Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

37signals.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 47 posts

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#11

Post by gcheong »

Readmore wrote: post #3

I'm starting to feel like this advice isn't so great anymore. Everyone is trying to do less and what we end up with is a million little apps that do one thing really well, which is great, but you're still dealing with a million separate apps. The iPhone wasn't just a really great phone, it was a phone, an iPod, and an 'Internet Communicator' but because those things were combined in such a great package it really spo…

I don't think the problem is the number of features really but maintaining the simplicity or ability to access the features you need. For any given product there are probably a core set of features that everyone wants and beyond that each additional feature pleases some other slice of the customer group but before you add that extra feature you should probably consider what that might cost you in terms of maintaining the simplicity of access and ease of use of your core features.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#12

Post by mikeryan »

zach wrote: post #7

Taco Bell has at least fifty menu items (not to mention their multi-brand restaurants). In-N-Out has, well, burgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks. Okay, In-N-Out does a great job. But a Taco Bell kitchen is about the same size, yet produces a substantially larger menu. How do they pull it off? Middleware. At In-N-Out, they make food out of potatoes, buns and refrigerated beef. At Taco Bell, they make food out of ing…

But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door. Taco Bell may have a larger menu but I doubt they have anywhere near the per-store revenues or profit margin of an In-N-Out.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#13

Post by oconnor0 »

brown9-2 wrote: post #9
eam wrote: post #5

In-N-Out in California reinforces this very well.

Same thing with Five Guys (not sure if they've spread beyond the East Coast). Very simple menus seems to be a hot trend recently.

They've recently made it to Colorado.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#14

Post by proee »

Readmore wrote: post #3

I'm starting to feel like this advice isn't so great anymore. Everyone is trying to do less and what we end up with is a million little apps that do one thing really well, which is great, but you're still dealing with a million separate apps. The iPhone wasn't just a really great phone, it was a phone, an iPod, and an 'Internet Communicator' but because those things were combined in such a great package it really spo…

You may need to factor in the "minimal viable product." A few years ago, an mp3 player could be consider enough for a high-end (read non-knockoff) product. However, fast forward a few years and you now need a mp3 player, video player, and app store driven device.

So I think you need to factor in the minimum requirements of the device (or foodchain) and then execute with the highest level of quality.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#15

Post by toby »

petervandijck wrote: post #2

Sure, and other companies win big by doing lots of things. Still worth restating though that doing 1 thing well can work great.

Like most 37signals articles, this presents a platitude backed by two examples. There are thousands of companies that succeed with the opposite strategy, and thousands that do something simple and fail.

It's not even clear that Pinkberry succeeded because of its small product offering or due to some other factor. In fact, the first time I heard about it, a fan was raving about the incredible selection of toppings to choose from.

A whole economics thesis could be dedicated to a controlled study of which strategy is actually preferable. This being the internet, simple narratives tend to win over rigorous results.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#16

Post by notirk »

duh wrote: post #8
jrockway wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chipotle is a national chain that is highly-profitable. Consider it the Starbucks of Mexican food. Not as good as the "local" place, but consistently okay everywhere you go.

Why consider it the Starbucks of Mexican when it's owned by McDonald's, a better example than any of the companies mentioned thus far.

McDonald's bought into it early, expanded it, then spun it off as an IPO. They don't own a majority stake (if any of it) anymore.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#17

Post by whopa »

mikeryan wrote: post #12
zach wrote: post #7

Taco Bell has at least fifty menu items (not to mention their multi-brand restaurants). In-N-Out has, well, burgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks. Okay, In-N-Out does a great job. But a Taco Bell kitchen is about the same size, yet produces a substantially larger menu. How do they pull it off? Middleware. At In-N-Out, they make food out of potatoes, buns and refrigerated beef. At Taco Bell, they make food out of ing…

But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door. Taco Bell may have a larger menu but I doubt they have anywhere near the per-store revenues or profit margin of an In-N-Out.

> But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door.

That could also be explained by the fact that there are far less In-N-Out locations than Taco Bell, so one store has to handle demand from over a larger area than Taco Bells.

If In-N-Out has the same density of locations as a Taco Bell, the per-store revenues will be quite different.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#18

Post by ibsulon »

duh wrote: post #4

It's no surprise 37signals is based in Chicago (I just did a whois) if they think Chipotle does Mexican food "well".

I live in Tucson and occasionally choose to eat at Chipotle none the less. There isn't a taco shop around that makes a veggie burro anywhere close to Chipotle's guacomole burrito. While a caloric load in itself, half a burrito is a good sized meal and is lighter than the comparison.

Is it Mexican? Not quite. Is it pretty tasty? For fast food, at least.

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#19

Post by [deleted] »

mikeryan wrote: post #12
zach wrote: post #7

Taco Bell has at least fifty menu items (not to mention their multi-brand restaurants). In-N-Out has, well, burgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks. Okay, In-N-Out does a great job. But a Taco Bell kitchen is about the same size, yet produces a substantially larger menu. How do they pull it off? Middleware. At In-N-Out, they make food out of potatoes, buns and refrigerated beef. At Taco Bell, they make food out of ing…

But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door. Taco Bell may have a larger menu but I doubt they have anywhere near the per-store revenues or profit margin of an In-N-Out.

[deleted]

Re: How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

#20

Post by zach »

whopa wrote: post #17
mikeryan wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door. Taco Bell may have a larger menu but I doubt they have anywhere near the per-store revenues or profit margin of an In-N-Out.

> But every In-N-Out I've ever been to has a line out the door. That could also be explained by the fact that there are far less In-N-Out locations than Taco Bell, so one store has to handle demand from over a larger area than Taco Bells. If In-N-Out has the same density of locations as a Taco Bell, the per-store revenues will be quite different.

Right -- they have a line out the door because that's how their artisanal revenue model works -- producing their specialty in great quantity.

The many Krispy Kreme franchises in In-N-Out's territory had those kinds of lines out the door once too, but went bust when the lines got short.

Kogi BBQ is the epitome of this model -- they have unfathomably long lines and few locations, but spread their resources around by being mobile.

Post reply on HN