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

Post by antidesitter » Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 1:22 AM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #99

narrator wrote: post #22

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 jus…

Yes, this is the classic gentrification problem. Now you've turned a restaurant that locals can visit into a purely tourist attract that only the upper class can enjoy. This solves the problem of the restaurant owners having to close down, but for all the locals the restaurant might as well be gone. P.S. And then when the next "top N burger joints in America" list comes out that everyone goes crazy for and all the bu…

Post by sizzle » Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 1:29 AM UTC

megablast wrote: post #309

tptacek wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do that to a point, but if what you're serving is simply a well-executed diner burger, then, like I said, there's a ceiling. You can't charge $30 for that. Or, you can, but you'll create more problems than you'll solve. This guy ate at 330 different burger restaurants. He has a finely-tuned metric for what a good burger is (his #3 is also a neighborhood place he grew up with). He's set up to appreciate what S…

> He has a finely-tuned metric for what a good burger is This is one way to put it. Lets pretend that every burger isn't different, every cook isn't different, ingredients aren't the same from day to day, etc... Then it all becomes having the right combination on the day you get there. And this ignores how the reviewer is feeling, and what they ate and drank already that day and the day before.

Post by navinsylvester » Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 2:08 AM UTC

trynewideas wrote: post #292

It's a "dead dove do not eat" feeling, but I kind of hoped I'd open the HN comments on this one and _not_ see a bunch of engineering solutions. They all miss the point of the story, which is crushingly relevant to startups: If you build a company with people you like and love, and circumstances outside of your control force it to scale in a hurry, those people you like and love are going to get hurt in the process. T…

Post by mcphage » Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #303

1024core wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you actually try to read it? It says so right there: Apparently, after my story came out, crowds of people started coming in the restaurant, people in from out of town, or from the suburbs, basically just non-regulars. And as the lines started to build up, his employees -- who were mainly family members -- got stressed out, and the stress would cause them to not be as friendly as they should be, or to shout out c…

It seems you and the author have something in common: refusing to believe the man at the center when he says that it wasn't the author's fault. Which he says repeatedly. And he hints at the actual reason, which you and the author just refuse to believe, I guess. And then, in a quieter voice, he started to explain why it wasn’t just two weeks. He asked me not to reveal the details of that story, but I can say that the…

Post by Aeolun » Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 2:23 AM UTC

blt wrote: post #218

tptacek wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do that to a point, but if what you're serving is simply a well-executed diner burger, then, like I said, there's a ceiling. You can't charge $30 for that. Or, you can, but you'll create more problems than you'll solve. This guy ate at 330 different burger restaurants. He has a finely-tuned metric for what a good burger is (his #3 is also a neighborhood place he grew up with). He's set up to appreciate what S…

I think this is the In-n-out effect - people who grew up on it see it as a vastly superior version of McDs, Wendy's etc for the same price, and are understandably effusive about this. But visitors expect something profound instead of a well executed fast food style burger.