Posts Tagged ‘cheese’

Today I want to share a little story that I think may be of value to some small business owners, and probably an experience we’ve all shared at one time or another. It’s a story of free advertising, timing and first impressions.  It’s driving all the way to Wally-World to find out it’s closed. It’s when your date arrives and you’re still in your underwear… It’s that sort of story.  It’s hard not to mention the local business by name but we’ll try because they certainly deserve a do over.

Part of what we want to do here at Skillet Creek is offer honest reviews of restaurants and little food shops. The reason behind this is 2 fold. First there’s lots of advertising in the area, but little in the way of reviews. Second, we want to feature those unique little spots where the owners are invested, and usually on premise for more hours than you care to count.  It’s too easy for them to get lost in the din of the national and regional chains that seem to be taking over every community’s main street.

That’s why when we read an article in the local paper about a new cheese & sandwich shop we were intrigued. We’ll call it the “cheese shop.” (It’s like a cop show isn’t it?, “All the names have been changed…”)  The newspaper article we read was basically one of those local interest fillers that spotlights a new businesses in the community.  Nothing wrong with that of course.  In fact had it not been for the article we would not have been driving down to the shop last Sunday. Therein lies the catch.

Based on the article we decided we would drop by and find a nice bit of non-flavorless-cheese and a tasty deli sandwich before heading home to curl up for the Super Bowl.  When we arrived we realized that there was no real parking.  In a way that was stunning.  Here we were in a dead quiet village and the shop had only one real parking spot. You also couldn’t park on the road.  Since there was no way to be sure that the one lone spot was actually for customers, we we parked across the street at another business.

Now the shop itself was in dead-of-winter mode. When we walked in, the shop was dark and the owner had to come out of the back to turn on the case lights.  Even then it was dark enough I couldn’t quite make out the owner’s face through the glare of back-lighting from a small window behind the counter.   As the lights in the case flickered on, I had to hold back a surprised chuckle.. I was suddenly reminded of the Monty Python “Cheese Shop” skit..

Customer: It’s not much of a cheese shop, is it?

Wenslydale: Finest in the district!

Customer: Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.

Wenslydale: Well, it’s so clean, sir!

Customer: It’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese….

And it was! The case was empty other than a few lonely wedges of $20 cheese blocks. Like the rest of the shop it was clean, austere, and certainly devoid of food products.  Now the problem here is not exactly with the new “cheese shop”.  They simply can’t afford to have stock this time of year.  I wouldn’t.  In fact, the shop will be closing for a month as it is and re-opening as spring comes a bit closer.  Good plan.  But why the article then? Why now? It seemed we were lucky to have simply found them open for business.

When the local paper wants to do a free write up it’s hard not to jump.  Free advertising, especially for new businesses can be like a gift from heaven.  However, if the timing is wrong it can send customers your way when you are not really ready. And what if those customers are reviewers, bloggers, magazine reports or worse, your potential customers?  What if they are sitting in the parking lot across the street suddenly twittering their experience out to their 1,063 followers? Even that basic newspaper article on the web will float around on the internet forever. (Like this one as well) Hopefully no one in the next month or so will come across that bit of free advertising and decide to have a quaint little country drive to visit a “cheese shop” that simply won’t be open. (I know some will say visitors should call first, but that’s fodder for another article all together.)

We responded exactly the way you want people to respond to advertising.  We went to visit the new local business.  But being the off-season, the shop’s atmosphere was dark and the feature display was not stocked. We walked out with a negative experience.

Now, doing what I do every day I get it. It was just a timing thing.  I can see that come spring the “cheese shop” will be a nice stop for folks traveling through to visit nearby attractions. They  will also provide a great new lunch shop for the locals as well.  We’ll go back and give it another try when the season gets bustling and give you a proper introduction then.

Is it worth passing up the chance at free press now to simply avoid people showing up when you’re not ready for prime time? Do you do it anyway because as they say, “all press is good press”?  Something to ponder….

Now since we didn’t find what we were looking for there, we heading off to Sauk-Prairie just about 15 miles south of Baraboo.  We knew there was a Carr Valley Cheese outlet store there. “Now there,” I thought, ” is a place that must have some cheese!”.  Once parked and with the car lock clicker clicked, we headed in. Happily seeing well lit shelves full of cheese in every shape and color, I asked the young lady in the store, “What’s the sharpest, most flavorful cheese you have in the shop?” She paused..,

But I’ll save that for another day…