GASTRO-NOMICS
In just a few short years, the chain behind the Beefy 5-Layer Burrito has managed to become an obsession of vegans and vegetarians
Earlier this month, like Simba returning from exile, Taco Bell’s potatoes were officially restored to the company’s menu board — Spicy Potato Soft Taco and all. This wasn’t a small-fry development guided by a simple seasonal shift or some limited-time promotion; it was the result of a several-month fusillade by the brand’s starch and vegetarian loyalists, who had been furious at the company for removing potatoes last summer.
Ever since its controversial “menu simplification,” Taco Bell quite literally couldn’t post on social media without encountering some grief about bygone potatoes. …
Two decades after Jim Collins’ business bestseller was published, what lessons does it really hold?
“I’m a Level 5 leader.” It’s a phrase I hear frequently from CEOs and senior executives, each assuming familiarity with Jim Collins’ Good to Great. It’s a safe bet; with sales of over four million copies, Collins’ 2001 work is one of the most widely read business books of the last 20 years. Its simple recipe was part of its allure. …
In both business and politics, leaders tend to overestimate how much they have in common with their audience
Perhaps the most basic political fact about the Covid relief bill Congress just passed —and that I wrote about a couple of days ago — is that its provisions are, for the most part, widely popular and largely uncontroversial. As a result, it’s a great example of Democrats doing something that seems politically obvious, but which they’ve often struggled to do: focusing on policies that are popular with voters, and avoiding policies that aren’t.
One of the main voices in recent years emphasizing the need for Democrats to pursue this strategy has been David Shor, who’s head of data science…
A well-meaning Twitter thread goes off the rails
Oh, Burger King, you can’t “Have it your way,” when it comes to Twitter etiquette.
By now you’ve likely seen Burger King U.K.’s tweet (it’s since been removed) that said, “Women belong in the kitchen.” On any normal day, this tweet would’ve been considered a huge miss. On International Women’s Day, well, you can imagine the reaction.
But wait. Hold up. Burger King U.K. had a plan, one their marketing team must’ve thought was brilliant.
The tweet was a setup for two more tweets that would explain the scarcity of female chefs and that Burger King U.K. …
Gastro-nomics
From the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish to the new Popeyes Cajun Flounder, the battle of the fish has become a spring tradition
Gastro-nomics is a new column about the intersection of food, business, and culture.
Around this time each year, drugstores lay their pastel eggs, Peeps appear in bins for impulse buys, and enormous hams take center stage in deli cases across America. If Easter-themed products are a neon-colored commercial iceberg, there’s also a lesser-seen segment swimming below the surface. I’m talking about fish sandwiches.
Typically, in the late-winter weeks following the Super Bowl, restaurant chains around the United States begin to unveil their seasonal fish offerings. And this year was no exception, with new sandwiches from several big chains, including Popeyes…
Facebook could do a better job explaining its value proposition
By now, most people already know Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, are hell-bent on capturing user data and making money off of it (the subject of at least two popular documentaries about it on Netflix). And now, in a bold demonstration of force, Apple CEO Tim Cook has come charging in atop his noble white steed (also available in Space Gray™ and Rose Gold™) to protect consumers. …
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
An investigation two decades later
Where Are They Now is a column that revisits once-popular companies and brands that have seemingly disappeared.
The shorthand for the bubbliest startup of the dot-com bubble has long been Kozmo, the turn-of-the-century startup that intended to solve the ultimate logistical problem: What if someone would just bring me that thing I want, now? Imagine Amazon Prime at the speed of pizza delivery but for free. At the time, many people asked “How is that a feasible business model?” — including the founders of Kozmo, though not soon enough to save their IPO in 2000.
CEO Vlad Tenev made every crisis mistake in the book
Every congressional hearing has at least one witness who has been cast in the role of the villain. And at last week’s House Financial Services Committee meeting into the GameStop saga (which I wrote about here), there was no question about who the villain was: Vlad Tenev, the CEO of the online trading platform Robinhood.
Tenev had barely started his opening statement before committee chair Maxine Waters started banging her gavel and telling him to focus his comments on what happened on January 28, when Robinhood and other platforms barred customers from buying shares of GameStop and other so-called meme…
The startup’s opportunity is not conference calls, it’s never-ending drive-time radio
Remember when the back of everyone’s toilet had a pile of magazines on it?Those magazine piles vanished with the advent of the mobile internet. Today, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are never-ending sources of content you can tune into in those spare moments, to occupy that part of your brain. Clubhouse — the new darling of Silicon Valley and the extremely online set — may have hit upon a rich vein of similar desperation, and if the company navigates it correctly, could become just as essential.
Stratechery’s Ben Thompson wrote about Clubhouse’s opportunity last week. Economics of podcasts and blogging aside…
Despite his storied career and 25-plus years on the public stage, the soon-to-be-ex Amazon CEO remains a cipher
Jeff Bezos’ surprise announcement last week that he will step down as Amazon CEO, transition to its executive chairman, and focus on newspapers, rockets, philanthropy, and, perhaps, finding more outlets for that explosive laugh, leaves a hole in the digital realm.
Bezos has gone from being one of the most admired CEOs in America to someone looked upon by some sectors of the general public with deep distrust. …
