Ice cold business strategies

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux) 01/10/2020 at 21:20 • Filed to: None

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So, I’m not a business person. At all. But for the moment let’s set aside my lack of qualifications and discuss one particular facepalm.

For those of you not lucky enough to live near one, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is a pretty decent chain of restaurants with a pretty decent menu and one absolutely genius marketing strategy.

Near me, there are at least a dozen restaurants within a reasonable driving distance. Each day, each location has a special ice cream flavor of the day. While there’s some overlap, mostly each one has a different flavor of the day.

So now, each day there are nearly a dozen different special flavors in driving distance, and each day I have to resist the temptation to drive across town to find one of my favorites. I even have an app to tell me what’s available, which I can assure you has done my diet no favors.

So not only does each restaurant have a hook to reel in unwary drivers as they pass by on their way home from work, by way of the big sign out front trumpeting their flavor of the day, but people will drive no small distances to a location that has something particularly good. Genius.

Except.

Except sometimes people forget that analog is better than digital, and I’ve noticed some locations falling into this trap.

This is a classic Culver’s location and sign. All day long, this sign tempted people who happen to like caramel pecan ice cream, unlike me (I rather dislike nuts).

This is a sign outside the Culver’s in Avon, Indiana tonight.

Notice anything wrong?

For starters, hello illegibility! Dear heavens is that a low resolution sign, with terrible contrast colors. Good luck reading that and getting tempted to stop as you’re driving by. I was going there specifically for that flavor and I couldn’t read it.

But it gets worse.

This is a different angle, sorry, but notice the key difference other than that.

Now for part of the time the sign isn’t even telling people what flavor it is, although if you can decipher the muddy photo you can hazard a guess.

But it gets worse.

That’s right, 1/3rd of the time the sign isn’t telling you anything about the flavor of the day. I’m happy for Alexis, but she’s not the draw here.

Look, the point of flavor of the day is to bring people in. Your (I assume massively) expensive digital sign is doing so much worse of a job than the classic analog version. 2/3rds of business hours (arguably all of your business hours, given how illegible it is) people driving by have no idea what your special is!

New isn’t always better. Sometimes the old solution is the right one. Don’t be a schmuck.

wafflesnfalafel > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:26

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damn straight - “good” change is good, but “bad” change is just sh!++y...  

Nom De Plume > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:28

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In n’ Out of the Midwest.

Get a bit farther North and you might walk in one day to see an elderly gentleman with a booth covered in family photos and paperwork the staff are awful deferential towards.  

Textured Soy Protein > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:28

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It’s not ice cream, it’s frozen custard. Try calling it ice cream inside a Culver’s and see what happens.

Just Jeepin' > Textured Soy Protein 01/10/2020 at 21:31

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You are correct and I still do not care.

Just Jeepin' > Nom De Plume 01/10/2020 at 21:32

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Wisconsin, I assume. I do need to try the Trans- Wisconsin Adventure Trail someday.

Textured Soy Protein > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:36

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Sounds like you enjoy being corrected by Culver's employees.

fintail > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:37

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Mmm cheese curds.  Wish we had these out west.

Just Jeepin' > Textured Soy Protein 01/10/2020 at 21:39

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I’ve b een going there long enough: if I haven’t done it by now, I’m not going to, and if I have done it, no one corrected me.

Just Jeepin' > fintail 01/10/2020 at 21:39

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Ugh. You can have them.

AestheticsInMotion > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:51

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My company just replaced our old scanners with new fancy ones. They now have a cell signal, run Android, and feature full size touchscreens. In the three days since switching systems, I’ve received no less than 10 spam calls on my package scanner. I’m about to throw this thing at a wall, because I can only fathom whoever decided touchscreen = good had never tried using one for 10+ hour days in sub-freezing temps.

New definitely isn't always better. People like shiny things though

AestheticsInMotion > fintail 01/10/2020 at 21:52

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Dairy queen does a somewhat respectable version. I wish they were more popular here too

fintail > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 21:58

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We have a dearth of non -big name chains here.

fintail > AestheticsInMotion 01/10/2020 at 21:59

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I’ll remember that.    Can’t go wrong with a Blizzard either.

MoCamino > fintail 01/10/2020 at 22:10

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Their curds are great.   

smobgirl > Just Jeepin' 01/10/2020 at 23:16

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I’ve wanted a good waffle cone for about a month now. Thanks for not helping that situation. 

DipodomysDeserti > fintail 01/11/2020 at 01:32

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We have have them out West.  Seattle is the East Coast of the West.

They’re on par with McDonalds, Wendys, and Burger King.

DipodomysDeserti > Nom De Plume 01/11/2020 at 01:35

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I have both In and Out and Culvers in my city. The Midwest really does suck.

Chinny Raccoon > Textured Soy Protein 01/11/2020 at 06:45

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Sounds more like an English vs Italian Ice cream scenario.

fintail > DipodomysDeserti 01/11/2020 at 12:56

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Or is Arizona the Alabama of the west? :) I’d rather go there than those big names, but I don’t really get into fast food anyway, my palate is too finicky.

The east coast thing has some substance to it, given the amount of eastern transplants here - it’s getting harder to meet people who didn’t arrive as adults.

Paul E misplaced his star > fintail 01/11/2020 at 13:40

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There’s several Culver’s locations around Phoenix. Because M idwest escapees.

DipodomysDeserti > fintail 01/11/2020 at 13:46

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Arizona, also known as western Alabama. Back when we lost the Super Bow for refusing to make MLK’s Bday a holiday.

Textured Soy Protein > Chinny Raccoon 01/11/2020 at 13:56

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Actually it’s a “it says frozen custard on the sign out in front of the place” scenario.

Textured Soy Protein > Just Jeepin' 01/11/2020 at 13:57

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F R O Z E N C U S T A R D

fintail > Paul E misplaced his star 01/11/2020 at 14:02

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I wish they’d bring the chain to the PNW.   Instead, people go nuts when we get a few Chick-Fil-A, and still line up for them years after opening.