Monsoon's Weather Update for Thursday, 4 September 2008
Thursday will be sunny, clear, quite hot again, and a bit humid, with a high of 92 and a low in the mid 60s.
Friday will be partly sunny and warm with humidity—and clouds—increasing throughout the day. The rain and wind from Tropical Storm Hanna (downgraded by that point from hurricane status) are expected to arrive in the evening—look for the first drizzle and showers by 9 or 10pm into the overnight hours. Thunderstorms can mix in here as well. High 87, low 68.
Saturday will see the heaviest rain and winds (and maybe a few storms) from Hanna in our area. Look for intermittent rain punctuated with periods of intense, heavy rainfall. Winds will be blowing at up to 25 mph (sustained) with gusts possible in the 35-40 mph range. Rainfall totals for Saturday alone will range from three quarters of an inch to two and a half inches across the region, depending on the area. Toward Saturday evening, the precipitation starts to pull away. High 77, low 65.
On Sunday we’ll see significant clearing; aside from a stray shower or two possible very early Sunday morning, we should be drying out. Look for partly sunny, breezy, and milder conditions with a high of 84 and a low of 60.
Monday looks great: sunny to partly cloudy with a high of 78 and a low of 56.
A shower is possible on Tuesday, but otherwise the day looks partly cloudy and pleasant with a high of 76 and a low of 55.
The rest of next week is looking lovely: sunny and clear with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the low to mid 50s.
Next weekend is a mixed bag: Saturday the 13th looks OK, if a bit chilly (highs only in the upper 60s and overcast), but Sunday the 14th will be rainy and cool, it appears at this point.
Thereafter: pleasant and mild with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid to upper 50s.
Conservative Columnist Peggy Noonan on Palin's Choice as VP: "It's Over"
My friends,
You think I'm a raging, soulless liberal fiend for attacking the nomination of Sarah Palin in this space earlier in the week? Even the Republicans are admitting that the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate is "gimmicky" and "cynical." A "hot mike" at MSNBC picked up conservative columnist Peggy Noonan and former McCain campaign manager Michael Murphy discussing Governor Palin in what sounded like a postmortem for the Republicans' presidential hopes.
Check out the video here (the juicy parts are audio only); includes a short piece with transcripted selections from the piece. Unless Palin performs a miracle live onstage during her speech, I'm afraid it's not going to be enough to--sorry to extend the metaphor--resurrect this fledgling campaign.
And here's Peggy Noonan's column at the Wall Street Journal, in which she simultaneously backtracks about what she said on the hot mike (Did I say "over"? I didn't mean "over" as in over-over, like he can't win now. I was paraphrasing what party leaders mistakenly think. Seriously! It was taken out of context!! Hello?) and praises Palin as a "real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy" (I thought she was a "cynical" choice, Peg. Now she's a revelation?). She also dwells on her use of a "barnyard epithet" (she said, "bullshit" into the hot mike, and even apologized right before she did so), when that's the least of her problems.
Enjoy!
Monsoon's Presidential Election Comment for Labor Day 2008
It’s been a long time since I’ve weighed in on the presidential race—mainly because I have become rather bored of it all since the intense, protracted primary battle concluded with an Obama victory.
I am still a strong supporter or Barack Obama for President—and I loved the pick of Joe Biden for Vice-President, despite Biden’s ties to the Washington establishment. And I, along with more than 38 million others, watched his incisive, forthright, and sometimes inspiring acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. There is much about Obama and his campaign to admire, and during the speech I even felt something like optimism and hope thaw away the edges of my cynical heart. Before I heard a word of his “American Promise,” he had me with the U2 song “City of Blinding Lights” that accompanied his entrance—though he almost lost me when Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” twanged obnoxiously from the stadium’s sound system immediately following his speech. (And yet, it didn’t nearly match the race speech in either the breadth or the erudition of its message.)
But damn it all, there have been times since he wrapped up the nomination in June that I’ve been disillusioned and even sick to watch the turn his campaign has taken. It’s called the “run to the center,” and it’s nothing new: a Democratic candidate runs on a progressive platform to appeal to the party’s liberal base, then when he (or she) has the nomination wrapped up, all of those progressive ideals fall prey to equivocation, obfuscation—and sometimes just plain contradiction.
