Egg Factory & the Factory Mindset.

We did our Sunday morning breakfast yesterday at Egg Factory. While we were there I stumbled on what I term the ‘Factory mindset’.

Other than dishes at the Egg Factory, everything else needs a fix. The table we were at was wobbly. We checked the one next to us to find that was wobbly too. The coffee I ordered came first in a puny glass filled to brim and lukewarm. No one checked if I wanted the coffee with my eggs. Plus I forgot to tell. The size of the coffee spoon was almost as big as the rim of the glass. I did the stirring gingerly. The ‘Kejriwal’ egg dish came in a side plate filled to the edges. How do you eat something off a plate if it’s the size of the plate? There was more.

All in all the place seemed like it had woken out of a stupor. No energy, no smiles. Everything looked wilted, and I know why.

It’s called the ‘Factory mindset’. The focus in places with such a mindset is to faithfully churn out the required output. Nothing more, nothing less. At the egg factory the focus is on preparing the eggy dishes and serving them. Everything else be damned. Now you can’t fault them on the food, but the munch-stuff isn’t the beginning and the end in a restaurant. In fact it shouldn’t be. It’s gotta be more. It’s gotta be little things like the size of the spoon and plate. It must be things like checking with customers about their coffee. It also better be about ‘serving happy’ and making patrons happy. See, that’s what tips the scales in your favor.

Not the food. Take it from me, it’s never the food only. In my book, cooking a good/great dish is a default. Plating it correctly, garnishing it, serving it right, and with enthusiasm pushes it into a zone of finesse. That’s the differentiator. Egg factory on its part could do with dollops of the differentiators, made up of the little and the not so little things. For their sake I hope they change. I hope they get off the ‘Factory mindset’. I hope they start serving happy eggs and turning their breakfast and other sessions into wow experiences!