Quality Over Quantity: Lessons from a Donut Shop in Japan

How many people does it take to serve a donut?

When I walked into an artisanal donut shop in Kurashiki, Japan I wasn’t expecting it to turn into an exercise in existential despair when I ordered one of their signature filled donuts.

4 people to serve ONE donut:
• 1 takes order, preps base
• 1 prepares filling
• 1 precisely fills the donut base on a scale to ensure perfect quantity
• 1 carefully wraps and takes payment

Time taken: Over 10 minutes

It’s like watching a Formula 1 pit crew change the tires on a clown car . . . using chopsticks. Sure, it’s impressive, but you can’t help thinking, “Is this really necessary?”

Result: A beautifully wrapped but average tasting donut.

Here’s the hard truth:

What businesses perceive as “quality” often misses the mark entirely.
The only opinion that truly matters? The customer’s.

Key lessons:
• Quality is subjective and contextual
• Focus on what the customer cares most about
• Overengineering can lead to diminishing returns

Businesses often focus on delivering excellence in areas that aren’t meaningful to the client’s core needs.

This incident reminded me why I founded Area Ten and now CMAX.ai. Much of the SEO industry felt and still feels like it’s serving Kurashiki level artisanal donuts – beautiful presentation decks wrapped around thick recommendation documents that are as useful as a chocolate teapot. The end result being it takes at least 6 months to drive mediocre improvements, if any.

When we connected with our target customers, their priorities were clear: achieve bigger results, faster. For over a decade, we’ve been dedicated to fulfilling these exact needs. While our presentations might not be the flashiest, our focus remains steadfast on consistently delivering high-quality traffic that drives conversions at scale.

Quality matters, but whose definition are you using?