The New Brunswick frozen yogurt wars end with a thud

[derleider]

Originally posted by ruhudsonfan:

Originally posted by Sir ScarletKnight:

Originally posted by ruhudsonfan:
The paradigm shift comes along the line of what Upstream is suggesting--and I thought what I alluded to somewhere above.

If I can open an app at 2pm while on a bus, browse a menu, confirm ingredients, confirm allergies, place my order, not have to worry about having cash, made modifications, order across a variety of cuisines and have it delivered within a 15 minute window at the time of my choosing, yeah, that is a paradigm shift. That turns the take-out model on its head.

As for sprig and munchery's limited roll out. That is rather obvious, no? This isn't software. There aren't economies of scale right out of the box. You launch your product in a limited space (in this case, a limited geography). You prove your concept works. You secure additional funds. You secure more space. Add more geography. Rinse and repeat. The scalability is almost unfathomable.

Think about one example.

munchery is selling 2,500-3,000 meals per dinner period. The are doing it with marginally higher labor cost (due to the advantages of selling the meals cold and using a cooking to scale process) and off the charts lower occupancy costs (on a s/f basis).

It's not hard to see why the two companies have received close to $500MM worth of funding.

As for an Uber for chefs. It has existed and has failed. Not to say it can't work, but the problem you have is retaining a quality bench of chefs and ensuring they are in an inspected kitchen.

Part of your idea is somewhat similar to Grubhub, which is completely functional with the app. The 15 minute window is pretty much the trickiest part.

GrubHub delivers you 3rd party food. Shitty 3rd party food. And as GrubHub chases topline revenue growth to satisfy Wall Street, they will price smaller sellers out--losing their variety in the process. And you can't order on GrubHub right now, for Wednesday's dinner.

Uh huh? And?

It delivers food that people want (the market for premade good but relativelyexpensive meals is pretty limited). The only difference is that you cant order days in advance Which isnt a huge deal, since most people dont make their dining choices until the day they are eating.. 3rd party vs first party matters to the owners (GrubHub gets to concentrate on software only, the company that you are talking about has to concentrate on food and software). Plus if ordering days in advance becomes a big deal, then GrubHub will surely step in and start offering that.

Of course you already got at what the real deal is. They are throwing money at the software, because the real money for stuff like this is to get bought out by Google or Yahoo or Facebook before those companies invent their own version and put you out of business.


This post was edited on 3/10 10:28 AM by derleider

 

[Jonny S]

There's a new Indian place on George, the latest Chipotle ripoff.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chapati-house-new-brunswick

 

[Korbermeister]

Originally posted by Jonny S:
There's a new Indian place on George, the latest Chipotle ripoff.

It only appears to be a Chipotle ripoff because you queue for your food (which has been done for ages.) The actual food is Indian american, not faux-mex.

 

[bob-loblaw]

Everyone must bow down and give chipotle credit for inventing assembly line cafeteria style. I hear they've filed for patents and are planning to sue those places that mimic this style.

 

[Jonny S]

Who said anything about inventing. They popularized it. Apple stole every idea they had from Xerox, but Samsung was ripping off Apple and not Xerox when they designed the Galaxy S.

When people go into one of these better burger/pizza/whatever places and see the assembly line style, it invokes Chipotle.

 

[bob-loblaw]

Quite the contrary. You mean to tell me that subway, blimpie or any sub shop weren't doing their thing before chipotle?

Maybe in your eyes, am assembly lime invokes chipotle, but it's a naive viewpoint. By that frame of mind, brower was ripping off chipotle before they even knew they were doing it

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by bob-loblaw:
Quite the contrary. You mean to tell me that subway, blimpie or any sub shop weren't doing their thing before chipotle?

Maybe in your eyes, am assembly lime invokes chipotle, but it's a naive viewpoint. By that frame of mind, brower was ripping off chipotle before they even knew they were doing it

C'mon, they're all evoking the System invented by White Rose System in Highland Park, where the assembly line guys behind the counter stood so close together that we used to joke that they were chain gang members still chained together.




This post was edited on 3/23 2:40 AM by Upstream

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Jonny S:
There's a new Indian place on George, the latest Chipotle ripoff.

Told you about the Indian food. There are alot of Indians down here in between DC and Baltimore. Maybe I should franchise this Indiana Chipotle.

As for it being a Chipotle rip off. I agree, to an extent, to a certain age group, any asssemly line food place probably does evoke Chiptole (despite, obviously sub places among others, having done it long ago.) But there are alot of actual Chipotle ripoffs (i.e. assembly line burritos). At least this is an entirely different cuisine - one that is vastly underrepresented given its deliciousness.

 

[bob-loblaw]

There's been assembly line burritos in Texas well before chipotle was a blip on anyone's radar

 

[rurichdog]

Chipotle, Surf Taco, Shaka Burrito, and Papa Grande?

Sounds like the Froyo Wars have devolved into the Burrito Wars.

 

[NotInRHouse]

There is a very big difference between those burrito places.

Chipotle is more Tex-Mex, Surf Taco is California Mex, Shaka somewhere in between.

Mexican food is like Chinese and Italian food- there's a million authentic varieties, and another million American, and for the latter two, plenty of other international takes as well.

