You can't obsess about your customer AND your competition

There's a firestorm of conversations, media coverage and facebook activity around the topic of foodcarts in Corvallis. The people that have foodcarts are obviously for them. However, perhaps not so obviously, a few restaurant owners are bent out of shape over it. Some scuttlebutt about boycotts has even been floating around.

Here's the story: A lot of Corvallis folks, myself included, love visiting Portland for the uber-selection of locally made food, music venues and interesting boutiques. One great fixture up there are the "pods" of food carts and stands selling every possible ethnic food you could imagine for $5-$10.

Well, some of these Corvallis folks got a bee in their bonnet and decided Corvallis should have a similar experience available to people. A local Creperie decided to lead the charge by forming the Corvallis Food Cart Alliance and working to get the city code changed. Currently the code allows carts and stands to operate a maximum of 45 days per year.

Well this has sparked quite the response from a couple local businesses. One downtown restaurant owner recently stated his opinion to a reporter at our local newspaper:

“I, among many others, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in improving our downtown locations. To see a taco truck roll up out of nowhere and plant itself next to my business or anyone else’s for that matter is disgraceful to all our efforts.Not only do I oppose this proposal but I will propose that we reduce the amount of days that these mobile units are allowed to operate in our downtown location." - Brandon Dale, owner of Broken Yolk Cafe

Alright, so now for the insurance guy’s opinion. I think it’s unfortunate this has dragged on as long as it has. Let the people of Corvallis vote with their dollars. The regulations are already in place to ensure food safety. Food carts would be under the same scrutiny as a bricks and mortar business from a regulatory standpoint.

The real issue here is business owners focusing more on competition than they are on their customer.

As the owner of an insurance agency, I have all kinds of competition. Frankly, I face a similar competitive situation that Brandon is so up in arms over. Anyone can go study and get their insurance licenses and start selling insurance out of their living room. They can pay $250, get a chamber membership, start networking and be an insurance agent. One can start an insurance business for under a thousand bucks.

A vastly different approach than mine-I’ve got big dollars invested in the service model we offer to clients. I think it was worth it, but ultimately our clients and future clients will decide. Do they value the service infrastructure we’ve invested in, the staff I employ and the things we do in the community, or is it just window dressing, and the guy who’s 8% cheaper, working from home will do just dandily?

Some of those insurance folks grow to be quite successful, and I think that’s great- the strong and customer-focused survive. They deserve to be in business, so long as they remain true to what got them there.

I don’t have the time to focus on my competition. I am busy enough striving to walk out the marketing messages that we espouse on our social media channels and advertising. Its easy to say you’re about great customer experience, it’s an entirely different thing to live it and breath it. In the end, people decide if we’ve pulled it off. If not, they go elsewhere and we die.

I say let the food cart operators have their shot. If a restaurant can’t handle the competitive forces, they should close up shop, regardless of how much money they’ve put into it. My “efforts” and investment don’t grant me the right to stay in business. Customers get to make that call.