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Fast and Visible
I just discovered a new writer — The Brooklyn Investor — whom I’m (slowly) catching up on. His most recent post — an analysis of the fast food business, and of an upcoming IPO specifically — had some great insights on why Chipotle (Ticker symbol: CMG) is such a big hit:
This is a true story: I usually only go to CMG right before lunchtime. If I can’t get there by 11:30 or something like that, I don’t bother. But one time (actually more than once) I did go during the rush. The line was really long going all the way to the front door (the line was the full length of the store). Out of curiosity, I looked at my watch and noted the time. I got my burrito in five minutes. Here’s another true story: Not too long after that, I was at McDonald’s (MCD) and I was second in line. And MCD wasn’t crowded; I wasn’t second in line with five or ten registers open. I was second in line, period. There was nobody else. And it took me TEN minutes to get a happy meal (not for me) and a chicken club sandwich meal. How does this happen? I have no idea. But it happens all the time. I remember when MCD used to give something back (food is free or something) if you don’t get your stuff within a minute or two. Now it’s a disaster whenever I go (and I do go to many different MCD’s quite often).
What I like about this is, first, I agree: Chipotle is fast. But it isn’t just speed. The transparency of the process is also really important. I can see them making my burrito. They’re all moving back there. There’s no “behind the curtain” stuff going on: everyone is visible and at work. Not the same at any other fast food place.
When I use the on-call taxi service Uber, I can see the little car on my phone’s screen, getting closer to me for the pick up. I can see it, so I know it’s coming. It’s reassuring. Unlike a regular taxi cab, where you call a number and give your address and just… hope.
Seeing means trusting. Seeing the icon — or the person making the burrito — means there’s an efficiency, and a competency, and an accountability at work.
Of course, it’s hard for me not to make a political point. There’s a generation of business owners and customers who simply don’t respond to the idea of the “man behind the curtain,” and who don’t like to have to “trust” that the taxi (or the burrito) is on its way. That’s one of the many million ways that this administration’s signature piece of legislation — Obamacare — seems so geriatric and out-of-date: there’s no part of it that’s open and accountable. There’s no part of it that’s modern.
Which is why it has to go, and be replaced by something a lot more Chipotle.
Image Credit: Flickr user Mark H. Anbinder.
Published in General
Seconded entirely.
When I first moved to Boston, I was living in a suburb a little over a mile from the end of the T’s Orange Line. It was walkable but — given my tendency to sleep in — it was much easier to rely on the bus.
The problem there was that the anxiety of waiting for the bus — will it get here in time for me to catch my train? Will it get here at all? Am I doomed to stand here for all eternity? KHAAAANN! — while in total ignorance was simply excruciating. A couple of times, I just gave up and walked, only to be passed by the bus five minutes later.
These days, you can track both the buses and the trains from your phone. I don’t miss waiting for that bus, but it wouldn’t be as big a deal anymore.
man every chipotle I ever goto is like molasses.
A lot of fast casual places are similarly transparent–Paradise Cafe, Five Guys, Pei Wei, Jason’s Deli. I believe part of it is for the visibility of the process, but also because it creates a vibe of activity and action within the restaurant. It makes the place a bit louder too, for restaurants don’t work when they’re church-quiet.
As for Chipotle, I dislike the Mao-like caps.
That and I don’t have to go to Chipotle if I don’t want to and face being “fined.”
I cannot like this comment enough times.
You mean “taxed.” ;)
Using the same model, Panda Express is even more “transparent” than Chipotle. They’re so, so smart. They stack all their fresh ingredients in showcase refrigerators at one of the kitchen. If you have to wait for an entree, you can see them cooking it in their giant woks with all the sizzle and flash. The bottled drinks are on-ice at your fingertips, as are the cookies at the check-out. I bet they pull in an extra 10-20% on each order based just on presentation.
Great comparison to Obamacare, Rob. The contrast is so stark. The product is not only shabby and overpriced, if we saw “how the sausage was made,” it’d make us sick.
Tom, it’s been a long while since I’ve had to wait for a bus or train to get anywhere important or on-time. As I recall, however, the way to absolutely ensure that a bus arrives is to light up a cigarette at just about the time you’re beginning to worry. Voila. Of course, now that cigarettes are so expensive it’s probably not very economical to burn a cigarette that way, assuming, that is, that there are no local statutes banning smoking at bus stops to begin with.
Transparent, perhaps, but not very good either. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by living in a big city with many options for good Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc. (just a short bus ride away from Chinatown). Or maybe I just haven’t found a good Panda Express location yet.
The idea of making the process transparent rests on the assumption that there is a working process in the first place. And as Obamacare showed us, the “process” is only minimally controlled by the elected officials. Most of the grunt work, details, and deviltry is initiated by the network of staff, consultants, lobbyists, and lawyers who work behind the scenes. The FusterCluck, as it were. The elected officials only discovered what was happening after the fact.
If we made that process transparent, it would expose how laws are really made. And they can’t afford to have that revealed.
