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Pay attention to deviations from mainstream incentives
- unraveller 4y agoSubscription bait warning, the very next clarifying part is behind paywall. These trickle artists are no better than free to play.
- ema 4y agoWhile the article functions as an ad for a paid subscription, it contains more than enough substance in itself that bait is not an appropriate description.
- yccs27 4y agoCasual HN readers get a very interesting article without banner ads or paywall. People who are interested in more related content are encouraged to pay for a subscription. I don't see much wrong with that.
- actionfromafar 4y agoMuch like HN itself.
- mikequinlan 4y agoHow do I pay for more related content from Hacker News?
- mrguyorama 4y agoYou move to San Fransisco and pretend you are better than everyone else and can solve all the worlds problems.
- possiblelion 4y agoVery cool piece, one of the most interesting I've read on HN recently. As someone building their first starup in a completely different category (fintech for Africa), many of the high-tier lessons about SOPs still made me think.
- Samyak1 4y agoVery interesting piece. Looking forward to reading the part two.
- maneesh 4y agoThis is part two of a series. Part 3 appears to be gated as members only.
- maneesh 4y agoFascinating article!
- vlz 4y ago> … differentiation strategy of ‘enlightened hospitality’ through a synergistic set of human resource management practices involving three key practices: selection of employees based on emotional capabilities, respectful treatment of employees, and management through a simple set of rules that stimulate complex and intricate behaviours benefiting customers. So, hire nice people, be fair to them and encourage everybody to treat the customers fairly and kindly? Maybe just being a good person is good for business?
- occamrazor 4y agoThe OP also explains (partly here and partly in a previous post, linked in the story) how this is not a good strategy for most other restaurants which do not have a wide range of locations, from fast food to fine dining.
- urthor 4y agoThis exactly. In fact, this is an article in of itself. With most jobs, employers are heavily incentivized to not make them incredibly enjoyable. Everyone complains about their employers. Especially in technology. However, tons of businesses emphatically do not have an incentive to create happy, enjoyable workplaces for their employees.
- suslik 4y ago> just being a good person You say it like this is something well-defined and easily achievable, but I am not sure it is.
- mellavora 4y agoEasily achievable, certainly not. Well defined, possibly. Morals and ethics. Things which were heavily taught in earlier times, and which now have been replaced by STEM. Someone is going to squwak that morals and ethics have been debated for millenium, thus certainly NOT well defined. response: nice STEM thinking, which assumes a mathematical definition of "defined". VS a morals and ethics definition, which says "here are the points of variance which go into moral decision making." Where a "definition" is not an answer, it is a framing of the debate. Because moral decisions are always tradeoffs along different dimensions. And moral reasoning is about making judgement calls under uncertainty.
- DubiousPusher 4y ago> providing excellent service in the F&B business works against the structure of the industry. I tried to look at the preceeding article mentioned to go deeper on this but it is paywalled. I can't say for sure but this article has wiffs of the quasi-mysticism that surrounds F&B worship of successful professional F&B proprietors. And I'm getting a touch of the worst brand yet which is mixing F&B business metaphorically with startup brain. So for example, almost all of these articles will talk about how some "culture" is "different". They'll enumerate all the quirky training processes that "bond" the teams together. But in the end there are a few realities. Most people that have very professional service in F&B pay them more and give them better benefits. They can afford this because they work in niches of F&B service that allow for higher margins. Unless you can move your operations into something higher margin, you can't afford these pay and benefits. And if you do, someone else will fill your low margin hole and end up asking themselves the same questions. Namely, why do my employees hate me? I exploit them. Why do I exploit them? The margins demand it. The other and much more insidious way that F&B luminaries provide superior service is by exploiting professionalized workers' egos. Essentially, working in a fancy restaurant is very clouty. A lot of people end up working in cutting edge or high end F&B while still earning very marginally improved wages because they believe in the place they work. In my opinion this is not good. This is asking people to start making real personal sacrifices for something they will never actually own, something that will give them nothing the day it slides from under their feet. The vast majority of F&B is so low margin that I actually think the only conceivable way to pay people a livable wage, outside of high margin niches, is to be unrpofitble. Essentially, you have to distribute the profits to the workers. And the problem here becomes that scale is often the only way to secure yourself in the industry, yet getting capital invested into your explicitly profitless venture is unlikely. I really wish I could read the other article because maybe I'm preaching to the choir but in the end I'd say, be very cautious about glorify anyone in the F&B business.
