Lookie here, young feller, if you wanted the economics to make sense, why were you trying to operate a socialist restaurant? This Panera chain tried to base its business model on not just a proverbial free lunch but a literal one.
Company founder Ron Shaich explained, "We had to help [customers] understand that this is a café of shared responsibility and not a handout." Now, see, that was a big problem. People weren't smart enough to pick up on that important distinction. It goes to show you that socialism can't work unless we get smarter people. I blame the schools. But I wonder whether the customers' level of understanding improved after the restaurant "helped" them with this concept?
Shockingly, the restaurants reported an atmosphere of increasing resentment and disappointment before they went broke and shut down. Maybe if they had taken advantage of economies of scale and expanded the experiment to include an entire country . . . ?
5 comments:
“Rather than create a charitable organization that distributes food to needy families or a discount outlet or even a $1 menu (like every other fast-food restaurant)....
“By not simply offering food at a low price (hat-tip, Dollar Tree)...”
Wow. Pro-capitalist snark!
Well, it's the Daily Wire, not the NYT. If there are any NYT articles about this, they probably explain how Trump and the Russians colluded to sabotage the heroic enterprise.
Maybe having an army would have helped?
They always fail to realize how few people it takes to negate or destroy your communal effort. Even if 85-90% of people paid a fair or even somewhat more than fair price, it would take but a handful of people who were just there for the free ride to destroy the formula. And you can be sure that the free riders also come often, increasing their destructive power.
It's as if these people have never read about the tragedy of the commons, or have any understanding of human nature.
I will go again to a food charity that relies on donations tomorrow, and douglas is correct. Most of the recipients are decent enough, even if they have poor impulse control and fill their baskets with the cheap but enticing crap. The minority (more than the 85-90% suggested but that's because it is a narrow population) drives the resources to the brink weekly despite our best efforts at policing.
They are literally stealing from the other poor people around them. They dopn't care.
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