Does this happen to you guys? Happens to us all the time, last night this guy walks into our restaurant with his teenage cousin..orders food and then proceeds to tell me when I am passing by he owns the new place in the adjoining plaza! O..K..A..Y... and then he bombards me with q's about the legality of 2 washrooms, the handicapped washroom,where do you print thesse lovely menus, where do you get the pictures on the walls, where this and where that!!! HELOOOOO!!

Whats worse is that this happens pretty frequently, we have a unique concept and interesting menu and people find us intriguing..that is good I guess but sometimes it drives me nuts, because we dont go nowhere to snoop around. Sure on the occasional day off, we eat out and I will look at things closely but I dont go to a place to investigate...you know what I mean? Sheeshh...the stress....just venting!

That's crazy.....They probably saw what competition they had and were obviously jealous!!!! LOL, some people! My husband is a chef so where ever we go he finds something wrong with everything, always watching and looking at everything, I tell him he is just jealous that it is not his restaurant. Shake them off!

I know a guy whose hobby it is to turn in unlicensed people to the health department, because he gets a percentage of the fines that they have to pay if they get caught and he's the one who turned them in. I'd tell these people to ask the health department if they're asking you about any legal issues, and just tell them that you get everything else online and you can't remember where if they're asking you where you bought things.

"Thank you sir for your kind comments. We love our little place too. The pictures? Oh you can get them here and there. The menues? Well you'd have to shop around for someone who can provide you with the style and designs you want. The bathrooms? That's why God made health departments."

Ok I may be really be off here but..what's wrong with the questioning? I guess i see it as harmless. Flatterring. Curious.

On one hand I can see how this line of questioning during a busy service is definitely annoying since you are busy trying to provide good service but I don't know why it would be so offensive.
I often walk into places and think..cool concept..love this, love that..I've never seen these sorts of things before, wonder where they get their stuff from? I don't think i've ever right out asked the questions though. I don't think in the middle of a busy service is an ideal time to ask these things. Perhaps it would have been better received had he said something like this, "welcome neighbour, i have a new place down in the other plaza. I really love what you have done with this place. It's so interesting, i've never seen this sort of stuff before. Do you think we could go for a coffee sometime? I'm always looking for unique, good suppliers too." .... If even with that approach you would have been offended i would just kindly say, "thanks for the kind words. I really am busy these days with the place and find it hard enough to get any free time for myself. I found alot of my stuff..online etc.. If you look around you'd be surprized the stuff that is out there." This way it's not being rude and he will likely get the point you are not willing to share specifics.
I dunno I see this in a different light. Maybe i'm too innocent. I don't have a place of my own either so I don't have experience with this sort of thiing. To me it's kinda like CC. We have tonnes of new decorators here looking to learn, find good resources. Why not share your wealth of info? If you are providing good food, service you have nothing to fear. People go where they are treated well. JMHO..Hope i didn't upset you with my outlook on this.

I think it is aggravating when someone does that to a business. I want to say, "Hey, I used my brain and my time and figured this out for myself!" I would just be vague, or TRUTHFULLY say, "I don't have time right now to talk, I am in the middle of working. There are wonderfull resources online that you can access anytime." and move on!

I think this situation is different than a forumn where people go because it is set up to be a learning tool...that is what you expect here. If you don't want to participate than that is your choice. But coming into your business with drilling questions is rude. If he really wanted to have a serious discussion, he should have asked if you felt comfortable talking to him and when would be a good time.

I get it on pricing.
I also get it for recipes-other bakers actually call or email me for my recipes! Do you really think I am stupid enough to give those to you? No way! For all I know one of my former customers wants to use you because you are cheaper, but wants the cake to taste like mine. And they are always peeved when I say no. Like I am rude or something to not just fork over confidential, hard earned info about my business.
I did give a recipe to a client once when they asked, but I probably shouldn't have, because I have often wondered if she gave the recipe to another baker, trying them out. I remember not wanting to do it, but she was someone who I liked personally, and was trying to be nice. Not too smart.

