I recently had the chance to spend a few days near Boston, visiting both family and clients. A great time, though I am here to tell you, that “Boston Traffic” thing you may have heard about is no joke! 

I was meeting with Michael Bonadio from A. Bonadio & Sons, an awesome company we have been working with since 1994, and he suggested we have lunch at a place called Moody’s Deli in Waltham. Walking into this place was quite an experience. It was clearly a serious Italian deli, with a cold case full of more cured meats than I had ever seen in one place. The kind of place where grandfathers wearing tweed hats meet for lunch and coffee and there’s entire legs of prouscitto hanging from the ceiling. 

I ordered an Italian sandwich and we got a charcuterie board as well. Between placing our order and getting our food, at least 4 different employees came by and said hello to Michael and introduced themselves to me. I marked Michael as a regular, but I was still impressed by how many people stopped by to chat during a bustling lunch rush.

And then we got the food. Now, I like food, and I don’t consider myself a total neophyte - but I had never tasted anything like the food they brought us. If you have ever tasted homegrown tomatoes or fresh baked bread, and you say, “oh man, THIS is what this stuff is supposed to taste like” - then you can imagine my experience here. With no exaggeration, it was some of the best food I have ever tasted. I’ve told a dozen people about it, and now I’m telling all of you.

There’s an old business adage that says you have to find the best balance of Price, Quality and Service. In the case of Moody’s Deli, their quality was impeccable and their service was fantastic. It was probably a bit more pricey than other lunch spots we could have gone, but here’s the thing: it didn’t really matter because they did the quality and service so well. 

I’m not suggesting that you can charge exorbitant prices as long as you are nice and do a good job, and the prices at Moody’s were high but not obscene. But here’s the thing: if you have great service and quality, pricing becomes LESS important. And more to the point, if you do service and quality well, you only have to overcome the price obstacle one time, because the client will enjoy the experience enough that they will come back. If I am ever in Waltham again, I’m going to Moody’s and taking anyone I can. It doesn’t really matter that it’s a bit more expensive, because I’m sold on what they do and how they do it.