A Gourmet Chef “Turning Lack into Luck”

Today, I am sharing another CNN News video about a gourmet chef’s successful experience on entrepreneurship. This time, however, is not about starting up a restaurant business.

Mary Moore is a gourmet chef herself. She noticed that there was a lack of good cooking utensils in the market and decided to pair up retail with gourmet classes. She wanted to educate customers how to use those wonderful tools she sells. It turned out to be great success. Now, Mary is the CEO of an online business and four retail stores. The video highlighted three tips of her success:

Tip #1: Pair Things Up
Tip #2: Create an Experience
Tip #3: Expand the Brand (but Stay Truth to the Original Business Concept)

I agree that creating the “whole” customer experience is very important in today’s business. When I was in Texas, I loved to shop at the Market Street. When I moved to Syracuse, the Wegmans in Dewitt becomes my favorite grocery store. They both sell fresh produce, as every other grocery store does (regardless the fact that their food indeed looks better), but they also have huge “experiential” sections for prepared and ready-to-eat food. They offer cooking classes and sampling stations to educate customers how to prepare gourmet home cooked meal --- certainly using the ingredients and/or the cooking utensils they sell in the stores. If you are a business owner, may I ask you what experience have you created or can you create for your customers?

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Is It OK for Hotel Staff to Wear Piercings and Tattoos?

Time has changed. I see more and more college students wearing piercings and tattoos nowadays, but is it OK for hotel staff to wear piercings and tattoos? The answer is “no, no, no.” According a report at USAToday.com, customers across the board do not want to see any hotel workers with pierced eyebrow, pierced tongue, tattooed arm, or nose ring. Some may argue that tattooed and pierced workers may seem more acceptable in edgy boutique hotels as compared to the big franchised hotels, but the survey results did not find any differences among a variety of lodging products. Many respondents believe people who wear visible tattoos and piercings are taking a high risk of their professional lives. If you stay in a hotel, do you mind being served by tattooed and/or pierced staff? What if you are the one who makes the hiring decision? References: USAToday.com: http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok08042010 Picture was downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok08042010P

Where Coffee Meets Culture: My Experience with Orientation, Socialization, and Culture at Dutch Bros (by Karina Martinez)

When people think of Dutch Bros, they usually picture colorful drinks, loud music, free stickers, and baristas so friendly they’ll jump in the car with you. As someone who has had the opportunity to work for Dutch Bros, I can say that the energy customers feel isn’t an act; it is the result of intentional and effective HR practices that are focused on orientation, socialization, and culture. From your very first day, you experience how these practices shape the entire Dutch experience. Orientation, Socialization, Culture In HR management, orientation is the introduction of the role and company to new hires. This is intended to help them feel welcomed and informed. Socialization goes beyond the initial training process; it’s how new hires grasp the organization’s values, behaviors, and traditions over time. Together, these fun...

Average/Below-Average Looking People Can Earn as Much as the Attractive Ones

Research has shown that attractive people can not only charm interviewers (and thus get hired easier), they are also more likely to earn more as compared to those with average or below-average looks. Accordingly to a Wall Street Journal report , attractive people can earn 3% - 4% more than a person with below-average look. If such difference adds up over a person’s lifetime, an attractive person can earn up to $230,000 more than an ugly worker; even an average-looking person can make $140,000 more. Another relevant Wall Street Journal report also suggests that workers who exercise regularly can earn 9% more than those who do not. If that is the fact (I believe it is), is it legal? Can employers do that? Linchi Kwok and Otto @SyracuseU Career Fair To my knowledge, no law or regulation under EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) considers a person’s look as a protective class. It is true that people in general have an idea of what kind of person they feel attract...

Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

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