NOTE: Remember, we have to cancel class on Thursday because of ECU's Interscholastic Meet, which will be taking over Horace Mann tomorrow morning. So take the extra time to start thinking about Paper #3, and of course reading Chapter 8 for next week. Don't forget to do the questions, since a few people seem to have forgotten about them! (hint, hint).
Answer two of the following:
Q1: Since restaurants like McDonald's and Taco Bell are already world famous, and people will always go there, why do both places work so hard at "differentiating" (221)? Why are the 'stunt foods' necessary in the first place?
Q2: We might assume that creating a variation on the taco or the hamburger is as easy as adding some cheese dust, or using a different bun. But it's a surprisingly complex science that companies spend millions upon millions of dollars on. What makes it so difficult to "reinvent the taco," or to create a new variation on an old favorite? In other words, why is it so easy to mess up?
Q3: How does the "Food at Work" factor (in Chapter 2) also play into the innovation necessary at fast food restaurants? Since most Americans are now eating at their desks, how did fast food have to adapt to these new eating habits? What product seems to most directly reflect this?
Q4: According to Chapter 8, what do stunt foods say about the American cultural psyche? Why would a culture that is always drinking water and going on Paleo diets be tempted by the lure of stunt foods? Shouldn't fast food restaurants even be out of business now? Why might they suggest that we're "at odds with ourselves"?
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