Tag Archives: Food

June 28, 2013 · 9:52 am

Mixed Messages

Today we’re going to have a little Fast Food Friday Fun.

 

FATBURGER

(Photo credit: roboppy)

 

I hardly ever eat it any more (strange how my waistline seems not to miss it) but there is one outlet that I hit up every time I’m near one – Fatburger.  For those of you who live East of the Mississippi, this chain is located mostly in California, Nevada, Washington, and Arizona but there are outlets in a few other places.  Unfortunately for me, New York City just became one (but it’s in an area in which I rarely go so I hope to stay away…mostly…).

 

Why I love their burgers is pretty simple and is right there on their website:

 

Fresh, lean beef.  Never frozen patties, Cooked-to-order.

 

And they’re topped with a selection of the usual stuff – cheese, bacon, chili, a fried egg – as well as other things – grilled onions, jalapeños  yellow peppers – that one doesn’t generally find readily available but which make it possible to get the burger tuned perfectly.  Have it your way indeed!  It’s a fantastic brand promise – one to which the food adheres.

 

So you ‘re wondering why the love note on a business-blog (even if it is Foodie Friday)?  Because of the Fatburger truck tour and that:

 

The national food truck tour coincides with the introduction of Fatburger frozen beef patties in more than 3,100 Walmart stores, which will be arriving in stores by the end of June.

 

I understand why they’re looking to sell patties through the biggest retailer in the country.  What I don’t understand is instructive for any brand.  I love this place because it’s not “fast food.”  The beef is not some iced over hockey puck slapped on a grill.  What they’re selling at Walmart is a Fatburger in name only.  As an aside, I wonder if it really is the same product that goes to the restaurants or if it’s just a licensing deal with a supplier that has no connection   Be that as it may, while  they’re expanding sales they’re cheapening the brand, at least in my mind.  It’s an inferior experience.

 

Fatburger isn’t alone in making this mistake.  Starbucks instant coffee, for example, is the antithesis of the heady, fresh brew that one gets from a barista.  Luxury brands doing GroupOns has the same effect.  While driving revenues is always a goal for any brand and every business, that can’t come at the expense of the brand image or experience.

 

Let me hear your thoughts.  Maybe it will distract me from wanting a Fatburger in the worst way right now…

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

1 Comment

Filed under food, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , ,

June 21, 2013 · 8:52 am

Green Tea

Let’s contemplate green tea to begin our Foodie Friday Fun rant this week. Many folks – myself included – drink green tea because it’s chock full of really good stuff such as antioxidants. While it used to be that green tea was the specialty drink of Japanese and some Chinese restaurants, it really has become a mainstream drink here in the U.S. – 10 Billion servings a year by some estimates.

Good mornig,guys! Why don't you drink with me?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Because of the popularity of the drink, Consumer Labs did some research on bottled green teas as well as loose tea used to brew at home.  Their research showed that brewed green tea can vary widely from one cup to the next even when prepared in the same way. Some bottled varieties appear to be little more than sugar-water, containing little of the good stuff that gives green tea its solid health reputation.  Overall, the tea in bottles was far less healthy than tea made fresh.  The bottles are more convenient but the product is of much lower quality.  This, of course, got me thinking about business.

There is always a trade-off between convenience and quality.  Look at “fast” food.  I think most of us know we’re giving up a lot – flavor for one thing – when we choose to save time and patronize a quick-service restaurant.   It’s the same when we  buy prepackaged  baked goods instead of  taking the time to find a bakery where things are fresh-made (or make them ourselves – even better!).

Thoreau put it well.  “The cost of a thing,” he wrote in Walden, “is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”   People choose the convenient product because in their minds they’re getting back a little time, a commodity that’s becoming quite rare for most folks.  The real secret to being successful in business is to strike that balance more in favor of quality while offering some cost-savings in terms of time.  The green tea example shows up it’s not even a money thing – people pay more for the less healthful tea in bottles because it’s ready, not because it’s better for them.  I’m not sure that’s even a conscious choice since the bottled teas position themselves as healthy in many cases.

How do you solve the time/quality/convenience equation?  The answer to that might just be the key to your success.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, food

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 7, 2013 · 9:03 am

Bad Golf And Worse Food

It’s Foodie Friday and I know you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. Sorry about the infrequent posts this week.  I’ve written before about the golf outing I go on every year and I’m in Myrtle Beach with the crew celebrating our friendship and playing an awful lot of (bad) golf. CalabashWe come to Myrtle for the golf and fellowship – we definitely don’t come for the food. In 19 years of visiting we’ve found a few (and only a few) decent restaurants and so we’ve taken to cooking for ourselves a lot. While our food definitely tops out at the “advanced amateur” level, it beats most of what we’d pay for here. That said, the restaurants – a mixture of national chains, Calabash seafood joints, and sports bars – don’t make it worth the effort of money we’d spend on dinner for 12.

Why I bring this up is that they seem to do a good business which raised the question in my mind of standards. We’re not food snobs – most of us enjoy simple food prepared well using high quality ingredients and we’re not looking for fancy sauces or molecular gastronomy techniques.  The standard to which we hold professionals is very different (apparently) from the one most of the folks visiting here seem to have.

The business question is this.  I don’t think the cooks are less skilled nor the service staff any less capable.  I do think that they’re playing to the bar set by their clientele and that’s a trap for any business.  We need to be focused on “best” and not on”this will get us by.”  Many folks like fried seafood buffets (a specialty around here) but using old oil for frying or frozen, imported fish rather than changing the oil regularly and fresh local catch is meeting the low expectations that come either from not knowing any better (McDonald’s is fine until you taste Fatburger or In & Out) or from a business that doesn’t focus on repeat customers.  Very few businesses are afforded that luxury.

Since golf is delayed by a tropical storm passing through (good planning  I know), we’ll be cooking another meal here.  That’s some restaurant’s loss (and given this group it’s a substantial loss).  Our job in business is to make eating out at our place a more attractive proposition than staying home.  The higher we set our own bars the more likely we are to do that.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, food, Helpful Hints

Tagged as , , , , ,