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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

#391

Post by JoeAltmaier »

clubm8 wrote: post #390
fapjacks wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but I have a very good friend in Vegas who says it's similar there.

> No, but I have a very good friend in Vegas who says it's similar there. Also the strip is where the tourists are, and isn't technically the city of Las Vegas. A lot of the behaviors people engage in on the strip would get you thrown out of a place that's more locals oriented. They don't take shit off strip.

Pedant> Yes it is technically the city of Las Vegas. The strip has a Las Vegas, NV address.

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

#392

Post by karmelapple »

bartread wrote: post #171
andybak wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they devour that which they visit and leave it devastated. Not disagreeing but the "they" is "us". You're not in a traffic jam, you are the traffic jam.

Agree. Whilst I think that people, or rather popularity, ruins everything, and whilst I'm frustrated that rather explore and discover things for themselves people would rather be told what's good and descend in a mob, I have to admit that I'm part of the problem: sometimes it's just easier.

You don’t truly mean popularity literally ruins everything, correct? There are all kinds of things that are better because they’re popular, or at least could not have been as great without their popularity. Smart phones, for instance: if they didn’t get really popular, and there was not as much competition in the hardware and app space, the apps and hardware would not have gotten so much better so quickly.

Other ones off the top of my head: air travel (popularity has led to fairly low prices, even if the experience has suffered for those looking for bargain basement prices), computers, coffee, beer.

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

#393

Post by tedunangst »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #391
clubm8 wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, but I have a very good friend in Vegas who says it's similar there. Also the strip is where the tourists are, and isn't technically the city of Las Vegas. A lot of the behaviors people engage in on the strip would get you thrown out of a place that's more locals oriented. They don't take shit off strip.

Pedant> Yes it is technically the city of Las Vegas. The strip has a Las Vegas, NV address.

USPS addresses do not exactly map onto local jurisdictions.

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

#394

Post by Shorn »

andy_ppp wrote: post #366
gkoberger wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody thinks too much business is what hurt Stanich's. Rather, it was too much attention. The pressure of a small-town short order cook all of a sudden having to live up to what Stanich's "could" and "should" be. One day, he's making the same burgers his dad was 70 years ago. The next, he's getting franchise offers and vitriolic reviews and personal issues. It seems he started cleaning and renovations, and just coul…

Oh man, the renovations I’m making without having any customers are damn awesome...

Ouch.

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

#395

Post by drdeadringer »

School-Cotton wrote: post #351
kbenson wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what it is, a very well executed fast food burger. I mean, I'm not going to trade it for a real good local burger joint burger (Superburger in my area), but that joint burger is 2x times the size plus fixings (depending on what's ordered) and costs 3x the In-n-out burger, and doesn't have a drive through. When you start adding all the variables in, the picture becomes clear. Oh, and as someone that get…

As crazy as it sounds, there are people who are adamant that In & Out is not just good relative to fast food, but in fact one of the finest places you can eat, at any price. Source: I've spoken with a few.

In the city I live in, a proposal for an In & Out came up. It split down the city in half for reasons; traffic, "In & Out is great", "In & Out is awful", and so forth. Nothing's come of it and as far as I know the lot remains defunct.

Elsewise I too encounter people who hold In & Out on a pedestal simply because of their food. Personally, I've tried and honestly but I just can't. McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Jack In The Box all have better burgers and fries than In & Out for me, but say that to the devout and you'll be shown the door faster than they'll tell you to go to Hell. It's amazing.

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

#396

Post by drdeadringer »

lazerpants wrote: post #146
tptacek wrote: post #135

It's hard to blame Kevin Alexander for this, because Steve Stanich played ball with the review, like most restaurants would. If he wanted to, he could have asked not to be featured in the list, and Alexander probably would have complied; otherwise, he could have done other things to make it clear to his customers that he wasn't interested in fulfilling the role the ranking carved out for him. We see this effect in Ch…

I made a similar comment further down, but if Stanich's took reservations and just held tables for walk ins (and treated regulars/locals preferentially) they would probably have been fine. Takes more front of house effort though, and he probably still should've raised his prices a bit.

In an episode of the anime series "Food Wars", the main character basically does this at the restaurant he is assigned to internship at.

He and another chef student are assigned a local restaurant which is regularly and completely swamped by commuters; commuters flood the restaurant, everything is crowded, kitchen is over crazy, and then everyone evaporates to catch the next train home. Every day. Local eaters be damned. On the surface business is booming [daily rush of commuters!] but in reality there's a struggle.

Main character figures to go "reservation only". Walk-in commuters not allowed unless they have a reservation; no walk-by "I'll grab some sushi". Owners freak but are desperate... and things work out. A local comes in for his reservation and comments how he hasn't been able to come by for months because it's always so crowded, but he's oh so happy that the waitress remembers his regular order. Restaurant survives and within sanity.

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

#397

Post by drdeadringer »

phlakaton wrote: post #201
sizzzzlerz wrote: post #196

Who waits for 5 hours to get a hamburger? That's just silly. Either limit the hours in which burgers are served or hand out tickets allowing the holder to buy up to, say 4, burgers. The total amount served would be based on what the staff can reasonably prepare over a certain amount of time without going crazy. If you don't get a ticket, sorry, come back tomorrow. If you don't want burgers, you get to skip the burger…

Same people who wait all night for a product launch. Or all day to get into a convention panel. Or all afternoon to get into a concert. People get unreasonably obsessive about the things they love. It is known.

At the Comic Con in San Jose earlier this year, the lines for Stan Lee's autograph were insane. Hours backed up at the dedicated empty table starting at 9am 'cause he'll be there at 2pm [or whatever].

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

#398

Post by InclinedPlane »

antidesitter wrote: post #341
InclinedPlane wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> And then when the next "top N burger joints in America" list comes out that everyone goes crazy for and all the burger-tourists start going somewhere else now you've lost your local customer base and you might go out of business regardless. Then lower your prices again to match demand. It's almost as if prices aren't set in stone.

You're missing the important detail here: you've destroyed the relationship with your local regulars. They aren't going to return just because prices are affordable, they're going to find other places to be their regular burger shop.

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

#399

Post by wallflower »

stagger87 wrote: post #194
wallflower wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to that donut place that is a brand in itself. Kind of over hyped. Wish I spent the hour plus waiting in line at the technical branch of that Valhalla of book stores.

In case anyone tries to look this up, the standalone Powell's technical book store is now closed and has been merged into the main store on Burnside (mostly located on the top floor).

Thank you for letting us know.

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

#400

Post by tokyodude »

clubm8 wrote: post #367
tokyodude wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you feel if it goes out of business from not enough patronage or if the owner closes it because it's not meeting his financial requirements for retirement? If the owner just wants a quiet cozy place that's certainly great but maybe the owner wants the place to be 3x as busy or maybe she want's to open a bigger place or 2nd place as soon as she gets enough people and funds.

>How will you feel if it goes out of business from not enough patronage or if the owner closes it because it's not meeting his financial requirements for retirement? No place I've done this with has gone out of business yet. Keep in mind - I found it. Others will too.

Well, another POV is that some people like to help others. If the owner wants more business then helping them is spreading the word. Yea, it sucks you don't get to keep your special place but I'd rather help my friends achieve their goals than hold them back for my own selfish reasons.

If I had a friend running a restaurant or bar and they told me "don't spread the word I want this place to stay cozy" then of course I'd respect their wishes. If on the other hand they want to grow then I'd help them spread the word.

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