NDL Forum

shel311 wrote:They have Whataburger's in California? Time to GPS.

They do not:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida (all north, no orlando)
Georgia
Louisiana
Mississippi
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Texas (about 1000 locations it seems)

Smashburger is easily my go to. Five Guys is my #2... but it's a distant 2nd for me.

Billboard from shel's hometown... "you have teeth, let us help you keep them"

Uuaww wrote:Billboard from shel's hometown... "you have teeth, let us help you keep them"

I don't think everyone fits the criteria.

How do you know the tooth brush was invented in West Virginia?

Cause if it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush!

I just ordered something on Amazon and got same day delivery for $5. Amazon is amazing

Amazon prime was one of the best things I ever purchased.

I am wondering if the drone will bring it to my apartment complex and leave it on the porch.

The_Niddler wrote:How do you know the tooth brush was invented in West Virginia?

Cause if it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush!

The_Niddler wrote:How do you know the tooth brush was invented in West Virginia?

Cause if it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush!

I'm not a Smashburger fan really, 5 Guys is the GOAT but I cannot eat them often. Their fries.....I made the mistake the first time I went of ordering the large fries to share w a friend. It's basically a 32 oz cup of fries.

I watched him fill that cup up twice and empty it into the paper bag before he filled it a third time and dropped it in. Needless to say I don't order the large fries unless we've got 4+ people now.

out of the 3 billion pounds of fresh potatoes shipped out of Idaho annually, Five Guys is purchasing about 4 to 5 percent of them. Five Guys was the biggest buyer of Idaho potatoes in 2010, according to the MSNBC story.

I kind of have a ban against going to these gourmet burger joints, probably because of my line of work. I don't know how it is like this everywhere, but in my limited travels throughout the country, I noticed a dearth of independently-owned bars/restaurants. On the contrary, they are huge up here. With that, I'd just sooner give my money to a bar for a great burger.

unfortunately the vast majority of small local family owned restaurants around the country don't serve high quality stuff. don't get me wrong, there is a huge chef inspired restaurant craze everywhere (mostly cause the internet has created a generation of chefs due to the access to information). those chef inspired places that actually care are great. but the local bar down the street is mostly serving a nasty frozen burger. given the choice i'm eating Shake Shack over that burger.

i do agree with your overall point that i'd prefer to give my business to smaller locally owned biz, but its not always apples to apples fight.

There is a "artistry" burger joint on every corner here in Texas trying to outdo each other with things like peanut butter and jelly burgers to burgers with mozzarella sticks on them. The prices arent cheap and you can get as good or even a better quality burger at a joint like Five Guys for cheaper.

you should see the stocks of these burger places. i only like Shake shack cause it made me a ton of money. but these things are out of control bubble style runs.

SHAK went from like 38 to 96 in 3 months

Another odd thing I noticed here is that there are a ton of standalone donut shops. Not exaggerating that you cant go into a strip mall or shopping plaza without there being a donut shop in said plaza. I am not complaining just throwing it out there as we discuss the frequency of burger joints.

I learned that most major players in the restaurant industry open first in the DFW area as a staging site to see if it catches on and is successful. If so they roll out to other parts of the country. I have seen so many restaurants here that I have never heard of before.

the industry right now is all geared toward specialization.

-burger places
-chicken and waffles
-meatball places (literally just serve different types of meatballs)
-chicken nugget places (just serve high quality nuggets with a million different types of sauces)

we get pitched by so many of them to raise money. its hysterical the ideas people have. but specialized food restaurants/shops are enormously popular so alot of them are getting the money as everyone wants the next Chipotle idea

You are right on. Speaking of the Chipotle idea they just opened a place around the corner from us called Blaze Pizza. Exactly like Chipotle but for personal pizzas. You can get as many toppings as you want for one price and the oven gets to like 580 degrees and they are ready in 3-5 minutes. Went yesterday and was pretty impressed. Same pricing structure too.

Also regarding the specialization they have 3 or 4 different grilled cheese specialty places of every kind of grilled cheese you can imagine. People are out the door in line for these places when we go by. Its nuts.