A fast-food launch disaster
I recently read this story from Andy Swan about a Wendy's launch disaster, courtesy of McDonalds. This McDonalds was the only fast-food joint in a town of about 100K people. The lunch lines were packed, but they were so efficient that it never took more than a few minutes to get your food. That's awesome service. A few years later, a Wendy's decided to open up nearby to steal some of the lunchtime thunder. McDonalds, instead of cowering and lowering their prices or running huge advertisements against their new competitor, did something even smarter.
On the day of Wendy's grand opening, McDonalds shut it's doors for the day, without notice, to 'repave their driveway'. This caused a lot of hungry diners to be diverted to the brand new Wendy's, who obviously weren't ready for the rush. Lines ballooned, people got agitated, horns started honking, and many people left dissatisfied. You never forget your first impression, right? I loved this story, because instead of a person's natural instinct to become scared of competition, McDonalds decided to go on the offensive by giving their competitors even more business! The Wendy's customers probably complained all the way back to the office, where they told other coworkers about the disaster. McDonalds was probably even busier the next day! So where does this leave us? While no one is trying to sabatoge our opening (I hope), it's still a grand opening and things will still be very hectic! This is going to be the third store we're opening, but this should be our biggest opening. We'll try hard to be as efficient as possible, but grand openings are never easy since you have a new staff and new operations. There will always be mini disasters that we'll have to work through. Poor Wendy's never had a chance, but we'll try our hardest to make your experience at Beard Papa's a pleasant one!