- shadowsun7 4y agoYes, rest assured the previous article talks about exactly this. (I mean, the title of this piece should give you a hint: “Pay attention to deviations from mainstream incentives” because the mainstream incentives in F&B are just so, so bad.)
- renewiltord 4y agoThe Gramercy Tavern beetle story makes me wonder about this. If you provided unified customer experience in some contexts it's cool. In others, it's creepy. Even if the actual act hasn't changed. I wonder what separates the two.
- caporaltito 4y ago> I wonder what separates the two. Self mockery, I guess. If you're a fancy restaurant, it implies that you are high end but not arrogant enough to ignore your own mistakes. So, it conveys the message that you are always willing the best for your customers.
- shimon 4y agoIt comes down to whether the experience is desired or not. When multiple people recognize and respond to you, it is a sign of fame and respect. People generally like to be well-known and respected, so this coordination is appreciated. When a machine recognizes and responds to you, it is often not a sign of respect but a sign of exploitation. I think it's kinda useful when I see relevant ads on a website based on my recent browsing. But I might feel differently if I spent 8 hours a day driving wherever a computer told me to go or cooking whatever a computer told me to cook.
- empiricus 4y agoI don't understand how money laundering works in the anecdote at the beginning. I guess you can launder some money that way, but how efficient is it?
- jayceedenton 4y agoThe business records a high number of sales (or high value sales) and hence dirty money can be used as clean incoming money. The high staff numbers indicate either a) staff can accumulate and no-one is really bothered because the normal economics don't apply, or b) more staff implies a bigger business (to anyone looking at the books), which means more money can be laundered without raising suspicion. Efficiency just depends on how much cash you can imply this coffee shop makes, so more staff is a good thing.
- empiricus 4y agoI imagine this way you can launder on the order of 10-100k dollars/month? With 30-40% payed for taxes and employees?
- qzw 4y agoSome number of the staff may also be from the “questionable” side of the business. They don’t have to do any actual restaurant work but will get some clean income as part of their total compensation. So the laundering happens at more than one level and could be more efficient overall than at first glance.
- BoardsOfCanada 4y agoThere is something I don't understand: If you pretend do have a lot of customers (to feed illegal income into pretend purchases), why not also pretend to have a lot of employees? At least they don't need to be present, since this seems to be what make people suspicious.
- bluehatbrit 4y agoI'm just guessing, but if someone does decide to investigate your business I assume they'll start by checking the people in it. If they find you've faked employment records then the gig will be up pretty quickly. Employing people keeps the facade up in the same way as actually serving food and drinks. I suppose if your "other" side of the business has people working for it, then it's not going to change the financials much to have them on the books of the restaurant.
- saurik 4y ago> “Oh,” my dad said, waving his hand dismissively at the small army, “Everyone knows this coffee shop is owned by loan sharks. It’s probably a money laundering operation.” A long time ago, I went to a Czech restaurant in San Francisco (I am always interested in finding Czech food, as it is somewhat rare in the US anywhere but where I'm originally from: near Chicago, aka Czech-ago ;P). The food my friend got seemed to be literally microwaved (he said half of it was very cold while the other half of it was very hot), and they were entirely out of at least fruit dumplings I remember for sure but I also think there were a couple other things missing. I definitely remember someone commenting that it felt a bit like a money laundering scheme more so than a restaurant. Years later (still a while ago... maybe a decade?) I was again in San Francisco, and I went to the same restaurant--I mean, at least it is Czech food, right?! ;P--and now it was in a different much fancier dining area (though I also remember being somewhat difficult to find and sort of almost in a basement; it was just furnished almost ridiculously fancy). I was the only person there, however. This time, their menu didn't have a bunch of options they could be out of: they had exactly three dishes. There was, however, multiple wait staff at the restaurant, all just kind of doing nothing. I ordered a goulash I think, and it was OK. I mean, I was coming into this expecting it might just be them microwaving frozen scoops of food, and didn't care as, again, "at least it is Czech food". It was tasty enough that I went back the next day for the svickova. Again, no one was there. They also seemed so confused by how I was there. Now twice in a row. Ordering food off of their menu of only three options ;P. At the end of the dinner, I asked them "do you ever have... fruit dumplings?" and suddenly the guy--who maybe thought I was a cop casing the joint ;P--suddenly had a realization: "are you... Czech?!". I did not return for a third day ;P. I remember checking and a number of the reviews on whatever review site I was using at this point were also people who stumbled into this restaurant and started to think "how is this even a restaurant? are we sure this isn't a money laundering front?!". That said, it also isn't clear to me how money laundering can work if everyone suspects it at your business!
