| Want to know what makes a restaurant succeed | | | | don't care. And I know the prices were outrageous. |
| where others fail? Is it because your food is the best | | | | But just writing about Casa Bonita makes me want |
| around? Do you offer customers an incredible value | | | | to go back right now. |
| for their buck they just can't get anywhere else? Or | | | | Why? Because you can't get Casa Bonita anywhere |
| is your staff so professional, so incredibly well trained, | | | | else. Out here in Colorado, Mexican restaurants are a |
| that customers just can't get enough of your | | | | dime a dozen. Some are good, some are bad, and |
| efficient, friendly service? | | | | many struggle to attract customers. They all |
| Well, all those things are factors in your success, to | | | | compete on price. They all have hard working wait |
| be sure. But there have been hundreds of | | | | staff. Most have great food. None of them are |
| restaurants, if not thousands, that have done all of | | | | unique enough for me to remember, with the |
| those things relatively well and still failed. So how do | | | | exception of the Rio in Boulder, which has the best |
| you identify the key factor that makes one | | | | margarita in Colorado, hands down. |
| restaurant succeed where another fails? | | | | The point is that you have to make your restaurant |
| To answer that question, think back to some of the | | | | unique. No matter what kind of food, what segment |
| most memorable restaurants you have ever been to. | | | | of the population you're targeting, where you are |
| I personally have been to hundreds of restaurants all | | | | located, your restaurant must stand out for some |
| over the United States, Mexico, and South America, | | | | reason. You don't need a 60 foot waterfall to be |
| and out of all those establishments, one pops up in | | | | unique. Maybe your happy hour features the only |
| my head first just about every time: Casa Bonita in | | | | all-you-can-eat nachos in town. Or perhaps your patio |
| Denver, Colorado. | | | | is lush with flowers and greenery every summer. |
| If you've never heard of Casa Bonita, it's a Mexican | | | | Something must make your restaurant stand out. |
| themed restaurant with a summer carnival feel. There | | | | Some restaurant concepts even use rude service as |
| are games like skee-ball. There's a massive waterfall | | | | a gimmick to make themselves different. It's not |
| in the middle where cliff divers regularly plunge at | | | | about the best entrée in town. It's about the |
| least 60 feet. And, of course, there's Black Bart's | | | | atmosphere. This is not to say you don't need well |
| Cave, which goes behind the waterfall and is full of | | | | trained staff and great food that's competitively |
| treasure and dead pirates. In short, the place is a | | | | priced. It is to say that word-of-mouth is your best |
| kid's paradise, and when I was young, it was the | | | | weapon, and when people think back to the |
| best restaurant I had ever seen. | | | | experience they had at your restaurant, are they |
| The place is so unique the popular cartoon series | | | | going to mention the incredible enchilada dish that |
| South Park even devoted a whole episode to it (yes, | | | | was better than any they'd ever had before, or are |
| South Park fans, Casa Bonita exists!). | | | | they going to mention the free salsa dancing lessons? |
| To be honest, the food is at best mediocre. I don't | | | | You decide. |
| even remember what the service was like and I | | | | |