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I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

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Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#21

Post by ddingus »

olalonde wrote: post #7

I wonder if raising prices quite a bit would have helped.

It was not money. The story made that obvious.

No, it is inability to deliver the intended experience.

Some people identify with that very, very strongly. Steve is one of those people.

Nail it, or don't bother.

He has a hard choice. Franchises are very hard to get right, and no matter what, they are shadows of the original. Like Vegas presentations are.

Or, go big. In n Out Burger us a potential example. They are growing, and own the culture, experience, even the food ingredients.

Both of those things are very different lives for the family, who prior to this story, were living one they held dear.

I applaud Steve for not placing blame. He knows it was good intent gone bad, and we cannot always know. Good human. And he also closed the loop, sharing it all.

The writer, having come to realizations, did right by telling this story, and Steve seemed to understand the value in all of that.

I enjoyed this piece. There is much to think about, and both writer and impacted person appear to be solid people, sharing their experiences in honest, frank, high value ways.

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#22

Post by narrator »

There's an easy solution to having too much business : raise prices. I think this is one of A16Z's big insights into most businesses[1]: they don't charge enough.

If you look at the best restaurants in America like the French Laundry in Napa, they charge astronomical ridiculous prices and they still have reservations for months ahead of time. The oldest restaurant in Paris requires you put down a 400 euro deposit just to make a reservation! That these burger joint owners shut down instead of raising prices seems like a huge business mistake. They could have put 50% off coupons in the local newspaper or something if they wanted to make the place available to locals at reasonable prices.

[1] https://a16z.com/2016/08/13/pricing/

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#23

Post by jacquesm »

"Too much love will kill you, just as sure as none."

It's an interesting reflection on the effect of the internet hordes that can be called up by a careless article or tweet. A similar thing happens to restaurants that receive the Michelin stars and to single individuals that end up being in more popular demand than can be sustained (this happens to some consultants). Not all of the typical defenses are available all the time, such as raising your prices or other ways of limiting the influx. Besides that not being fair to your original customers.

Hard problem, the internet mob is like a bunch of locusts, they devour that which they visit and leave it devastated.

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#25

Post by Altaer »

There is a local barbershop I have been going to for the past 4 years or so. Recently, they wanted to increase some business, so they were asking customers to leave a review. Loving the place and wanting to give back, I left a good review on Google. Fast forward a few weeks, and received emails from google saying my review has been viewed 100s of times. I used to be able to call and get an appointment the same day, or same afternoon even, but now it's difficult to be seen the same day. It's a bit of a bummer, and I'm not really sure how to solve it. It hurt me as a long time customer, but the shop is doing a ton more business now. Now I'm hesitant to do this for any other business I enjoy, even knowing this is a selfish feeling.

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#26

Post by jacquesm »

JPKab wrote: post #19

People are lemmings. Franklin's BBQ in Austin has hours long lines. It's very good brisket. The hill country of Texas is FILLED with equally good brisket joints that don't have lines. People who wait in line for 4 hours won't admit this. Cognitive dissonance kicks in, and Franklin's is unique and better than everyone else in their minds. Try telling a person that their Bose headphones are overpriced and overrated, an…

That's because we are not satisfied unless we feel we have the best. Second best just doesn't cut it, and making it measurable is a great way to focus all the attention on the #1 spot. Same with music rankings, movies, books and so on. It's what powers best sellers: best sellers will sell more because they are best sellers!

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#28

Post by et-al »

JPKab wrote: post #19

People are lemmings. Franklin's BBQ in Austin has hours long lines. It's very good brisket. The hill country of Texas is FILLED with equally good brisket joints that don't have lines. People who wait in line for 4 hours won't admit this. Cognitive dissonance kicks in, and Franklin's is unique and better than everyone else in their minds. Try telling a person that their Bose headphones are overpriced and overrated, an…

Agreed. For me, most restaurants fall into good/so-so/not good buckets, so I dislike ranking them and selecting a best, however folks love top 10 lists.

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#29

Post by siphor »

JPKab wrote: post #19

People are lemmings. Franklin's BBQ in Austin has hours long lines. It's very good brisket. The hill country of Texas is FILLED with equally good brisket joints that don't have lines. People who wait in line for 4 hours won't admit this. Cognitive dissonance kicks in, and Franklin's is unique and better than everyone else in their minds. Try telling a person that their Bose headphones are overpriced and overrated, an…

do you know of a pair of better/cheaper over the ear noise cancelling headphones?

Re: I Found the Best Burger Place in America, Then I Killed It

#30

Post by btrettel »

JPKab wrote: post #19

People are lemmings. Franklin's BBQ in Austin has hours long lines. It's very good brisket. The hill country of Texas is FILLED with equally good brisket joints that don't have lines. People who wait in line for 4 hours won't admit this. Cognitive dissonance kicks in, and Franklin's is unique and better than everyone else in their minds. Try telling a person that their Bose headphones are overpriced and overrated, an…

I live in Austin and I've made the exact same point to people before.

Q: Which BBQ place should I go to in Austin?

A: Most are good. I've even enjoyed the brisket served at the UT dining halls. (This is blasphemy to some.) You probably would do well to pick any well established BBQ place without a line.

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