Friends, I had no illusions that Barack Obama was the uncompromisingly liberal candidate this country really needs—and indeed, he bears little resemblance to the liberal bogeyman that has been conjured from the lousiest tax-and-spend, immigrants-run-amok, gay-agenda fears of conservatives. The positions he’s taken on gay marriage (he opposes it, but supports civil unions) and capital punishment (he wants to reform it, but he supports its use in limited cases), for example, have been disappointing in their apparent desire to have it both ways: embracing all positions so as to alienate no one.
But Barack Obama talked an awful lot—and still does—about being a different kind of candidate. He wants to change the way things are done in Washington. He wants to do away with “politics as usual” and govern in a new way: with the full support and participation of ordinary citizens moved to action by his campaign. I believed him, but the “run to the center” got so out of hand at a few points this summer than I almost took down my Obama yard sign:
He voted—against most of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate—to support warrantless wiretapping, all but ceding Americans’ fourth-amendment rights.
He expressed enthusiastic support for President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives, and promised he would expand these programs. These funding schemes for social services provided by religious organizations were a blown kiss by Bush to the evangelicals who helped elect him twice. Under the program, religious-based programs—which are already tax-exempt—can now conduct their proselytizing and their hiring discrimination with the full support of the Federal government. Obama’s pandering here is useless, since most of the evangelicals who would get all hot and bothered over such an announcement have already written the candidate off for his support—albeit tepid—for civil unions and abortion rights.
Speaking before AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) in June, Obama said, “We will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security. … Those who threaten Israel, threaten us.” His even-handed stances of the past, in which he took appropriately nuanced views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and even engaged in a frankly critical assessment of Israel’s behavior in the region, are long gone.
Seeking to reassure jingoists and warmongers across the nation that he would not be hesitant to use America’s military might, he outlined a plan to deploy as many as 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and to attack Iran if the country threatened the U.S. or its interests. He also backed off his earlier statement in a debate that he would meet with foreign leaders with no preconditions, lest it make him seem like too much of a diplomat and not enough of an ass-kicking hawk.
Finally (but there was probably more that I missed), he supported the Supreme Court’s reversal of a long-standing gun ban in Washington, D.C., tarnishing his encouraging gun control credentials.
There are four main schools of thought when it comes to Barack Obama, I’ve come to realize:
From the far right, the racist, and the insane (often, all three defects reside in the same individual), there is the cry that Obama is either a Muslim terrorist who will lead jihad against the U.S. from inside the White House, or an unpatriotic, anti-white atheist who will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance or wear a flag pin and will turn the country into a socialist state. There are also the softer objections to his lack of experience; his “arrogance” and his wife’s “uppity” attitude (thanks to Monsoon's mom for this insight); his effete, seemingly detached manner; and so on. And finally, in the “No-Bama’ category, there are the Hillaryites: mostly middle-aged women who are certain that sexism—not a superior message—was the sole factor in keeping Hillary Clinton from being nominated as either President or Vice-President; despite the fact that their values are represented by Barack Obama, most polls indicate that some 20% of these Hillary supporters are actually considering voting for John McCain.
From the center and moderate Republicans and Democrats, the feeling that Obama is a gifted orator with sensible ideas who has quite correctly moved his policies to more reasonable positions; he will make necessary changes to address problems with America’s economic woes and foreign-policy challenges without questioning the fundamental assumptions about American exceptionalism and corporate hegemony that underlie them. And these folks tend to look down their noses at those on the left who would criticize Obama for his shortcomings as a progressive candidate, preferring to present a united front of support. In short: he’s a swell guy.
From the progressive and “liberal” Democrats, there is much of the admiration for Obama as stated immediately above, tempered with some grumblings about his “all-things-to-all-people” tendencies” and his run to the center—but folks in this cohort remain cautiously optimistic that when he reaches the White House, he will listen to the voices of those whose hard work propelled him there and reflect his more firmly progressive stances when he governs.
From the far left wing—Communists, socialists, anarchists, conspiracy theorists, inveterate cynics, and I’d say the insane probably factor in here as well—we hear that there is very little substantive difference between Obama and McCain: both are agents of the ruling parties, neither of whom will really challenge corporate dominion over our lives, the collusion of government in such dominion, or the war machine. For these angry curmudgeons, the political process is an intractable parade of capitalist dirty tricks that will not be addressed in any meaningful way unless and until there is full revolution, or until a Noam Chomsky-Angela Davis ticket sails into the White House and fires the other two branches of government.
