“You going to just stare at that coffee?” Lillian asked.
I smiled at being caught in an unguarded state of preoccupation with my dark thoughts. Then I took a sip of the decaf.
“It’s good. Tastes like the real thing,” I said, and this time I was telling the truth.
“Nothing hard about making a good cup of coffee,” Lillian said to this customer as she lit up another cigarette.
And that statement provided something of an answer to my questions about Lillian and her business. Because the coffee at the Metro Diner didn’t have to be as good as it was, nor did the excellent food served there have to be so carefully prepared or so reasonably priced. That was not how we did things where I happened to work. The company that employed me strived only to serve up the cheapest fare that its customers would tolerate, churn it out as fast as possible, and charge as much as they could get away with. If it were possible to do so, the company would sell what all businesses of its kind dream about selling, creating that which all our efforts were tacitly supposed to achieve: the ultimate product –– Nothing. And for this product they would command the ultimate price –– Everything.
That AI is not a bubble might be true, though that this mighty edifice glowing brightly in all freqencys of the spectrum is sitting on quick sand, is another truth.
I’ve said this before on HN. Behind all the AI enthusiasm and evangelism on HN and tech industry in general, people forget: When most people are out of a job, AI won’t be Doordashing you $15 burrito from Chipotle that cost $30 to deliver. You need a backup plan for when things go South and so far, there doesn’t even seem to be a conversation going on about it.
The food seems to have become worse and worse too.
I’m pretty sure the last several times I’ve eaten chipotle, across several states, I’ve been given hard rice and cold meat. I don’t remember it being that common a decade ago.
Thank God taco trucks have become practically ubiquitous, even in small cities and suburbs. Not always cheaper than Chipotle, but definitely better quality (and usually cheaper..)
I had to take a long distance road across the US for work in the spring. I planned my hotel for the night to be around a Chipotle along the way. It’s one of the few options that isn’t synthetic and doesn’t make me feel the awful “I’m traveling for work trash diet” feeling. Some actual vegetables and protein at least. Didn’t have time to seek out local places and delivery is hit or miss. Is it possible their prices are up because the cost of “actual food” has gone up? Beyond that you’re eating low quality borderline carnival food (sugar, cheese blob, deep fried) and mono sodium glutamate loaded Christian faith based chicken sandwich offerings.
It's strange to me to see Chipotle as the face of this. You can still get a chicken burrito which has 60g of protein and 1000 calories for just about $10. In my opinion, the only issue with their food is that the sodium is a bit high which is pretty unavoidable with fast food.
A similar burrito from any other local place near me is $15 or more. These might be a bit healthier but it's 50% more expensive.
You can definitely meal prep everything for a Chipotle burrito or bowl for about half the price meal but that doesn't factor in the time to grocery shop and cook (and also buy tortillas from Chipotle because for some reason you can't get them as a consumer from any wholesaler...). I opt for making burritos that can be frozen instead and it's nice having a freezer filled with 3-4 different options that take 5 minutes to defrost/reheat in the microwave. @stealth_health_life on instagram has a bunch of great recipes but it's also not really hard to just prep individual burrito fillings and make your own.
> Households that make $100,000 or less make up about 40% of its total sales.
Strange that they chose such a bizarrely high household income value, when the American median for people 25-35 - their stated “core demographic” - is just $34,000/yr.
Also consider that Households typically mean 2 income families, so a $100,000 household is one where collectively both earners average about $24/hr with full time jobs.
It is a very attainable situation for anyone not living too far from a large city.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 30.9 ms ] threadI smiled at being caught in an unguarded state of preoccupation with my dark thoughts. Then I took a sip of the decaf.
“It’s good. Tastes like the real thing,” I said, and this time I was telling the truth.
“Nothing hard about making a good cup of coffee,” Lillian said to this customer as she lit up another cigarette.
And that statement provided something of an answer to my questions about Lillian and her business. Because the coffee at the Metro Diner didn’t have to be as good as it was, nor did the excellent food served there have to be so carefully prepared or so reasonably priced. That was not how we did things where I happened to work. The company that employed me strived only to serve up the cheapest fare that its customers would tolerate, churn it out as fast as possible, and charge as much as they could get away with. If it were possible to do so, the company would sell what all businesses of its kind dream about selling, creating that which all our efforts were tacitly supposed to achieve: the ultimate product –– Nothing. And for this product they would command the ultimate price –– Everything.
I’m pretty sure the last several times I’ve eaten chipotle, across several states, I’ve been given hard rice and cold meat. I don’t remember it being that common a decade ago.
A similar burrito from any other local place near me is $15 or more. These might be a bit healthier but it's 50% more expensive.
You can definitely meal prep everything for a Chipotle burrito or bowl for about half the price meal but that doesn't factor in the time to grocery shop and cook (and also buy tortillas from Chipotle because for some reason you can't get them as a consumer from any wholesaler...). I opt for making burritos that can be frozen instead and it's nice having a freezer filled with 3-4 different options that take 5 minutes to defrost/reheat in the microwave. @stealth_health_life on instagram has a bunch of great recipes but it's also not really hard to just prep individual burrito fillings and make your own.
Strange that they chose such a bizarrely high household income value, when the American median for people 25-35 - their stated “core demographic” - is just $34,000/yr.
Median. Half make more, _half make less._
Talk about metrics being badly out of whack.
It is a very attainable situation for anyone not living too far from a large city.