It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise • Hacker News Board

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#211

Post by kelnos » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

rjvir wrote: post #16

giancarlostoro wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you dont want to pay you join a different franchise or start your own restaurant. I fail to see the issue. Nobodys putting a gun to your head to open up a CFA restaurant.

It's possible to be predatory without holding people at gunpoint.

How is it predatory? For $10k you get a complete Chick-fil-A restaurant, without having to pay for any of the building or start-up costs. Sure, that means corporate will take a much bigger cut of your sales/profits, but that seems fair, since they're taking on most of the risk. I mean... it's $10k. Tell me where else you can start a restaurant from scratch for only $10k and retain 50% of the profits? As someone who has invested in a (non-franchise) restaurant before, this is potentially pretty attractive, if you want to run a franchise.

Even for a more "traditional" franchise, where the franchisee is responsible for all the start-up costs, even $50k is small peanuts compared to the full cost to bring the restaurant up from scratch. Calling that "predatory" feels like a gross exaggeration.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#212

Post by copperx » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:10 AM UTC

dv_dt wrote: post #80

csdreamer7 wrote: post #29

From the article. Already knew, but this summarizes the food business so beautifully. “As a fast-food franchise owner, you’re often fighting a war for pennies,” says Rose. “Food is the most competitive industry known to man: It has the highest investment level of any industry, the highest failure rate, and the lowest margins.”

There are exceptions which indicate that may not be the whole story. https://www.businessinsider.com/in-n-out-employee-pay-2018-1 * Store managers earn an average yearly salary of more than $160,000, more than what the typical tech worker in Silicon Valley makes for the year. * High wages for fast-food workers can lead to increased productivity, less employee turnover, and bigger profits in the long run.

Tech worker salaries are higher if you look at the total compensation.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#213

Post by copperx » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:13 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #183

privateSFacct wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting some decades ago I think McDonald's did a study that led to something called the 4 minute McDonald's universe which was a distance they found people would go for spur of the moment purchasing. Obviously impractical, but this idea of optimizing for total revenue has been around for a bit I think.

And it's not limited to mcdonalds. Starbucks is getting notorious for this. Here is an area by me with three starbii: https://goo.gl/maps/qR2XLLVYmqiyrHtLA One in the vons, directly across the street from one in the ralphs, and if you head north on vermont in this street view you will hit a burger king. Today that is a freestanding starbucks. Three starbucks locations in less than a square mile.

Starbii should be Starbuckii, no?

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#214

Post by copperx » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:15 AM UTC

leetbulb wrote: post #148

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lemonade, yo! Honestly though, my guess is probably consistent customer service- everyone seems to be happy- and consistently high quality food. Also, where else would I get waffle fries?

Get a waffle fry cutter and fry them in duck fat.

That was an unfortunate autocorrection.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#215

Post by copperx » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:17 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #205

SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, its just another fast-food chicken sandwich, I guess. IMHO, the sandwiches from every other major chain, including McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King are pretty similar. Nothing differentiates the Chick-fil-A sandwich from the others, that would cause me to wait in the long, traffic-stopping lines that form at their restaurants at meal times. It really baffles me.

If you go to McDonalds or Carl's Jr, there's a big difference between a $1 and $5 burger. Chick-fil-a doesn't have that bottom tier and starts at higher prices with the associated quality. So yea, you can get similar food at the existing chains but it's just not their focus.

There's no difference in quality between $1 and $5 burgers. They only differ in size and presentation.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#216

Post by masonic » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 9:26 AM UTC

Reedx wrote: post #195

asdff wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's not limited to mcdonalds. Starbucks is getting notorious for this. Here is an area by me with three starbii: https://goo.gl/maps/qR2XLLVYmqiyrHtLA One in the vons, directly across the street from one in the ralphs, and if you head north on vermont in this street view you will hit a burger king. Today that is a freestanding starbucks. Three starbucks locations in less than a square mile.

There's a spot in SF where two Starbucks are about a 30 second walk apart, depending on your luck with the walk sign. https://www.google.com/maps/search/starbucks/@37.7843267,-12... They're so close that I've switched locations depending on the length of the line. Sometimes both are packed though.

Even 20 years ago, there was at least one intersection in both Seattle and Vancouver that had two Starbucks (opposite corners).

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#217

Post by adwww » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 10:24 AM UTC

neuro_image3 wrote: post #40

Are there any viable franchises that are hands off? Like you put in the investment, hire manager(s) and earn revenue as the owner without having to invest a lot of time on the day to day operation?

Tim McGraw manages this in The Blindside. That man hasn't done a day's hard work in years.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#218

Post by Buge » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 10:56 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #165

cryptoz wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You can't really use the century thing, most western organisations had views which most progressives would view as abhorrent today. Section 28 in the UK was only 40 years ago, when the UK government was descriminating, and only repealed less than 20 years ago. When you put the beside your 150 years, you're coming across as lacking in even a basic understanding of history. Attitudes change. And those attitudes changed…

Even Obama was anti gay marriage until 2012. And Hillary Clinton until 2013.

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#219

Post by elfexec » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 11:18 AM UTC

frankharv wrote: post #85

frankharv wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why is that? Because the franchise owner is on site for 10 hours a day. How many McDonalds owners even show up at a store a day?

I also think their counter workers are some of the best. Maybe because of the religious ethos they promote. They actually care about making you happy. Have you seen the video of the McDonalds worker assaulting a customer because they complained about cold food. They are the worst. I also think the size of their chicken sandwich is the key. Not press-meat but a true 6 ounce breast filet. The other fast food stores use…

> Not press-meat but a true 6 ounce breast filet. The other fast food stores use junky meats.

Maybe not even junk "meats" at all.

"Those results were averaged: the oven roasted chicken scored 53.6 per cent chicken DNA, and the chicken strips were found to have just 42.8 per cent chicken DNA. The majority of the remaining DNA? Soy."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-chicken-fast-fo...

Re: It costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

#220

Post by chrisdhal » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

frankharv wrote: post #89

frankharv wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also think their counter workers are some of the best. Maybe because of the religious ethos they promote. They actually care about making you happy. Have you seen the video of the McDonalds worker assaulting a customer because they complained about cold food. They are the worst. I also think the size of their chicken sandwich is the key. Not press-meat but a true 6 ounce breast filet. The other fast food stores use…

Oh yes let us not forget they have a double lanes drive through. During the busy periods they put order takers outside in line to take orders. They have so serious efficiencies. I like that.

Virtually every McDonald's around me (Minneapolis area) has double drive through lanes. I've been to a number in the area that has people outside taking orders (during the summer at least) during lunch.