I fall in the third group, with some admitted sympathies toward the fourth. Let’s see how this works out.
A final few comments, if you’ll indulge me, about John McCain and his just-announced Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah “Barracuda” Palin, Governor of Alaska.
First, I want to direct you to an interesting article from AlterNet that reviews Michael Moore’s new book (Mike’s Election Guide) and takes note of his provocative discussion of John McCain’s “war hero” status.
Second, regarding his Vice-Presidential pick: I’ve never seen a more cravenly desperate, insulting, ill-advised, and cynical appointment in my life. John McCain met Sarah Palin exactly once at a meeting before he rang her up last week and asked her to join his fledgling ticket.
The Religious Right is over the moon about this pick, so it stands to reason that I’d be disgruntled. Let me outline a few reasons I find Sarah Palin objectionable:
She has very little political experience, as has been noted; the little experience she does have has been marred by scandal—her office is being investigated for improprieties stemming from the firing of a state trooper.
She is a lifetime member of the NRA who likes to shoot animals and pose with their carcasses, which I find to be vile (see the photo below, in which she and one of her kids celebrate the killing of a caribou; I’ve cropped it to spare you all the graphic details).
Her children’s names are Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig. I mean…really? Really, times five??
Palin is a devout, born-again evangelical who opposes abortion without reservation—even in cases of rape or incest. What a gal.
She believes Creationism should be taught alongside the “theory” of evolution in public schools to encourage “healthy debate.”
She strongly encourages and has worked toward oil and natural gas drilling in pristine areas in Alaska and other sites.
She opposes same-sex marriages and supported a referendum for an amendment to Alaska’s constitution that would deny health benefits to same-sex couples.
She supports capital punishment without reservation.
An odd realization struck me as I began researching Sarah Palin after the announcement was made: I hated her before I even knew she existed.
I mean, she’s the embodiment of every single thing I reject, and she’s wrapped up in a seemingly unthreatening package. (If I hear one more pundit describe her as “hot” or “cute” I am going to seriously lose it.)
And finally, speaking of colossally insulting, McCain’s choice is so nakedly designed to woo disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters that it should be seen not as a final “shattering” of the glass ceiling, as Palin said in her introductory speech, but as one of the true mileposts in 21st-century sexism. (I can’t imagine Hillary supporters suddenly deciding to vote for Sarah Palin just because she’s the first woman to receive a Republican Vice-Presidential nomination. The only things Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have in common are two X chromosomes.)
The good aspect of all this for us Obama supporters is that her inexperience and notorious bluntness is bound to lead to gaffes, and her utter lack of foreign policy chops means Biden is going to chew her up in the Vice-Presidential debate. I think ultimately the choice, though bold, will backfire wildly on McCain and Barack Obama will comfortably be elected the 44th President of the United States.
I’ll leave you with two outstanding columns about Palin from the Sunday papers:
Maureen Dowd’s column from the August 31stNew York Times.
Chris Satullo’s column from the August 31stPhiladelphia Inquirer.
As always, I welcome your comments and criticisms. I’m up for a lively political debate on here, if anyone’s game.
Update
on 2008-09-02 17:00 by Monsoon Martin
Breaking news from the McCain-Palin campaign that Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant sent me into paroxysms of glee—for how often do irony and hypocrisy coalesce into such a thick and satisfying stew? There’s nothing like seeing a paster who’s fought against gay rights and preached about the sin of homosexuality getting busted for trolling the men’s room for anonymous sex (Ted Haggard); the family-values politician who reportedly cheats on his wife repeatedly and actually presents his wife with divorce papers while she’s hospitalized, recovering from surgery (Newt Gingrich). I could go on.
The announcement also sent me to the internet to seek out reactions and opinions as to how this might affect the election, and I stumbled upon some of the most fevered conspiracy theory chatter since the work of the “9/11 was an inside job” crew.
