It's Time to Stop Nickel and Diming Your Clients - Provide an All-Inclusive Experience Instead

On this week's podcast, I address the issue of nickel and diming your customers. Instead, I offer the alternative, which is providing an all-inclusive experience. I believe that many costs, such as providing china and linens, or covering travel expenses, should be considered a part of the cost of doing business. If you want to position your business as high-end or luxury, you should figure out your total costs, and give the client one number instead of an itemized bill.

What do you think? Hit me up on Instagram @Chefswithoutrestaurants

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Episode Transcript

Chris Spear (00:01):
Who likes to be nickeled and dimed? You go to
purchase those already expensiveconcert tickets. And at
checkout, you have to pay almostdouble because of Ticketmaster
fees. Whether it's gettingcharged for bags on a flight or
being surprised with an"employee wellness fee" on your
restaurant check, I think mostof us have had enough of this. I
see a lot of newer personalchefs and Facebook groups asking

(00:24):
about itemizing components,other services such as travel
reimbursements, and providingChina and linens. Today, I'm
going to tackle that.
This is Chris and you'relistening to Chefs Without
Restaurants, the show where Ispeak with culinary
entrepreneurs and people workingin the food and beverage
industry outside of atraditional restaurant setting.
Before we get into this week'sshow, I want to talk about an

(00:45):
exciting giveaway I'm doingright now. This Saturday, March
11. I'm doing a six coursecollaborative dinner with Chef
Matt Collins in Bradley Beach,New Jersey. You might know Matt,
I've had him on the show acouple times. Now. There's still
a couple tickets left for thedinner, which are $125 a person
but for you Chefs WithoutRestaurants listeners, I'm
giving away a pair of ticketscompletely free. This giveaway

(01:07):
is for the 6pm seating thisSaturday and brightly beaches
near Asbury Park, if you had noidea where that is. So please
only enter this contest, ifyou're definitely going to come
because we want to fill allthese seats up. All you need to
do is send me a DM on Instagramat Chefs Without Restaurants.
That's it, no jumping throughhoops, just let me know that you
want to come. I'll be choosing awinner by this Friday morning at

(01:29):
9am. Eastern time. And for allthose who are interested and
enter and don't win, I stillthink we're gonna have a couple
seats left if you want topurchase tickets. Okay, no
sponsor message this week. Solet's just get into the show.
To address this right off thebat, I want to say that I'm not
talking about crazy requestswhen I talk about including
everything. What I'm talkingabout is what I consider the

(01:51):
cost of doing business. Everybusiness has its startup costs
and things that I think shouldbe included in their basic
service. Now, while you'redefinitely free to do whatever
you want, I'd like you to thinkabout making your experience all
inclusive. This might changedepending on your brand and how
you want to position yourself inthe market. And I plan to do an
episode on branding andpositioning at some point in the

(02:13):
future. If you offer a lessexpensive service, then this
might not apply to you. Justtoday, I had a customer reach
out to me for a dinner, herbudget was 20 to $30 a person,
she's definitely not my idealclient and I passed on the job.
I don't actually know many chefswho do dinners for people with
budgets like this, but Iwouldn't expect that you'd be
providing China for free ofcharge. If you're even doing a

(02:36):
dinner like this. For for thoseof you doing dinners that are in
the 100 to $200 and up range. Idon't think it's unreasonable
for you to purchase China. Itdoesn't have to be fancy, you
can go to Ikea or goodwill, dropmaybe a couple 100 bucks. Again,
I think it's the cost of doingbusiness. But I think it's
something that's nice and candefinitely set you apart. The
same with linen napkins, Ibought some pretty basic ones on

(02:59):
Amazon. They're about $1 Each,they hold up for a few dinners,
and it's not really a big dealfor me to wash them at home.
Again, I think it's somethingthat sets me apart. And I don't
charge extra for this. I'vealways said that I provide a
restaurant experience. And whenyou go to a restaurant, they
don't make you bring your ownChina or charge you a China
service fee, at least not yet.
The same with mileage. Let's sayyou're going to be doing a

(03:22):
dinner for 15 people at $150ahead, it's 70 miles away, which
is maybe further than younormally travel. So you add a
travel fee or you charge formileage. Why would you do that?
I'm not saying that you have todo these things at a loss but
build it in if you wouldnormally charge $100 for dinner
or 150. But it's further awaythan you normally travel, tell
the client that dinners are 125ahead if your price is normally

(03:44):
100 or 175 ahead, the differenceshould more than cover for the
gas. I'm just recommending thatyou don't quote them $100 ahead
and then tell them there's atravel fee. And then tell them
there's a fee if you bring Chinaor rent China, I just think
that's kind of tacky. And peopledon't really like that. I know I
don't I saw someone saying todaythat they are charging like a

(04:04):
$15 fee if they have to bringchafers Yeah, I guess if you
have to rent them or chafers areexpensive, I bought a couple of
us chafers at a restaurantsupply store. And it was totally
worth the investment. Again, Ithink when you have a business
there are some things that youjust have to buy. And that's how
I look at this. You know, writeit off on your taxes as a
business expense and within acouple of months, you know or

(04:27):
yours that worst case scenario,it'll pay for itself. This is
just really short episode today.
This is all I wanted to do wascome and talk about this because
again, I see it over and over inFacebook groups when people ask
for advice on starting personalchef business and people DM me
all the time about this. So whatare your thoughts? I've talked

(04:48):
to a number of guests. Most ofmy guests also agree that should
be wrapped up in a packageprice. But like I said, I also
want to hear your opinions. Whatare you doing what's worked,
what hasn't? Let me know youknow where to find Mi Instagram
at Chefs Without Restaurants orsend me an email at chefs
without [e-mail]. Ihave a lot of recorded
interviews in the can that Ijust need to edit and get out

(05:10):
there. So we will be back tothose really soon. I look
forward to sharing those withyou. In the meantime, thanks so
much for listening, and I hopeyou have a great week. Go to
chefs without restaurants.org Tofind our Facebook group, mailing
list and check database. Thecommunity is free to join.
You'll get gig opportunities,advice on building and growing
your business and you'll nevermiss an episode of our podcast.

(05:33):
Have a great week.