Increase Revenue By Learning from Southwest Airlines’ Really Big Mistakes

In this insightful episode of the Restaurant Success Podcast, Matthew Mabel examines critical lessons restaurant entrepreneurs can learn from Southwest Airlines' recent strategic missteps. He explores how abandoning brand differentiation for competitor mimicry damages business value, particularly in the restaurant industry. Matthew emphasizes the importance of monitoring guest count over simply tracking revenue in today's economic climate, offering practical business strategies for restaurant owners looking to strengthen their brand identity while increasing profitability. This episode delivers actionable restaurant management insights, entrepreneurial wisdom, and business growth tactics specifically tailored for multi-unit restaurant operations seeking sustainable success.

Key Topics Covered

• Southwest Airlines' brand strategy mistakes and lessons for restaurants
• Why differentiation matters more than mimicking competition
• Focusing on guest count versus top-line revenue
• The importance of brand alignment in all business decisions
• Balancing brand development with operational excellence

Links Mentioned

• How To Wake Up Your Restaurant Brand and Increase Guest Count
• How to Steal Valuable Lessons From That $6 Salad Place

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available

Connect with Matthew Mabel

Matthew works with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to improve:

• Profit growth
• Sales optimization
• Guest count increase
• Unit expansion
• Employee engagement
• Brand loyalty

How to Support the Show

• Subscribe to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter
• Rate and review the show
• Visit www.surrender.biz for additional resources

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant Success Podcast. I'm Matthew Mabel, veteran restaurant advisor, coach, consultant, and speaker devoted to multi-unit independent restaurant unit, profit and revenue growth, internal harmony and ownership freedom and flexibility.

This is your weekly entree of the advice, strategy and tactics that I currently provide to my best clients.

Today, we're going to talk about how Southwest Airlines' recent decisions offer valuable lessons for restaurant owners. We'll look at why mimicking your competition rather than differentiating yourself can destroy your brand value, and I'll share how focusing on guest count rather than top-line revenue is crucial in today's economy.

I'll also explain why building your brand and operational excellence must go hand in hand to drive sustainable growth.

Southwest Airlines has made some really big mistakes lately, and restaurant owners should take note. Southwest has decided to start charging fees on top of fares, thinking they'll make more money that way.

They used to be the only airline out of the big four not to charge for checked bags. But now, they'll start charging for checking bags from May 28th, becoming just like their competition rather than differentiating themselves!

These changes destroy the brand they've spent sixty years building, taking their number one selling point, which has led in all their marketing, and cancelling it.

Oh, and flight credits that never expire? Say goodbye to those, too.

Watch as they throw out pallets and pallets of those beverage napkins that say, "No one wants crumbs in their keyboard, but they do want two bags fly free."

And, they'll spend a lot of shareholder money to paint over all those luggage carts on the tarmac decorated with the slogan, "Bags ride free on me."

How does this connect with building your guest count?

The best restaurants become more like themselves and less like other brands. Restaurants succeed by being different than their competition and telling their story to the guests, lapsed users, and non-users.

Economic factors have inflated your top line, so the most important number to watch cannot be found on your P and L. Instead, watch guest count. Improving that is your number one priority.

You can learn what not to do from Southwest because, in the restaurant business which, when you really know about it, turns out to be the branding business your work to increase guest count means Southwest's strategy couldn't be a worse example for you to follow.

You must make all your moves keeping your guests' benefit at the top of your mind.

Doing this is something I wrote about on my blog last year in an article about how to increase your guest count and I've linked that article in the show notes.

And, you must make moves that support the branding work you have built your whole life, whether you have known it, or not.

I encourage all my clients to think critically about their brands, even if they have never really thought about it formally before.

Truthfully, some people cannot really tell me, or lapsed users or non-users, what their brand stands for. They must correct that.

Now let's talk about giving guests what they value.

We do that through menu changes, marketing messages, employee education, and taking a realistic view of our competition. And through understanding what guests want.

I don't know any restaurants that have too many guests.

In the current economy, success equals increased guest count and the only places people come from include other restaurants or their kitchens, dining rooms, and sofas where they eat because they don't see sufficient value in the experience you offer.

This is also something I've written about previously - and I've another link to that article in the show notes for this episode.

Ultimately, Brand development and operational improvement make guest count, revenue, and profit go up. If you're missing that piece, address it now.

To schedule a call with me to discuss how to achieve your biggest goals, follow the link in the show notes. The initial consultation is complimentary, and we can discuss which big moves might be right for your operation.

Thanks for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter podcast, please do so, and rate and review the show. Find more information in the show notes at Restaurant Success Podcast dot com.

Also find tons of information you can use in print, audio and video form at my website, www dot surrender dot biz. Thanks again and see you next time.