I don't know...I kind of agree with sweet cravings....If you approach it from the sharing and working together concept, then you will both flourish...I kind of see it as the live version of what this site is all about...If Cake Central weren't around, none of us would be even more wiser than we were when we first joined...Here's an opportunity to make your competition part of the team of providing great sweets to your area...Who knows, you may even pick up some ideas from him to help expand your business.

Paul (& Peter)

It is absolutely the biggest complement when your competition checks you out, and you should do the same thing.

I don't get the "secret recipe" thing. Just because you provide a recipe doesn't mean the person can duplicate it at your skill level. You do need some talent and knowledge to bake.

Same thing with my hairdresser peers. Some of them WILL NOT share color formulas that they have "invented". My response to that is if you're that narrow minded you won't be getting very far in your career.

If you know you are putting out an A 1 product and giving A 1 service, you will be successful. It's not because you clam up and refuse to share "your secrets" with your competition. That's not thinking with a business head at all.

I am not questioning the idea of sharing info...I love to talk shop. I just think it was rude of him to come in during serving hours and expect to carry on a conversation. That is like someone coming to you when you are loading the van to go deliver cakes and expect you to converse. There is a time and place for everything and I think he should have asked if there was a good time to talk.

I think there is a lot of difference in sharing ideas and recipes on Cake Central, than your competition from right down the street coming in your place of business to snoop and "borrow your ideas". It would also be different in you went into a bakery in another town to get ideas. You would think that would be a given "understood". It's just called good manners!
donnan

I do agree that sharing recipes and ideas here is quite different than someone walking into your restaurant and asking you. But, this guy didn't ask for recipes, he asked about menu printing, pictures and restroom requirements.

All pretty neutral inquiries. You never know, by answering briefly, but nicely, he just may be able to help you out one day.

All I'm saying is most of us don't even know when our competition is checking us out, they may send a relative to buy a cake or cookie from us and call us for quotes.
I think when someone walks into your business, introduces themselves as your new neighbor down the street opening a business, and than asks questions........he's not such a threat. If he were he wouldn't have told the OP who he was.

Well, maybe this guy's motivation was just innocent like yours is. Heck, I'm trying to follow the 43 page thread on cake disasters forum, so if I'm confused it's probably from that Seriously though, you should be flattered by his interest, he obviously holds your business in very high regard. Good luck

I brought up the recipes, because I consider those hard earned and I don't like people just emailing me saying "Oh, I really need a great recipe. What do you use?" There is a lot of competition in my area, and it can sound stingy, but it took a lot of work finding ones that worked for me and taste great, and I'm not sharing with the woman five miles down the road. If that makes me a jerk-sorry!

I run my husband's business as well as mine. It is a unique niche business and one of the largest of its kind in the country. We get people all the time trying to find out *how* we do it, and they admit they're wanting to "get into it" as well. They ask: Where and how do we get our inventory? What machine do we use? Can they come check it out? Where'd we get it? How much do we sell? Can they buy from us in large quantity, for resale, to get started?

I'm always amazed that they think we'd consider letting them have ANY of this information. Yes, here's a list of our vendors, relationships only WE have, built on years of trust (back to grade school actually). Here's our machine and where to order it, and our P&L statement. And sure, you can come watch how the whole operation works so you can try to get into it and kick our butt.

Um. NO

When I have these people on the phone, I tell them nothing, and in a nice way, I let them know that there's no way in livin heck that I'm sharing this info with COMPETITORS. Usually I tell them: 1. They can't come on the property to see the machine, due to liability issues. 2. We get our inventory "from local vendors". 3. For volume, I give them a number that makes their jaw hit the floor, and 4. We aren't in the wholesale business. "Thanks for calling." -click-

It's a compliment that they're asking how you do things, because they want to imitate you. They see your business as a successful model of what they should have; but business is business, and you can't afford to give your secrets away. Trust me, they're not trying to be your buddy. Be nice to them, and politely give them nothing.