In the 1988 comedy classic Coming to America, Cleo McDowell delivers what might be the most confident defense of blatant trademark infringement in cinematic history: “Look, me and the McDonald’s people got this little misunderstanding. See, they’re McDonald’s… I’m McDowell’s. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, … Read more
To many of us who grew up with Pizza Hut, driving past an abandoned red-roof building is a depressing sight that brings on a wave of nostalgic sadness. Online commentary, forum threads, and viral videos point to those empty suburban relics as proof of a corporate funeral, citing shuttered doors and menu changes as evidence … Read more
In fast food opinion polling, Wendy’s frequently ranks near the top of the burger hierarchy. Diners often praise the burger, fries, and the quality of the chicken over the other national burger chains. To anyone looking purely at sentiment data, Wendy’s looks like a beloved national staple. So how does a chain with such a … Read more
In the sterile language of Google’s search algorithms, the McRib is what they classify as an “entity”, a distinct, well-defined node in a vast knowledge graph, sitting right alongside the Big Mac, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Roman Empire. I’m not kidding! This sandwich is huge. But to millions of fast-food devotees, it behaves … Read more
From a culinary culture and business perspective, the cupcake boom of the mid-2000s to early 2010s was undeniably weird. Food trends come and go, but this one was a bit oversized, for lack of a better term. The narrative surrounding this big boom of tiny cakes often gets treated like a harmless curiosity. Nothing more … Read more
In a recent video breakdown of modern grocery economics, an Aldi executive discussed the chain’s business model with the kind of reverent solemnity usually reserved for Silicon Valley disruptors: “It’s about simplicity, and it’s about efficiency, and it’s about a consistent experience all the time.” The narrator quickly chimed in to display the spoils of … Read more