On Friday before Labor Day, 2022 we got there at 11:38 AM, already hungry. They’d opened 8 minutes ago and there were 19 people ahead of us in line. I had a work call at 1:00 PM. The plan: lobster roll first then the meeting. The math looked good on paper. It wasn’t, not even close. By the time we finished at 2 PM, I’d missed my work call, nursed a sunburn and had to soothe a hangry kid. The worst part? I knew better. There’s no such thing as fast casual at this lobster shack.
A long time ago, a vegetarian friend introduced me to my favorite meaty sandwich. “You’re going to love this place,” she promised. Sure, I’ll try what the locals are having. I’d just moved to Maine and was team crab cakes all the way, so I was curious with a heavy side of skeptical. I’d never had a lobster roll before, but while swallowing my first bite of the one at Red’s Eats, I immediately switched crustacean teams. So long Baltimore. Hello Wiscasset!
I spent my two years in Maine trying to find a better lobster roll. I never found it. Nearly two decades later, I don’t make it up to Maine as often as I’d like, but whenever I do, I make the pilgrimage to my lobster roll mecca. I’m not alone on this. Red’s is usually rated the best lobster roll in Maine.
To get this sandwich, I first have to get my butt to Portland and then drive an hour to wait at least ninety minutes. All for a sandwich I can find at any decent seafood restaurant in America. Here’s the problem though, unless I’m in Maine or Connecticut, I will not order a lobster roll anywhere. Nope, not doing it. I’ve been burned by inferior imitations, so I refuse to take that risk again.
And let’s be clear, Red’s does not make having their sandwich easy. It’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s cash only. There’s only one cashier. The line moves slowww. They’re open half the year and only from 11:30 to 5. Get there after 5 and there will be tears, mine.
Even in Maine there’s a score (I like that word, thanks Abe) or more lobster shacks very close to Red’s. Some need a fresh coat of paint and others are new and shiny. They all have big signs offering lobster rolls at great market prices. They couldn’t be more welcoming. But, eating at any of them has a real opportunity cost I can’t afford to pay.
There’s one shack diagonally across the street from Red’s. Better views. Same menu. No line. I had it once in desperation (remember my tears?). Never again. It cost too much, not in cash, in disappointment. Their lobster roll was fine. Not good enough.
Maybe Red’s is a silly example, but there are logical and illogical reasons customers don’t switch. You know the logical ones. But your customers don’t stay loyal to your product simply because their rational brains tell them to. It’s possible your product is still objectively the best. It’s also possible your competitors caught up.
Some stay because of fear. They don’t want to risk a disappointment that costs them the thing they already know works for them. They fear the letdown when it’s just not quite right.
Some stay because of ritual. It’s what they’ve always ordered. They’ve built a habit around your product. Your competitor’s new features can’t kill your ritual.
For me, Red’s was my introduction to a sandwich I loved immediately. In a moment it became the measuring stick I use to compare all others. It had qualities that immediately won my heart.
More delicious than mom’s empanadas. So fresh I could imagine that lobster swimming earlier that morning. And way too much meat to fit on the bun.
On that first visit to Red’s I was surprised by how much meat they put on the sandwich. I’ve never seen a lobster with four big claws. My friend pointed me to something on their sign. “We don’t measure…we pile it high.”
That visual generosity (performative perhaps) is what started my habit of visiting “Maine’s Prettiest Village” every few years to stand in line and gladly miss work calls, get sunburned and survive hangry tantrums. It’s my inconvenient summer ritual.
How do you help your customers create a ritual around you?
Disclosure: I write these posts. AI helps me edit them.