Founder of Restaurant Intelligence Agency — start up company developing social web communication platforms for restaurants — dragging chefs kicking and screaming onto the Interwebz.
Bike to Work week is next week and I am begrudgingly coming to the conclusion that:
So, bike I will.
Speaking of Goose Island, they are a sponsor of Bike to Work week, helping pimp the week under their city-focused 312 brand. The guy who works in the office next to me has been committed to helping the city make it a week's worth of worthwhile fun and this year's schedule has this really fun lineup of everything from a bike fashion show to a movie in the park.
A lot of Goose Islanders bike, including founder John Hall, so it is a great fit for their Active Lifestyle community outreach.
This is the thing, though, and this is probably one of the reasons why so many people are so committed to Goose Island as a company (of course the beer being tasty is the first reason). Goose Island walks the walk.
I got this in my employee emailbox today:
Geese-
As a way to encourage people to bike to work, members of the Operations team have volunteered to help fix up your bikes to get them ‘operational’ again (Sorry for the pun). We all know what Chicago winters can do to our two wheeled transporters, so on Monday 6/13 we will be around to clean, fix and repair your bicycles.
Items that we can fix / do in a day:
We cannot guarantee other services, but we can let you know what the issues are and direct you to professional shops that can help.
If you are interested, please bring your bike in first thing in the morning on Monday and let me know what you want done to it (Either in person, or via email). From there, we will go get any necessary parts and fix it up throughout the day. Bikes should be ready to take home by the end of the workday. If we need to buy any parts, we’ll let you know. Generally, replacement tire tubes run around $5 each and brakes can be purchased for $10. Our service will cost you nothing, only the part cost.
You know, that is just all kinds of awesomesauce. Staffers, helping staffers, on company time, with company blessing.
Rock on, Goose. Cheers to you.
The last few days in Grouponland has felt a bit like the ending to Wizard of Oz. You know, the part where Dorothy sees behind the curtain and finds that the Wizard is just a man. That part. Not he part with the magical ruby shoes.
When Groupon unveiled its numbers, it seemed the financial world discovered there wasn't an actual goose in there laying golden eggs. There were just a lot of greedy men with really frightening accounting skillz. The kind of accounting skills that make everyone believe they were more successful than they really were.
From the outside looking into the financial world, it is amazing that to see so many reporting SHOCK! that Groupon isn't all that. Cause I guess they've never seen a bubble before.
But this is what struck me: the Groupon Guy actually presented to the world his idea that his company is, in fact, profitable if you don't consider his marketing costs (and the bunch of money his posse shoves in their pockets with each round).
And the "don't count marketing costs in your costs" is precisely the load of crap his army of cold-calling minions tell restaurants every day when they try to strong-arm them into what they consider are their gold-paved streets.
It goes something like this: "Sure, chef, we rip into your per customer revenue with a machete the size of Texas, but that's just marketing costs. And...marketing costs don't count! So, really! We're cheap! DO A GROUPON! It's cool! Our essentially unintelligable sales copy is ironic and cool! We'll make you rich like us!"
But, of course, marketing costs do count. If you don't believe me, here's what the dude at Forbes said:
The adjusted CSOI measure is the one I find a little disturbing. This measure backs out “online marketing expense, acquisition-related costs and stock-based compensation expense.” Not counting online marketing expense seems, uh, ridiculous.
Did you read that, chef? He said RIDICULOUS.
Because it is.
It is like not including the sustainable beef you buy from a struggling farmer because you count it as charity and not food cost.
RIDICULOUS.
In fact it is all so ridiculous that I am dumbfounded by the whole thing. Mason has always struck me as a little dense. When I met him, it was the one thing that stood out. When I saw his bizarre freakshow on the Today Show, I wondered why his board didn't oust him right then and there and make him pay for Coach back to Chicago.
I can't ever decide if he is basically a Lenny to Lefkovsky's George Milton or if he, cunningly, actually understands all this crap he is dishing up and is playing us all after all.
I suppose we'll never know. There's a lot we'll never know.
But there is a lesson to be learned in all this, aside from the obvious one that the path to riches is really paved with hard work and not dumb luck or a fast buck. The lesson is this: it doesn't bloody well matter if you can drive people in the door with a discount. Discount shoppers are not loyal cusotmers. Groupon knows this, which is why they spend $1.43 to make every $1. Yes, you read that right. They spend nearly a buck fifty to make a buck.
Why even get outta bed and go to work when you have that kind of anti-profit?
I was reading a blog from HBR this morning about effects of Groupon.
(No, I am not obsessed about Groupon, I am frustrated by it. By the blind lemmings jumping onboard without thinking.)
And I gasped audibly when I read this sentence: "we are struck by how few merchants measure the effects of discount vouchers."
Really? They are small retail biz.When do you think they'll measure those effects? And with what resources?
Do you really think, as you suggest in the article, that they might actually go through the due diligence of comparing register receipts between old customers and Groupon customers to actually see if the discount vouchers, designed to bring in entirely new customers, are actually bringing in new customers.
Because, reality check: they don't have sophisticated database systems to crunch this kind of information for them. They have their 12 YO nephew who is on summer break.
All I can say is, I am glad I never sprung for the tuition money to go to Harvard and come up with this kind of dreamworld brilliance.
If you want to read the whole study — an amalgam of stating the obvious and suggesting the undoable, you can do so here.
In December 2010, 18 new people followed me on Quora.
In January 2011, 22 new people followed me on Quora. None of those people were added on Jan 1 or 2. It is January 4.
Nothing like waking up on the first work day of a new year and read a post written by someone else that basically validates everything you've been saying for, oh, say, three-plus years.
Which is why this post by Chris Brogan was a wonderful read:
PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR 2011- SMALL BITES
Couple points:
1) Platform Fatigue is Upon Us
A case for creating a community that fits the demographic of people who want to buy a product (or eat in a certain kind of restaurant). Check!
2) Content Does, Indeed, Rul
PR used to be responsible for getting out the story, for making events happen, that kind of thing. But with the way the Internet works today, content is the coin of the realm. And content gets the attention that you need to build your relationships with your client’s would-be buyers.
A case for building a site where chefs create content not found anywhere else and also enabling them to make relationships with diners. Check!
3) Sexy Data and Technical Abilities are Par
2011 is about looking at all the wealth of data the social web brings you about your clients’ activities, and it’s about giving them informed decisions on what to do next.
A case for building a community that supports chef-driven dining by connecting restaurants and diners holistically, not via just discounts or just reservations or just, I guess, nasty reviews. Check!
3) The Shifts are Already Upon Us
Take some small bites, put together a bigger meal for your clients, and you’ll see the rewards.
The case, well, for everything we do! CHECK!
Bring it, 2011!
Founder of Restaurant Intelligence Agency — start up company developing social web communication platforms for restaurants — dragging chefs kicking and screaming onto the Interwebz.
Founder of Restaurant Intelligence Agency — start up company developing social web communication platforms for restaurants — dragging chefs kicking and screaming onto the Interwebz.
Theme created for Posterous by Obox