- vasco 4y ago> That said, it also isn't clear to me how money laundering can work if everyone suspects it at your business! Did you report this suspicion to any authority? Your answer should be there.
- chickenimprint 4y agoI found those stories of "enlightened hospitality" creepy and presumptuous. Don't eavesdrop on my conversations and respect my choices. Are you suggesting my opinions on expensive wine are sour grapes? I didn't want wine or salad. God, I'm happy I don't live in a country where waiters are forced to be a hyper-social adult circus clown to compete for tips.
- michaelgrafl 4y agoIf you see restaurants as a place to get food, then you're right. If you visit a place to have a remarkable experience, you might enjoy this kind of attention. Not saying either perspective is wrong. Just that there's some nuance.
- igorkraw 4y agoI legitimately wonder how much of the restaurant culture in the US comes from the fact you can't just go to a brothel or a BDSM dungeon to get your "remarkable experience" outside of Nevada
- elvis10ten 4y agoI live in Berlin and I’m not from the USA. I prefer restaurants with this “US hospitality” or something close. Sadly, lots of people in this city seem to pride themselves in “kind not nice”. There is nothing that says both can’t exist :shrug:
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- aaronbrethorst 4y agoBerlin has both. Must be something else. https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/berlin-region/berlin/restaurants https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/berlin-region/berlin/restau...
- erikpukinskis 4y ago
- nickdothutton 4y agoSeveral large heroin deals went down in London in the early 70s. Tremendously profitable shipments were flowing from Afghanistan. So much so that one of the main problems was laundering those profits. Dozens of restaurants were sustained in Brick Lane by this “custom”, far more restaurants than there were legitimate diners for. After the money-flow dried up, many of them struggled and there were closures. They weren’t sustainable. Only the better ones survived.
- gadders 4y agoIt's American Candy shops now. Allegedly. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61777445 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61777445
- DoneWithAllThat 4y agoWas that article written by an AI? It was shockingly difficult to read and had a very oddly stilted to the text. Some of the sentences didn’t even seem like actually full sentences.
- turnerc 4y agoUnfortunately the BBC has gone dramatically down hill, mostly blogspam now.
- coastermug 4y agoHave a search for the original investigative piece done by Private Eye. The rest of the reports on this are somewhat lazy copies of their original work.
- gadders 4y agoFound it: https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/cnkcaz/private_eye_on_west_end_souvenir_shops/ https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/cnkcaz/private_eye_... Will give it a read...
- 4y ago
- kkfx 4y agoMh... I've read few articles here and there that essentially, in the more or less explicit background say "cash are a source of evil" while e-cashes might be an answer. I counter with a simple note: what about a LEGIT company who is just a branch of a parent company in another State, something let's say like a P.O. box in Delaware, a thing perfectly legal there, and the branch company have to pay much service to the mother company ending every year in red or nearly red and so paying no local taxes but still get allowed to remain in business? That's happen ALL by electronic money, officially transferred, officially formally billed according to the laws. On contrary let's say we only tax the net, so we want to document any expense, even the smallest one, what do you think in this scenario?
- jongjong 4y agoThese days it feels like almost every major business is a government, bank or drug money laundering operation at its core... What they say is their main business is actually just the front for the operation. The cash cow is money laundering.
- mdorazio 4y agoThis article is interesting not just because the particular businesses it explores via stories, but because of its broader message to entrepreneurs about the importance of understanding your customers' business models if you want to succeed. Many engineering-focused founders struggle with this part. If you want to actually sell the thing you built (food ordering kiosks in the author's case), you have to align the value proposition with the customer's business model and incentives. This business model and incentive structure might not be what you initially think.
- steve76 4y ago
- Archit3ch 4y agoSo much talk of incentives and no explanation of the incentive to make only their second blog post in the series free. ;)
- bazoom42 4y agoI dont get how having idle staff helps launder money? Presumably the scheme works by adding fake transactions to the books.
- MichaelCollins 4y agoIt could be a way of giving 'legitimate' income to friends/family/conspirators.
- bazoom42 4y agoBut why do they have to be there? Couldnt you just pay them the salary anyway?
- MichaelCollins 4y agoBeats me, maybe they have nothing better to do.
- alpineidyll3 4y agoExcellent piece. Definitely a better than average think piece site too. Cheers to exolymph.
- zibby8 4y agoThis essay is really incoherent. What is the point of the money-laundering anecdote at the beginning?