One of the benefits of sharing an office with Coudal Partners is that I get to read trade pubs like Nation’s Restaurant News while I’m having lunch. Coudal has food industry clients so they get food industry news.
I like reading industry trade pubs from industries I know nothing about. It opens your eyes to all sorts of new things. I find articles about trans fats, point of sale displays, digital menus, seasonal high-margin menu items, restaurant designs, premium vs. standard items, romaine salads vs. spinach salads, and fast food kitchen automation fascinating. I really do.
While I was paging through the paper today I spotted an ad for McCain’s Sweet Classics. These tiny “desserts by the bite” help “turn a $1 coffee into a $3 dessert.” The full ad spread makes sure you can tell that these tiny desserts fit neatly near the edge of a saucer with a cup of coffee. I fucking love this idea.
I’ve got a sweet tooth, but I don’t like ordering a 1/2 pound slice of cheesecake or a 6” tall piece of pie for dessert—especially after plowing through the huge portions that are so popular at restaurants these days. Give me a couple of small cookies or a tiny piece of cake or a little brownie and I’m more than satisfied. I suspect I’m not alone.
Ordering dessert also comes with a dose of guilt. McCain Foods knows this too. They know a little dessert is an easy sell when a big piece of pie could turn someone off completely.
McCain cites a survey that says 82% of casual dining customers said they were too full to order dessert. That makes sense, but I bet a good chunk of that decision has to do with the perceived dessert size. They are too full to order a massive piece of cake, but they’d probably enjoy something 1/8 the size.
That ties nicely into their “turn a $1 cup of coffee into a $3 desert” angle. Give the customer the option to have just a little dessert and the restaurant can extract some easy incremental profits. Instead of “just a coffee” the restaurant has the opportunity to value-add the coffee with a bit of dessert for only a couple of bucks more. It’s likely an easy sale and a win-win-win for everyone.
While this isn’t brand new thinking (mochi or biscotti or a piece or fruit come to mind), McCain is revitalizing it. And it’s a great example of offering less to create more value. More cake, more pie, more dessert isn’t an easier sell. Less is. I think they’ll benefit hugely from it. It just makes sense.
Jason Fried wrote this on Nov 20 2006 There are 40 comments.
Jake Walker 20 Nov 06
Some of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants serve $2 mini-deserts at lunchtime. They are all real deserts (creme brule, ice cream, some pies, etc.), only much smaller. They use a suggestive sell at the end of the meal, and usually bring over a plate of examples. I would bet anything that they trippled their desert revenue at lunch with a program like this.
There are definitely days when I want to eat at a small restaurant that isn’t that focused on the bottom line - a non-chain, individually owned restaurant - but I definitely admire the larger chains and group owned restaurants that take on a strategy like this. It’s one of those small ideas that can be worth a huge difference in revenue and profits.
SH 20 Nov 06
See also: Whole Food’s amazing bakery windows. Filled to the brim with teensey sweets! Mini is the new super size.
franky 20 Nov 06
Years ago the restaurant owner was supposed to add something to the coffee, especially after a meal. Today the guest has to pay for a little bonbon.
What has gone wrong in the business I once used to be proudly part of?
Chrie 20 Nov 06
Back when I was in Baltimore (circa 2000) there was a restaurant I enjoyed that served $2.00 desserts in shot glasses. They were the perfect size, and I had one every time I went in for a meal. It’s the only place I would consistently buy dessert at. Quite frankly I’m surprised that the idea hadn’t caught on sooner.
Daniel Morrison 21 Nov 06
A local restaurant near me serves tiny 99¢ sundaes.
I get one every time.
LB 21 Nov 06
We Japanese can’t believe American size sweets. That’s too big and too sweet. We can’t believe bucket size ice creams, popcorns, and cola. I think Japanese small potion sweets comes from the tea culture. http://www.toraya-group.co.jp/english/wagashi/types.html
Tumble 21 Nov 06
Why the profanity in this post?
