"Special orders don't upset us."
If you are of a certain age, or really know fast food advertising history, you associate that with Burger King.
The good news is that special orders don't upset fsat food places. The customers get upset if they mess up those special orders. In part, friction is reduced because no matter how you get your burger, you'll pay the same price.
Back in those times, fast food chains would have two prices for their burgers, with or without cheese. That way, if you didn't want cheese, you didn't have to pay for it. Now, cheese is assumed, and if you don't want cheese, that is money in their pocket, not yours. Even if you don't want the cheese, you pay for it.
When you order less than what you pay for, you feel a little cheated by the system. A small price, yes, but a price nevertheless.
The difference comes when you want something else as a substitute for the ingredients you don't want. They want you to pay for the ingredients you want AND the ingredients you don't want.
I love the idea of good quality Mexican fast food; we aren't talking Taco Bell. But I don't go as often because I get frustrated by having to pay for stuff I want and don't want.
Let's take Chipotle as an example. Not to pick on Chipotle, because other places have similar philosophies, but I would like to eat at Chipotle more frequently.
You could get tacos, a burrito, a burrito minus the shell — whatever — all for the same price. Don't want rice and beans? Same price. Don't want sour cream and cheese? Same price. Want guacamole? $1.50.
Yes, guacamole is expensive, not $1.50 expensive. And sour cream and cheese are relatively inexpensive.
Getting three small tacos for almost $7 doesn't sound like a bargain, though their food is better sourced. You get the three tortillas with a decent amount of meat, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. The sour cream and cheese are supposed to set off the heat from the salsa, something that guacamole does better in terms of taste and type of fat.
When you're paying for sour cream and cheese, and you don't want them, you shrug it off. There is this part of me that wants them to go "okay, we'll take off 35¢ for the sour cream and cheese, but only if you pay $1.50 for the guacamole. 40¢ — that's my final offer."
A net of $1.10-$1.15 still might get you to pay more for guacamole, but the offer would put me in a mood to go "hey, why not."
What if tacos came with tortilla, meat, lettuce, and salsa, and you have to pay extra for sour cream and cheese? The idea of paying for cheese is as ancient as that Burger King jingle. And Americans would insist that sour cream was a standard as much as salsa or meat.
The last few times I have been to Chipotle is with a buy 1, get 1 coupon. Getting 6 tacos for about $7 is a great bargain, especially since their tacos are good.
I'm not saying they should be that cheap. The burrito — for the same price — comes with rice and beans, meat, veggies, sour cream, and cheese. Even if you order the tacos as is, you feel cheated.
If the tacos were $1 cheaper than the burritos (reasonable), I could get store credit for the lack of sour cream and cheese (not reasonable), paying $1.50 for guacamole would be a lot more reasonable. And I would frequent Chipotle a lot more often.
I can get a Chipotle taco my way, but I have to pay a lot more to get it my way. The special order won't upset them. If they are paying attention, I'm improving their bottom line, well, the company's bottom line.
If I, and many others, could order fast food the way we wanted it and pay accordingly, companies would make more money with more customers. If we could have it our way.
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