We had dinner in a local restaurant the other night. It’s a place we used to go to all the time. It was one of our regular places.

We stopped going as often because the restaurant scene in our area changed. Over the past few years, we’ve been getting more and more excellent places to eat. We have more choices.

We neglected the old standby.

For a variety of reasons, we ended up having dinner there on Friday night. I was excited to visit the old place. I’d always felt comfortable there: it was familiar. We sat down with some friends and reviewed the menu. I noted that not much had changed.

We selected our appetizers and entrees, placed our orders, and waited for the meal to arrive.

The conversation was great, the drinks were terrific, and the meal showed up in a few minutes. We got busy eating.

How was it?

Meh.

Everything was prepared as it should have been, but something was missing. I was disappointed.

The food and our reaction to it really got me thinking.

What I realized was that the meal was pretty much the same as it had been a few years ago back when we were regulars. The restaurant is still doing the job just as well as it had in the past.

So why did I react to the meal like it was nothing special?

Because the restaurant is standing still. It and its food are stuck in the same spot they were in two years ago.

While they stand still doing the same old thing, our restaurant community has changed. The new places are better than the old. The new competition is driving other places to improve, experiment, and be more creative.

The old place is as good as it ever was, but the new places are better. The world is moving forward, even if the old restaurant isn’t.

Good enough yesterday isn’t good enough today. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.

It’s time for the old place to take it up a notch. It needs to improve the selection, quality, service, etc. It needs to find a way to stand out in the marketplace that exists today. It can’t rely on its history if it wants to keep adding new customers to the mix.

My question for you today is this: are you moving forward? Are you better today than you were yesterday? If you compare your service, quality, etc., are you doing better than you were two years ago? Or are you doing the same old thing in the same old way?

The marketplace keeps moving: it won’t ever stop. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Which direction are you headed in?