There may have been a time in the distant past when the 535 prima donnas (on the federal level) actually had the expertise to create new legislation that didn’t screw up existing legislation. But now, with two centuries of entrenched laws serving as legal plaque and buildup, there’s no way that these blow-dried prima donnas could rename a post office without triggering the Apocalypse. Maybe it’s better that they stay away from the process.
As someone with children who travels a bit, one finds oneself in a lot of chain restaurants in the “fast casual” segment. As Big John notes above, the open/busy model is really popular these days—all the various burrito places, Boston Market, Panda Express, etc.
Perhaps a pioneer in this regard was the Midwest’s Steak & Shake chain, whose slogan my college friends and I used to chuckle at in bewilderment: “In Sight, Must Be Right.” We figured this was some sort of dimwitted 1930s marketing boilerplate suggesting that because you could see it from the road or something, you should eat there.
This proved only, and not for the first time, that college students are idiots. Turns out the reason for the slogan was because, then as now, you can watch them actually make your burger on the grill if you sit at the bar (which most people don’t any more). Why was this important? Because, as much as we’ve forgotten it in these days of miracles and wonders, the scourge of the traveller in the not-so-distant old days was…food poisoning. Actually being able to see the meat that was being prepared for you was a major selling point, as it dramatically lessened the likelihood that Ma’s Diner was slipping you spoiled leftovers (or as in Motel Hell, something worse).
The danger of food poisoning is, incidentally, why the American diet for a very long time favored white foods—mayo, white bread, cheeses, etc. They’re a lot easier to spot when they’ve gone off. And since getting ptomaine or botulism in a remote location in, say, 1932 was an extremely dicey proposition survival-wise, white foods were popular.
Now let’s talk about how Culver’s is the best fast food in America…
“There’s no “behind the curtain” stuff going on: everyone is visible and at work. Not the same at any other fast food place.”
Five Guys. Though, “fast” might not always describe it.
“There’s a generation of business owners and customers who simply don’t respond to the idea of the “man behind the curtain,” and who don’t like to have to “trust” that the taxi (or the burrito) is on its way. That’s one of the many million ways that this administration’s signature piece of legislation — Obamacare — seems so geriatric and out-of-date: there’s no part of it that’s open and accountable. There’s no part of it that’s modern.”
Excellent points.
Can we also take a moment to say how wonderful online package tracking is?
You must not have heard of the Lazy Mathematician.
Interestingly, the current “it-boy’ of medicine big-idea/reflection pieces, Atul Gawande, wrote a piece in The New Yorker called Big Med where he said medicine needed to learn from The Cheesecake Factory. He didn’t focus on transparency at all. Rather he focused on a standardized process of care. He doesn’t say it, but it seems that the standardized processes provide transparency because everyone is doing the same thing…interesting.
So, what would Chipotle health care look like (beyond actual posted prices for procedures?
40 years ago I managed a pizza place named Shakey’s, they were the first place I know of that had picture windows in the kitchen to allow patrons to watch the process from rolling the crust dough to making and cooking the pizza.
That concept is great, as long as you manage to train your employees that they aren’t just cooks/ pizza makers, but also on stage at all times. You can’t imagine some of the things I had to ask employees to stop doing, from poor food handling practices to nose picking and butt scratching.
To this day I much prefer a kitchen I can see. I also usually see something that I would not have allowed when I was manager… ( I worked in plenty of hidden backroom kitchens that were horribly filthy messes, at least until I took over…)
It’s true the food is mediocre. But the sales job is masterful! We don’t get either with Obamacare.
Nice post, but this clip from Seinfeld suggests that you should be careful what you wish for.
Wouldn’t the germs cook out in the 500 degree pizza oven?
But that crispy bacon, though…
Yes. And why doesn’t the Post Office offer something identical? Because they don’t want the accountability.
The post office does offer package tracking.
Its just not super good right now. I typically get things delivered teh day before the package tracking system says I should.
Let’s replace it with a system called the “Free Market”. Radical, I know.
And what do all of these places have in common, compared to your Micky D’s, Burger Kings, etc?
They cost a LOT more. Seen the bill for lunch at a Five Guys, lately?
More money means you’re attracting a more affluent customer, means you’re attracting better employees. Chipotle doesn’t have a dollar menu, after all. It’s easy to have a better atmosphere when poor people aren’t eating at your place. McDonald’s probably regrets the whole Ghetto Fabulous marketing of the past decade (“I’m lovin’ it!”), and no amount of patching is gonna fix the problems that it caused. McCafe and a new look for stores isn’t enough for the hipster crowd.
I like mcdonalds. When I am having a tough day, I want a big mac, a real coke (with honest to god corn syrup, and not aspartame, fries, and chicken nuggets.
Its my goto comfort food.
To them, that’s a feature, not a bug.
Wouldn’t a “real” coke have honest to god sucrose, as in plain old cane sugar?
That’s correct. The kind I understand one can get in Mexico.
no, coke hasn’t cane/beat sugar in it for decades.