I could find better food elsewhere, but the price is right and they do two things well. Those two things are instructive for churches.
First, each one is quite clear about its business. Harriet’s sells “comfort food,” like hamburgers and chicken potpie. Pay the deliveryman, put food on a plate, and you have a “home-cooked meal.” Cafe con Leche sells plain, village-style food mainly for Latinos who miss home.
When I visit church Web sites for communications consults, I can tell that some congregations have similar clarity of purpose. Some center around the personality of the pastor, some focus on teaching, some stress overseas missions.
Other congregations, by contrast, are a jumble, like an old fashioned hardware store, offering a little of everything in the hope that something will work and nobody will complain. Lack of clarity comes across as defensive and radiates low self-confidence.
Second, each restaurant is strong on customer service. At Harriet’s, the owner chats up people waiting for food. At Cafe con Leche, staff are attentive but not anxiously hovering. I feel welcomed in each.
At the most fundamental level, faith communities exist to welcome, to bring people in “out of the cold,” as it were, and to nurture feelings of warmth and belonging. When a congregation does that work, the “buzz” goes around, as it does with restaurants.
There’s no magic formula for running a restaurant or a church. The key usually is paying attention to the details and being oriented to the customer. The quality of the food, oddly enough, is quite secondary.
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant, and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of On a Journey, and the founder of the Church Wellness Project.
