The 95/5 rule................

 

     It was a step in the right direction, if not the perfect solution; I did miss the orderly abundance of a fully replenished case.  But the experience showed me that creativity was going to be the main ingredient in striking a true balance between restaurant-smart and corporate-smart. . . . 

      We threw ourselves into the project.  Jon proved to be an extremely dangerous co-conspirator.  For example, he found a company in Italy making amazing, tiny blue spoons.  How amazing could a plastic spoon possibly be?  You are going to have to trust me on this: they were paddle-shaped, extraordinarily well designed, and completely unique.  They were also preposterously, heartbreakingly expensive.

     But I had to have them; the Sculpture Garden deserved them.  Nothing else would do.

     The first time my boss saw one of those spoons, she narrowed her eyes and asked me what they had cost.  I told her, and her eyes got even narrower: "We'll talk about this later."  But a month later, we sat down to review the first P & L for the cart, and I never heard another word about those spoons.

     I'd managed 95 percent of my budget aggressively, leveraging MoMA's brand to get excelled gelato at a steep discount, and a beautiful cart for free.  I'd earned the right to splurge on those spoons, the one small detail I believed would dramatically transform the experience of getting an ice cream at the cart.

     This is what I would later call the Rule of 95/5.  Manage 95 percent of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5 percent "foolishly."  It sounds irresponsible; in fact, it's anything but.  Because that last 5 percent has an outsized impact on the guest experience, it's some of the smartest money you'll ever spend.

-Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect