Here are two stories
which imply that Lyons were apt to take
little notice of market needs and national
and pallet preferences or advice from
local experts, surely a serious
shortcoming for any organization
attempting to sell product or services
outside their own borders.
When a UK cake
product was successful, it was sent over
to the Continent in order to sell it
there. An example was a newly introduced
Lyons Bakery Dessert Cake having a dark
violet colour and a dry texture. A
container of this odd coloured cake was
sent to Holland where the Hooimeijer Group
were called upon to sell it. But...the
Dutch, who are not great cake-eaters in
the first place, and when they do eat cake
they prefer a cake to be light yellow and
havng a slightly moist texture.
Furthermore the Dutch do not have a sweet
tooth, like they say, so cake in Holland
is always mild and never too dry.
So not surprisingly
this violet cake did not find it's way
onto many Dutch tea tables and even free
samples disappeared in the dustbin. It is
alledged that Lyons management was
furious, and said in public that the Dutch
are extraordinary people and in reaction
to that, one of Hooimeijer's staff
involved in this operation said that this
was not true but the Dutch simply do not
like Desert Cake (with one s! ).
In the Lyons owned
Paris hotel 'The Commodore' a Carvery
service was newly introduced, similar to
some in the London Strand Hotels. However
nobody told Lyons (or perhaps they did)
that the French do not like to go and
fetch their own food especially in a
expensive restaurant and on top of that
they find a dripping piece of meat, the
size of a bag of potatoes, disgusting.
Located in an area where you can find at
least 100 restaurants on a square
kilometer, you can very precisely forecast
that the introduction of the Carvery
service is not going to be universally met
with enthusiasm.
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