1/ Notes from @nickkokonas episode at @InvestLikeBest

Nick Kokonas: A Philosophy major -> derivatives trader -> owner of some of the best restaurants in the world such as Alinea, Next, The Aviary, and co-founder and CEO of Tock, a comprehensive booking system for restaurants.

2/ "Own something, make lots of decisions that have outcomes, try to be right 51% of the time, do that often and repeat."

This is essentially the casino model. Nick delves into each part of that quote to explain what he means by it.

3/ Why are restaurants perceived as bad businesses?

"...there are a lot of people in the restaurant business that are not in business so to speak."

So Nick made sure that's NOT the case with him, "this will be run as business first. It's not an art project, it's a business."

4/ This whole thing is worth reading. This is masterclass on the restaurant business, and also a reminder why obvious things require a lot of convincing just because "that's not how we do things".

5/ "Any business that's time slotted should be dynamically and variably priced right down to your lawyer frankly."

Really hard to argue against that which probably means it's inevitable for the businesses that are yet to have dynamic pricing in place.

6/ Tock origin story.

Lots of first principles thinking.

7/ Tock took the $TSLA approach for first customers i.e. build a product for high-end market and then work your way down.

Almost all VCs were skeptical to that approach.

8/ This is another masterclass on restaurant business. Or it could probably be widely applied even beyond restaurants just by following the below principle:

"Know what you are selling, and then actually sell it."

9/ Nick is also an author who publishes his own books.

One thing I have learnt from this episode is the importance of asking questions. Just asking the questions itself looks like the half-job done.

10/ Here's another fascinating tidbit why Nick thinks prepaying to your vendors makes more sense in the restaurant business.

11/ It was so obvious Patrick was having a great time interviewing Nick, haha

12/ "if someone's selling a $50 menu and four people order it so it's a $200 carryout order, which isn't the case with casual places, why should the delivery app get $50 to take it a mile? Doesn't make any sense."

Yup, it doesn't make sense to me either.

End/ What a fun, fruitful, and productive way to spend my Sunday evening, thanks to @InvestLikeBest!

Episode: https://investorfieldguide.com/nick-kokonas-know-what-you-are-selling-founders-field-guide-ep-8/?utm_source=Reading+List&utm_campaign=0a6f39ba18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_13_2020_12_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_325454c9ab-0a6f39ba18-513792897

Transcript: https://investorfieldguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FFG_EP.8_-_Nick_Kokonas_-Final-Transcript.pdf?utm_source=Reading+List&utm_campaign=0a6f39ba18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_13_2020_12_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_325454c9ab-0a6f39ba18-513792897

All my twitter threads: https://mbi-deepdives.com/twitter-threads/