I wouldn't say a Dominoes, Jersey style pizzeria, a drunk food Easton Ave type pizzeria, and a coal fired pizza type place on the same block are going for the same audience.

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by NotInRHouse:
There is a very big difference between those burrito places.

Chipotle is more Tex-Mex, Surf Taco is California Mex, Shaka somewhere in between.

Mexican food is like Chinese and Italian food- there's a million authentic varieties, and another million American, and for the latter two, plenty of other international takes as well.

I wouldn't say a Dominoes, Jersey style pizzeria, a drunk food Easton Ave type pizzeria, and a coal fired pizza type place on the same block are going for the same audience.

Absolutely, the nuances in the different types of burritos, or different types of pizza, make them different foods for different audiences.

It is like Pepsi is sweeter and Coke is sharper. Sure they're both colas, but some people like the sweet flavors in Pepsi and others like the mixed flavors of Coke. They really don't compete.

 

[retired711]

Of course Pepsi and Coke compete. Each is trying to get the customer who isn't committed particularly to either taste. The same with the various kinds of Mexican restaurants.

 

[derleider]

Yes - they definitely compete, because most people dont really care whether its Tex Mex or Cali Mex, or rather, they like both.

Now there are different levels. Taco Bell isnt competing with Chipotle, by and large. Chipotle's most obvious competitor is Qdoba - which is basically the same concept and style. But the next line of competitors is other fast casual burrito paces, regardless of style, then other fast causal restaurants (Five Guys, Panera, etc), then after that other types of restaurant (real fast food, or sit down).

 

[NotInRHouse]

Surf Taco serves fish tacos and other seafood.. Chipotle, not so much. Surf Taco is not an assembly line. You take a number and wait for your food. You also get a little more bang for your buck at Surf Taco, though it is possible that Chipotle down there has lower prices. In my mind there is a significant difference. In Southern California and Texas you have every variety on the same few blocks and one is not shutting down the other.

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by NotInRHouse:
Surf Taco serves fish tacos and other seafood.. Chipotle, not so much. Surf Taco is not an assembly line. You take a number and wait for your food. You also get a little more bang for your buck at Surf Taco, though it is possible that Chipotle down there has lower prices. In my mind there is a significant difference. In Southern California and Texas you have every variety on the same few blocks and one is not shutting down the other.

There is presumably a wider market for tacos and burritos in Texas and California.

But you could be right. They could become like fast food burger or pizza, where really every town has several of each.

 

[NotInRHouse]

I think so. Even though there are more Mexican Americans there, I think they view Chipotle the way my parents viewed Pizza Hut, even though they did take us there begrudgingly.

 

[RUnTeX]

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by Jonny S:
There's a new Indian place on George, the latest Chipotle ripoff.

Told you about the Indian food. There are alot of Indians down here in between DC and Baltimore. Maybe I should franchise this Indiana Chipotle.

As for it being a Chipotle rip off. I agree, to an extent, to a certain age group, any asssemly line food place probably does evoke Chiptole (despite, obviously sub places among others, having done it long ago.) But there are alot of actual Chipotle ripoffs (i.e. assembly line burritos). At least this is an entirely different cuisine - one that is vastly underrepresented given its deliciousness.

Hopefully this new place will stick around awhile and I'll give it a try sometime later this year. One can only hope they don't dumb down the spice level on the Indian food and that they keep oil/grease to a minimum so the food doesn't feel too heavy.

As for Indians and/or Indian Americans in Maryland, the numbers seem to be growing faster of late. Pales in comparison to NY, NJ, California, and some other areas, but definitely a sizable demographic. A new Indian restaurant in Gambrills/Crofton (near Annapolis for those not familiar with central MD), started about 6 months ago by a couple Nepalese guys, is actually quite good and nice to see in an area that has previously been an Indian food desert. Saves the driving over to the Columbia area.

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by RUnTeX:

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by Jonny S:
There's a new Indian place on George, the latest Chipotle ripoff.

Told you about the Indian food. There are alot of Indians down here in between DC and Baltimore. Maybe I should franchise this Indiana Chipotle.

As for it being a Chipotle rip off. I agree, to an extent, to a certain age group, any asssemly line food place probably does evoke Chiptole (despite, obviously sub places among others, having done it long ago.) But there are alot of actual Chipotle ripoffs (i.e. assembly line burritos). At least this is an entirely different cuisine - one that is vastly underrepresented given its deliciousness.

Hopefully this new place will stick around awhile and I'll give it a try sometime later this year. One can only hope they don't dumb down the spice level on the Indian food and that they keep oil/grease to a minimum so the food doesn't feel too heavy.

As for Indians and/or Indian Americans in Maryland, the numbers seem to be growing faster of late. Pales in comparison to NY, NJ, California, and some other areas, but definitely a sizable demographic. A new Indian restaurant in Gambrills/Crofton (near Annapolis for those not familiar with central MD), started about 6 months ago by a couple Nepalese guys, is actually quite good and nice to see in an area that has previously been an Indian food desert. Saves the driving over to the Columbia area.

Yeah - we have more East Asians than South Asians in the area, although Woodlawn in particular seems to have alot of South Asians.