Restaurants and Institutions

Dennis Lombardi

Lessons from the Airlines?
May 8, 2008

A few weeks ago, when the American's fleet was grounded, I got a mini lesson on the woes of the airline industry. I was in Orlando when their flights got cancelled. According to AA, the "grounding" was due to governmental compliance, and not a safety issue.  I bought a United ticket for another flight, with a transfer through Dulles, where, after boarding the regional jet and pushing back from the gate, we had not one, but two(!) mechanical delays. We sat for about 2.5 hours. Finally, that evening, I landed at Columbus airport, to observe the bankrupted Skybus fleet.

So, the restaurant industry is not the airline industry, but there are still lessons to be learned.

AA was a "victim" of governmental requirements. We face the same danger. On a national level, the Employee Free Choice Act could give many of us unions that we, and maybe even our employees, do not want. On local levels, it could be anything from nutritional labeling on menus to outlandish development fees and permits. Unless we get better organized ourselves, many of these have the potential to ground our "fleet."

United had maintenance problems, but I am guessing their senior executives never sat on the tarmac in a regional jet hoping that another Jet Blue incident was not in the making.  How many times do we, or our crews, forget about making the customer the highest priority? Go back to my archives for another example.

Finally, Skybus, the low cost airline, was 100% internet and offered super-low fees. So low they ceased to exist.  It's very tempting to run special offers and promotions, but margin squeeze can jeopardize a brand. Success, in both good and bad economic times, is gained by providing value, but don't confuse value with low prices and cost cutting.

Posted by Dennis Lombardi on May 8, 2008 | Comments (0)