LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

Hunt does not fill me with confidence. He is the man who singlehandedly (before Covid) almost brought the NHS in England and Wales to its knees. No need to remind you of the NHS workers nickname for him.

 

I dont think the whole of Australia is flooded, is it?

 

Last I heard, it was on fire.

 

I've got a cousin and second cousins in Australia and find it hard to understand why they all end up in NSW or some less in Queensland.
I'd head for west coast myself I think.
Although Alice springs climate would suit me.

 

Well I was under the impression the west coast was dryer.
My rellies, (aussie word), who live in NSW tend to get fed up with the humidity in summer

 

Never mind the weather. Everything there tries to kill you. From spiders to kangaroos leaping out in front of you. My stepdaughter has just returned from a working trip and until she went to a wildlife park near the end of her stay the only kangaroos she saw were roadkill. She said they were as common as pheasants here.

 

Not quite a moan, but sort of.

I treated the family to a meal out the other day. We went to a pub we know in the countryside where they make the best parmo. Not the takeaway filth parmo, but a real culinary perfection meal. We've been many times before. They spare no detail, every aspect of the meal is usually superb. People come from miles around for their meals.

The other day, it was mediocre at best. The prices hadn't really moved with the rising costs. So it was clear that corners had been cut

I get why they'll have done that. Their costs will have risen significantly, so it comes down to a choice of raise prices or cut corners to reduce costs. But what disappoints me is that people don't go to this particular pub for a cheap bar meal. They go because it's the best food for miles, right up there with the very best. I would have rather paid a few quid extra for their usual quality than pay average bar meal price for a meal I could have got anywhere. There is concern that lots of pubs will go out of business over winter. This particular one had a unique selling point, being it's impeccable food. If they give up that advantage then they will just become any other inconveniently located country pub relying on ever diminishing passing trade. I worry that a lot of businesses will focus on cost cutting without considering what it is that attracts their customers, and what competitive advantage they're giving up

 

Never substitute quality over quantity. It probably took them years to build up a reputation, which could all be undone. Consumers have less to spend nowadays, so it's a very fine balancing act. Get the balance right, you should be okay, get it wrong and it could be a disaster.

 

That's my thoughts exactly. Being a person that makes a living using data to inform decisions, I know that it's absolutely crucial to get this right. My opinion is just one opinion of many. I hope the proprietor makes informed decisions, but in my career I've learned that most don't. Most go by guy feeling, and that's often way off the mark.

I'm just trying to work out in my head how to diplomatically sow the seed of thought, to drop them a message, to get them to think about their customers. They're in quite a wealthy area, and their customers are not exclusively local. Basically, I want them to understand they are not competing with weatgerspoons and Marston's, but I want them to figure this out for themselves, and hopefully they'll male the right decision.