Crepe, Nutella, Berries, Nuts: Sweet Ingredients For Great Product Design
Want to learn about business models from a Crepe Machine?
Yes, a Crepe Machine.
And it’s not just any commercial crepe machine. No, not the one you saw your neighbor using. Or the one that got your kitchen in the worst mess of its lifetime.
This crepe tool is a bit different. And original.
It is special made for street food magicians and cafes. So attractive, using it might be considered a performance act.
Actually, it is the first crepe machine where crepe is not at the center of attention. The machine itself is at the center.
It brings smiles to kids and street hawkers make a fine living using it. It fills squares and main streets with irresistible scents and apparently, it’s a great example of a fine product design (and business model).
Its ingenuity will get your stomach juices flowing causing an ideal gut-brain connection. This synchronicity will keep these lessons embedded for a long time.
I assume you have three loves in life.
Love of crepe.
Love of nice products.
And the love of bringing the first two loves together.
Instead of writing about iPhones and Coca-colas of the world, why not learn important product-making principles from a less known innovation. The one also impressing people wherever the scene is.
The same way popular products do, but with an original flavor.
Lesson #1: Deliver The Value Fast
Streets and cafes are fast-paced.
Crowds come and go, the street flow always seems to change rapidly. One minute there’s only one hungry kid. Next, there are dense waiting lines with excessive mouth-watering issues.
Wouldn’t it be good to make three crepes within a minute instead of just one?
This machine makes the process look as smooth as a baby’s bottom. With the mixture in the bottle already prepared, you just press the plug and slide. Voila, from an impatient customer to a Nutella mouth-full in 20 seconds.
The difference between this crepe machine and others?
You get 30 crepes instead of 5 in 10 minutes.
Lesson #2: Make Your Product Attractive
The most important marketing principle is this one:
Make it sweet for all senses.
And this crepe machine does just that. There is a viral Instagram video that made this machine popular. Why?
Because it’s amazing how easy and fun it is to make a delicacy.
Making your product attractive will not only appeal to the end-users (pancake lovers) but to your direct customers (hawkers).
Make your product easy to fall in love with, and all the rest will come more easily.
Lesson #3: Make It Worth Every Penny
The first problem with starting a business or buying a product is the initial investment. It’s the very reason why loans were created in the first place.
However, this machine brought initial investment down to a minimum, making this problem sweet care.
It costs around €2000 to buy one. It’s a one-time purchase with a three-year warranty.
An easy decision for any cafe that wants a safe start, right?
Now, making crepe is a process that needs ingredients. Ingredients that cost, of course.
Well, on average it costs 15 euro cents to make one crepe. That same crepe is sold for 2 euros. Meaning, the profit on each crepe is 1.85 euros with a margin of 92.5%.
An easy win for anyone considering buying.
A bonus of having a crepe machine is it is complementary to the primary service a cafe or hawkers are offering. At worst, it gives customers an extra reason to spend the money or come back in the future.
Lesson #4: Adapt To a New Normal
Yes, the familiar and boring COVID-19 regulations and creeps.
If you watched a GIF image, you could see that a hand has never actually touched the machine nor the crepe.
It’s a 100% machine-made crepe with no skin interference.
Compliance with safety standards plays a vital role in reassuring customers that everything you do from the start is safe. The customers should understand the only goal is to make their taste buds happy.
Lesson #5: Make The Product Versatile
If only you could use the entire surface to make eggs or roast bacon…
Well you can, because the entire surface is actually your playing field.
This machine is a frying pen that makes its own heat.
This means you can use it to fry pretty much anything that doesn’t spill over the heated surface. Which makes it ideal for breakfasts and brunch, as well as for dessert for all four seasons.
Hosting a private party back home?
Well, the product is quite easy to pack and transport back to your home. Assembling back takes a minute and making a new crepe for your friends in just 20 seconds.
Who knows, with such a fine business model and product design…
Maybe a crepe machine is the new oven.
