Customer Feedback Limits Product Creativity, Says Spanish Chef

Julia Hanna writes in a case study about famed spanish chef Ferran Adrià that the owner of elBulli in northeastern Spain says creativity can’t come from just listening to what customers think they want:

“Adrià’s idea is that if you listen to customers, what they tell you they want will be based on something they already know,” [Harvard Professor Michael I.] Norton observes. “If I like a good steak, you can serve that to me, and I’ll enjoy it. But it will never be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To create those experiences, you almost can’t listen to the customer.”

Norton asks students to consider the operations and marketing of elBulli. There is much about the restaurant that is inefficient, as MBAs are quick to note: Adrià should lower his staff numbers, use cheaper ingredients, improve his supply chain, and increase the restaurant’s hours of operation. But “fixing” elBulli turns it into just another restaurant, says Norton: “The things that make it inefficient are part of what makes it so valuable to people.”

(Via Idea of the Day)