This may not interest some of you but heck, it's my weblog and it interests me. I'm oddly fascinated by the business models and practices of the fast food industry. I eat very few of my meals in such establishments these days but it still intrigues me how they market their products and how territorial some of the large chains are. In-N-Out, for instance, has only been in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona and is just now working its way into Texas. Five Guys (my fave burger joint) is all over some states but just now establishing a presence in mine.
White Castle has long refused to move beyond the borders of certain states. About fifteen years ago, I was at a party in Las Vegas and I met a gent who was a senior exec in a hotel venture that was about to break ground…and he let me in on what he called a "big secret," one which would help ensure that his project was a smash success. Its food court, he told me, was going to include a White Castle. My eyebrows must have gone up about three stories and I said, "Gee, I thought they always refused offers to come out here." He replied that they'd repeatedly refused his but that didn't matter. "I get what I want," he said…and he went on to explain how he was going to crush those bastards at White Castle and force them to sell their sliders in his casino.
That casino has now been open for at least twelve years. There is no White Castle in it, nor is there one anywhere in the state of Nevada. The bastards won, as bastards so often do.
Another one of those territorial chains that some people love is Steak 'n Shake, which is currently in 22 states, none of them out west. As of some time this week though, there's an exception: They're opening one in the South Point in Las Vegas. That's the hotel from which Jerry Lewis does his annual telethon. It's located way off The Strip…one of those places that has to figure out gimmicks to get the tourists to drive there or take a cab. I'll bet Steak 'n Shake brings in a few. There are a few In-N-Out burgers in Vegas and they've become ritual tourist stops. The one on Dean Martin Drive, not far from New York, New York is always jammed with folks from states that don't have In-N-Out. People have been known to get in a taxi at their hotel and have it just take them through the In-N-Out drive-thru, then right back to their hotel. A cab driver once told me a fare had done that and tipped him a double-double with fries and a large Coke. He thought that was great.
Once upon a time, Chinese Food was a major attraction in that town. There were cities in this country where it was difficult if not impossible to get a decent order of Moo Goo Anything. Around the same time as that party where the man was promising to bring White Castle to its knees and Vegas, an aging Casino Host (a guy who'd worked there since he built the city) told me a long, fascinating story of how he'd been sent to San Francisco and the Chinatown therein. His assignment was to find a family that operated a great Chinese restaurant there and make them an offer to relocate to Vegas and run one in the establishment for which this man worked. He spent several days going from Chinese restaurant to Chinese restaurant sampling cuisines — "Greatest job I ever had" — and he finally picked out the one and got them to move. At some of the older hotels like the Barbary Coast and the Stardust, you used to see signs outside that advertised "Chinese Food" like that was some unique offering you could get nowhere else.
So now it's fast food burgers. Fine. Five Guys, by the way, has just announced their first outlet in Las Vegas. I'll let you know when there's a White Castle on The Strip. The bastards can't hold out forever.