My friends, if the swirling online rumors are to be believed—and that’s a big if—this pregnancy is actually Bristol’s second one. According to wanton online speculation, at age 16 she became pregnant and explained her 4- to 5-month absence from school as an extended bout of mononucleosis. To save the family embarrassment, the theories offer, Sarah Palin pretended to be pregnant—announcing her “pregnancy” only at seven months and seldom “showing” at all, or wearing maternity padding to fool onlookers—and when Bristol delivered Trig in April of this year, the child was claimed to be the offspring of Sarah Palin and her husband.
There’s another, seedier level of internet gossip hell (it’s not pretty, folks) where it is being alleged that not only is Bristol Trig’s mother rather than his sister, but that Trig’s father is actually Sarah’s husband Todd. The result of this Springeresque state of affairs would be, quite incestuously, that Bristol is both Trig’s mother and his half-sister.
To support these conspiracy theories, photos of both Sarah and her daughter Bristol are being scrutinized for “baby bumps” and photoshopping, and DNA tests are being suggested, but no real evidence has yet emerged to support these wild and whirling words.
And so as a result, I will—for the time being—assume that everything is as has been reported in the topsy-turvy McCain-Palin: Trip, son of Sarah and her husband Todd, was born on April 18, 2008; Bristol is now five months into her first-ever pregnancy, and the father of this child is her boyfriend, whom she intends to marry.
Really, that’s juicy enough. Consider:
It exposes the fact that John McCain, despite his staff’s protests to the contrary, did not adequately “vet” his Vice-Presidential choice, and given that Palin’s pregnancy and state-trooper scandals are already distracting the public’s attention from the GOP’s convention, he’s lost the gamble. Reportedly, McCain knew about Bristol’s pregnancy when he selected Palin—which means that he’s either lying (in which case he’s dishonest and sloppy) or he’s telling the truth (in which case he’s clueless). Neither scenario is looking particularly rosy for the GOP at the moment.
It underscores the ineffectuality of Sarah Palin’s own steely moral convictions, which guide her leadership: she is a strong advocate of abstinence-only education in public schools, and yet her own daughter’s condition as an unwed, teenage mother-to-be stands as a counterpoint to this approach. Abstinence-only education gives teenagers “The only truly safe sex is no sex” without then following it up with “…but if you do engage in sex, be aware of contraception, etc.” There’s no direct indication that Bristol Palin received abstinence-only sex education in her schooling, but the irony is irresistible. Actually, according to a Chicago Tribune article, "The high school that Bristol Palin attended for part of last year, Wasilla High School, teaches abstinence in health class, its principal said." Nice!
It calls into question the impetus behind Bristol’s decision to carry the child to full term, given her mother’s right-wing Feminists for Life stance that abortion must not even be an option in cases of incest or rape. Again, there’s no direct evidence of this, but the possibility exists that when Bristol brought this news to her parents, Sarah brought pressure to bear on her daughter to keep the child because of her own political stakes.
Bristol Palin is, according to her family’s September 1st statement, five months pregnant, meaning that she conceived sometime around the beginning of April. Sarah Palin delivered Trip, Bristol’s brother, on April 18th, which means that for a few weeks, Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol were both pregnant. Jeez. Now we’re getting into some “Maury”-type shit here.
If the McCain-Palin ticket wins the election, moving in to Number One Observatory Circle (the Vice-President’s residence) will be Sarah and her husband Todd; children Bristol, Willow, and Piper; and two infants, nine-month-old Trig and Bristol’s newborn. And maybe even Bristol’s boyfriend. Quite a clan. (For those curious, Track, who has enlisted in the Army, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq sometime this month.)
Some evangelicals have come out in support of Sarah Palin and her family as this scandal emerges, but it’s not difficult to imagine that her inexperience, her scandals, and—let’s face it—her gender will discourage some Republicans and conservatives in general from voting for a McCain-Palin ticket.
Barack Obama, for his part, went classy all the way, reacting the only way he really could to this news: “People’s families are off-limits and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”
Stay tuned…
Monsoon's Weather Forecast for Saturday, 30 August 2008
Friends…
An updated forecast and WeatherTable…
Weather narrative : Today (Saturday) we could see a quick pop-up line of showers or thunderstorms, but I think most places are going to be dry and rumble-free. After today, the next best chance we have of seeing any rainfall is actually the following weekend, Friday into Saturday. The lack of rainfall we’ve had lately is a trend that looks likely to continue, which could lead to drought warnings (currently Berks is in “normal” status, while Lancaster, Lebanon, and Schuylkill Counties are under a “watch”).
