Quote: Are you saying I'm too free with my pretzels? Tee hee...
LOL. Maybe I'm saying that you are not valuing your pretzels high enough. For instance, what if my local baker determined that most of her customers were like your H, likely to spoil their appetite for pretzels with a cheap quick-fix at the convenience store midweek? There are two logical responses, she could start baking a cheaper line of pretzels available at the convenience store or she could tell herself that she's just not in that business. She's a gourmet pretzel baker, not a cheap convenience store pretzel baker. I'm suggesting that you go with option two because setting yourself up to compete with porn is like my local baker trying to compete directly with Frito-Lay. She can't win, especially if she wants to feel pride in her baking. Also, recognize that while it is true that your H is your only potential customer, it is also true that you are the only bakery in town where he can get fresh, warm pretzels. Your only real competition is the bakery in the next small town down the road to which your H might relocate in search of better pretzels. So raise value if necessary by thinking about how you can improve your recipe and the ambience of your shop relative to other small town bakers, not how you can bake pretzels just as symmetrical a Frito-Lays and sell them just as cheap. Reduce validation by not letting the riff-raff hang out in your cozy little shop munching on convenience store pretzels. Any customer who wants to experience the ambience of your shop needs to pay full gourmet pretzel price and it's up to them whether or not they eat the pretzels. If they are unwilling to pay for either the ambience or the pretzels then, unfortunately for them, you aren't running a charity bakery and they'll have to make way for a new paying customer.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
