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Every business needs a selling point. Amazon dedicates itself to customer service and Tesla to innovation. These are their key selling points, the one thing we rely on to find within them. But, what if we told you, that there’s one business that relies solely on its bad customer service. A business that boasts how badly they treat you.
Making their debut in October 2021 in Australia, Karen’s Diner is a place to eat where the service is distinctive from other restaurants. Customers will always be called names and sworn at. Interesting enough, this caused their business to boom and now they plan an expansion into Indonesia.
Beginning with the tweet posted by their official account @karensdiner on Twitter. On Wednesday, July 13th, 2022, they tweeted, “1000 retweets and we will open a restaurant in Indonesia #bemorekaren #karensdiner.”
Many Indonesian netizens rejected that post from Karen’s Diner in their comments. Many believe that the restaurant is inappropriate since Indonesians are prone to becoming emotionally carried away.
As Indonesians ourselves, this doesn’t surprise us. Just hearing about their concept is shocking and we assume ourselves to be the open minded ones. So why is Karen’s Diner so confident? Surely they know the emotional sensitivity of Indonesia. Yet again, this boils down to marketing.
Everyone loves a good whacky feature. From dog cafes to k pop restaurants, people are constantly looking for an experience that is fulfilling. Not only do we want to go out for lunch, we want to be entertained, we want to be active. This is the success of Karen’s Diner – in a unique way – they have achieved product-market fit. Customers want something postable, entertaining and unique and this is exactly what Karen’s Diner provides. Best of all, they don’t care what customers think, they’re dedicated to their craft down to the core.
Another thing Karen’s Diner has succeeded in doing, is cracking down on virality. Being viral on social media is every businesses dream, social media managers are becoming so popular they might outnumber finance analysts. Time after time, we are seeing companies release “unique” content, from football teams making their players play truth or dare to brands making meme tik tok accounts. The truth is, whether customers are offended or not, Karen’s Diner is extremely watchable. The wild personalities of the waiters to the hilarious customer reactions. Whether customers eat there or not, watching their content is fun. Eventually, the content is too good and customers are dragging themselves to eat there. This isn’t surprising knowing that 61% of Gen Z are actively seeking new video content.
Thus, In a world where we are all looking to make a dash for quick fame, is this really that bad? For the first time Indonesia will get to enjoy something big before many western countries do. Should it really matter if people are offended when the entire premise of the business is to slander its customers? Would it be better if a more provocative business opened shop here like Hooters? All questions to stimulate your young marketing minds.
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