Pit Pat 21 Nov 06
Look Tumble, I don’t come down to where you work and slap the dick out of your mouth…
Eugene Loj 21 Nov 06
The Europeans excel with the dessert angle. They have smaller portioned meals which leaves more room for dessert. Their dessert menu is extraordinary. Glad to see US businesses are starting to present dessert in different ways.
A little bit of quality goes a long way.
Joseph LeBlanc 21 Nov 06
Could this also explain the relatively recent popularity of tapas? For people who aren’t extremely hungry, but still want a good, quick meal?
Tyler 21 Nov 06
Ed Debevic’s (in Chicago) has the World’s Smallest Sunday on their menu. If you guys have never been there, I highly recommend it. A Kitchy 50s throwback with a sassy waitstaff…
Sarah 21 Nov 06
Mini good. Dessert that came frozen from a packet when I’m eating out at a restaurant? Hell no.
Chuck Cheeze 21 Nov 06
Those crazy 37S guys are always cursing. Even in their presentations. The nerve of them- expressing themselves freely. What jerks.
Ómar Kjartan Yasin 21 Nov 06
A great idea, and it’s something that’s growing here in Iceland as well. I have a friend that owns a veggie restaurant here and they serve both “big” deserts as well as the smaller once, after reading your article I asked him which one is returning more money (or more profit, however this should be communicated in English) and, today, he’s earning a lot more from selling small deserts since most of his regulars have one in the end of each meal. Damn, I love good marketing.
David 21 Nov 06
It’s a nice idea, but those things look disgusting!
Martin 21 Nov 06
Yes it increments the profit nicely, but perceived value is also not to be taken lightly.
There are sure to be cases where someone would go “geez, that much extra for a quarter of a mouthfull?”, which instantly raises suspicions along the lines of “what else am I paying extra for?”.
Fat Guy 21 Nov 06
If there is anything our country needs less, it’s more motivation to eat dessert.
Icelander 21 Nov 06
When I hear people say “turn a $1 coffee into a $3 dessert” or “value-add the coffee,” I always get the feeling that they’re trying to trick me into spending more money than I want to.
A better idea would be to cut prices by a third and cut portion sizes in half. Then everyone’s still got room for dessert and they’re eating a lot less.
Oh, and JB; the problem with Japanese desserts isn’t the size, it’s that they’re all made of, ugh, bean paste.
Carlton Whitfield 21 Nov 06
“It’s waifer thin!”
Anonymous Coward 21 Nov 06
Icelander, follow the link to McCain’s. They only sell to restaurants.
Getting restaurant patrons to spend more money is exactly what they’re pitching, because their clients are restaurants.
Sammy 21 Nov 06
Oops – that was me with the “getting restaurant patrons” thing.
Also: no knocking bean paste in my presence. That’s just over the line, man.
Jeff 21 Nov 06
I wonder if dropping the F bomb in bold really add to your credibility or thoughts—or simply reveals yuor character
Mike 21 Nov 06
Since when are chicken mcniggets dessert?
Eric 21 Nov 06
Really bro?? Profanity in a post about dessert? and THAT was the line you set in bold? You’re coooooool…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about free speech. And this is your blog, after all. But you emphasized something that is completely irrelevant, and diverted from the real focus of the post.
Would you have done that if you were designing an interface? Get real, bro.
Joel Mueller 21 Nov 06
quote: I f*ing love this idea. (in bold).
Yikes man.
beto 21 Nov 06
This is so effin’brilliant. (there, score one more for the F-worders!)
After contemplating in horror how I can’t stand last years pants while sitting without unbuckling, I’ve been forced to cut on the desserts for my own good. However it’s so damn hard to say no to a dessert (specially after a fish- or garlic-based meal!) and these tiny-sized pieces are just perfect: You get just the right amount of sweet finish without having to deal with guilt issues.
The comment on Japanese vs. American desserts size is spot on. I knew there was more than one reason why you see few, if any, fat people in Japan.
Sayer 21 Nov 06
I’m not in the restaurant biz, but I know there is a yield per table per hour that restaurants shoot for. Occupying the table for 15 more minutes just to sell a $3 dessert has to be weighed against seating another party ready to order entrees.
