Johnnie – true story
Running a successful café a few years ago
we had a complex menu system that was
expensive to change as it required the
services of a signwriter. That, coupled with too many people
involved in the decision making process, meant that we didn’t
increase prices for two years. Far, far too long a period of time in
a coffee shop.Finally I bit the bullet and increased the prices by a fairly blanket
10% across the board. We had a total of three comments from
customers only one of which was a complaint. The rest barely
noticed.At the end of the first week I broke down the weekly till readings
and analysed them. We turned over a total of £9,567 after VAT.
Under the old prices this would have been £8,187. Since there
was no increase in overhead (other than the minimal sign
writing cost) this meant that we had put a total of £1,410 to the
bottom line. More than £70,000 extra profit simply for being
brave.Just how much money had we left on the table in the previous
year by not increasing prices? Make sure you don’t make the
same mistake.22 .Wake up and smell the profit