Comment by dividefuel

6 months ago

It's interesting to compare Taco Bell (and many other chain fast food restaurants) with In-N-Out.

At Taco Bell, a meal costs something like $15/person unless you're aggressive about saving money. They also only seem to have 2-3 workers at a time. There usually isn't a long line in the store or at the drivethru. They still frequently mess up my order, leaving out items or giving me the wrong thing.

Compare that with In-N-Out. A meal costs more like $10/person, and they have more like 15 workers at a time. I rarely have mistakes in my meal. You pay less and have a better staffed restaurant. I'm guessing they get away with it because they always have a long line of people waiting for food. They make up for it all through volume.

Yes, the same is true of Chik-Fil-A, which is by far the highest revenue per location fast food chain, despite being closed one day a week. In-n-Out is second I believe. Both of them generally pay slightly more than other fast food outlets, do more staff training and seem super well-managed. Interestingly, neither of the those chains operate on a typical franchise basis.

  • Chick fil a primary draw is good tasting chicken. I know a lot of liberals who feel icky for eating there but do it anyway over food quality. Similar dynamic to jimmy johns.

    Trying to rationalize their success with other stuff is simply going to make other companies continue to decline the quality of their already bad food and expect that their workers being slightly more polite would make up for it.