Establish your culture
If you fix your gaze a mile down the road while jogging, you’re
going to trip on the ground right beneath your feet. The same is
true in business. You’ll never reach that goal of responsible expansion if you don’t first look to develop a strong cultural base at
home.
When Hauck and Saccone opened their first Hyde Park Prime
Steakhouse in 1988, they didn’t suddenly look for new markets in
which to open their second restaurant. Instead, they worked to
strengthen the company’s culture and mold it as a point of differentiation within the industry.
“Our entire approach from day one has been to be the local guy,”
Hauck says.
Adds Saccone, “We (also) said, ‘We’re not going to be the second-best steakhouse in the city. We’re going to be the best one.’”
Once they decided to pursue a goal of providing a first-rate dining
experiencing combined with a local touch, the partners began to
visit other area restaurants to vet their competition. Likewise, when
you begin to craft your cultural identify, shopping your competition
is a great way to gain some perspective. Look at what similar businesses are doing, how they’re doing it, and then how you can distinguish yourself.
“We go to all different types of restaurants and try all different
types of foods,” Hauck says. “We want to see what’s out there and
to see what the trends are. We go out and look at the competition,
and we say to ourselves, ‘We’re better than these guys.’”
Saccone says you may be tempted to follow your competitors in
the process. What’s familiar often feels safe. Instead, use the exercise to gain perspective and then focus on what cultural tenets
make you different within the industry.
“You’re supposed to know what your competition is doing in
business,” he says. “But then also you need to not follow your competition; you need to lead. You need to be different; you need to set
yourself apart. It’s harder, it’s a challenge, and sometimes, it’s more
risky to do that.”
As you begin to foster a culture that sets you apart, the leaders
say not to drift toward extremes. If you went to a steakhouse that
was renowned for its 24-ounce porterhouses, for example, you
would be pretty upset if they served you an eight-ounce cut
instead.
“It’s not reaching too far right or too far left,” Saccone says. “To
be a leader, you don’t need to go to the extreme. The most important thing is if you do go too far out, you have to have the ability to
adjust back quickly. If it doesn’t work, you’ve got to say, ‘We’ve
stretched a little too far here.’”
