It kills me that restaurants add all the value to the area but lose almost all of it to rent. I wish I could design a town or something. Big tax break to landlords who house good restaurante long-term or or otherwise allow the restaurant to be profitable. Or maybe the town owns the town center or something.
You can't just wave away economics like that. The problem with restaurants is that they are in a highly crowded and competitive business. If you give them a tax break, they would simply pass the savings onto the consumer.
How do BBQ restaurants work? The two methods I can think of are: 1) you run out when you run out and that's it for the day 2) you keep stuff warm. I'd expect that to dry it out. I've heard some of the famous ones in the south use method #1. Real BBQ is smoking stuff at low temperatures (not too far from 100C) for a long time - briskets can take 12+ hours or longer. So you can't just throw an extra one on when the cus…
Considering the low-and-slow technique of a lot of smoked / bbq meats, it's actually really hard to dry out most meats because few of them are lean (chicken breast is notorious for drying out, even with the low-and-slow approach). You can keep things "warm" without keeping them under lights - a lower heat ( < 100F ) can keep beef and pork plenty moist.
> You can keep things "warm" without keeping them under lights - a lower heat ( Unfortunately, maintaining meat at that temperature is going to be a non-starter pretty much anywhere in the USA for health code reasons. Here in NYC, meat has to be held at 140 degrees or above, or if reheated, has to be heated to above 165 degrees, and then held at 140.
Considering the low-and-slow technique of a lot of smoked / bbq meats, it's actually really hard to dry out most meats because few of them are lean (chicken breast is notorious for drying out, even with the low-and-slow approach). You can keep things "warm" without keeping them under lights - a lower heat ( < 100F ) can keep beef and pork plenty moist.
> You can keep things "warm" without keeping them under lights - a lower heat ( Unfortunately, maintaining meat at that temperature is going to be a non-starter pretty much anywhere in the USA for health code reasons. Here in NYC, meat has to be held at 140 degrees or above, or if reheated, has to be heated to above 165 degrees, and then held at 140.
Perhaps this is why the absolute best BBQ in the south can be found in roadside smokers, less bound to the prying eyes of food inspectors, etc.
> in all these founder stories [...] you better love what you're doing I agree with you as a general point but I disagree in that you make it about founders. As a general rule, if you have the chance/education/abilities to do, you should always pick a job where you love what you're doing, whether you're the founder or an important employee or a random grunt in a giant corporation. You're going to do that for 8h+ hour…
Actually, unless you are very unusual, one kind of job you should not pick is one where you love what you're doing, because if you love that activity, so do lots of other people (again, unless you are very unusual), which means they will crowd into that occupation and bid down wages and working conditions until life for almost everyone in that occupation is shit. Mind you, it's also bad to be in a job you hate. Forty…
The problem with that theory is that just because you don't love it doesn't mean that there aren't lots of others who do love it. Trading off your joy doesn't mean you aren't still competing in a field where your competitors love it ... it just means you don't.
For the concern you cite, avoiding what you love is misguided, you want to actually study the markets for various options to see what is getting bid down -- and choose something that has an attractive combination of economic conditions resulting from others preferences and interaction with your preferences.
How do BBQ restaurants work? The two methods I can think of are: 1) you run out when you run out and that's it for the day 2) you keep stuff warm. I'd expect that to dry it out. I've heard some of the famous ones in the south use method #1. Real BBQ is smoking stuff at low temperatures (not too far from 100C) for a long time - briskets can take 12+ hours or longer. So you can't just throw an extra one on when the cus…
I'm from the south and method #1 is done by almost every non-chain BBQ restaurant. Method #2 is done by almost every chain BBQ restaurant. Method #1 BY FAR produces the most fanfare. Notable #1 is LA-Barbeque, and Franklin BBQ in Austin and the wait is typically 2-5 hours and all of the BBQ is sold out before lunch.
I can appreciate that. I used to live in a neighborhood with a decent takeout BBQ restaurant. I tend to eat late, so it wasn't unusual for me to order something at 9:30-10PM and find that they were all out of everything but one or two dishes (they closed at 10:30). Pretty sure at least once I went there and they were completely out of meat and were only selling side dishes.
It kills me that restaurants add all the value to the area but lose almost all of it to rent. I wish I could design a town or something. Big tax break to landlords who house good restaurante long-term or or otherwise allow the restaurant to be profitable. Or maybe the town owns the town center or something.
You can't just wave away economics like that. The problem with restaurants is that they are in a highly crowded and competitive business. If you give them a tax break, they would simply pass the savings onto the consumer.
Yeah. I think the issue is that the landlord is incentivized to extract maximum cash for the spot, which may be better for some other kind of venture (eg bank branch or whatever) which makes the restaurant's existence close to untenable in some locations. Public good or local quality or whatever does not factor in in any way.
There are probably better ways to do this than what I suggested.
How do BBQ restaurants work? The two methods I can think of are: 1) you run out when you run out and that's it for the day 2) you keep stuff warm. I'd expect that to dry it out. I've heard some of the famous ones in the south use method #1. Real BBQ is smoking stuff at low temperatures (not too far from 100C) for a long time - briskets can take 12+ hours or longer. So you can't just throw an extra one on when the cus…
All of the good ones in Austin follow #1.
I'm a fan of Blacks, moreso than Franklins. Which ones do you recommend?
You can't just wave away economics like that. The problem with restaurants is that they are in a highly crowded and competitive business. If you give them a tax break, they would simply pass the savings onto the consumer.
Yeah. I think the issue is that the landlord is incentivized to extract maximum cash for the spot, which may be better for some other kind of venture (eg bank branch or whatever) which makes the restaurant's existence close to untenable in some locations. Public good or local quality or whatever does not factor in in any way. There are probably better ways to do this than what I suggested.
Even if the landlords charged no rent, I would not expect to see profits increase significantly, rather I would expect prices to lower (and additional restaurants to open). Of course, if only a small(ish) number of restaurants get free rent, their profits would go up.
I really enjoy reading about the trials of entrepreneurs outside The Bubble on HN and this was a great piece of writing. The vignette about the dirt-loving sniper sucked me in.
I met Tyson a few weeks ago at Arrogant Swine after the Brooklyn iOS Meetup.
I have to say, from what I saw that night at his restaurant I'm fairly certain he's stumbled upon a formula that is going to work quite well. The place was jam packed, food was delicious and I'm still telling people about the meal and ambiance.