Seattle’s own “Soup Nazi”

A few of us took an early lunch and walked around the block to Bakeman’s Restaurant near Pioneer Square. Calling itself a ‘restaurant’ is a misnomer and part of the joke for those who eat here often. Unless someone were to recommend this place, you’d probably walk right by it. You enter through one of two sets of stairs that lead to a single large room. Walls are white. Chairs and tables are white. It about as fancy as a school lunch in the gym but without the milk in a plastic bag.

We arrived to find the line about 25 people deep. Two women were barking out orders to customers who approach the order counter. The menu is as simple as they come: sandwiches, soups, and a half dozen salads. I was surprised at how quickly the line moved mostly due to these two women forcing customers to make quick decisions or risk getting a tongue lashing. Don’t step up to the counter unless you’ve made a decision which shouldn’t be hard since you’ll have a few minutes to do so while in line.

I stepped up to the counter and ordered a turkey sandwich. The lady didn’t even look at me as she grabbed two huge handfuls of turkey just like you’d do yourself the day after Thanksgiving. She put lettuce and mayo on as well and then squished the sandwich together to keep it from falling apart. She then wrapped it fittingly in white paper. They don’t go out of their way to make the prettiest of sandwiches. I continued to the counter to pay where another guy who was yelling at the women in front of me because she grabbed too many napkins from what I could gather. He rang up my sandwich which came to $3.75. You’ve got to be kidding? It’s hard to find anything under ten bucks in this area of town.

So the sandwich was cheap but tasted as good as any I’ve had. And this place was absolutely packed. We were lucky to grab a table for three people. We enjoyed our sandwiches and then headed back to the office. For the next hour or so we talked about this place. The attitude, the price, but mostly about the food which was fabulous. We told everyone back at the office how they should try this place.

This got me thinking about our own products. Is there anything about them that’s so noteworthy that our customers will seek them out? Do they tell their friends about it? What are we doing to make our service and products so unique that people can’t stop talking about them?