Have you ever been to a restaurant and fallen head over heels for their “secret sauce?” No amount of taste tests and trials could replicate the delicious sauce you fell in love with, so you headed back again and again to the restaurant when a craving hit you. What if you could get that built-in cornerstone taste with a franchise?
Boneheads franchisees have access to a secret sauce called Piri Piri that gets its roots in Portuguese and Mozambique culture. While this is a traditional sauce made from the piri piri pepper, the franchise’s take on the sauce is unique — and most customers have never teasted it before. Instead of saying “Mom’s cooking” or “grocery store,” this sauce says “Boneheads” to customers. It’s the perfect accompaniment to chicken and is made with a combination of citrus flavors and hot peppers.
This sauce is the cornerstone taste for Boneheads: the special thing that keeps people coming back for more. While there might be other restaurants that offer grilled fish and chicken in your area, no other restaurant will offer your signature taste if you have a Boneheads Franchise — that’s a unique aspect of the restaurant that will keep people coming back even when other restaurants break onto the scene.
Comparing restaurant franchises can be difficult. So many franchises say they have the best of everything, from the best training, to extensive assistance for location management, to aggressive marketing, to software or systems that keep profits high. Is one franchise really better than the others? Often it’s more about the fit between franchise and franchisee than about objective quality.
Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, testing out the cornerstone taste on your market is a great idea. Boneheads sells their sauces to customers, so it’s a great way to see if the cornerstone taste of Piri Piri appeals to your market. You can do this by trying out the sauce on some friends and family in your area to see what they think and if they’d be willing to spend their money routinely on meals that feature this taste. See how you feel, yourself. Sometimes your own level of enthusiasm makes all the difference.
While you can’t grab a bottle of special sauce at every restaurant franchise, isolating the cornerstone taste of the restaurant franchise you’re considering is a worthwhile practice. It’s a way of narrowing down the factors. When your head is swimming as you try to compare a number of different franchise business options, it can be helpful to focus in on the central question of barbecue vs. teriyaki or sweet vs. tangy.
How common is the cornerstone taste in your market? How popular is it? How easy is it to replicate at home? Will people eat it daily, or is it going to be an occasional special treat? Let the cornerstone taste help you narrow down the options and feel more confident about your choice among restaurant franchise options.
