There is a relatively unknown bar and grill in a highly populated part of town near some very long term building works. The owner, lamenting the lack of customers, observes that every Monday evening, lots of men walk past the bar looking miserable and depressed, no doubt tired and aware they have a long week of work yet to go.
Sensing a business opportunity, he works out a profitable but high value deal, which he calls “Man-Steak Monday”. The offer comprises a heavily discounted 800g steak, garlic and onion gravy, roast potatoes, and one beer included. The beer comes out straight away upon ordering, while the steak takes a little time to prepare and cook, so the idea is that many customers will order a second drink when their steak arrives. A variety of well advertised sides are available, including instant snacks that can be enjoyed while waiting for the steak, which it’s anticipated will also be popular.
Right from the get-go, the response is phenomenal, and puts the bar on the map. Men and women are literally queuing down the road for their Man-Steak Monday treat, and there’s an overall increase in business on other nights too. Profits have never been higher, and after a decade and a half the owner finally decides to retire and sell the business.
An umbrella company that owns a well known chain of restaurants sees the thriving business up for sale and grabs it up quickly. A new manager who has a degree in Gendered Business Studies is assigned to take over, and the first thing he notices is that while Man-Steak Monday is their most popular offer, women only make up 30% of the customers.
He performs some market research, and concludes that there are a number of details putting women off from taking advantage of it. First of all, the steaks are too big. The women interviewed said they’d prefer a steak to be around 300g. The garlic and onion gravy isn’t really to their liking as it might make their breath smell, and a wine based sauce would be preferred. Instead of roast potatoes, corn and broccoli seem popular, and that should be topped off with a side of salad and soup. Beer is less popular with women, so a cocktail would be preferred. Women feel more pampered when they spend more money, so there’s no quibble about the price, even if the steak is smaller. Also, women tend to prefer Wednesdays as treat night.
The answer, it seems, is simple. Devise a complementary new offer provisionally called Women-Steak Wednesday based on the above research, to run in conjunction with the existing Man-Steak Monday.
But our new manager doesn’t want to do this, as Man-Steak Monday would still be catering to around 70% men, and he wants a one-size-fits-all solution for the sake of inclusiveness. So with that in mind, he takes the Man-Steak Monday offer and changes the steak size, the sauce, the included vegetables, adds the sides, changes the drink to a cocktail, and moves it to Wednesday. He decides that as people are already familiar with the Man-Steak Monday naming, this should stay, despite it not technically being on a Monday anymore (any customer who feels the need to niggle over this is probably not welcome anyway).
The response to this is perhaps as one might expect. Most of the men who used to eat there on Mondays have seen the new offering and decided it’s not for them. Most of the women that used to eat there Mondays have also turned their noses up at it—they liked the original offer because enormous steaks and beer is something they enjoy. It’s mostly new customers coming in, and in much smaller numbers. Their dining habits are a little different too—the cocktail is normally sufficient for the duration, so they don’t order a second drink, and as soup and salad is included they don’t order any sides either. The soup, salad and cocktail actually cost the bar more than they’re saving by the reduced size of the steak, so profit margins are much thinner than they were before. Additionally, many of the new customers are quick to voice their disappointment on social media, giving it a 1 star rating because the steak was too small, or too big, or it wasn’t stated clearly enough that the steak contained meat, which prompted a lot of angry replies from the manager suggesting they take their business elsewhere.
However, around 80% of the customers taking advantage of the offer are now women, just 20% shy of true equality, so the manager considers these changes to be an undeniable success. The Man-Steak Monday offer is now more accessible to a much wider and diverse segment of the population.
When he reports the bar’s finances though, the stockholders instead see a business that has been absolutely run into the ground, with profits in the red for the first time since the business was established.
The manager, feeling that finances were not the best way to judge the success of a business, blamed the losses on misogyny and intolerance.
And this is why a lot of people don’t like the new Star Wars movies.
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