Monday through Thursday (the first four days of September) will feel more like the Dog Days of August that never really materialized this year, with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s. (At least the humidity will stay relatively low—sorry for the pun.)
Perhaps a bit of rain as a cold front moves through around the beginning of next weekend and returns us to more pleasant conditions: highs at or just below 80, with lows in the 50s.
Beyond the forecast: Pleasant with highs in the mid to upper 70s and lows in the mid 50s.
Happy Labor Day!
Penn Cinema Announces Heart of Lancaster Presents 2008 Fall Season
My friends,
I'm excited to annouce that my favorite movie theater has announced its Fall 2008 lineup for The Heart of Lancaster Presents! (If you do not recall from my earlier post, this film series presents one vintage film each Monday night at 7pm. The cost is $9.00 per person.)
The list of fourteen films actually includes two of the films I had suggested in my previous post--The Shawshank Redemption (November 10th) and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (November 24th)!
Getting to Penn Cinema is dead simple, even with a construction snafu. From points north, take 222 South and get off at the 772 exit for Brownstown. Make a right at the end of the ramp, then an immediate left-hand turn onto Route 272 South. Normally, you'd turn right onto Route 722, but the bridge is out, so you'll stay on Route 272 past 722 and make your next available right-hand turn onto Creek Road. You'll spend about a half-mile at most on Creek Road, then make a left onto 722 (you've bypassed the bridge construction). After about two miles on Route 722, you'll make a right-hand turn onto Airport Road, and Penn Cinema will be on your left very soon.
I visited the theater thrice this summer and--despite the fact that my Obama car magnet was swiped on my third visit while I was enjoying a film just a couple of weeks ago--I have been thoroughly impressed.
Here's the complete listing:
Sept. 8 Gladiator
Sept. 15 Sleepless in Seattle
Sept. 22 Psycho
Sept. 29 Grease
Oct. 6 Sixteen Candles
Oct. 13 On the Waterfront
Oct. 20 The Wizard of Oz
Oct. 27 Ghostbusters
Nov. 3 Roman Holiday
Nov. 10 The Shawshank Redemption
Nov. 17 Rocky
Nov. 24 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Dec. 1 A Christmas Story
Dec. 8 The Polar Express
Enjoy!
Monsoon's Weather Update for Friday, 22 August 2008
Friends…
An updated forecast and WeatherTable…
Weather narrative : Tropical Storm Fay has made a left-hand turn into the Gulf of Mexico and will not affect our weather here.
The humidity rises a bit this weekend, but some showers and storms late Sunday into Monday will disperse the heat and humidity, ushering in a pleasant week.
Not a lot of rain is in our forecast—just scattered showers here and there as noted.
Next weekend (Labor Day) is looking fantastic aside from some rain Friday.
Beyond the forecast: After perhaps reaching 90 degrees in the first few days of September, the temperature will drop precipitously, with highs getting only into the mid 70s and lows dipping well into the 50s.
Monsoon's Exclusive Interview with Five Guys' Molly Catalano
My friends,
A few months ago, I posted a review of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and contacted its corporate headquarters to let them know just how much I loved them. I began an email correspondence with Molly Catalano, who is the Public Relations Manager for Five Guys. Soon I had compiled a list of questions for Ms. Catalano and asked if she would consent to an email interview; she delighted me by answering the questions generously and thoroughly.
I am now proud to present these questions (MM) and Molly Catalano’s answers (MC) exclusively and without commercial interruption here on Monsoon’s weblog!
MM: I read that Five Guys has tried various additions to its menu in the past, but ultimately decided to pull these items. Can you discuss a few of these ideas?
MC: The menu originally included a Virginia baked ham sandwich and there is a rumor that they tried a chicken sandwich for one day. This was well before we started franchising and the menu has been the same for at least the past 10-15 years. We get many requests for chili and slaw in the south and sauerkraut in the north, but we will only add to our menu if we know it was the best item possible.
MM: Can you talk a little bit about Five Guys’ interior design? What is the intended effect of having fifty-pound bags of potatoes between the ordering and dining areas?