Icelander 21 Nov 06
“Getting restaurant patrons to spend more money is exactly what they’re pitching, because their clients are restaurants.” – Anonymous Coward
I realize they’re trying to make people spend more money. And I don’t like it.
Why? In the words of Fry from Futurama Season 4 Episode 10: “I don’t like being used.”
Bernd Goldschmidt 21 Nov 06
Seth Godin picked up on it and makes a good point: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/11/extra_profit.html
JF 21 Nov 06
Re: Seth Godin’s take... I agree, but that’s not what this post was about. It was about selling desert. Not about giving it away.
I agree that an extra, unexpected free treat from the restaurant is probably good business.
But for those restaurants that choose not to give away deserts, I think selling the tiny deserts is a win-win.
Don Wilson 21 Nov 06
Reading books for professionals about industries and being able to understand what you look at is fantastic.
Walker Hamilton 21 Nov 06
it appears you hotlinked that image for this article off their website and their web administrator didn’t take too kindly to it. Now a username/password pops up on any page on your site that has this article (or excerpt).
That includes the front page.
Kira 21 Nov 06
This is like how restaurants now sell half-glasses of wine.
I read this on Seth’s blog first, and I don’t agree with him. I love that they give me an option somewhere between nothing and too much.
Fuck Bomb 22 Nov 06
I fucking love the word “fucking.”
Holy Cow 22 Nov 06
You are leeching the bandwidth of their site!
I would have expected better from someone like 37Signals than to pull their image directly from the McCain server. Did you consider how much you would add to their site traffic costs?
Look what you have done now. The image is no longer visible and your page throws up a password prompt for their domain.
Hal 22 Nov 06
If you ask me, those McCain deserts look absolutely rank! check out the pics on their home page: http://www.mccainsweetclassics.com/
urgh! cheap crap! I can’t believe anyone would like the idea of a restaurant selling them some crap they just got out of a packet and defrosted. If I want crap out of a packet I can do it at home.
Get back to a harvester or a weatherspoons pub, oh ye of little taste.
Massimo Sgrelli 22 Nov 06
I agree with you Jason. “Offering less to create more value” is a great mantra: you can apply this concept to your everyday work, pushing customers to pay for something easy to understand and appreciate. Something that immediately helps you to reach your goal. Something you can “eat” every day without being bored. Something that feeds you quickly and satisfies your needs…
Something you can manage without being managed!
Mike Papageorge 22 Nov 06
Saucer-edge desserts come free with a 0.90 Euro coffee here in Spain at many places and it’s a great touch. A lot of times they come with a wafer of chocolat, which is nice, but a choco-buscuit is where its at :-)
At any rate, they are just the size we sweet-toothers need with our espresso, & so much better then a piece of cake that lasts longer then your coffee…
michaelangela 26 Nov 06
We have talked often of offering bite sized treats. In Taiwan there are a lot of little things you can pick up that taste VERY good even for those with an American pallate. There are plenty of things made with bean paste ala Japan as Icelander pointed out.
But in the States… everything is so HUGE ! You might even be used to it until you live overseas for a few years and come back. Oh the shock! “I used to eat ALL of that? And maybe TWO ?! By mySELF?!”
And we have often said we would buy more of little bits, and sometimes do when it’s available. Bite-sized bits. It’s a good thing it’s happening. Unfortunately sizes in Taiwan have started to increase, along with the size of the young people. It’s weird to watch it actually happen over the years… This concept would probably catch on in Taipei as well just for the reason.
jenn.suz.hoy 30 Nov 06
Excellent post on an excellent topic. Bigger does not automatically mean better, nor does it always mean more value. In fact, restaurants have traditionally held the opposite to be true. Fine dining consists of small, high-quality meals for high price, while your Bargain Bucket ‘o Chicken is huge, tastes like the grease it was fried in, and costs about $3.99.
And I agree with you. I fucking love this idea.
This discussion is closed.