Restaurants, You’re Competing with Netflix, Sofas, and Uber Eats

Let’s be honest, restaurants aren’t just competing with each other anymore. We’re competing with living rooms, streaming platforms, food delivery apps, and that all-too-comfortable feeling of “let’s just stay in.”

The landscape has shifted. The traditional rivalry between neighbouring restaurants is no longer the full picture. Today, the real challenge is convincing people that dining out is worth leaving the house for. That it’s more than just a meal, it’s an experience. And if that experience doesn’t add up, staying in will win every time.

The New Competitor: Comfort

We live in a world built around convenience. With a few taps, customers can get any cuisine delivered, watch a movie in high-definition, and stay in pyjamas while doing it. If your dining experience doesn’t offer something those things can’t, it risks becoming irrelevant.

This isn’t about lowering prices or fighting for visibility with ads. It’s about understanding what makes someone choose to spend time and their hard-earned money in your space rather than their own. Because if your only offering is “food,” you’ve already lost. People can get food anywhere.

What they can’t get at home is the feeling of being looked after. The energy of a buzzing restaurant. The consistency of quality they don’t have to question. The effort that says, “we’ve thought about everything, so you don’t have to.”

Dining Out Is a Choice, Make It Worth It

For every guest that walks into Swiss Butter, we know they have other options. Maybe they could have stayed in and cooked. Maybe they scrolled through five delivery apps. Maybe their friends pitched three other places before they landed on us.

We don’t take that for granted.

That’s why we obsess over experience, not just the menu. Because the truth is, people aren’t just paying for steak-frites-sauce. They’re paying for the feeling that comes with it. Reliability, simplicity, ease - all served in a way that makes them say “let’s come back here.”

At Swiss Butter, we’ve deliberately chosen not to offer delivery. Not because we can’t, but because the experience doesn’t travel well in a box.

If You’re Chasing Convenience, You’re Already Behind

A lot of restaurants are racing to be more “convenient” - faster delivery, availability on more platforms, more meal deals, more offers and more options. But here’s the thing: you’re never going to out-convenience the apps.

Instead, compete where you can dominate: Experience. Service. Quality. Execution.

The future of hospitality isn’t in trying to replicate the convenience of home, it’s in giving people something home can’t replicate.

Predictability Is a Superpower

You know what gets people off the couch? Trust.

If they know the food will hit the same way it did last time, if they know the service will be smooth, if they know the experience won’t disappoint, that’s when you win. Predictability might not sound exciting, but in hospitality, it’s everything.

At Swiss Butter, whether you eat with us in Riyadh, Dubai, Madrid, London, or Beirut, the meal tastes the same. The vibe is familiar. The sauce is identical. You don’t need to “hope” it will be the same - you know it will be.

That’s what gets people out of the house. Reliability. Familiarity. A sense of confidence in where you’re going.

The Margin Is in the Memory

A great meal lasts 45 minutes. A great memory lasts years. People don’t tell friends about the average night in, they tell stories about the places that made them feel something.

You want to compete with the couch? Create a space people want to return to and rave about.

That comes down to how you make them feel, from the lighting and music to the way their food is served. We design every detail at Swiss Butter to be memorable, repeatable, and worthy of recommendation.

Because when someone says “you have to try this place,” that’s your real win. That’s marketing money can’t buy.

Experience Over Expansion

This is also why we don’t franchise.

We could have grown faster, taken the easy route, scaled like wildfire, but we didn’t. Because we knew that the moment we compromised on the experience, we’d lose the very thing that made people choose us in the first place.

We’ve opened 17+ restaurants across multiple countries, and every time, we’ve done it our way. No shortcuts, no licensing. Just slow, sustainable growth focused on consistency and execution.

The experience is our asset. And we protect it fiercely.

What Can Restaurants Do Now?

1. Re-think the offer – What are you giving people they can’t get at home? It better be more than food.
2. Double down on execution – Quality, service, and atmosphere need to be non-negotiable.
3. Design for experience – Every touchpoint should be intentional, from the music to the plating.
4. Forget the gimmicks – Flashy doesn’t last. Reliable does.
5. Listen harder – If your guests tell you something’s off, fix it fast.

The Real Competition Is Complacency

Netflix is easy. Takeaway is easy. Staying in is easy. Your job is to be worth the effort of going out.

The moment you start to think you’re just competing with the restaurant next door, you’ve already missed the point. Your real competition is inertia.

So how do you win?

Consistency. Clarity. Intentionality. Create something that feels as easy as staying home, but better.

Make the effort feel effortless.