A recent WSJ article had an interview with new Macy’s CEO, Tony Spring, who loves using food metaphors to talk retail.

“It doesn’t take a lot of baking powder to make bread, but without it you don’t have bread.”

The meaning being: little things can make a big difference.

Tony will need more than culinary clichés to pull Macy’s out of its current location between a rock and a hard place.

After reading the article, I felt the need to let my inner foodie shine and share a food metaphor of my own.

“Taste Your Own Cooking.”

Every chef worth their salt (pun intended) tastes their meal while preparing it. Adjusting the seasoning as needed before putting the final product out for consumption. How often does a CEO “taste their own cooking” to understand how their customers experience their brand? Do they shop their stores undercover to get the unfiltered truth? If you read any WSJ article about Macy’s and want your daily serving of outrage, read the comments section. You’ll see many complaints about Macy’s stores across the USA. And if you are out there tasting the cooking and don’t like the taste of it, adjust accordingly. Don’t hold your nose, serve it up and try to convince me that is it gourmet.

I truly hope Tony does well in his tenure as CEO. Fending off aggressive investors and their buyout offers is no small feat.

But, at some point, if Macy’s fortunes don’t improve, the only culinary thing I will think about is Gordon Ramsay saying: “I wouldn’t trust you to run a bath, let alone run a restaurant.”