Chapter 3 RM at Work 3.

1—Sara Martin

As a hospitality professional, could you in response to a customer’s query, explain the

difference between a USDA Choice New York Strip steak and a Certified Angus Beef New
York Strip steak?

Many people do not know the difference between USDA Choice and Certified Angus Beef and
for me personally, I would not be able to clearly explain the difference. I would be able to look it
up and study it then be able to vaguely answer the customer’s query.
The chefs would more than likely know the difference in detail but many servers and the
customers would not be able to and I do not think that the customers would have enough
knowledge to want to pay more for Certified Angus Beef than for USDA Choice.

How important would it be to know if this proposed quality enhancement would in fact be
readily accepted by the 50-Yard-Line’s customers before the decision to implement it has
been made?

It would be very important to know if the enhancement from USDA Choice to Certified Angus
Beef would be accepted by the customers before they fully implement it. I think they should do a
“trial” run unless they know their customer base really well. The quality and the value the
customer gets is important to the success of having returning customers and the revenue manager
needs to make a smart and educated decision on what the customers will perceive as a good
value.

What inherent difficulties do RMs face when specialists in an area; such as Stacy in this
example, are allowed to alter quality parameters independent of their effect on strategic
pricing decisions?

The revenue managers face many difficulties because the so-called specialists do not know the
demographics of the area/restaurant and they would cause difficulties in the quality, value, and
price of the food offered. If the guests notice a big change in the price and not the value then they
are not going to be a returning customer. The RM on staff needs to be the one in charge of
making the decisions and a specialist should not be able to just come along and alter it.