Analysts: 'Endless apps will destroy' you

And now in more serious news, here's our latest headline: "Endless Appetizers 'Will Destroy' TGI Fridays: Analyst."

Destroy.  These cheap appetizers will raze TGI Friday's to the ground.  I get a kick out of that imagery.

But what will these endless apps do to the customers ordering them?  Destroy their aorta? Destroy their waistline?  Destroy their taste for un-fried foods?  It's probably too late, it's already happened....

My buddy, who happened to work as a business analyst for a TGIF competitor, wrote:

That article is spot on. The recession caused casual dining chains to scramble for foot traffic. Everybody was doing discounts, promos, etc. Consumers have just gotten used to it. Having an endless appetizer promotion will drive in guests initially but like most other promotion in casual dining, even if it sticks around a long time, it won’t sustain any sort of growth due to it. It really is a desperate move on their part. The thing is, promotions like Buy-One-Get-One and endless whatever just destroy the kitchen labor costs. The restaurants won’t make much, if any money, because of it.

For my part, I'm debating whether I should help destroy TGIF by taking advantage of this "desperate" sale.... After all, casual dining is such a Gen-X thing, now to be replaced with fast-casual / semi-fast / kinda-slow fast food, like Chipotle and Panera, for them young Millennials. Is change always considered progress?....

Which is all a long way to say, once again: It's all Bush's fault.  Dubya's Great Recession spurred casual restaurants to offer desperate promotions which has resulted in their slow death.

Mmmm...Can't get enough of that tasty stuff! Make it endless! [Choke! Cough! Spit!]

Endless Appetizers 'Will Destroy' TGI Fridays: Analyst

By Alexander C. Kaufman

July 9, 2014 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/1xSGFRn

Milbank: Boomers are terrible political leaders

Everything wrong with U.S. politics is the Baby Boomers' fault [emphasis mine]:

Boomers inherited a system based on compromise and sacrifice — and they gave us the current standoff. They received a United States victorious in the Cold War and atop the world economy — and they gave us the Iraq war and the Great Recession. They are the parents of the first generation in U.S. history — the millennials — to have a lower standard of living than previous generations. And, in retirement, they will probably break Social Security and Medicare.

“Boomers are the scorched-earth, values-driven generation,” said Neil Howe, who with William Strauss chronicled the recurring patterns of generations in the United States. “They invented the culture wars and they’re taking it with them as they grow older, which is this complete polarization and gridlock. It’s very hard to compromise over values.” 

As leaders, boomers are a bust

By Dana Milbank

June 27, 2014 | Washington Post

URL: http://wapo.st/VtTfJg