---
title: 094 Differentiation Is a PreOpening Decision
description: "### The Demand Before your next menu tweak or service change, run the Opposite Test: could a competitor credibly do the exact opposite of what you're about to do? If yes, it isn't differentiation, it's sameness. Differentiation has to be…"
url: "https://kb.jeffreysummers.com/docs/094-differentiation-is-a-preopening-decision-2/"
updated: "2026-07-30"
category: Perspective / Perspective Fieldbook
---

# 094 Differentiation Is a PreOpening Decision

### The Demand

Before your next menu tweak or service change, run the Opposite Test: could a competitor credibly do the exact opposite of what you're about to do? If yes, it isn't differentiation, it's sameness. Differentiation has to be decided deliberately — it doesn't happen by accident after you've already opened.

### The Work

Name your next menu tweak or service change:
Run the Opposite Test — could a competitor credibly do the exact opposite of what you're about to do?
☐ Yes — this is sameness, not differentiation
☐ No — a competitor doing the opposite would be a different restaurant entirely
If this is sameness, what would the differentiated version actually require?
The identity decision you are willing to make now, even if it means real reinvention: