Parsad Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Celebrating its 75th Anniversary, Metro-Atlanta Steak'n Shake's will be offering 15-Cent Steakburgers on Friday. Damn it! Why isn't there a Steak'n Shake in Seattle! I have a feeling this is part of Sardar's plans for celebrating their 75th Anniversary. Let's see if he does this at a different city each month to attract new customers. Cheers! http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/02/09/daily87.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAllen Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 They might be testing the program in Atlanta because it is probably the largest single marketing area where the marketing dollars can be amortized over the most people. I would've guessed that they would've tried this in Indianapolis first just because they are there but I'm sure he's up to something good and has thought about it. .15 is so cheap that people really will be talking about it and I wonder how much the Steak and Shake VIP cards or whatever they are are worth? Anyone have any ideas? A meal a week for a year? $250 or so? That's my guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 Those of you who live in Toronto, exactly how long is the drive to Erie, PA from Toronto? That's the closest Steak'n Shake I could find to Toronto. Is there one open in Flint or Buffalo yet? I'll be in Toronto from Sunday to Friday this year, so I may just drive down and get myself a Steakburger! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmitz Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Those of you who live in Toronto, exactly how long is the drive to Erie, PA from Toronto? That's the closest Steak'n Shake I could find to Toronto. Is there one open in Flint or Buffalo yet? I'll be in Toronto from Sunday to Friday this year, so I may just drive down and get myself a Steakburger! Cheers! I don't live there, but I've driven from Pittsburgh to Toronto, and I don't recall that it was that long. I'd guess about three hours. Google maps seems to indicate a bit more than that, but I've always found the google estimates to be slow if you're not stopping much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redskin212 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 3 hours is about right. The Thruway (90 I think) on the South side of Lake Erie is a speedway. You can really wind your Mini out there!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 Three hours! Forget it. I thought it would be maybe one and a half hours. I'll have to wait until SNS expands out west. If you guys haven't seen the various franchise locations they are putting out, you can see it on their website: http://www.steaknshake.com/franchise/franchisebystate.asp I seriously think they should think about expanding into Washington State first...maybe Bellevue, WA, Mukilteo, WA or even Bellingham, WA if they want to get one nice and close to me! There are no cult-like burger joints like In&Out in Washington State, which they would be competing against in California. Only the big brands (McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, etc.). I think it's fertile ground for them to pounce on. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ericopoly Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 "There are no cult-like burger joints like In&Out in Washington State, which they would be competing against in California. " There is Dick's (but it is not In&Out) -- however, it is quite a favorite of many locals. http://www.ddir.com/About_Us.html Dick's is a classy company (and the food is yummy!) -- check out their benefits: http://www.ddir.com/Benefits_Scholarships.html Then, over near Microsoft there is Burgermaster (very yummy) and Kidd Valley (very yummy). The original memory manager in Windows was called "the Burgermaster". We also have Fatburger over in Redmond -- of Southern California origin I believe, given that I frequented Fatburger back when I was at UCLA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kawikaho Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I would love to try out SNS someday. I live in California, but we're moving to Washington, bordering on Canada, soon. Inn N Out is alright. If I were to invest in a burger joint based on my tastes, I wouldn't bet on Inn N Out. That would be a shame, since Inn N Out has a huge cult following. If I could see SNS, and gauge the traffic, I would contemplate investing in it. Every time I see an Inn N Out, it's so damn busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 I never understood the following at In & Out. I've had a few burgers there, and they're ok. But they have an enormous cult-like customer base. Every time I've been there, they've been immensely busy with long-lineups inside and out. I've never eaten at Dicks, but know the story. They are only one location as far as I know. We have a Fatburger here in Vancouver. The burgers are tasty, but everything else is pretty conventional. Never been to Burgermaster, but I'm in Seattle quite a bit and have never found a great burger chain. The one large-scale chain where I think the burgers are actually very good, and they've done a terrific job of the experience is A&W. With their aluminum foil packaging, line-up of burgers, Chubby Chicken and frosted mugs, they've done a great job. The closest thing I see out there comparable to Chik-Fil-A. They don't have quite the cult-following of Chik or In & Out. Some of their older restaurants need to be refreshed as well. With the cross between fast-food and sit-down, I think Steak'n Shake as alot of potential to expand. But the burger business is tough, and they need to market the burgers, fries and shakes. In Vancouver, we have a smaller chain called Whitespot that was fantastic and they make terrific burgers. But they've decided to expand their menu and gone the way of more mid-priced diversified restaurants. I think that's probably more profitable in the short-term, but they will lose the nostalgic cachet that their burgers carried. I've actually stopped eating at their larger restaurants, and go only to the express restaurants where they serve only burgers, fries and shakes. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ericopoly Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I find Kidd Valley (12 locations) to be really good. Several locations: http://www.kiddvalley.com/locations.htm Menu: http://www.kiddvalley.com/menu.htm Dick's has five locations, not just one (I like Kidd Valley a lot more): http://www.ddir.com/Find_Us.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailslug Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 The appeal of In N Out is the quality to price ratio. In N Out uses much higher quality beef / lettuce / tomatoes / potatoes etc. compared with McDonalds or Burger King, but the price for a hamburger or cheeseburger is not much more (i.e. under $2). They never freeze their food, and cut the potatoes on site, have their own proprietary meat grinding facilities, etc., and you can taste the difference. I consider McDonalds or Burger King to be crap food and don't really eat that stuff, but I will eat In N Out for a cheap meal on occasion. I don't know how the economics work for In N Out but I know I can get a high quality burger, fries and drink for about $5. Compare with a Fatburger or SNS where you're looking at $3 or $4 for a hamburger alone...probably tastes better but value-wise may or may not be. Not a knock on the higher price options but just a different value proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kawikaho Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 The appeal of In N Out is the quality to price ratio. In N Out uses much higher quality beef / lettuce / tomatoes / potatoes etc. compared with McDonalds or Burger King, but the price for a hamburger or cheeseburger is not much more (i.e. under $2). They never freeze their food, and cut the potatoes on site, have their own proprietary meat grinding facilities, etc., and you can taste the difference. I consider McDonalds or Burger King to be crap food and don't really eat that stuff, but I will eat In N Out for a cheap meal on occasion. I don't know how the economics work for In N Out but I know I can get a high quality burger, fries and drink for about $5. Compare with a Fatburger or SNS where you're looking at $3 or $4 for a hamburger alone...probably tastes better but value-wise may or may not be. Not a knock on the higher price options but just a different value proposition. Yeah, that is true. I think that's what the appeal of Inn n Out is: fresh, organic like produce and ingredients. And, Inn n Out isn't priced out of this world. They are highly competitive with the standard chains. Those are definite pluses. The taste factor, well, that's subjective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailslug Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Another thing I just thought of, growing up as a Californian, In N Out has an almost Sees Candy-like reputation in Southern California (maybe all of California) just absolutely woven into the fabric of people's minds, having been around for so long and still having the same menu items and making the food the same way. The company has never franchised, and the consistency of the experience (food, service) with In N Out is much higher than McDonalds, even. They pay their workers very high wages for fast food (starting at $10 or $11 an hour I think). Whether this is good from an ROE / owner earnings perspective is open to debate but since it's a family run, closely held company, they can do whatever they darn well please. It certainly does wonders for the customer experience though. Their expansion has been limited due to the refusal to franchise or go public, since the capital requirements are much higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 The appeal of In N Out is the quality to price ratio. In N Out uses much higher quality beef / lettuce / tomatoes / potatoes etc. compared with McDonalds or Burger King, but the price for a hamburger or cheeseburger is not much more (i.e. under $2). They never freeze their food, and cut the potatoes on site, have their own proprietary meat grinding facilities, etc., and you can taste the difference. I consider McDonalds or Burger King to be crap food and don't really eat that stuff, but I will eat In N Out for a cheap meal on occasion. I don't know how the economics work for In N Out but I know I can get a high quality burger, fries and drink for about $5. Compare with a Fatburger or SNS where you're looking at $3 or $4 for a hamburger alone...probably tastes better but value-wise may or may not be. Not a knock on the higher price options but just a different value proposition. I've had In & Out several times over the last few trips to California, and that's the problem. I can't really taste a significant difference in their patties or fries. I agree the prices are what makes it compelling compared to many other burger joints, especially when compared to what you get for the same money at the large franchises, but the taste certainly wasn't as good as a Fatburger, Whitespot (Vancouver), or A&W. Although those burgers cost up to twice as much. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsad Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Dick's has five locations, not just one (I like Kidd Valley a lot more): http://www.ddir.com/Find_Us.html Thanks Eric! Didn't know that Dick's has five locations. Haven't tried Kidd Valley, but will give it a go next time I'm in Seattle. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShahKhezri Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I've had Fatburger, SteakNShake. Has anyone here tried Whataburger? I think the quality and price is superior to the fastfood chains. Although, I wouldn't consider SNS just another fastfood chain. Whatburger is largely based out of Texas, their Ads are effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpectedValue Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I've had Fatburger, SteakNShake. Has anyone here tried Whataburger? I think the quality and price is superior to the fastfood chains. Although, I wouldn't consider SNS just another fastfood chain. Whatburger is largely based out of Texas, their Ads are effective. Whataburger is awesome. Shah, just curious since you're from Texas and all (like me) How do you think SteakNShake compares to the likes of Whataburger and Sonic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calonego Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 http://www.scottenterprises.org These folks have a couple SNSs in northern PA and will hopefully have more going forward in the North East. Really good operators (they seem to have grown quickly, I hope they were prudent with leverage). Anyone that goes to Toronto for the FFH meeting and is interested in SNS but hasn't been to one should make the trek, they run a good restaurant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShahKhezri Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Whataburger is awesome. Shah, just curious since you're from Texas and all (like me) How do you think SteakNShake compares to the likes of Whataburger and Sonic? I think SteakNShake has a different atmosphere inside, really the burger joints are all fastfood now-a-days. I guess that's the main difference, I don't even know if its possible to think about how many other operators actually offer a shake on the menu. Whatburger is solid, probably on the In&Out level, great at any time of the day and they are loyal to you, when you're out drinking and it's 3 AM and want a quality meal, Whataburger will not let you down. However, if it was a choice I'd eat SteakNShake. Not a big Sonic fan, for some reason I always have some heartburn side effect. What part of Texas are you from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpectedValue Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I think SteakNShake has a different atmosphere inside, really the burger joints are all fastfood now-a-days. I guess that's the main difference, I don't even know if its possible to think about how many other operators actually offer a shake on the menu. Whatburger is solid, probably on the In&Out level, great at any time of the day and they are loyal to you, when you're out drinking and it's 3 AM and want a quality meal, Whataburger will not let you down. However, if it was a choice I'd eat SteakNShake. Not a big Sonic fan, for some reason I always have some heartburn side effect. What part of Texas are you from? Houston but I'm going to school in Austin. And I agree about Whataburger, they're definitely a pretty good place for a fast food burger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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