I love Mexican food. I mean, I really LOVE Mexican food! The spicier the food, the better I like it! The beans and rice with jalapeños, the cheese with green chilis, the sizzling beef with peppers on my plate of fajitas… yum. It makes my heart sing!
So, whenever there is a new Mexican food restaurant, I am the first to run out and try it. I soak in all the spicy goodness as fast as I can because, like many Mexican food restaurants, the food profile is going to change…dang it!
During the first year in business, most restaurants embark with recipes of authentic Mexican flavor and spiciness. Over the course of time, they begin to make the food less spicy after receiving complaints from people who do not like spicy food. (No complaints from Texans, mind you!) The restaurant appeases this small handful of people rather than to stand firm in their original offerings, and the spice profile becomes less. Sigh…
Don’t get me wrong: adapting to the market is vitally important for a business to succeed. Except when the business changes so much that they have forgotten why the entered the market in the first place. Take care of your clients. Just don’t take care of them so much that you lose your uniqueness as a business. In other words, keep the spice! Please and thank you!