41–47 of 47 posts
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i think chipotle is delicious. it is the mcdonald's of mexicali
Somewhat literally: McDonalds holds a huge stake in Chipotle. Except Chipotle is way healthier and works better than most fast food joints.
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> 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.
Sure but lets put it in context of this article. If I were looking to open one fast food franchise, I'd much rather be in the In-N-Out, do one thing well camp then Taco Bell's give them anything world. (this isn't to say Taco Bell's business is poor, I'd just rather do what In-N-Out does)
Articles like this are annoying. There are multiple ways to success, and presenting one as clearly better than others when there are so many counterexamples is disingenuous.
In-N-Out has a simple menu, above average ingredient quality, and treats their workers pretty well. All great qualities. But it's pretty evident, especially when it comes to food, that you can be bad in all those areas and still be successful, and perhaps even outcompete those who are better than you, if you focus on price and consistency, even if the thing you're consistent at is being mediocre.
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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.
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…
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…
Its a really impressive company, and one that I think backs up Jason's point. There was an amazing article on them recently that I'm struggling to find, if someone has the link and could post it that would be great (BusinessWeek?).
Chipotle thrives on its simple offering; Cheesecake Factory thrives on its deep menu.
Larry Ellison fought against the "best of breed" concept to promote a unified Oracle Applications. A Cheesecake Factory style package.
The argument for "complex" is that once you've earned the trust of a customer, you can provide the spectrum of products/services that customer needs. You can be counted on to pick up all dropped balls.
(But maybe there is a completely pointless complexity - proliferation of marginal features - which we can simply avoid.)
The only reliable guide is complete focus on the customer's needs.
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…
How can we get a broader, more realistic picture of what's really happening in the economy?