Popcorn

Some years ago, entrepreneur Guy Hands and his firm Terra Firma bought the cinema chain Odeon.

At the time, the chain was doing very badly.

Video and the beginnings of internet downloading had completely devalued and destroyed the cinema experience.

At Odeon, the staff there all lived and breathed movies. 

They believed in the art of movies. 

They wanted each and every customer enjoy those movies just like they did. 

They made sure they knew each one of those movies intricately. 

They paid for expense funded trips to movie premieres in Hollywood and immersed themselves in the movie business.

The problem was, movies wasn’t the problem.

The experience was the problem.

When you go to the cinema, you are not just going to see a movie.

You’re going for a night out, to enjoy yourselves, with indulgent snacks, drinks and an exciting and comfortable environment.

So Guy Hands had to take all the managers to one side and carefully explain to them they weren’t in the movie business.

They were in the popcorn business.

From that point on, they worked hard to create the greatest cinema experience the world had ever seen.

The food and drink, atmosphere, service and comfort were all heavily invested in.

The movies stayed exactly the same.

Profits came back and the cinemas flourished.

People loved Odeon again.






Many restaurants are owned by chefs.

That’s not a bad thing at all.

Chefs cook the food, which is important in a restaurant.

Some chefs, however, sometimes fail to see that what they create is not the be all and end all of the restaurant’s business.

In fact, it’s usually just a part of it.

If you are a restaurateur you are not in the food business.

You are in the hospitality business.

The being nice to people business.

The looking after people business.

The ‘do you have everything you need?’ business.

Niceness is your business.

Sell your niceness.