![\"\"](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Andres.jpg\" "\\"Andres2\\"")
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The 8-Ps framework says that you want to look for disruptive innovations (i.e., for innovations that will differentiate you and that your competitors will choose not to copy) across eight dimensions: product, price, place, promotion, position, processes, people and physical experience. Most breakthrough companies I study are able to hit three or four of these \u201cPs.\u201d Andres hits them all.<\/p>\n
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- Product:<\/strong> let\u2019s start with the basics. Andres Carne de Res offers a long menu of creative dishes. We started with chunks of pork skin (\u201cchicharrones\u201d) served on a long, flat, wooden bowl with a side of cilantro guacamole dipping sauce. Local beers are served with a paper yellow butterfly pasted to their bottle necks. Wine is served in bottles individually hand-painted in bright colors by local artists.<\/li>\n
- Price<\/strong> refers not just to actual prices but also to how they are communicated and how customers pay. When we asked for the menu our server (more gender-friendly than \u201cwaiter\u201d) gave us a metal case about the size of shirt box. She showed me that inside was a scroll, and cranking the bottom or top handle rolled a menu up or down. It felt like an ancient Egyptian website that you scrolled down to see offerings and prices.<\/li>\n
- Place:<\/strong> Andres Carne de Res is nearly 30 years old, it is packed every night it\u2019s open and people talk about it from all over the world, but the restaurant has only two locations. One is in a distant suburb, a farm really, 30 minutes outside Bogota. Two years ago they opened their second location: a four-story maze in one of Bogota\u2019s cheekiest shopping districts. I went to this newer location to avoid a long trip.<\/li>\n
- Promotion:<\/strong> as far as I can tell, Andres does none. They rely exclusively on word-of-mouth. That is what got me there and, judging from the packed tables and dance floors, the no-promotion strategy is serving Andres just fine.<\/li>\n
- Position:<\/strong> it\u2019s hard to fit Andres into a box. The restaurant felt somewhat like an original Hard Rock Cafe, a quirky space filled with interesting pieces of art and paraphernalia. But it is more than a theme restaurant because it has three dance floors, a stage, a piano and a DJ, and actors interrupt your meal every now and then, playing funny improv scenes, which make you think of a funky Disney resort.<\/li>\n
- Processes:<\/strong> behind the scenes this multi-sensory experience is supported by an uncommon orchestration. I could not figure out how they engineered it, but we must have been helped over the evening by at least seven different people who passed us off as seamlessly as the Brazilian World Cup team passes around a ball. In college I spent three years waiting tables and came to understand that the best way to guarantee a seamless experience is to dedicate one server to each table. Andres proves this dogma wrong.<\/li>\n
- People:<\/strong> when we walked through the restaurant\u2019s door I was a bit surprised by the characters hanging out trying to get in. One, wearing a bandana, thin mustache and a suit that looked something like a security guard\u2019s uniform, was offering in a loud voice to pat down women visitors for weapons. At the stair landing, three women dressed as maids commented loudly that whoever had ironed my shirt did a terrible job and offered to take care of it for me. About a third of Andres\u2019 1,000 or so employees seem to be actors. Their job is simply to play interesting characters and entertain the guests all night.<\/li>\n
- Physical experience:<\/strong> finally, Andres has created a physical experience that I cannot truly describe. I lack the skill to give it justice with my words. There were fresh cut roses hanging on strings above our heads, butterfly-shaped confetti fell from the sky, industrial metal staircases led you from \u201chell\u201d up to \u201cpurgatory\u201d then to \u201cheaven\u201d (a huge fireplace sat on a landing between hell and purgatory and a 10-foot-tall bust of Jesus hung from the Heaven floor [ceiling?]). As the DJ\u2019s music displaced the eating, as diners abandoned tables for dance floors, the restaurant evolved, revealing layers and layers of intricate surprises.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The case of Andres Carne de Res suggests that you consider at least two things. First, of course, get yourself to Bogota and experience it for yourself. Second, look for what you can do across all eight dimensions to design a truly unparalleled, disruptive customer experience.<\/p>\n
What are you doing now that (a) customers love but (b) competitors will not copy:<\/p>\n
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- 1. <\/strong>Your product<\/strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n
- 2. <\/strong>How to price, communicate prices and collect payment?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 3. <\/strong>How you promote?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 4. <\/strong>How to distribute (place)?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 5. <\/strong>Where you position yourself relative to competitors?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 6. <\/strong>Your processes?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 7. <\/strong>The people you hire and inspire?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- 8. <\/strong>The physical experience you create?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- 2. <\/strong>How to price, communicate prices and collect payment?<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Price<\/strong> refers not just to actual prices but also to how they are communicated and how customers pay. When we asked for the menu our server (more gender-friendly than \u201cwaiter\u201d) gave us a metal case about the size of shirt box. She showed me that inside was a scroll, and cranking the bottom or top handle rolled a menu up or down. It felt like an ancient Egyptian website that you scrolled down to see offerings and prices.<\/li>\n