MC: The basic idea for the décor is to make sure that nothing takes attention away from the food. So it makes sense that we have an open kitchen; our cooking process is the décor! This way, we don’t have to talk about ourselves (hence the articles and quotes from others on the walls) and we don’t even have to tell you what we serve…you see it when you walk in.
Also, with our stacks of potatoes and boxes of peanut oil, along with our open kitchen, we can show guests that we are in fact making everything fresh.
MM: Have you thought about expanding your beverage and treat offerings to include milkshakes, light desserts, and the like?
MC: Besides the chili and sauerkraut, milkshakes are the third most requested item. We love milkshakes, but at this point we don’t think that we could serve the best milkshakes possible without sacrificing quality elsewhere…and we aren’t willing to do that.
MM: It has been reported that Five Guys was pursued for years by individuals who wanted to purchase franchises, but repeatedly turned them down. Can you briefly discuss why Five Guys rejected franchising offers for so long, and why Five Guys ultimately decided to franchise?
MC: The Murrells—especially the father, Jerry—didn’t want to franchise. I don’t know his exact reasoning, but I think things were going well and at the time it didn’t appeal to him. However, the boys were ultimately the ones who decided to franchise and they have done a great job focusing on what is important and not giving in to pressures to change. At the same time, we have learned a lot from our franchisees and I would say that our stores are more consistent now than ever before. Even small changes like our black ceilings and higher quality red countertops came from our franchisees.
MM: Given Five Guys’ unconventional business model, limited menu and untraditional practices, has the company faced any difficulties in attracting investors or selling franchises?
MC: Not at all. In the end, there is a reason behind everything that we do, from the way we cook our fries to the way we change our gloves, and people understand that. We do not advertise for franchisees and franchise inquiries are the highest volume of emails and calls we receive.
MM: I find the construction of your burgers to be artful and ingenious; can you discuss their assembly a bit? For example, why was it decided to put the bacon underneath the patties rather than on top, as is traditionally done?
MC: The assembly, as you may have noticed, is very finely tuned. This, especially, is the area of the business that the “boys” (the Five Guys) perfected in the 15 years before they opened. The assembly is the result of a desire to give optimal flavor combinations while encouraging speed in assembling the burger. With so many toppings, each burger is unique, so we have to have a method to the madness in order to make sure we don’t forget toppings!
MM: The Murrell family’s involvement in the Five Guys business is storied: to what extent is each of the Murrells’ five sons still involved in the business?
MC: All seven (Jerry, Janie, Jim, Matt, Chad, Ben and Tyler) family members are involved in different ways. Ben focuses on franchise development and meets with each franchisee candidate. Chad focuses on training operations. Matt focuses on operations and development, Tyler works with the bakery and Jim focuses on corporate-owned stores.
MM: What is involved, financially and logistically, in securing and setting up a franchised location of Five Guys?
MC: Five Guys sells exclusive territories to franchisees. A franchisee must purchase a territory with a minimum of 5 locations, but many of our franchisees purchase the rights to open much more than that. A franchisee pays a franchise fee for each location and then pays to develop the specific sites once they find them. So a franchisee really does it all: decides where he/she wants to open locations (generally), selects specific sites (with approval from Five Guys) builds out the store, and then opens and runs it. Five Guys provides training and support along the way and throughout their life as a franchisee.
MM: Five Guys reportedly conducts very little, if any, advertising. What is the reasoning behind this strategy, and how successful has it been?
MC: You are correct: Five Guys does not spend ANY national or corporate funds on advertising. We do allow our franchisees to advertise (with approval), so there are a few local items out there. The reasoning is based both on economics and our brand. We want to be known for a great hamburger and great fries and the best form of marketing to do that is word of mouth, so we focus on that. We know that word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing, so we focus on making sure people want to talk about us because they love our burgers and fries!
Additionally, to really compete with others using advertising, you need a lot of money and we believe that we currently get the biggest bang for our buck by providing a very large employee incentive program and by word of mouth. We believe this is successful…or we wouldn’t be here now! Additionally, our new stores open with stronger and stronger sales!
MM: How involved is the Five Guys corporate structure in the day-to-day operations of its franchise locations?
