Want to Beat the Competition? Start by Acting Like a Guest
A few weeks ago, I walked into a restaurant I’d never been to before. Not for a meeting. Not to consult. Just to eat. I went in quietly, no one knew who I was. The food? Fine. The service? Decent. But what really caught my attention was something else. Sitting near me was a couple who’d just come from another spot across the street. They were comparing menus. One was showing off a photo from a restaurant Instagram. The other said, “I saw a video where they flamed the steak table-side. We should try that place next time.” That sentence stuck with me. The competition wasn’t just the restaurant I was sitting in. It was the experience next door. The content online. The memory of something bold.
Walk the Neighborhood Like a Guest, Not an Owner
Don’t just Google your competitors. Go eat there. Sit anonymously. Watch. Take notes.
⦁ Was the greeting immediate?
⦁ How did the staff communicate?
⦁ What did the other guests look like? Locals? Tourists? Regulars?
Look for the cracks in their experience. It’s usually not food that kills a restaurant. It’s indifference. It’s friction. It’s inconsistency.
Now ask: what can we do better? What can we do differently?
Use Menus Like a Benchmarking Tool
Print their menu. Print yours. Put them side by side.
Then ask:
⦁ Is your pricing competitive or confused?
⦁ Are they charging more for less? Less for more?
⦁ What value are they communicating that you’re not?
If they’re selling x-dish at 5 and you’re at 7 hypothetically, you better be telling a better story. Because your guests are doing the same comparison, but with way much less patience than you are.
You’re not just selling food. You’re selling value. Make it clear. Make it compelling.
Scan Their Social Media Like a Marketer
Follow them silently. What are they posting? Are they showing energy, movement, lifestyle?
Are their posts real or stock?
Do they highlight team, culture, dishes?
Are people commenting?
The guests your competitor is impressing online might be the ones skipping your reservation link. Reverse engineer what’s working. Don’t copy it. Outclass it.
Listen to Their Reviews. Closely.
Read the last 6 months of their Google and TripAdvisor reviews. Not just the stars. The themes.
What do people praise? What do they hate? Are there any patterns?
A guest saying, “Food was amazing but the staff looked miserable” is a golden opportunity for you to dominate with service and energy.
Their complaints are your competitive blueprint. Follow it!
Pay Attention to the Team Behind the Curtain
Happy teams create repeat guests. Burnt-out, underpaid, overworked teams create turnover. And turnover kills consistency.
Watch their staff next time you visit:
⦁ Are they joking around or on edge?
⦁ Are there “we’re hiring” signs up constantly?
⦁ Do guests feel like they’re the priority?
You can’t control your competitor’s staffing, but you can out-care them. People talk. Hospitality workers especially.
Find the Operational Blind Spots
Ever been to a place that looks great on Instagram, but the minute you walk in, you notice:
Overflowing trash cans.
Long wait times at the pass.
Servers scrambling with no direction.
These things matter. Because while your guests don’t always know how to describe operational excellence, they feel it.
Cleanliness, timing, service flow, noise levels, they all tell a story. Is your story more polished than theirs?
Build a Culture That Learns From the Field
The smartest operators are constantly watching and adjusting. They make their managers dine out regularly and report back with structured feedback.
They host debriefs on what they learned. They treat competitive intel like gold, not gossip.
They don’t just try to win. They study how others are losing.
The Takeaway
Competitive analysis isn’t about obsessing over your rivals. It’s about sharpening your edge. It’s about protecting your blind spots. It’s about seeing what your guests are seeing when they choose you. Or when they don’t.
The best way to spy on the competition? Act like the guest you’re trying to win.
Taste what they taste. Watch what they watch. Then serve better. Sharper. Stronger.
This isn’t paranoia. This is preparation.
Because in this business, it’s not always the best dish that wins. It’s the best experience. And the best-prepared operators never stop learning how to create one.
