
5. How can you close the authenticity gap?

When in Japan, drink like a Japanese

One of the pleasures of being in Japan is drinking fresh squeezed Chu-hi.

Chu-hi is a shochu (rice whiskey)-based drink that's mixed with juice and sparkling water.
It's refreshing, with a nice kick.

You can buy it canned, but I like it best when I've squeezed it myself.

It's available in many flavors - lemon, plum, and lime, for example - but my favorite is grapefruit.

I used to joke about creating a new alchoholic drink for children called, 'pikachu-hi'. 

Get it? Pikachu and chu-hi? Yeah, no else thought it was funny either...

Here, I'm pouring the grapefruit juice into my glass and getting ready to say, "kanpai"!

Tomorrow, we're off to Singapore.