An Interesting Business Model

I went to a great restaurant, Roberts of Charleston, with a very interesting business model. They were only open three nights a week – Thurs to Sat nights, had one seating only – at 7:30PM, and only a set menu. To further simplify things they included wine, so there was no need for a wine list, sommelier, or wine cellar.

The restaurant was great, had a prime location, and had been around for a while. As far as I could tell it was a very succesful business.

Imagine a business model like this in other areas:

A plumber who only installs sinks, and only on Mon, Tues, and Weds at 9:30 AM

A keynote speaker who only speaks on one topic and only on Friday, Saturdays or Sundays (hmmm, sounds like a moonlighter, i.e. someone with a different full time job).

An executive coach who only accepts clients between 35-45 in high tech, and will only schedule coaching sessions Weds at 1PM, Friday at 4PM, or Monday at 9AM.

Obviously from the examples above this would only work well in certain spaces. The plumber I guess would have trouble, the keynote speaker might be OK, and the executive coach had better be well established. If you could have such control over your business schedule it would be wonderful however!

Oh, Robert the Chef also serenaded his diners with opera. He sang quite well, and perhaps to show he didn’t take himself too seriously performed a great Italian operatic version of “Home on The Range.” (I’m glad my plumber doesn’t sing!).