MC: Our franchisees, managers, assistant managers and crew-level employees run the true day-to-day operations. Five Guys Enterprises is involved through our District Manager program. We have District Managers who over see about 15 stores each, and they act as the liaison between franchisees and corporate. They are there to help make our franchisees successful and to protect the Five Guys brand.
MM: Have you considered adding a drive-through element to the Five Guys stores?
MC: We have opened a few locations in buildings that have drive-throughs, but we can only use them as call-ahead pickup windows. This is because it takes about 7-10 minutes for us to prepare an order and that is not fast enough for a drive through.
MM: Your pickles are heaven. How are they made and where are they from?
MC: I agree! Our pickles, like all of our toppings, are specially selected. They are Mount Olive brand kosher pickles. The “boys” (the Five Guys) are fanatical about the quality of our toppings. For example, our current mayo producer is going to stop producing the kind of mayo we use and as a result we are going to privately label mayo for our use because the boys think that this mayo has the right level of creaminess and taste for our burgers.
MM: The interior of the store I visited in Lancaster, PA was lit with fluorescent bulbs. Is this done consistently at your stores? And what other measures has Five Guys taken to minimize the restaurant's impact on the environment?
MC: Many of our stores use fluorescent bulbs (as do our corporate offices, which have the same type of lights). Our peanut oil is currently picked up by a company that uses it for various purposes, but we have researched giving/selling our used peanut oil for use in diesel cars. It is a hard process to do right now because there isn’t a national company that does that, but we have one or two stores that do give their used peanut oil to individuals who use it to power their cars. Finally, we are in the final stages of researching paper fry cups. We currently use Styrofoam, which is not as good for the environment. We hope to roll that out before the end of the year.
MM: Your organization's founder, Jerry Murrell, has been described as being “obsessed” with quality in choosing the ingredients of Five Guys' offerings. Are any of Five Guys' ingredients certified organic or antibiotic-free? If not, does Five Guys have plans to move in this direction in the future?
MC: Five Guys does not have any certified organic or antibiotic-free items. This is not necessarily intentional. Rather, “organic” and “antibiotic-free” are not synonymous with quality. You can have low quality organic items just like you can have low quality non-organic items. Our quality is focused on freshness, lack of preservatives, industry standards of quality (like peanut oil for fries) and then personal family standards. For example, we source whole heads of lettuce rather than that shredded stuff, we put 2 slices of tomatoes on a burger, and we use brand name items like Hebrew National hotdogs, Mount Olive Pickles and high quality bacon that is from a very old and established smoke house.
MM: My readers are anxious to learn what new franchise locations are planned in the southeastern Pennsylvania region: Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster Counties.
MC: We are opening in all of those areas although it is hard to say when as we don’t know opening dates until a few days before. My suggestion is to visit our website frequently as we add stores to the “coming soon” list every month. [Monsoon’s note: Exeter Commons Shopping Center will feature a Five Guys Burgers & Fries and a Red Robin, in addition to anchor stores Lowe’s, Giant, and Target. Rumors are swirling that a similarly-anchored shopping center planned for the area of the 222/Turnpike interchange in Denver may also attract a Five Guys!]
MM: Thank you for your time!
MC: I apologize for the delay in getting this information to you!
Monsoon's Weather Update for Sunday, 17 August 2008
Friends…
A weather update for y’all as we prepare for the start of another school year…
(On a personal note, it is nice to begin a school year without having to worry about sweating through my clothing for the first month and a half of school. Thanks to our glorious new air conditioning system, my students will be shivering unhappily and I will be in blissful comfort.)
Weather narrative : Aside from some moderate heat and humidity to begin the coming week, the forecast period is pretty much steady with highs settling around the mid 80s and lows in the low 60s. Look for the possibility of rain from Friday night into Sunday morning as the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay (which should be significantly weakened by the time it reaches us due to the fact that it’s traveled so far over land, but still may carry pockets of heavier rain and strong winds) move through.
Next week looks very nice with highs in the low 80s and lows in the upper 50s for the most part. Warming up by the end of the week and (as it appears now) ushering in a miserable, rainy Labor Day Weekend.
Beyond the forecast: Labor Day Weekend is looking cooler and rainy with highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s, and rain possible on both Saturday and Sunday; Monday, September 1st is looking very nice. But hey…a lot can happen between now and then! I will keep you posted…